Power of the Press: How one common cartoon character summed up the American Cause

In today's high tech world of the internet, 24/7 satellite television, and smart phones, it's easy to forget what life was like before all of the gadgets entered into our lives.  At one time the local radio station was our lifeline to world news.  In the not so distant pass the post office was our social network.  Believe it or not, newspapers used to exist primarily on paper rather than on the iPad.  The times have changed.

Almost everywhere you travel these days across the United States you hear about the downfall of our society.  While many people disagree on the core issues, most agree that the news media has become too biased and polarized as well as downright nasty.  Democrats jump on Fox News for their blatant support of the Republican Party, Republicans claim that MSNBC has become the pulpit for Democrats, and others are upset with seemingly the lack of professionalism in the media as a whole.

So where have we gone wrong?  Maybe that is not the best choice of questions.  Perhaps we should be asking  "Where did we learn this behavior?"

Yes, it's true that our modern attack dog media is nothing new.  It's easy for us as a society to look on yesteryear with great admiration and long for the golden days of peace and tranquility, which are highly debatable as to whether the good ole days really existed.  It would be nice to live in a world where one political party did not constantly insult the other, but then again if that were the case we just wouldn't be Americans.

The world of the news media has almost always been filled with the cry of one group as they banter against the cause of another.  In ancient Rome political sects used graffiti to embarrass and spread rumors about leaders with whom they disagreed.  Seldom a day went by when a Roman leader wasn't portrayed on a street wall either over invoking his power over the people or shown in a unmorally suggestive manner.

No, this is nothing new.  In fact, it may not be quite as bad as hard is that will be for some to comprehend.  We just happen to live in a time when the news is in our face 24/7.  That is, if we want it to be.

Our modern media has learned from the best of the best.  Our early American ancestor's were masters of the trade of propaganda.  They were some of the best at using nothing more than a cartoon to deliver their message.   Political cartoons in fact helped thrust Colonial America into the revolution and war with Great Britain.

Most men and women of the 1760's, 1770's, and 1780's  picked up their daily papers and found a multitude of blistering reports on their opposition.  They read stories of the economic atrocities taking place across the ocean waves and the corruption in Parliament.  They read how the Seven Years War debt should have been partly born by the colonists.   The mood was set.  People were angry.  They wanted to vent.  They wanted their voices to be heard.

In the world of the late 1700's no facebook or twitter existed.  How were the people to voice their opinions to their fellow man?  Many could not read.  In America, the average age of the population was only 16. Political cartoons became a beacon for the message of their revolutionary spirit.

But just telling the brief story of the Stamp Act or explaining the events of the Boston Massacre were not what political cartoons were all about.  The cartoons were editorial in nature.  Their purpose was one of persuasive measures.  A trend grew through the pen and ink on both sides of the Atlantic.  To show their disgust with certain points, a symbol was born:  the dog.

The dog, whether a hound, a mutt, or one of refinement, was often portrayed hiking his leg over whatever issue the subject of the cartoon happened to be.  What a way to express an opinion!  I am sure it is one everyone could understand.

The cartoons did not stop after the Revolution was over.  In fact they continued on into early American politics.  President after president had to endure the image of a dog urinating on him and the issues in which he supported.

So now in this our time of great anger and confusion throughout the nation when so many people are ready to oust their media outlets and talk about the mud slinging, it may do us good to remember that politics didn't just start being dirty.  It is actually part of our heritage, a right to express, even to exaggerate, our opinions.