WHAT, ME WORRY?

    Probably the largest gathering of people ever in Paris took place this past Sunday . The horrific attempts at censorship via assassination have struck a nerve with the European population like nothing else in recent memory.

Bertrand Guay via Getty Images

  Social and political satire is as old as our oldest civilizations. When one thinks of the brutality of rule in most major powers in world history, it is amazing that some individuals had the courage to question and/or poke fun in any of these eras. 

The French have a rich history of this. A historian and philosopher in the 18th century who went by the pen name of Voltaire, gave us a quote still often used today.

Englishman James Gillray was a highly skilled caricaturist who produced in 1805 a political cartoon often deemed the most famous of all time. It portrays Prime Minister William Pitt and Napoleon carving up the world for themselves as if it were their meal.

When I was an art student, I was introduced to the works of the French artist Honore' Daumier. He was an accomplished painter and sculptor who often portrayed the activities of the common people. He also excelled at drawings and etchings. He joined the staff of a satirical publication called La Caricature, which led him to be imprisoned for 6 months for his political cartoon titled Gargantua, which depicted King Louis Philippe.

Daumier's imprisonment did not slow down his expressions about the society he lived in.
In 1834 his Past, Present, and Future was published, again pointed at King Philippe.

Also the same year, he expressed his vision of the battle for a free press in France, titled Don't Meddle With the Press, showing an angry citizenry and troubled monarch.

In my life, I first became aware of satire thanks to my brother, who is eight years older than myself. When I was a young girl, my brother used to buy Mad Magazine. When he wasn't around, I would sneak into his bedroom and look through them. I was amazed and delighted at the caricatures of famous people, and the funny things that the magazine had them do and say. Though at first glance that publication seems like just an outlet for smarty pants boys, even this silly form of satire expresses commentary upon our times.

Begun in 1952, the publishers of this magazine are still commenting to this day, still using the iconic innocent trouble maker image of character Alfred E. Neuman.

Today the bountiful world of satire includes art, literature, music, film and tv. But we have recently learned that these are not to be taken for granted. Am I worried? No. Maddened by evolving events? Yes.