The snake pit

Forget long-suffering Uncle Sam, bloated capitalists or public trough-feeding porkers. Surely the most maligned creature ever wood-cut, etched or Photoshopped into cartoons is the snake. Since Ben Franklin graphically dissected the first hapless serpent -- in what is widely accepted as this nation’s first editorial cartoon -- there’s been no political problem, looming threat, sectarian rift or malfeasance that we haven’t metaphorically ascribed to some scaly snake in the grass. As we see here, virtually every aspect of Mideast politics is better understood through snake imagery.

Now, I’m all for demonizing public serpents, and would never suggest driving the snakes out of satireland, but what about equal time? Among myriad images of temptation, sin, deception, menace and death, I’ve yet to see the first cartoon depicting the snake kindly, or acknowledging its historical link with fertility, religion, sexuality, healing or spiritual enlightenment. That’s right, enlightenment -- all snakes aren’t security risks, and some may even be victims of reptilian profiling.

But to cartoonists, they’ll always be plain old evildoers.