The Art Of Politics: September — Bowing Down To Our AI Overlords
by Richard Bruton
The political cartoonists, a class apart, skewering the powerful and political with a skill all their own. And it’s their work we celebrate in The Art of Politics.
The good ol’ US of A, dominated, but of course, by the ravings of the Trump …
Seemingly insistent on turning everything he touches into a garish shade of gold, and obsessed with slapping his name on everything, or labelling everything America, Trump had a particularly Trumpy month in September.
Morten Morland on Trump’s empty promises (not to mention unconstitutional) of $5k for any voter putting their X by Republicans in the midterms ….
And talking of unconstitutional, there was Trump’s decision to ban those members of the press corps he took umbrage with …
Dave Rowe on that
And Clay Bennett …
The 25th anniversary of 9/11 was commemorated across the country …
Trump also rolled out the red carpet for Chinese leader Xi Jinping, a man surely laughing his head off when Trump referred to their ‘truly great friendship.’
And headed to the UN, where the assembled world leaders were less than impressed …
And of course, there’s still that small matter of the war with Iran. Remember how this was meant to be over in days? Months later, and the economy of the US is being tanked by it …
Great Britain — new hope, or just another in the revolving door of promise much, deliver austerity?
Prime Minister Andy Burnham settled into his new role. Ella Baron summed it all up quite perfectly … three times …
And here’s her second … Ella Baron
And her third — Ella Baron …
Ben Jennings on Burnham’s pledge to fix social care …
And Ben Jennings again on his mooting the idea of rejoining the European Union in some form…
He also headed to the UN, and a meeting with good old Donald … Ella Baron on that …
… and Ben Jennings …
The RAF Fairford thing…
Five men arrested near RAF Fairford in Gloucestershire, and then released on police bail, followed by more arrests and releases. All that was found in their vans was a can of petrol. It could be something more; of course it could. But right now, the investigation is ongoing. That didn’t stop Trump from telling the world that he knew all about it. Presumably, that meant it was Trump who coordinated the early risers and dog walkers ringing in their concerns, which led to the investigation.
Meanwhile in Britain, the stink of Farage lingers …
Well, Nigel Farage is back in Parliament, meaning all those Parliamentary inquiries can start up again looking into the distinctly dodgy ways he and Reform UK get their money.
And completely unrelated (yeah, sure) to Farage and his far-right ilk, Britain saw an outbreak of balaclava-donning protestors over the month, spouting their calls of ‘Stop the boats,’ and even turning their hate onto the Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI), whose sole purpose is for their volunteers to go out into dangerous seas to rescue people in danger. Yet the supporters of Reform UK came out and labelled them traitors for picking up a few migrants at risk of dying. Scum really doesn’t begin to cover it, does it?
Bow down before our AI overlords…
Lots this month concerning the rise of AI and datacentres. Obviously, anyone reading comics should rail against the use of generative AI for ‘creative’ use. It is theft of existing comic artists’ artwork, pure and simple. I’ll never knowingly post anything AI-generated here. It’s pure slop, theft on a grand scale. But in the wider world, it’s also potentially something that could go rogue very quickly with disastrous effects. In fact, it has already proven to have the capability of going rogue. Oh, if only there were hundreds of examples of speculative fiction in film, TV, comics, and fiction that we could point to that warn people.
Ben Jennings mixing AI with the new exhibition of the Bayeaux Tapestry in London…
Ben Jennings on the tech bros talking of the potential dangers …
