Another Stereotype of the Month entry:
Another Stereotype of the Month entry:
A cowboy type wants to build a fort because an Indian shot an arrow through his hat. This cartoon implies Indians were the violent aggressors in the Old West, while the Anglos were innocent defenders who merely wanted to live in peace.
The reality was the opposite. So let's consider a hypothetical counterexample. In this version of the cartoon, an Indian with bullet holes in his buckskins asks for building materials at the store. Why? To protect himself against the maurauding savages among the Anglo settlers and their US Army enforcers. (See Wounded Knee, Sand Creek, Washita, etc.)
Why didn't Herman take this approach? Because the stereotype of Indians as marauding savages continues to resonate in our culture. The truth—that Americans were victimizers, not victims—might not be so funny.
|
. . . |
|
All material © copyright its original owners, except where noted.
Original text and pictures © copyright 2007 by Robert Schmidt.
Copyrighted material is posted under the Fair Use provision of the Copyright Act,
which allows copying for nonprofit educational uses including criticism and commentary.
Comments sent to the publisher become the property of Blue Corn Comics
and may be used in other postings without permission.