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The Blockchain Age

In the 1920s legendary artist Windsor McKay was earning as much as $100,000 per year for his editorial cartooning, which was a pretty good wage for its time. This was wayyy before TV was invented, and before radio was popularized, so newspapers were the hot media ticket at that time.

Some of you might have heard of newspapers. They are like printed copies of Google news feeds that, in early times, were delivered to your door every morning by a boy on a bicycle or, more contemporaneously, by illegal aliens making a few extra bucks before they began their second or third job of the day.

The newspaper provides news, sports, weather, comics, recipes, government approved propaganda and advertising. Lots of advertising. They also have a comment section, just like web sites, though the time lag between creation and approval can be days or weeks.

But I digress. Back to Mr. Mckay.

In the early 1900s editorial cartoons like Mr. McKay's had the power to shape and alter public opinion because the daily newspaper was almost entirely the source for all topical knowledge. And a cartoon could be easily understood even by illiterates. If the editorial cartoon in the latest edition of the Morning Herald & Tribune suggested that sending gunships to Cuba was in America's best interest then, by golly, send a dozen.

Today, in case you're wondering where I'm going with this nostalgic gambol, this graphic form of political punditry no longer has the authority it once commanded as there are too many competing online venues for information. As a result, newspapers are closing, budgets are being cut, and cartoonists are being laid off.

The question I often ask myself these days is: Are editorial cartoons any longer relevant? And, after some consideration I say "Yes" as long as there are both Nobel and Pulitzer Prize awards for the craft. Which leads me to believe someone still thinks they're pretty dang spiffy.

I'm sure news journalism will adapt to a future paperless society but the editorial cartoon, along with the daily comics as we know them, will no doubt go the way of the internal-combustion engine... except for web sites like this one. Because even it's not in print Americans will always enjoy images of the latest oligarch publicly lampooned.

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Note to friends of Lefty: I apologize for the delay in cartoon creation this past week. My excuse this month is, uhhhhh, zombie aliens! Yeah, that's the ticket!

=Lefty=

 
end rant






News & Notes for March 8, 2021

Trump loses last Supreme Court battle over his election loss.

Nernie Sanders pledges to continue to fight for $15-and-hour minimum wage.

Democrats pass Covid-Relief bill. Stock market leaps by 650 points. This is not a coincidence.

President Biden shepherding approval of giant offshore wind farm.

Republican Senator Roy Blunt reads the tea leaves, decides not to run again.




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