{"id":521781,"date":"2018-02-12T09:15:33","date_gmt":"2018-02-12T16:15:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/?p=521781"},"modified":"2018-02-15T00:01:09","modified_gmt":"2018-02-15T07:01:09","slug":"on-political-cartoons-civility-and-why-you-should-support-nmpolitics-net","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/2018\/02\/on-political-cartoons-civility-and-why-you-should-support-nmpolitics-net\/","title":{"rendered":"On political cartoons, civility and why you should support NMPolitics.net"},"content":{"rendered":"

COMMENTARY:\u00a0<\/strong>We at NMPolitics.net value respectful discourse. In our reporting, the guest commentaries we publish, and in our social media discussions, we aim to cut through the mud and crud of these times we\u2019re living in to find common ground and a path forward.<\/span><\/p>\n

Key to that is treating everyone with dignity \u2013 be they ranchers, including a New Mexican, who occupied a wildlife refuge with guns, or immigrants living here without legal status.<\/span><\/p>\n

So we reject labels like \u201cterrorists,\u201d which some called the ranchers, and \u201cillegals,\u201d which too many people call immigrants who don\u2019t have legal status.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Heath

Heath Haussamen<\/p><\/div>\n

When people act from a place of desperation, like the ranchers who chose to make a stand or immigrants who risk everything to cross our border, they deserve to be heard. In my experience, such people have points of view that are enlightening and worthy of consideration.<\/span><\/p>\n

The spaces where people with different backgrounds and views can gather to find common ground are shrinking. The news media has a choice \u2013 help foster bridge-building conversation or fan the flames of division that are tearing at the very fabric of our society.<\/span><\/p>\n

That\u2019s why it was so disappointing to see the Albuquerque Journal recently choose to run an editorial cartoon<\/span><\/a> that demonized dreamers while also taking a cheap shot at Democrats. The image<\/a> shows three men \u2013 two MS-13 gang members and an apparent Islamic terrorist \u2013 holding up a white couple. The white man says to the woman, \u201cNow honey\u2026 I believe they prefer to be called \u2018dreamers\u2019\u2026 or future Democrats.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The Journal issued a half-apology, half-defense<\/span><\/a> of the thinking behind running the cartoon and said maybe the cartoon was poking fun at the white couple.<\/span><\/p>\n

It wasn\u2019t. It was a racialized and negative message about non-white people.<\/span><\/p>\n

The folks who make decisions about what appears on the Journal\u2019s editorial pages chose to promote the labeling of a class of young people who came to the United States illegally through no choice of their own, and know only this country as their home, as some of the worst criminals in our society. In doing so, they gave credence to the false rhetoric of the president and his most extremist supporters.<\/span><\/p>\n

The days when Washington politicians from both sides of the political aisle worked to find a realistic and humane solution to our immigration issues appear to be behind us, at least for the time being. We\u2019re left with a circus in our nation\u2019s capital.<\/span><\/p>\n

But in New Mexico we know better. At least most of us do. Unfortunately, those who opted to publish this cartoon don\u2019t appear to know better.<\/span><\/p>\n

This isn\u2019t a Journal-bashing note. The newspaper’s reporters, who are separate from those working on its editorial pages, have done amazing work since that cartoon was published, fairly reporting under immense pressure on a very serious crisis for their employer. That\u2019s no surprise. They often do great work for New Mexico. I\u2019m sympathetic to the difficulty this situation creates for them.<\/span><\/p>\n

I read the Journal regularly, and I\u2019m not going to stop.<\/span><\/p>\n

But the Journal\u2019s editorial pages are clearly a problem. I\u2019ve called out its editorial board before<\/span><\/a> for defending the Martinez administration\u2019s falsehoods about freezing Medicaid funding in 2013 and enabling the governor\u2019s behavioral health tragedy.<\/span><\/p>\n

Now this. It\u2019s telling and sad that the Journal\u2019s editorial board thought a cartoon that promoted false and damaging racial stereotypes had any place on its editorial pages.<\/span><\/p>\n

Journalists should be prophetic. It\u2019s our role to stand against the cancer that is consuming this nation \u2013 dark money, divisiveness, false characterizations and narratives.<\/span><\/p>\n

That\u2019s what we aim to do at NMPolitics.net. We\u2019ve rejected commentaries, quotes and comments that call ranchers terrorists, Trump supporters racists and deplorables, LGBTQ folks pedophiles, millennials lazy and immigrants illegals, among others.<\/span><\/p>\n

NMPolitics.net needs your support to keep doing this work. We don\u2019t require a subscription to read our articles. We believe you should have access to news and information about your government regardless of your ability to pay. In exchange, we ask that you take on the responsibility of giving what you can afford.<\/span><\/p>\n

It could be $5 per month or $50. It could be a one-time donation of $25 or $500. Give something to a news organization that is working to combat the false narratives and division, one that is helping society find its way through these troubled waters to a healthier and more prosperous time.<\/span><\/p>\n

You can donate by clicking here<\/span><\/a>. <\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a1<\/span>Mil Gracias!<\/span><\/p>\n

\n
\n

Heath Haussamen<\/a>\u00a0is NMPolitics.net\u2019s editor and publisher.\u00a0Agree with his opinion? Disagree? We welcome your views. Learn about submitting your own commentary\u00a0here<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Donate to a news organization that is working combat false narratives and division.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":383420,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1192,10],"tags":[3268,137,143],"class_list":["post-521781","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-commentary","category-haussamen-columns","tag-journalism","tag-news-about-this-site","tag-race-and-ethnicity"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/521781","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=521781"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/521781\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/383420"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=521781"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=521781"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/nmpolitics.net\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=521781"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}