Editorial

Joke is on those who misinterpret cartoon as homophobic

2/7/2010

In the last issue of the Lanthorn, a letter was posted under the title "Cartoon Promotes 'Homophobic Violence'" in regards to the Jan. 28 political cartoon.

To be honest, I'm not sure how Mr. Van Harn's letter made it through the editorial process because clearly he didn't get the cartoon.

The strip in question shows a trio of neanderthal-like "masculine" men beating up the 7-year old art prodigy recently showcased on The Today Show because he's "no Picasso."

Afterward, his face is damaged, at which point the men proclaim that that he now looks like Picasso. The strip isn't making fun of the kid. It's establishing that the type of cavemen who call artists "sissy" are too stupid to understand what "the next Picasso" means.

Also, it's humorous to think that such men would be art enthusiasts in the first place. The joke is on them. The cartoon isn't encouraging them, it's making fun of them.

Yes, the word sissy can be coded language to mean gay, but it isn't always. And in this case, it's referring to the profession of an artist as being un-masculine, completely unrelated to sexual orientation.

Since an artist drew it, I'm pretty sure they weren't trying to promote that mindset.

Stretching the word sissy to mean gay out of context and then stretching it further to infer that the strip was calling Picasso gay is pretty intellectually dishonest.

As a gay man and a former classmate of the cartoon's writer, I can tell you that he's neither homophobic, nor hung up on stereotypical gender roles.

Mr. Van Harn is barking at shadows, which portrays the gay community in a far more negative light than that comic strip ever could.

Ryan Burch,

GVSU alumni

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