“we saw ‘o africa, brave africa.’ it was a laugh riot.”

One of the more annoying tendencies of editorial cartoons is the reflexive reliance on cheap heavy-handedness to mask stupid arguments. You want a crying Statue of Liberty (“DEMOCRACY”) to act as pro-American propaganda? You got it. You want a crying Uncle Sam (“AMERICA”) or a shadowy, beckoning Grim Reaper (“DEATH”) to represent The Cost Of War? You got it. You want a teary-eyed kid in a baseball cap (“THE CHILDREN”) with the caption “say it ain’t so” to represent steroids in baseball? You got it. In fact, you’re probably already the editorial cartoonist for the Omaha World-Herald. Jeff, quit reading this!

There are too many such tropes to mention, but one of the most-abused ones is the image of the starving African child. A cursory glance at the situation in Africa would leave you thinking that the starving African child is most threatened by Janjaweed death squads and the ebola virus. This is a bald-faced lie. Starving African children are being abused daily by editorial cartoonists on deadlines, most recently in the context of rising U.S. investment in corn ethanol. Take these examples from this weekend:

Nate Beeler, The Washington Examiner:

M.E. Cohen:

Sandy Huffaker:

And lastly, my BFF Kirk Carter in The Red & Black:

It works for Nike, it works for the Gap, and it’ll work for you, kids: when in doubt, go for the starving child.