Maximo Martinez
4/5/2019
Writing for the Humanities
Ms. Shamecca
This is my critical essay, and in my opinion the hardest one to make. The purpose of it was to analyse a text of our choosing. And even though I started with another text as shown in the Paper Proposal and Annotated Bibliography, at the end I changed it to an political cartoon. The politican cartoon was called “‘Fundamentally Transforming America’ B. Obama” By Glenn McCoy. And it was regarding the issue of public bathrooms for transgenders in the state of North Calorina. In this essay you had to have 3 scholarly source and 3 popular sources minimum. But the overall purpose of it was to look at a text and from your perspective describe what is the meaning of it, and what does it represent. You also had to have a strong thesis statement saying the what? how? and so what? of this issue.
Analysis of
“Fundamentally Transforming America” B. Obama
By Glenn McCoy
The political cartoon called “Fundamentally Transforming America”- B. Obama By Glenn McCoy. Is about the controversy of the “Bathroom Law” of the State of North Carolina in 2016 under Obama’s administration, passed on the state of North Carolina. The Political cartoon shows how ironic and extreme is the left’s view on this issue. The author does this by calling the little girl a bigot and the man a victim for their opinion in the issue. This is important because not only is a real life issue that is still being discussed today, but also because it shows the the problem of allowing trans to go into any bathroom they want.
According to “Here’s how some artists are viewing North Carolina’s new ‘bathroom law’” from the washington post, this political cartoon was made by Glenn McCoy to show “how some of the nation’s cartoonists are viewing the North Carolina controversy”. Such controversy being that the state of North Carolina passed a legislation where people have to go to the bathroom, that accords with the gender you were born with.
The author uses the former President of the United States (Barack Obama) quote to of how he was “Fundamentally changing America”, as a way to make a point of how radical left’s views are, and how because of his administration, American views changed. Using the word “transforming” refers to idea that before, no one would thought that America would get to this point. To the point of thinking that is okay to not only ‘being able to change your gender’, but that also because of you ‘can be any gender you claim to be, now bathroom gender policies need to be re looked at. Since the “Human Rights Campaign” being founded on 1995(or 1980 depending how you look at it), and the Lgbtq movement just starting to have a big impact in the 2000’s, makes the whole concept of of transgenderism acceptance being a fairly new concept. Showing how in regards to this topic Obama being our president for 8 years of the 2000’s had “fundamentally changed America”.
The political cartoon make both characters talk from a perspective “before the bathroom law”. Notice how the girl says that there “IS” a 40 year man on the bathroom she is in. Meaning the author is trying to show what the bathroom law in north carolina prevented from happening. This can also be looked at what the left wants, since according to Roy Cooper the current Democratic governor of North Carolina from the video “NC ‘Bathroom Bill’ Survives Repeal Attempt”he says that “I’m disappointed that Republican Legislative leaders failed to live up to their promise to fully repeal House Bill 2”. House Bill 2 or HB2 being another term for the bathroom law on California. This shows how the political cartoon reflects the idea of how extreme is the Democratic/leftist view on this policy is, since the Democratic governor from that same state thinks that having a trans women in a girls bathroom is Okay.
Maybe I’ll explain the obvious, but the reason this Political Cartoon is funny and ironic, is because for some reason, the left thinks that is ok for men dressed as girls to be allowed in girls bathrooms. And according to Child Shield USA, “Over 2100 children are reported missing to the FBI every day(over 800,000 each year)” which is something to take into consideration when you are allowing a strange man be in the same room maybe alone with you daughter. In addition. According to the US Department of justice “Research conducted by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) estimates that approximately 1 in 6 boys and 1 in 4 girls are sexually abused before the age of 18 “, and “Approximately 30% of sexual assault cases are reported to authorities”. Meaning that not only is your son/daughter going to be in a bathroom with a person of the opposite gender. Which could lead to your son/daughter to no only be abducted, but also sexually abused, not only that but there is a 70% chance the authorities might not know about it. This to me is a major concern that the left apparently doesn’t either realized or care enough about.
From the political cartoon also uses the words “Bigot” and “Victim” to both characters to further more highlight the irony of this issue. The left always sees the world as the ‘oppressor and the oppressed’. They believe that groups like females, blacks, lgbtq are victims and are being oppressed by groups like men, heterosexuals, and white people. That’s why the political cartoon uses the words victim for the man. They use terms like microaggression and and white privilege as if they were a thing. Some demand “safe spaces” where people’s speech is limited to things that only they can tolerate to hear. And because a white man ‘committed a microaggression the man is considered ‘a victim of white privilege’.
Microaggression is a term used by the left for behavior and words that offends a certain group, even if is unintentional. The problem being that even if you choose to be color blind and don’t judge people by the color of the skin, you still have things like article from the washington post saying that is racist too. And white privilege is the believe that right now in america there is not an equality of opportunity, since the system is made so only white man can succeed. Which leads to the shaming and blaming of white people across the country, just because their skin is white.
Compare that to the girl who is concerned that a crossdressing man is in the girls bathroom, she is called a ‘Bigot’. The left likes to call people racist, sexist, misogynist, and bigots to the people that have a different/conflicting opinion of theirs. In this case because the girl ‘doesn’t tolerate’ the fact that a man is on the girls bathroom with her, she is a intolerant bigot. The left worries more about people getting offended and not being able to go to the bathrooms they choose, than for little girls being concern that a strange man is next to her in a public bathroom.
The political cartoon also uses exaggeration on the drawing of the characters to prove its point of the irony, and extremeness of the left. The author uses pathos to draws the little girl small and innocent, as a way to caught our emotions, so we feel more empathetic of her, and a big head so we noticed what she has to say. The author also draws the girl concerned and worried so we take her words seriously. Then he draws the man, as a funny dumb way. He was drawn like he was making a big deal, as you can see by the fact that he is crying, with a snot. Which is another strategy that the author used, that in regards to the physical appearance of the characters, comparing the little cute girl, with big eyes, and the heart of her shirt vs. the nasty, crying man, with, his triple chins, big ears and nose, messy hair, big eyebrows, big mouth. It’s easy to assume that the authors tries to make the reader, side with the girl.
This political cartoon shows the irony in the issue of allowing transgenders go to any bathroom they please. Either by the wording, or the drawing of the characters themselves, it shows how the girl by being concerned that a man is on the same bathroom as her, is a bigot to the left’s eyes, while the man after complaining that a white man is being microaggressive, is a victim to the left’s eyes. And even though the HB2 was passed in North Carolina, it is still a topic that people discussed today, with according to Pew Research Center 51% of people thinking that people should go to the bathrooms corresponding to the gender they identify with.
Michael, Cavna. “Here’s how some artists are viewing North Carolina’s new ‘bathroom law’”, by the Washington Post. April 15 2016.
“HRC STORY” by Human Rights Campaign.
https://www.hrc.org/hrc-story/about-us
“NC ‘Bathroom Bill’ Survives Repeal Attempt”, by Associated Press. December 21, 2016
“Statistics”, by Child Shield USA
https://childshieldusa.com/statistics/
“Facts and Statistics”, by The US Department of Justice.
https://www.nsopw.gov/en-US/Education/FactsStatistics?AspxAutoDetectCookieSupport=1
Megan R. Underhill. “White parents teach their children to be colorblind. Here’s why that’s bad for everyone”by the Washington Post. October 5, 2018
“Where the Public Stands on Religious Liberty vs. Nondiscrimination”, by the Pew Research Center. September 28, 2016.
