A cartoon released today is making a lot of waves on social media, and the furor seems to part mostly along anti-Trump and pro-Trump lines.
The "pilot" cartoon will appear in the New Yorker and depicts an angry mob on an airplane voting for a man to take over flight duties from the "smug pilots" who have lost touch with the "regular passengers."
The artist posted it on Twitter with a message that seems to anticipate the controversy:
The clever analogy is an attempt to skewer the anti-elite mood in the country that rejects intellectualism, and in its more extreme manifestations, any "expert" at all.
Many on the right saw it as a thinly veiled swipe at the election and Trump supporters, and they did not appreciate it one bit:
"People are accusing political elites of being out of touch?! Let's prove them completely right with an asinine strawman!" https://t.co/l9tfuaGnlE
— Tacticool Elf (@Battlefieldtrip) January 2, 2017
As the plane took a nosedive, pilot Obama would promise the passengers that everything was okay. Any dissenters would be called racists. https://t.co/ktKwzAjjwj
— Jim Treacher (@jtLOL) January 2, 2017
Do you think there was actually someone at the New Yorker who thought this cartoon made sense, or is it just 100% trolling? pic.twitter.com/EeSC4l7ogS
— Seth Mandel (@SethAMandel) January 2, 2017
nothing better than a New Yorker cartoon telling the plebs to shut up and let the powerful run the country pic.twitter.com/e3ZzkIsb4G
— Blup In Japan (@blippoblappo) January 2, 2017
It wasn't all merely partisan entrenchment - some conservatives have noted that an overzealous desire to limit government and highlight biases in the mainstream media has pushed many to extremes. This has prompted some to begin calling this election season the beginning of the "post-truth" era in American politics where titillating "fake news" spreads far quicker than substantiated truth. Some on the right push back on this narrative, saying Democrats and those on the left destroyed honesty and integrity in politics decades ago. No doubt the debate will continue throughout President Trump's tenure in the White House.
Carlos Garcia
Staff Writer