Cartoonist uses humor as political weapon

Equipped with an oversized Sharpie and a few sheets of blank paper, Joel Pett could launch a hefty hullabaloo that could make a preacher curse. With just a few jolting flicks of his wrist and a vocabulary drenched in sarcasm, Joel Pett, an editorial cartoonist for the Lexington Herald-Leader, stirred political waters Thursday night at his lecture in Eastern's Chautauqua series.

"I get paid to say my own opinions," Pett said. "If you don't like my opinions, that doesn't make us enemies."

The lecture took place in O'Donnell Auditorium of the Student Services Building. The crowd instantly reacted to Pett's blunt wordiness, usually with gasps and hearty laughter.

Pett, who freelanced before joining the Lexington Herald-Leader in 1984, is also a contributing cartoonist for USA Today, a Pulitzer Prize winner for cartooning (2000), winner of the John F. Kennedy Journalism award in 1999 and former president of the Association of American Editorial Cartoonists.

Bruce MacLaren, the Chautauqua series coordinator, listed Pett's achievements in the introduction. Pett didn't seem to take himself too seriously.

"What a load of crap," he said. "Thank you."

Pett said it wasn't until after he realized that people won awards for polka albums that he decided winning a Pulitzer wasn't such a big fiasco.

Pett started his lecture by asking audience members who were planning on leaving early to move to the back of the auditorium. He said it hurt his feelings when he saw people get up and leave.

"I take it personally," Pett said. "And try to contact you later."

At the outset, Pett spoke about this year's Chautauqua theme: freedom, a force against ignorance and tyranny.

"I'm in favor of tyranny," Pett said. "[We should] tyrannize the ignorant."

Pett said ignorant people reproduce like mad. The children of ignorant people should be put up for adoption by the parents, he said, and then be sterilized immediately.

At this point, a few audience members turned three shades of red. Pett covered his sly remark and said he was only kidding.

Pett went on to discuss his drawing career and praised his partner in deliberations-the Sharpie Magnum. "I recommend the Sharpie Magnum Marker," Pett said. "Its big and manly. It's probably the only maker to have the same name as a handgun."

The Sharpie slogan boasts the phrase "Write Out Loud," and Joel Pett seems to follow instructions well. His outrageous personality holds nothing back, and it's evident in his cartoons.

"It's a total privilege to draw cartoons mocking people with which I don't agree," Pett said.

The first caricature he drew was of Ronald Reagan. Pett said that although the nation enshrines Reagan as a great president, he wasn't too fond of him for two reasons.

He said Reagan encouraged people to vote based on their own interests and that he cut off U.S. funding for the United Nations Populations Fund, which encouraged global family planning.

Pett drew a cartoon showing Ronald Reagan as responsible for overpopulation.

"I spent my whole afternoon drawing little Ronald Reagan sperms," Pett said, equipping each with Mr. Reagan's robust head of hair.

Pett said there aren't many countries that would pay you to draw your commander-in-chief as bodily fluids.

He drew a few other former presidents and finally focused on the current president, George W. Bush. He gave him an "ape-like muzzle," no head, and elf ears. The final caricature resembled a gremlin.

Pett said liberals often portray George W. Bush as one of the worst presidents in history. On a brighter note, he said history is not yet over and George W. Bush still has approximately two more months to turn his image around.

Pett ended his lecture by drawing caricatures of the presidential candidates for the upcoming election.

Pett didn't seem to draw Obama with as many sarcastic touches as some of the other politicians, but he gave McCain a round head, lumpy cheeks and vacant, wide-set eyes.

As he drew Sarah Palin, the Republican vice-presidential nominee, he said he hoped this was the only small window of time she would be in public view.

In the last few moments of his talk, Pett showed the audience examples of ads that weren't necessarily supposed to be funny, but accidentally were, like one for "Pot Tarts."

"I'm not familiar with this product," Pett said. "But I did go to college in the '70s."

Pett also shared some of his past cartoons with the audience, dealing with everything from stem-cell research to Joe the Camel.

One very popular cartoon, which Pett drew about three weeks ago, portrayed presidential candidate Barack Obama.

The cartoon, titled "It's nothing racial," depicts Obama with his ankle chained to the back of a red pickup truck that sports a "NOBAMA" bumper sticker. Obama towers over a very short Klansman, who is veiled in a white business suit, holding a whip in his hand.

"People went crazy on me," Pett said. "I wish I had the voicemails to play."

Some of the last cartoons Pett shared showed his softer side. One was in commemoration of the space shuttle Columbia. The other was of Bill Keightley, "Mr. Wildcat," who passed away in March.

"Once or twice a year I'm nice," Pett said.

Stephanie Lynch and Alex Hartwick, both sophomores at Eastern, said they liked Pett's performance.

Lynch said that she liked how Pett described political issues in a humorous manner, even if he was too opinionated at some points.

"If you're not a politically involved person, his lecture was eye-opening," she said.

The next Chautauqua lecture will be on Thursday, Oct. 30 at 7:30 p.m. in the O'Donnell Auditorium of the SSB. Abraham Velez, Ravi Gupta, and Jeffrey Richey will give a lecture titled "Spiritual Freedom in Hinduism, Buddhism and Confucianism.