Show Me Your Papers: The Political Cartoons of Lalo Alcaraz

I had mixed feelings about this presenter. To me I found it odd that this guy was a political cartoonist, given that he had little to no understanding of politics. Instead of creating awareness, all of his work was filled with divisive hatred and misdirected anger. I say misdirected because all of his works sought to blame one man for the social stratifications that effect the people of the world. Blaming this one man for social disparities that existed long before the new president took office. With this little understanding in the causes that have led to the events that are unfolding today, I believe his work is doing much more harm than good. Especially considering he has a huge social platform in which he is operating within (The New York Times). It’s scary to think that he has a huge demographic that he has been given influence over. I believe he is detrimental to the unity of this country.

I had the opportunity to meet with him the next day in a private lesson in room 115 of the Fine Arts building. We all got to make our own political cartoon which he then presented to the rest of the room. After reading my political cartoon, he seemingly liked what I had to say. However, later on when I passed him on campus he gave me a dirty look. That is because my cartoon actually addressed the real reasons of disparity and discussed the actual complications of illegal immigration as well as legal immigration. I didn’t learn much from him in the terms of the field of Animation. However, I did learn of what not to do if and when I ever have the opportunity to influence a large group of people for the better.