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Cartoon showed children a negative image

When on Tuesday, Nov. 15, you chose to print the large-size (and therefore unmissable) editorial cartoon showing Hillary Clinton with horns and labeled “Hillificent,” I was floored.

Children read — or may at least see — your newspaper and would be drawn to a cartoon that shows a fanciful demon they would instantly recognize — Disney’s “Maleficient.” Being children, they might equate Hillary Clinton with a demon.

Could that have been your intent? Demonstrating to children — and susceptible adults — that when we don’t agree politically the people on the other side must be devils? That since God is always on “our” side only Satan could be on the other?

Many of us — myself included — fell victim to this polarizing presidential campaign. I admit when Donald Trump won I was in the half of the American voting public that shook my head in disbelief, grief, and fear.

But Donald Trump is not a devil; he’s a person. Hillary Clinton is a person. An American. We’re all just people trying to make the best decisions we can for a country we love. Part of that is teaching our children to think about issues, listen to and read various viewpoints, and try to choose wisely among them.

I recognize political cartoons often have to be exaggerated to make a point. Some cartoons are good, some not, and it’s the newspaper editor’s job to choose wisely among them.

Demonizing a political opponent, doing so a week after an election, and using an image that would influence children seem like unwise choices to me.

Then again, I could be wrong; I’m a person, too.

Betty Werth

Alpena

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