 mzalen, Wed, July 16th, 2008 They say a punch line is all about timing – that even the slightest pause, a wrong word, or a strange look could kill the whole joke. While I have always known this to be true, never was it demonstrated for me so clearly – and unfortunately – as it was two weeks ago. For those of you who follow the international news, you may remember a certain incident taking place in Jerusalem, Israel at the beginning of this month. But since lots of things happen in Israel, let me refresh your memory: On Wednesday, July 2, an Israeli-Arab construction worker who was involved in the construction of a light-rail system in downtown Jerusalem suddenly commandeered a bulldozer, smashed it through the construction barriers, and drove amuck down the main thoroughfare of the city. According to eyewitnesses at the scene – of which there were many given that the incident occurred during lunch hour – the man purposely aimed the bulldozer at pedestrians and cars. Police, soldiers, and other security guards quickly swarmed in, and within minutes the rampage was over. But not without casualties. By the day’s end, four people – including the construction worker – were dead, and over three dozen were wounded. Clearly Israel is particularly sensitive to an attack of this kind, as the country has been subject to an unusual amount of terrorism and nationalistic violence for the past 60 years. Therefore it should come as no surprise that the event dominated the Israeli media, and that all Israeli citizens – both Arab and Jewish – tuned in and quickly formed an opinion on the matter. Now I’m a cartoonist, not a commentator on current affairs in the Middle East, and I’m not about to use this blog or my comic strip to discuss one of the most controversial conflicts of our time. No, my role is simply to think of funny jokes, put them in boxes, and draw little pictures around them. That’s it. Which is why it came as such a surprise when I suddenly started to receive dozens of letters calling me a tasteless cartoonist who insults the memories of terror victims, and demanding that I issue a public apology. Before I go on, it’s important to note that I normally work many months, and sometimes years in advance of my deadlines. With regards to the Jerusalem Post, an Israel-based English-language paper which prints my cartoon, I am about two months ahead of schedule. So even if I wanted to publish a strip which deals with an actual event – which I don’t, but say I did – I would need the predictive powers of a psychic in order to imagine what would happen in two months, and then create my strip accordingly. However, sometimes things happen which could indirectly affect the way readers perceive my strip. In those previously non-existent cases, I could conceivably ask the newspaper to the pull the scheduled cartoon and replace it with another one. This they would happily do assuming that the paper hadn’t already been sent to press. As fate would have it, at the very hour that a bulldozer was tearing through downtown Jerusalem, tens of thousands of cartoons which featured a man who gets run over by a steamroller were rolling off the press. Two days later that cartoon appeared throughout Israel in the weekend edition of the Jerusalem Post. There’s no point in me trying to explain here how I managed to make light of a man who gets steamrolled; besides, you’ll be reading that strip eventually. Nor will I try to justify the coincidence by emphasizing the difference between a bulldozer and steamroller; regardless, many of the letters sent by angry readers countered any arguments I could hope to make. I’m not sure what other cartoonists do when violence dampens the effect of their cartoons, but the best I could think of was to publish a short statement in which I tried to frame the situation as a horrible coincidence which I sincerely regretted. Regardless, the experience taught me one thing which I feel compelled to pass on. I have always taken pride in my ability to joke about any situation; in fact, it is that talent which I think has most advanced my career as a cartoonist. Of course there was always the occasional critic who would chastise me about my ambivalence towards the feelings of others, but I would just write those people off as humorless. Until last week. Yes, humorless people exist in the world, and yes, there will always be someone who takes offense at a joke that most people find funny. But the fact is, even the best punch lines have their limits. CATEGORY: General Society
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