It is easy to mock those who lead us, as easy to rant against the tyrannical leaders of others. To a great degree the mocking is necessary both for us and them, for its brings them down-a-peg and it gives us a form of power over the powerful. Cartooning a situation is so much of a release I decided not to publish ‘A Brief History of Lies’ without them and was fortunate to find the brilliant Calvin Innes to draw eight cartoons for the essay.
The inadvertent laughter leaders can give us, from Bush’s linguistic anomalies to jokes that fall flat and idiots in suits like Berlesconi who prove that fools can make fortunes, is a vital component of keeping the peace. To be able to draw some satisfaction that they are neither infallible nor so much better than us helps to maintain civic order.
A fact that is not lost on leaders who put up with vile cartoons, and outbursts by comedians and digs in movies without letting it get to them because they know the kinds of leaders who find these things unacceptable are not leaders at all but slavish followers to a creed. Whatever that creed may be. To be laughed at is never pleasant but there is satisfaction in knowing that it is a better way of dealing with powerlessness than fighting.