Here’s an article about what happened on the BBC, “Iraqi shoe-thrower ‘was beaten.” Basically, Bush went to speak in Iraq, and at a news conference, a writer threw his shoes at Bush. Now, the guy’s been arrested, and he says he was beaten. The BBC article says there’s evidence he has been beaten… for throwing his shoes at the president.

Now, I think this is a kind of complicated issue. You remember talking about freedom of speech and the Bill of Rights? Well, that is just the U.S. Constitution, of course, but I think freedom of speech is something people everywhere should have. But throwing shoes is violence (kind of) and violence shouldn’t be protected. Should it? Or was it really violence? Here are some questions I had about what happened, to think about:

Is it a bigger crime to throw shoes at a president than at anyone else? Why?

Is the journalist being punished for his political beliefs?

What would have happened if someone had thrown shoes at Saddam Hussein? How would your reaction be different?

Okay, I’ve got a political cartoon, too! By Latuff, an artist in Brazil. Here’s the link to his blog: http://tales-of-iraq-war.blogspot.com/2008/12/pathetic-end-of-bush-era.html

Here’s a GED practice question for you: What’s this cartoon saying about the shoe-throwing incident?

1) The reporter threw his shoe because of something Bush said at the news converence.

2) The reporter represents Iraq’s dislike of Bush, and Iraqis think Bush will go down in history as bad.

3) Iraquis want Bush out of office and into history’s trash, and the reporter thought throwing his shoe would help get Bush out of office.

4) The reporter throwing the shoe was really just a game, like a carnival game where you dunk someone.

5) None of the above.

What do you think? The best answer is 2. The cartoon shows someone labeled “Iraq” throwing a shoe. That means, it’s not just talking about the reporter. It’s talking about the people of Iraq in general. And “Iraq” is throwing Bush into “History’s Trash.” The Iraqis wouldn’t think that throwing the shoe would get Bush out of office sooner (that’ll happen January 20, no matter what). No, throwing Bush in the trash is showing what people think of him. The best answer is 2.

So what do you think of all this? Try to relate it to some of the GED social studies ideas you’ve been studying.

For more information about the GED test and GED test preparation, visit The GED Academy at http://www.passGED.com.

It reads: Woman Devotes Her Time to Gossip and Clothes Because She Has Nothing Else to Talk About. Give Her Broader Interests and She Will Cease to Be Vain and Frivolous.

Now the question:

The cartoonist’s point of view is that:

1) women shouldn’t vote because they’re too frivolous.

2) women will gossip about voting if they’re allowed to vote.

3) giving women more rights will stop gossip and being frivolous.

4) women don’t have time for anything but gossip and clothes.

5) none of the above.

What’d you make of this question? It asks about point of view…that’s one of the things the GED test really wants you to know. How do different people think differently? What’s the person saying when they write or draw something? So, what’s this cartoon say about the cartoonist’s point of view? In other words, what does the writer mean?

The first answer says that women shouldn’t vote because they’re frivolous… that means kind of like silly and not interested in important things. Just interested in gossip and things that aren’t important. The cartoon text says the word “frivolous” and the picture shows the woman gossiping… but the text says “give her broader interests and she’ll cease to be vain and frivolous.” And in the picture, the woman is peaking over the fence, outside her “sphere.” The writer is saying to give women better things to think about, and women will stop being so silly. Well, I don’t know that women were only thinking about clothes and things, but that’s not the point. The point is, that answer 1 doesn’t seem right… the writer seems to want to give women other things to think about, not stop women from voting. See what I mean?

Answer 2 seems wrong, too. The cartoon mentions gossiping, but it seems to really be saying that women only gossip because they’ve got nothing better to do. That’s what answer 3 says…. women need something else to do, so they don’t spend their time gossiping and buying clothes. Well, that’s sort of a backhanded reason to give women the vote! But I guess that was lots of people’s ideas about how women were back then.

I’m sure answer 3 is right. What do you think?

Get going with that GED studying! And remember to think about different people’s points of view.

For more information about the GED test and GED preparation, visit The GED Academy.

So, here’s the GED Practice Question for you. It starts with a political cartoon, a real old one. This is from the Library of Congress, at http://memory.loc.gov/learn/features/timeline/progress/suffrage/cartoon.html

It reads: Woman Devotes Her Time to Gossip and Clothes Because She Has Nothing Else to Talk About. Give Her Broader Interests and She Will Cease to Be Vain and Frivolous.

Now the question:

The cartoonist’s point of view is that:

1) women shouldn’t vote because they’re too frivolous.

2) women will gossip about voting if they’re allowed to vote.

3) giving women more rights will stop gossip and being frivolous.

4) women don’t have time for anything but gossip and clothes.

5) none of the above.

I’ll get you an answer next time!

For more information about the GED test and GED preparation, visit The GED Academy.

There’s a website with new political cartoons every day. Here’s a link:

http://cagle.msnbc.com/politicalcartoons/

If you can figure out what they mean, why they’re funny, then you’ve got a leg up for the GED test. For example, the one for 3/7 (today) from Daryl Cagle is the states of Florida and Michigan as monsters, and a scared donkey. What’s that mean?!? Well, you gotta relate it to the news… a donkey means the democrats… that’s good to know. Also, FYI, an elephant means the republicans. That’s like a little comic code that you just need to learn. And in the cartoon, the donkey’s afraid because Florida and Michigan decided to have primaries early, and so the Democratic Party said their votes for the democratic candidate wouldn’t count. Now the race is real close… and Florida and Michigan could make a BIG difference! That’s the point behind the cartoon.

Here’s another gallery of political cartoons:

http://politicalhumor.about.com/od/politicalcartoons/ig/Political-Cartoons/

Some of the cartoons on the GED might be about the past. Here’s some political cartoons from World War II by…guess who? Dr. Seuss. Yeah, the guy who wrote The Cat in the Hat. He made political cartoons during the war:

http://orpheus.ucsd.edu/speccoll/dspolitic/Frame.htm

Here’s another web page of political cartoons. These are even older, from World War I, and it tells you about the history and asks questions about the cartoons. This is great to help study:

http://rutlandhs.k12.vt.us/jpeterso/uboatcar.htm

Here’s the Library of Congress’s webpage on political cartoons, too:

http://memory.loc.gov/learn/community/cc_pcartoon.php

I think political cartoons are a fun way to learn more about social studies and to study for the GED test. More fun ways to study makes studying easier… and then you’re more likely to do it! So, go study… and make it fun!

For more information about the GED test and GED test preparation, visit The GED Academy at http://www.passged.com.