Cartoon Analysis Brexit

Alternativer Bildtext:

of immigrants additionally to a tornado of economic failure, are crashing into the ship from its right side, the people standing on the left side of it, are facing an attack of political correctness by a shark which is willing to have the next person going overboard for its next meal of the day. Additionally to all of that, the scene is overshadowed by the dark clouds in the sky, forecasting troubled times on the water. And lastly, to make the doom of the ship unavoidable, the cartoonist installed a debt anchor in the front of ship, which is getting the vessel down a huge water fall. The chaotic scene is depicted by several pictorial objects and persons. Starting in the back of the ship, the cartoon shows two globalists, firing a cannonball towards the abandoning ship of the UK. However, in spite of, the short distance, the bomb unsuccessfully lands in the placid water. Furthermore, a little more upfront, another cannon, labelled with the word "diversity" is being used to shoot a hole into the centre of the vessel. As a consequence, a spurt of ocean water is spouting out of the leak into the air. And while sailors like the one with the diversity gun are destroying their own property, three men, dressed all in white, with long beards and long noses are plundering the ship, harassing a mermaid who is trying to hide at the very front of the ship sexually and last but not least forcing a blond, white man holding the flag of Sweden to go overboard into the revolver dentition of the shark of political correctness. On the contrary of the mess happening in the back of the ships deck, the captain, who stands for Brussels bureaucrats, is standing in the middle of the whole pandemonium, dressed up as a clown whilst peacefully whistling with closed eyes to himself, despite of taking any actions. Although the situation described in the front of the deck is just as chaotic as the one in the back of the deck. After all, additionally, to a treasure box marked with the word "taxes", a man representing Greece is throwing up over the ceiling whilst another one is being tangled by red tape which symbolises the European regulations. And finally, as everything is falling apart, the ship has still hauled in sails and Angela Merkel is standing on the observation platform guiding the ship by fanatically calling out for more immigrants in angrily sounding German. The message of the cartoonist lies in the contrast between the chaotic and doomed situation on top of the Europeans deck and the abandoning ship of the United Kingdom towards the sun. Having the setting on the ocean, Ben Garrison wants to remind us of the days of colonisation when Britain was the ruling sea power of the world. That again shows that Britain does not need the European Union to have a bright future ahead of it. Quiet on the contrary, by leaving the EU, the situation of the UK will become better again, just as it has been in the past, when Britain was the most powerful country in the world. So, for that reason, the ship is now, due to the outcome of the referendum sailing towards the sun, leaving its dark days in the EU behind and letting the doom of the European Union happen without itself. Furthermore, the cartoonist criticizes European Immigration politics and with that he also takes up one of the most discussed argument beforehand the elections. In conclusion he has a critical attitude against the idea of diversity and he thinks that Europe is committing self-harm because of its immigration policies. These force every member of the EU including Britain so far to admit all EU citizens or immigrants from so called unsafe origins wanting to move to the UK, whether or not they have good job prospects or English skills. Additionally the EU does not considerate the consequences for the member states for example the United Kingdom. These include more criminal activities namely, sexual harassments, smaller wages for Britons, scarce public services, the loss of safety and high immigration costs. All of these aspects are illustrated by the white dressed men and the sailor shooting a hole into his own ship. In addition to the immigration crises the EU has to face multiple other crises which are attacking its long built up system. To address every one of them, Garrison drew different pictorial elements attacking the sinking European ship. One of them states the tornado of economic failure. It represents the economic crises surrounding the EUs currency. In 2008 an economy crises hit the whole world, including the EU. Especially for countries which had adapted the Euro, the times were though, due to rising unemployment rates. Following the crises, many economists started to believe that the Eurozone could only work properly, if the EU would establish a common welfare system to be able to send better help to countries such as Greece which are still suffering under the long passed financial crises. For that reason the cartoonist drew a man symbolising Greece who is throwing up. Generally speaking, he firstly thinks that these poorer countries are getting the whole currency to fail and with the currency the buying power of each member state. Secondly, not only it might be better for the UK to leave the EU to protect their economy, but for the EU since that would clear the path for the rest of the EU to become a unified European state. However, after all, Brussels bureaucrats and the European politicians seem to just care about politics which are not only fanatic and causing self-harm, like the immigration politics of Angela Merkel for instance, but which are also ridiculously strict. As an example the cartoonist takes on the EUs regulations which are symbolised by a man hanging from the mast while being strangled by red tape. The red tape hereby stands for the dominating European bureaucracy which had been criticised by several conservative politicians such as Boris Johnson beforehand the referendum. Namely since companies and inhabitants are strangled so much by these ridicules restrictions that they are, due to Johnson not able to work and exist in a proper way. As an example for some strict regulations Johnson had named the prohibition to recycle teabags or the fact that children under eight are not allowed to blow up balloons. Another icon stressing the strict European restrictions in the cartoon embodies the shark of political correctness. He is closely connected with the criticism of the EUs regulations. However by choosing the symbolic of a shark Garrison also takes the fact that the European Union, including the member states, is impairing itself, into account. Consequently, he refers to Gove another conservative politician who had argued that these absurd EU regulations cost the British economy 600 pounds per week. And last but not least Ben Garrison also addressed the annual contributions of the member states to the central EU budget by putting a closed treasure box labelled with the word "taxes" on top of the deck. This treasure box messages that even if the member states send some money to the EU, the money is not used in a proper way to improve the EUs situation. As a result, it would be better for the UK to just keep its annual contributions and have the parliament decide what to spend it on therewith the population can be sure that its money is beneficial to themselves. In my opinion the cartoon is very detailed and therefore succeeds to express its message in a very simple and clear way. Moreover the cartoon takes all the considerable arguments pro Brexit into account and illustrates them in a clearly recognizable way. However I cannot share the cartoonist's opinion because firstly I firmly believe that the cartoonist missed the most important argument pro a Bremain. And that is the peace in Europe which is ensured for over 70 years now due to the European Union, likewise the peace between Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland. Because only thanks to the EU and its free trade agreements it has been super easy to ensure the peace between the two neighbours without having to put up new laws and compromises which could lead to new heated debates. Second of all there is no doubt in my mind that thanks to how the Brexit negotiations have been so far, there will no be such thing as a sunny bright future for Britain. So far many companies have already left the UK, shortening Britain's incoming taxes and jobs. Additionally since the EU and the UK cannot seem to agree on a final compromise the so called hard Brexit is starting to become more likely every day which furthermore means that the UK will lose their benefit of all European free trade agreements. That, in conclusion will lead to a massive decrease of economy for the UK. Thus, I do not believe that the picture of the abandoning ship of the UK towards the sun is very realistic. And lastly I cannot seem to find common ground with the cartoonist's opinion on the immigration crises of the EU. That is due to the fact that the cartoonist's point of view is based on a racial picture which only represents a minority of immigrants coming to Europe. That is because as far as I am able to judge, not all immigrants are criminals or plunderer. Additionally most people living in the UK today have been immigrants once in their live. Besides, the UK does benefit from its multiculturalism in factors such as tourism or its public finances. So in conclusion the point of immigration addressed by the cartoonist is totally and completely lost on me. Generally speaking I respect the cartoonists point of view however as far as I am able to judge and the negotiations between Europe and the UK has been going I personally think that the cartoons message that it is advantageous for Britain to leave the EU is not completely right and fully thought through.