The art of resistance
The price of anticipatory obedience
Last week, the Washington Post rejected a cartoon (draft at left) by Ann Telnaes. It included a depiction of Post owner and Amazon mogul Jeff Bezos genuflecting to Trump and offering up fealty and bags of money. Charging censorship, Telnaes, a Pulitzer Prize winner who had been at the Post since 2008, resigned.
“That’s a gamechanger … and dangerous for a free press. …I have had editorial feedback and productive conversations – and some differences – about cartoons I have submitted for publication, but in all that time I’ve never had a cartoon killed because of who or what I chose to aim my pen at,” Telnaes wrote on Substack.
Bezos had previously compromised the Post’s editorial integrity by killing its already drafted endorsement of Biden in the 2024 presidential election.
Right: Using art to illustrate their message, marchers support fair treatment and justice for migrant dairy farm workers, who face heightened danger under Trump’s rule and media cowardice.
“Anticipatory obedience is a political tragedy.” ~Timothy Snyder, On Tyranny
Yes. Thanks, Terry. We need all the warnings and repetitions of them that we can get.
Excellent, Terry.