The negativity makes readers of all stripes unhappy. But the right, having been of late both more organized and more passionate, has figured out an effective response. All followed, of course, by that little patch of civility. The nod to politeness seems to grow in importance even as thoughtful deliberation and good humor drain from our debating styles. We seem to believe that, whatever we do, we can paste a little something over it and consider ourselves engaged in the highest of callings.
Cartoonists eschew it all.
No masquerading, no fear of looking biased, no requirement for one side and then the other, no patch of civility. The Sacramento Bee ombudsman, receiving complaints about cartoons, recently asked the Bee's cartoonist, Rex Babin, for a response. It is biased, it distorts, it generalizes and, in doing so, works on a visceral level like nothing else. And long live the cartoonists.