Oppressive language can be found in nearly any political article, whether it be slamming an opponent or overgeneralizing a foreign population. The language is often so subliminal though that the reader does not even notice it. One of the most widely accepted ways of political oppression is Political cartoons; it was once a popular way of gaining public favor for politicians. Political cartoons are thought to originate from Leonardo de Vinci which later morphed to an easy and efficient way to spread information. Political cartoons more often than not have very little text involved in the pictures themselves; the picture should contain everything it needs to communicate to its viewer visually everything that the author wants the reader to be thinking about. This particular political cartoon, which was made by Chris Britt, has a member of the Catholic Church and an older man in Boy Scout uniform wearing a smug smirk.  

It is notable that the man representing the Catholic Church is much larger; this is a pun on the Church being a bigger organization then the Boy Scout organization. The subject matter is of the recent Boy Scout sex abuse cover up scandal where since 1919 there have been “perversion files” which sex abuse cases were not reported to the police. The older man in the Boy Scout uniform is winking at the other because he managed to evade public notice longer then the Catholic Church was able to. The Church is in envy of how long they were able to keep it under the rug before the world found out.

The fact that there both represented as older men is a huge stereotype, when you think of a molester that is often what you think of. There is no law though that says you have to be over age 50 to commit these acts but this Political cartoon makes it quite blatant to keep the typical American view of a child molester. Another stereotype is that people of the church, specific Catholic Church, are seen as child molesters. While there are cases where men of faith have violated children it is much to overgeneralized, there are plenty of people who are religious who are not like that. People should avoid these stereotypes because it creates a sort of animosity even for people who have nothing in common with the actual offenders, besides that they share the same religion.

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