Tribune cartoon castrates public employees
Be offended by the word castration. The Tribune editorial cartoon demonstrates that the entire so-called pension crisis is/was never about pensions. The editorial cartoon was meant to offend and humiliate you.
Yesterday the Democratic controlled super-majority Illinois state legislature voted to cut pensions for active and retired teachers and other public employees. The cartoon depicts a spike collared dog with a cone around its head and the euphemism “Fixed” as the cartoon title. The collar is labeled with “Pension Reform” on it. The tag on the dog’s collar is labeled specifically “AFSCME” but the editorials on the page are more about teachers than any other public employees. (AFSCME is the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees.)
This cartoon is way beyond offensive. It is an act of psychological humiliation that reduces people to tamed domestic animals that have been slashed into a submissive and harmless state by castration. The legislation itself is anti-teacher, anti-public employee, anti-public