UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
Oliphant censored at a Michigan university (1993)
A cartoon drawn on a Michigan wall by Pulitzer Prize-winner Pat Oliphant
has some people debating whether the drawing is better suited to a bathroom
wall. When asked to create something for the wall of the Michigan Journalism
Fellows Program headquarters, Oliphant responded with a jogging Bill Clinton,
his cat Socks and Oliphant's trademark bird. The bird asks Socks why the
Clintons didn't get a dog, and Socks' response is "Well, Mr. Clinton
wanted a dog, but Mrs. Clinton said, 'You're so fond of pussy, I got you
a cat!'" The word "pussy," also used in a second line, was
covered by university officials until the art was finally whited over. Oliphant
said he wrote the offending gags to provoke a discussion about the relationship
between sensitivity and censorship.
Ethnic sensitivity among Jewish publications (1992)
This cartoon by Stuart Goldman of the Philadelphia based Jewish
Exponent was censored by many of his subscribers. No one printed the
syndicated cartoon as is and those who did, blacked out the word "Jewish."
About 90% of Goldman's subscribers are Jewish weeklies, who, as the cartoonist
put it "have a difficult time criticizing themselves."
A book banned in Philadelphia (1992)
When WittyWorld entered into book publishing in the summer of
1992, , few would have thought that the entity known for it's encompassing
fair and balanced journalism, would find its first book banned in Philadelphia.
"Was it worth it? - A collection of International Cartoons about Columbus
and his trip to America" was an athology of gag and political cartoons
compiled from 38 countries. The editors goal was to show a wide variety
of funny as well as serious viewpoints regarding Columbus and the consequences
of his historical trip to the New World. The book was due out for the 500th
anniversary of the voyage.
One pro-Columbus argument in the debate over his 1492 voyage - as the
Philadelphia Daily News put it - is that it set the stage for a country
that's the world's model for democracy. Ironically, the Columbus Day celebration
at Penn's Landing didn't have much to do with those principles. The book,
offering a wide range of viewpoints, ended up in schools and libraries
nationwide, but was not welcome by Dominic Sabatini, the head organizer
of the Philadelphia events. He found the book offensive, particularly because
of a drawing by Dutch cartoonist Arend Van Dam and ordered the book
banned. WittyWorld later sued and won a settlement.
This is how Arend Van Dam
interpreted the consequences
of Christopher Columbus' trip to America
Joe Szabo on a captured Soviet spy's dubious list (1987)
On a summer day of 1987, an FBI agent knocked on the door of Joe Szabo's
home in North Wales, Pennsylvania. Szabo at the time was on a business trip,
so the agent, after identifying himself, talked to his wife, Flora. She
was told about a Soviet spy who had been caught in Washington, D.C., a short
while before. According to the agent, the spy, who had high level military
ranking, was carrying a briefcase full of documents. One of the document
was a list of names, phone numbers, and addresses, and one of those belonged
to Joe Szabo. The agent was on a mission to find out why Szabo's name appeared
on the list. He speculated, that Szabo, who before his defection had been
an editor, and later also political cartoonist with a national daily newspaper
in Hungary, may have been put on a hit list. When told about the agent's
visit, Szabo himself, downplayed that possibility. He felt that it was more
likely that he was under some surveillance because he was corresponding
with several cartoonists in the (then) Soviet Union. Years later he added
at a conference, that "I must not have been very important, 'cause
I am still alive..."
The Russian bear trying to blow out the flame of liberty
in a Szabo cartoon prior to the incident
Racial sensitivity leads to censorship in Philadelphia (1985)
On May 13, 1985, Philadelphia was in flames. Police attempted to serve arrest
warrants to a group of MOVE members who were a nuisance to their neighborhood.
The group built a small fort out of their headquarters, boarded up the windows,
used megaphones to push their agenda, broadcasted obscenities, and members
armed themselves. Police, running into resistence, dropped a satchel bomb
to puncture a hole on the house intending to make way for tear gas. The
house caught fire. With some delay, firefighters approached the MOVE headquarters
trying to put out the flames, but were shot at by members of the controversial
group. At one point, a decision was made to allow the building to burn to
force out the occupants. The tactic did not work however, and eleven MOVE
members, including five children, died in the inferno. The flames quickly
spread out of control destroying 60 other homes as well. That night was
the first day that Joe Szabo started drawing editorial cartoons for
the Philadelphia Daily News.
In the next several days, he drew four cartoons involving the tragedy. Two
of them were censored. In one of those, a man standing in the middle of
smoldering rubble is uttering to himself:
"It was a damn Goode idea..."
Mayor Goode was ultimately in charge of the ill-fated operation,
and the bombing was widely attributed to his leadership, or the lack of
it. The cartoon was said to be in bad taste and was rejected. The other
one (below) dealt with the issue of firefighters trying to put out the blaze,
but being shot at.
The Philadelphia Daily News declined publication of the cartoon,
reasoning that the MOVE member (on the right) "clearly shows African-American
features," and that "it would incite the city's black population."
All members of MOVE were black. |
