The issue of offence in drawn communication has reared up again in the United States where a cartoon by Sean Delonas featuring a dead chimpanzee has been used to comment on the passing into law of President’s Obama’s national economic recovery package.

The drawing is causing a degree of outrage because of its real, or imagined, racial undertones. Bloghorn thinks offence or amusement tends to be in the eye of the beholder for every drawing.

UPDATED: A spokescartoonist for the Professional Cartoonists’ Organisation,which runs Bloghorn, said:

Freedom of speech and image production is worth defending, but with this comes a responsibility not to gratuitously offend. Racial stereotypes are a particularly difficult area and can easily appeal to the the ignorant, prejudiced and intolerant.

UPDATED: Friday 20th February. The New York Post, the paper which published the Sean Delonas cartoon has made a formal apology for it. Context to the issue can be found here. Cartoonist Tony Auth has a view here