From cartoonist Clay Jones about ‘Greater Threat Than ISIS,’ climate change, and proposing solutions to problems at home
Ever since Obama said climate change is a greater threat than ISIS, conservatives have been giving him a lot of grief. The thing is, he’s right.
Stating the threat of climate change doesn’t discount the real danger ISIS poses. The dangers of climate change will last centuries. It can devastate cities and populations. I know we don’t like to think long term, especially at the cost of profit, but this is something that can’t be ignored. The problem is, we have to think intelligently, and as a culture, we’re not really that smart. Half of us can’t grasp the difference between climate and weather. Climate change is also a lot more difficult to combat than terrorism. You can’t drop bombs on it or put a reward on its head.
This doesn’t mean we should ignore terrorism. Terrorism is another problem we have to deal with, but groups of Jihadists are not going to last as long as our climate. ISIS doesn’t even pose the most risks to us in the form of terrorism. You’re more likely to die from someone born in the United States who is not a Muslim and doesn’t give a crap about Palestine or Allah. Yet half of us only want to focus on Islam. It’s easier to hate bad guys who don’t look like us. They’re also organized and even have a flag. That gives us a target. Domestic terrorists are not as organized. They tend to work alone, and if they wave a flag, it’s the Gadsden or Confederate flag which just confuses everybody.
We need to focus on what’s more dangerous. That includes the climate. It also includes domestic terrorists and our proliferation of guns. Let’s put politics aside and forget the color, religion, and race of the terrorists. Let’s talk about it. Let’s propose solutions. Half of us won’t even acknowledge there is a crisis and fight any effort to make it more difficult for bad guys to buy guns.
I agree with conservatives that the president’s comments that ISIS was a JV team were pretty stupid and a sign he underestimated them. But he’s right about climate change. You can continue to mock him for it, but you’re laughing at him for being smarter than you. That makes you pretty stupid.
I had fun drawing this cartoon since I’m from Louisiana. I took a few creative liberties, the first being that Katrina happened before Obama’s presidency and the water has since lowered. The other liberty is the ability to see the Superdome from Bourbon Street. Yeah, it’s less than two miles from the French Quarter, but you can’t really see it from the street. I especially had fun drawing the balconies and the assorted colors of some of the houses and buildings in the Big Easy. Now I just made myself homesick.
