The latest "Mr. Fish" cartoon.

[rs]

OK, I am a moron, I freely confess, but I just don't get it. I'm talking about the "George W. Bush with his favorite WMD" cartoon. I know that Mr. Fish can be a bit oblique with his cartoons varying between downright laugh out loud to the kind where you just squirm in your seat because of the awful truth he exposes. But this one I simply do not understand. I also am puzzled because the way the face is rendered, shows a certain uncharacteristic tenderness.

OK, while typing this, I just "got it". I didn't grok the "halo" around what must therefore be the Christ Child.

Doh!

Now what I get is that Dubya looks lovingly on the Christ Child during this Christmas season because of the awful evil that the Christian church has unleashed over the past two millennia and how religion (specifically Christian Fundamentalism) continues to be an increasingly important driving force in US politics. (It is not just the Christian church but any fervent religious belief in a "one true religion" that causes so much misery, but it is the Christian church that affects the US.)

My first thought was that Mr. Fish was possibly suggesting that a population explosion was equivalent to a WMD or it was some kind of real subtle reference to how children are the most affected ones with our military adventures. I just wasn't seeing the halo. (Segue to a discussion about how opinions affect perception).

But like I started this out with, I was a little slow on the uptake for this one.

 

[anart]

It took me a second or two as well - which is one of the reasons I liked it so much. It's 'little baby jesus' - GW's WMD.

 

[Breton]

Yeah, same for me, until I saw the halo, it was obscure - but upon seeing that and because it was Christmas time the light bulb lit up: yup - the Christ story can be a most powerful effective weapon in the right hands!

The Inquisition used it well and there are going to be those today who will use it as long as it is useful.

However I suppose I must not forget that many other weapons will be also used by the pathocracies of the world.