Is a Cartoon War Developing Over Depiction of Southern Workers?
By Rob Tornoe | November 5th, 2009 | PERMALINK
A cartoon war could be brewing after a Seattle cartoonist created waves in South Carolina for a cartoon that some claim stereotypes southern workers.
Cartoon by David Horsey of SeattlePi.com. (Click to enlarge)
“How many non-union South Carolinian workers does it take to attach a wing to a Boeing airplane?” SeattlePi.com cartoonist David Horsey asks in a recent cartoon as he shows several rednecks standing on top of one another in an attempt to repair an airplane with duct tape.
“Five … and a dog.”
Horsey’s cartoon is a reaction to Boeing choosing South Carolina for it’s second manufacturing line for the 787 Drealiner, but it’s the cartoonist inclusion of several elements, such rebel flag, a moonshine apparatus and a noose that have seemed to draw the most impact from readers.
“It’s sad that states have resorted to child-like insults because of a certain or any company choosing one state over another,” Kelly Duncan, of Ellenboro, N.C., told Fox Carolina. “I don’t believe Seattle has lost as many jobs as we have, so quit complaining.”
Horsey told Fox he was obviously making a joke and playing on regional rivalries in the cartoon.
“I’m sure that workers in South Carolina will do a fine job,” Horsey said.
A cartoon reaction by South Carolinian Mike Beckom. (Click to enlarge)
Mike Beckon, a cartoonist from Greenwood, South Carolina, sent us in a reactionary cartoon featuring a southern worker on the phone after fixing an airplane.
“Yep, I got her purrin’ like a kitten. Just’ hadda take out them whiney, unionized know-it-all yankees…” the worker says.
“I think escalating games of cross-regional cartoon dozens would be a fine way to bring some heat back to the editorial page, and I think it’s great that Horsey went knives out on this one,” wrote prominent comics blogger Tom Spurgeon.
“The only argument I can see against it is that going with the regional insults might obscure the non-union point rather than buttress it.”
UPDATE: The Palmetto Scoop has posted some news accounts of the “Battle of Boeing Cartoons” between SeattlePi.com cartoonist David Horsey, and the Scoop’s cartoonist Mike Beckon.
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Comment from TooMuchTime
Time November 9, 2009 at 6:24 pm
Ah, yes! “The workers in South Carolina will be doing the same job as the workers in Seattle, they’ll just be doing it for a lot less money.”
What a crock! Does HorseFace even know how destructive unions are? Besides, all the “extra money” the workers in Seattle get just goes to union dues and union bosses. And since when are unions even necessary anymore? Not for job safety. OSHA and it’s State variants make sure about on-the-job safety. Working conditions? Same thing. There are State and Federal agencies that no employer wants to cross when it comes to working conditions. Benefits? Ummm, maybe. But if an employer doesn’t offer benefits, they will get substandard workers. Which will produce substandard goods. Then no one will buy the goods and the company’s reputation will suffer. And that is VERY difficult from which to recover. (See the chapter on business reputations in “Freedom-nomics” by Dr. John Lott.) It’s just easier to give the workers the benefits.
Of course, with the gov’t now poised to be the only health care provider, companies won’t have to and the health of the workers will be much worse. And that’s worse for business, too.
Hey, how about HorseFace doing a cartoon about the B.O. and the health care scheme? Can’t have that. Doesn’t fit the socialist script.