False equivalence on Confederate statues and Mideast terrorists

Aug. 29 Nate Beeler editorial cartoon.

I was dismayed by your decision to run a political cartoon that equated the removal of Confederate statues with the Taliban’s destruction of the 1,700-year-old Buddha statues in Afghanistan and the Islamic State’s destruction of 2,000-year-old Palmyra artifacts in Syria. This is a false equivalence on many counts, but I will focus on two.

First, removing a 100-year old statue from a pedestal is not the same as dynamiting relics from antiquity and grinding them into dust. Second, it is lazy and inappropriate to compare either side of a domestic policy disagreement to history’s worst actors. This cartoon is just as offensive as posters of Bush or Obama with a Hitler mustache.

The Post undoubtedly has a constitutional right to voice its opinion. But if demonization of one side is how The Post chooses to wade into this or any policy debate, then you have failed in your mission to promote civil discourse. ●●●

The cartoon comparing the destruction of religious and ancient artifacts by terrorist organizations to the desire by many Americans to have Confederate statues and names taken down by what the cartoon categorizes as “leftist mobs” is really nothing more than sympathizing with racists and history deniers who refuse to understand how deeply this is felt by many who were the subject of oppression in the South. Religious and ancient artifacts have absolutely no resemblance in history to these reminders of oppression.