Pulitzers Are No Surprise

The Pulitzer Prizes were announced yesterday, and there are some noteworthy winners. You should check out them out. (I am no URL genius, so this link only takes you to the cover page. Follow the "What's New" tag.)

Of interest to me are the winners for commentary, Nicholas Kristof of The New York Times, and editorial cartooning, Mike Luckovich of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

I am not a Kristof fan, since I believe he is essentially (and virulently) anti-Catholic. That, of course, is my opinion, rendering me unsuitable, I realize, for the plaudits of the Pulitzer committee. I have read his work and I am not impressed. It is sad that a man can be awarded for being so often wrong. But his Africa commentary is quite moving: I cannot cast aspersions at him for his passion. I disagree with him, I am sure, on how evils are to be overcome, or what causes such evils in the first place. We even agree that there are indeed awful things in the world. I just think that some of his commentaries are among the awful things.

And then there is the snide (which is to be expected from a cartoonist) and mean-spirited work of Mr. Luckovich. You should look at his award-winning cartoons posted at the Pulitzer site. They are revealing.

What breaks the heart is that in the cultural climate of self-righteousness and its attendant divisiveness in which we find ourselves, Luckovich is rewarded for dividing the country even more. For there is nothing intrinsically charitable about his works; nor is there anything that one might describe as "bridge-building" or conducive to dialogue. I admit that cartooning is an easy and safe place to lob cheap shots; I can accept that the definition of political cartooning is precisely to be distant, aloof and even arrogant (a charge that can be brought against blogging, no doubt). But the "snarkiness" of Mr. Luckovich is justified not merely by this award; it is justified by the very conceit of his medium: It is easy to be right, and superior, in the reductionism of a cartoon.

I will say that Todd Heisler's award for feature photography is true reward for fantastic and deeply moving images. In fact, I found myself getting teary while looking at the picture of a wife sleeping next to her husband's military coffin. But when I think of the Hurricane Katrina event, the worst weather disaster in American history (perhaps), it is hard to accept that Heisler's images trump that disaster, though the Breaking News Photography award did go to Katrina photographers. Surely there are feature photography series that address that tragedy, too. Why did Heisler's series win? It takes no expertise to determine why: They are powerful images indeed, but the political insinuations are vibrantly obvious. I hope you'll take a few minutes to look at his award-winning portfolio.

Peace.

©Bill Gnade 2006/Contratimes - All Rights Reserved.

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