JESSICA WILDFIRE IS BECOMING one of my faĀvorite jourĀnalĀists. She deĀscribes herĀself as an āunĀfluĀencer,ā which I asĀsume is a play on those odd creaĀtures of soĀcial media known as āinĀfluĀencers.ā She is also a top writer in govĀernĀment, health, polĀiĀtics, culĀture, and life on Medium. And beĀcause of her, if rather inĀdiĀrectly, I disĀcovĀered the artĀwork of Martin Rowson.
I finĀished reading WildĀfireās latest arĀticle āThings Anti-Vaxxers Told Me This Week,ā which opens with these lines: āThe anti-vaxxers are angry at us. They say weāve been judgĀmental. We donāt listen to them. We donāt reĀspect their views. So I started listening.ā
The rightwingerās motto: āAll inĀforĀmaĀtion is subĀjecĀtive and noĀbody can prove anything.ā
Here is what the anti-covid-vaxxers (who I asĀsume are also the anti-maskers) had to say:
⢠āRules donāt work, so we shouldnāt have them.ā
⢠āEveryoneās reĀsponĀsible for their own health.ā
⢠āNoĀbody can prove anything.ā
⢠āIf itās not hapĀpening to you, it doesnāt matter.ā
⢠āAll inĀforĀmaĀtion is subjective.ā
⢠āEveryone has a right to a bad opinion.ā
Those six lines are the sub-headings for the arĀticle. WildĀfire gives the reader much more inĀforĀmaĀtion about the conĀvoĀluted āreaĀsoningā of the anti-mask/anti-covid-vaccination crowd (of which there seems a never-ending supply).
I was inĀspired by her arĀticle to post a pair of quesĀtions on FaceĀbook. I opened the posting with a semi-serious chalĀlenge: āAnyone wanna take a crack at anĀswering a couple of soon-to-be-current news-related questions?ā
These were the two questions:
1. Whatās gonna happen when anti-mask/anti-covid-vaccination parĀents send their chilĀdren to a school that does not manĀdate vacĀcines and masks and those chilĀdren come home with Covid? 1
2. Who are those parĀents gonna blame? 2
To offset the grotesque and someĀwhat ugly imĀages in Mr. RowĀsonsās carĀtoons below with someĀthing fair, I have inĀcluded this photo of JesĀsica WildĀfire from her Amazon auĀthorās page. There you will learn that she has pubĀlished three books: ProĀfessor Gone Wild, How To Train Your Demon: EsĀsays For Screw Ups, and Go Get Your EveryĀthing: The Shortest Self-Help Guide Youāll Ever.
Martin Rowsonās covid cartoons
To catch readersā atĀtenĀtion, I wanted a draĀmatic image so went off to Google and typed in ācovid virus carĀtoon.ā This led me to the fanĀtastic image at the top of this page. I traced this carĀtoon to Martin Rowson, a regĀular conĀtribĀutor to the British newsĀpaper The Guardian. NeedĀless to say, the image above wasnāt the only piece by Rowson that WOW!-ed me.
Rowson conĀtributes his artĀwork priĀmarily to The Guardian along with the Daily Mirror, the TriĀbune, the Index on CenĀsorĀship, and the Morning Star. He is chair of the British CarĀtoonĀistsā AsĀsoĀciĀaĀtion and has pubĀlished thirĀteen books of ficĀtion and artwork.
So, I wanted to share my ādisĀcoveryā of Rowson and so seĀlected five of his pieces that adĀdressed the global Covid-19 panĀdemic. Each image inĀcludes a blurb from The Guardian adĀdressing the topic of the arĀticle for which Rowson did the carĀtoon. Right-click on any image to enĀlarge it.
The Oxford/AstraZeneca vacĀcine ofĀfers as little as 10% proĀtecĀtion against the Covid variant first seen in South Africa, reĀsearchers have suggested.ā
(FebĀruary 8, 2021)
āPeople in EngĀland and Walesāand parts of Scotlandācan now eat inĀside restauĀrants and pubs (but please donāt); can hug (but be very careful); can go abroad on holĀiday (with a lot of caveats): the reĀlaxĀation of rules ofĀfers some very mixed public messaging.ā
(May 17, 2021)
āThe UKās public spending watchdog has found that the govĀernĀment had no conĀtinĀgency plans in place to deal with the Covid crisis.ā
(May 19, 2021)
āBoris Johnson, Sajid Javid and Priti Patel tackle footĀball, Covid and asylum seekers.ā
(July 7, 2021)
āMinĀisĀters have shelved proĀposals to urĀgently overĀhaul the Covid conĀtact tracing app in EngĀland as cases surge, prompting claims they have lost conĀtrol of the so-called āpingĀdemicā.ā
(July 16, 2021)
āA sciĀenĀtist adĀvising the govĀernĀment has acĀcused minĀisĀters of alĀlowing inĀfecĀtions to rip through the younger popĀuĀlaĀtion in an efĀfort to bolĀster levels of imĀmuĀnity beĀfore the NHS faces winter presĀsures.ā
(July 23, 2021)
Finally
To read more of JesĀsica WildĀfireās writing on Medium, click here.
To see more of Martin RowĀsonās art in The Guardian, click here.
FOOTNOTES:
1 I iniĀtially wrote, āWhatās gonna happen when anti-mask/anti-covid-vaccination parĀents send their chilĀdren to a school that does not manĀdate vacĀcines and masks and those chilĀdren get Covid and die?ā but thought better of it.
2 I iniĀtially wrote, āWho are those parĀents gonna blameāBiden or Obama or that old standby boĀgeyman, the libĀeral colĀlege proĀfessor of the ā60s?ā but, again, changed my mind.