Cartoons, angels and Mitt Romney: a recipe for misunderstanding
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No comments [ Add Comment ]By Don Porter
Editorial Page Editor
O
n the editorial page, experience is a pretty good indicator for what will happen if you publish anything about a particular subject. Over the years, for example, anytime we mention a particular religion in an editorial or cartoon, we'll hear from a few of its adherents, admonishing us to steer clear of their faith.
It's automatic. "Stop picking on us," they say.
Of course, it's all a matter of perspective, isn't it? One person views it as offensive, while another tells us it's necessary.
Especially irksome to some people is when editorial cartoonist Calvin Grondahl inserts religion or even a religious character into one of his cartoons. Some people just don't have a sense of humor about their own religion. Like last week, when he poked fun at Mitt Romney's then-losing ways in the Iowa and New Hampshire presidential primaries; Cal drew Romney cross-country skiing through the New Hampshire woods, with the angel Moroni appearing to him while wearing a John McCain campaign button.
Predictably, five people phoned me with complaints, and three wrote letters to the editor (read them on the page to the left). Sometimes I learn something from these sorts of complaints. This time, I can't say as I did. Invariably the phone calls began with accusations that the Standard-Examiner is, and always has been, an anti-Mormon paper. Proof of the accusation, they say, is that we would even put the angel Moroni -- a figure unique to the doctrine of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints -- in a cartoon; that action alone, they said, was blasphemous and mocked the church. This was usually followed by something like, "But you wouldn't know that since you people aren't members" of the faith.
When I told them that, first of all, the angel Moroni is arguably the church's most public figure, since his image rests atop each of the LDS temples in the world, they remained unfazed. But when I told them I'm a go-to-church-every-Sunday Mormon, and that Grondahl served an LDS mission to New Zealand, they expressed the requisite shock and dismay, letting me know what lousy members of the church we are, then advise me to meet with my bishop to begin the repentance process.
This is a pretty typical reaction. It's happened too many times to remember, truth be known. So maybe I'm making too much of this criticism by eight readers. After all, our paper is purchased by 64,000 people every day, and they didn't call or write, so most people, I assume, understood the good-natured motivation for the cartoon.
But it reminds me that there are people out there, even longtime subscribers to the Standard, who still don't quite understand, for example, the difference between the news pages and opinion pages. The news pages are where the paper reports, objectively, the events of the day. The editorial pages -- labeled "opinion" at the top of each page -- are where we, and our readers, express subjective views on various issues. Like today, for example, three people get to sound off on something they think we got wrong -- and I'm countering that argument with one of my own.
We tend to take for granted, I fear, that more readers understand this distinction between news and opinion. It's clear that I need to keep reminding you, our readers, of that difference -- not that I expect you to agree with my opinion, or that of the newspaper. But at least you'll know the intent behind it.
As for the offending Romney/Moroni cartoon, you can get Cal's take on the 'toon on his StandardNET blog (http://forums.standard.net/blog/cal/index.php?). It also contains a few other Moroni cartoons that were published in years past in his monster-selling Mormon-humor books.
If you're interested in why I would approve the Moroni cartoon, it's this simple: After months of trying to avoid the religion question, a month or so ago Romney made a big speech on religion, and about his religious beliefs. It didn't diminish religion as a campaign issue for him, and he got beat in Iowa and New Hampshire. In Iowa he lost the support of Christian evangelicals, and in New Hampshire he lost, among other groups, the support of military veterans who flocked to McCain. When Cal showed me a cartoon with the angel Moroni, a valiant warrior from the Book of Mormon who, like McCain, had also fought in a war that was ultimately lost, I thought it gently but hilariously poked fun at Romney's inability to garner the support he needed to be victorious. In no way did it mock Moroni, the LDS Church or anyone but the candidate, who was watching his support evaporate.
That's the long and short of it. And, as always, feel free to disagree.
Porter is the Standard's editorial page editor. He accepts e-mail at dporter@standard.net.
