Politics
and social issues. There was a time in the
United States when political and social warrior opponents were actually civil to
one another.
They
agreed to disagree and when they did debate common courtesy usually prevailed.
There
were heated discussions but they were usually relegated to meetings and
hearings.
Often
opponents would socialize afterwards. Their
positions never changed but they realized that compromise was possible.
Not
so nowadays. Political parties and
social cause proponents not only disagree, they are determined to eliminate any
naysayers.
Back
in the middle of the last century massive changes were occurring.
With
the proliferation of mass media-newspapers, radio and TV, voters had huge
amounts of information at their fingertips-more so than ever before.
Political
and social satire was commonplace. Most
of it was laced with innuendo. Some was
biting. TV and radio had their share.
One
of the biggest areas of satire came from comic strips and one of its biggest
and most popular satirists was cartoonist Walt Kelly.
Kelly’s
Pogo-a strip about swamp animals-poked fun at politics, politicians and
American and world events.
Not
bad for a comic character that started out in comic books and migrated to daily
and Sunday comic strips read in hundreds of newspapers across the country,
Walt Kelly And Pogo: The
Art Of The Political Swamp, written and compiled by James Eric Black and published
by McFarland Publishing, delves
into the life of the quiet and unassuming Walt Kelly.
Through
his Pogo strip Kelly tackled McCarthyism, the Cold War and other political and social
events taking place at that time.
The
book, aided by Kelly’s Pogo strips, digs deep into Kelly’s life and satire via
Pogo.
It
makes for a fascinating read about how a simple, quiet man molded and shaped
American’s opinions.