Caricatures (again!)
Caricature is an art, it requires both a draw skill and a creativity to choose the idea. The best caricaturist for me is the Argentinian Quino, the author of the famous Mafalda. He used to (I don’t know whether he still does) draw about everything that interest people in the 60’s~70’s: social problems, bureaucracy, youth, medicine, football, family, and even about military regime that used to stand in Argentina, but he was never arrested, certainly due to his celebrity; his fans should remember the patient who is going to be operated and it’s written on the operation room “Errare humanum est”; or the company who makes a fortune selling millions of slogans “abajo la sociedad de la consumación” (down the consummation society).
I also like an Arabic drawings, Mahmud Kahil of the Saudi “The Middle East”; no politic personality is safe from his sarcasm, and he never approves anybody; his original ideas are combined with a simple and silent drawing, yet very deep and meaningful.
However, the 12 famous caricatures are not that professional; certainly a good drawing but no original idea (except the “We ran out of virgins”). The others are either about himself describing his fear of reactions or simply provocations. I don’t blame him, he draws whatever he wants in the name of the freedom, but I just wonder about the Arabic people reaction, who took the thing too serious (media are not innocent) and began protesting, threatening, burning, boycotting and so… A simple journalist known only in his environment became quickly one of the most famous in the world because of people’s fanaticism and media incitement, what paradox! As far as I remember, Arabic countries and people had not problems with Denmark before, and for some stupid drawing, this country got the first Arab’s enemies; The US and British soldiers make a mess in Iraq, kill, torture, humiliate Iraqis; however, millions of Arabs and Muslim live in the USA and the United Kingdom, a greater number want or dream to go to those countries, but once an unskilful journalist from a small and peaceful country makes a provocation, we declare the war to Denmark, to democracy and to the Occident. That’s absolutely ridiculous!
