EOTO Reaction: Political Cartoons

During the first round of EOTOs, we all produced presentations on different institutions and publications. The one I found most interesting was the one about Political Cartoons because it touched on the history of the subject and an organization that helps to protect their right for publication. 

Political cartoons have the soul purpose of combining politics and art, they originated back in 1720, when the collapse of the South Sea Company occurred. This was a British joint-stock company who's purpose was the reduce and consolidate the amount of national debt. With this market crash, it brought many artists to the forefront of newspapers, creating graphics that spoke about the situation. 

Throughout the years, these graphics have become so iconic and recognizable, that artists today like to modernize and fit them into current political climates. Some of the ones created for today, revolve aroundissues like COVID-19, Trump, Biden, climate change, and the democrat vs. republican divide. 

Since these were considered art but also journalism, they were protected from censorship by the First Amendment. Some of the most famous political cartoonists were Benjamin Franklin, George Townsend, James Gillary, Thomas Nast, and Rube Goldberg - my personal favorite. 

Benjamin Franklin, created an iconic cartoon with the separated snake portions with the words "join, or die." Which was used by Americans to defeat the British during the American Revolution. This is just one example of the impact these cartoons can have on our society. One of the most influential to come out of this practice was one depicting a donkey and an elephant created by Thomas Nast, which we now use as symbols for our republican and democratic parties.  

Finally, the organization that was talked about that helped facilitate all this was AAEC, or the Association of American Editorial Cartoonists. Their job is to promote the interests of cartoonists from levels of student, freelance, and staff. Their goal is to aim to protect the right to keep making cartoons as a method of Freedom of Press and Freedom of Speech.