Political Cartoon

I found this political cartoon on the website for the Committee for Countering Military Recruitment (http://www.countermilitary.org/WhoWeAre/index.html). They are a site that aims to educate America's youth and the reality of military recruitment because they feel that students are often undereducated by military recruiters--especially in low-income and rural areas. This committee aims to advocate against joining the military, and pursuing other options like attending college directly after high school.

In this cartoon, the person on the left dressed in military garb is speaking to the graduate, saying, "I figure it's easier to find a war than a job these days." The cartoon is a clear retaliation not only to the military in general, but specifically to the message military recruiters are sending to America's youth. As a viewer of the cartoon, my assumption is that recruiters are sending the message that joining the army is the best option for recent graduates, especially due to the current state of the economy, where job insecurity prevails. How this cartoon is decoded clearly depends on one's personal beliefs about the current war. As a person who is against the current war, I decode the image as depressing that anybody is receiving this message about the military and choosing to go to war over getting an education because they feel that is their only option--and considering the web site I found this cartoon on, I believe that to be the way the message was encoded.

However, if someone is pro-war, or has a close friend or family member going to war or choosing this option, they may not see the message in the way it was meant to be decoded. They may see it as the truth--that it is easier to find a war than a job, and that it is the most viable option for young people. After all, the degree-holding graduate on the right is the silent person in the cartoon, even looking sheepish in his cap and gown. It is the military man who has a gun, is active in the cartoon, and looks as if he has a plan. He, too, is holding a degree after all. Despite what I believe to be the aim of the cartoon, it is reasonable that it would be interpreted differently by someone with a differing political stance than myself.