The Art of the Insult

A quirky gentleman by the name of Paul Conrad died a couple of years ago (September 4, 2010). The brouhaha about libel in the Philippines brings him to mind. Conrad lived 86 years. His name was legend in the United States, reflecting the power and popularity of a pen. A pen that was busy writing, not words, but pictures. He drew political cartoons for major American newspapers.


He was a peace lover, so his views of war and political figures relentlessly ridiculed the aggressive America. He also didn't like crooks or stupidity.

I'm sure he got his instruction and motivation from the grand master of World War II cartoons, Bill Mauldin. Mauldin didn't much like war, either. His characters "Willie and Joe" dealt with the absurdities of fighting.


Comparing Bill Mauldin and Paul Conrad is like comparing Wilt Chamberlain and Michael Jordon. Who had greater impact on their respective games, politics and basketball?





Bill Mauldin WWII

Mauldin was good, for sure. And popular. But I'd guess that Paul Conrad is the most famous cartoonist of all time. He had no super hero to draw but lots of wrongs to right, lots of villains to slay. And his pen was mighty in the slaying.


In the Philippines, he would be arrested for libel.


In America he made people cringe . . . then applaud.


He made editors cringe, like the one at the Los Angeles Times who refused to publish the cartoon of the elephant and the donkey over there. The drawing ridiculed Republican notions of what bipartisanship means.





Conrad on Bipartisanship

Conrad was great at shocking his readers. Unifying humor and political perspective so sharply that the readers' reactions invariably passed through four stages:


• Shock


• Laughter


• Comprehension


• Appreciation


In the Philippines, if we imagined a political leader sitting down at the breakfast table and skimming the newspapers for the latest insights on what is happening in their nation, we can imagine his reaction to a Conrad ridicule:


• Shock


• Anger


• Comprehension


• Litigation, whining or sanctioned murder


Leaders in the Philippines take themselves way too seriously.





Conrad on Government Snooping

Interestingly, the un-powerful have a deep sense of humor and great appreciation for ridicule. Ridicule and cheating are two primary values of common living. Ridicule to bring others down from their higher station. Cheating to get ahead when you have no other way to do so.


When everyone else has more than you do, those are understandable values.


But those leaders. The powerful. They are missing a bulb or two in their self-deprecating humor chandelier.


Philippine leadership seems too often to lack perspective. Lack humor. Lack comprehension that a democracy is a MULTITUDE of peoples and ideas. Not a single idea, the one espoused by the leader.


I wish I could draw a picture of their definition of freedom of expression. But half of the picture would be censored. Filipino leaders seem to believe that speech should be free "if I approve of it".  The morality of the powerful.


Below are four  Conrad cartoons ridiculing from the top left, clockwise: President Lyndon Johnson and VP Humphrey riding a bomb into Viet Nam and political oblivion, Presidents Nixon and Bush as Tweedledumb and Tweedledumber, President Reagan as a clown, President Nixon as a dark and villainous soul.

Presidential jabs don't get much sharper than these.


I have no idea why Noynoy Aquino is whining so much about media criticism, why he somehow feels wronged. Why he advocates libel laws instead of free speech, as if oppression comes naturally to a man of his "station". He works at the hardest, most complex, most impactful job in the nation. He is engaged on many prickly issues. He thinks he can skip merrily through six years and not attract criticism?

Get real!

Criticism comes with the territory.

And as Captain John Paul Jones might put it:


• "We have not yet begun to ridicule."


If President Aquino fails to get off his duff to advocate for a better Philippines by pressing for RH legislation and Freedom of Information laws, he deserves to be ridiculed. Why, he might just end up looking a lot like all of these characters, combined . . .



LBJ Bombs Out of the Presidency	Nixon and GW Bush, Dumb and Dumber
President Nixon	President Reagan