By Arun Kumar,IANS
Washington : An American cartoonist has taken a dig at US media and Republican presidential hopeful Mike Huckabee, who won the party’s first caucus in Iowa, by likening him to a fundamentalist Hindu.
“Today’s cartoon responds to the generally respectful tone accorded Mike Huckabee, who does not believe in evolution and is therefore, by definition, a lunatic,” says Ted Rall, whose work appears in about 100 US newspapers, on his blog.
The first panel asking, “What if Mike Huckabee were a Fundamentalist Hindu?” has Huckabee, a former Arkansas governor and a Baptist preacher, in a TV studio with ‘Decision 2008 BC’ in the backdrop. He is telling the anchor: “I believe in traditional cosmology. The earth is held up by four elephants, which stands on a turtle, which is balanced on a cobra. Obviously.”
The next panel suggests, “Commentators would give his beliefs a fair hearing.” It shows a female commentator saying: “Feminist extremists are attacking Huckabee – just because he wants his wife to leap into his funeral pyre!” To which her male counterpart responds: “He is running for president, not professor of women’s studies!”
Rall then surmises, “His affable personality and weight loss skills would be enough to convince voters” in a panel showing a voter telling a reporter:
“He exudes optimism. He’s witty. So what if he recoils in horror at the human waste that are the untouchables?”
If Huckabee indeed makes it to the White House, the cartoonist suggests in the last panel, “Anyone who called him a lunatic would be out of bounds”.
It shows Huckabee sitting in the oval office with the US flag on one side and a framed “Om” sign on the other saying in a broadcast to the nation:
“My fellow Americans, the earthquake was caused by the shifting of the great cobra. Please join me in a ritual chant.”
The cartoon drew some early comments from a few Indian American with one ‘PS’ saying: “I will groan if this blows up into a controversy. We Indians, especially Indians abroad, need to get a life and along with it, a sense of humour.”
“Even though it is cartoon and treat it like that, still it gives an impression that Hindu fundamentalists believe in whatever stated therein,” responded Mukesh.
“I’m Hindu and I have no idea what the ‘Great Cobra’ is. I think this only emphasises on how much white journalists know about Hinduism,” said Vivek. “So in my opinion, the jokes not on Huckabee or Hinduism. It’s on Ted Rall.”