Aaron McGruder: Esteemed Satirist or Anti-American ‘Punk’?
Thank you for putting Aaron McGruder on the cover of your magazine (“He’s Gotta Fight the Powers That Be,” by Greg Braxton, April 25). It’s about time someone gave him recognition. On C-SPAN I happened to see McGruder giving a speech to a university. For the first time I heard someone publicly voice real concerns about the Bush administration--clearly, intelligently and even humorously. Hearing McGruder gave me renewed faith in the idea of freedom of speech and the possibility of meaningful dissent with a sitting administration.
Simone Seydoux
Los Angeles
*
McGruder is old enough to know that satire that has bite and hits home must be grounded in the truth. Calling Condoleezza Rice a “murderer” is not edgy, it’s not brave and it’s certainly not satire. It’s simply stupid. Although the obvious falsity of it says nothing about Rice, it speaks volumes about 29-year-old-going-on-15 McGruder.
Carl Moore
Lomita
*
I loved the article about McGruder. He follows in a long line of political satirists who point out the truth of the moment (e.g. Mark Twain).
Ken Pace
Laguna Beach
*
McGruder is an excellent example of what an American should be. He speaks out when there are issues with which he disagrees. He isn’t concerned about pleasing any particular part of society. He is the reason we have the 1st Amendment.
Derek Lovett
Torrance
*
We are all entitled to our opinions, but McGruder’s public venue of expression has vaulted his ego onto a plane where fact and opinion blur. Just because he thinks something is true does not make it so.
Martha Siditsky
Simi Valley
*
I’d never heard of this painfully misguided wretch of a “political cartoonist.” I now know far too much. Even more disturbing than this classless, tactless, ignorant punk’s execrations is his laudatory reception by Universal Press Syndicate (which nominated him for the Pulitzer Prize), the ACLU, NAACP and Fox Entertainment President Gail Berman. The Left continues to astound, shock and repulse with its seemingly endless plunge into irrationality, obtuseness, craven viciousness and plain ol’ anti-Americanism.
Nicholas E. Spinner
West Hollywood