Twilight of the Assholes is a collection of Kreider’s poitical cartoons from around 2000 until 2008 – or to put it another way, from the Bush years. Each cartoon is accompanied by a short essay in which Kreider reflects on the circumstances surrounding the cartoon and adds any additional insight about its aftermath.
The most surprising aspect of this collection is how it repeatedly references events from over a decade ago that I swore I just read about in yesterday’s news. Kreider notes, for example, that when Bush met Putin, he looked him in the eye and determined that he was straightforward and trustworthy, that he was able to get a sense of his soul. Kreider also writes in 2006 that it was too easy for people to construct their own echo chambers and denounce any opposition as fools or traitors. In 2006! The most serious case of my reverse déjà vu came whenever Kreider comments on global warming. At the time, he asks in exasperation if the Bush administration was the last group on Earth to remain in denial about global warming… er, the answer is no, Mr. Kreider…
This final musing about global warming left me to wonder about how we’ll look back on the era of climate change denial. I’m not quite sure if I think global warming denial is the most evil thing ever done (and neither does Kreider, I suppose, although he does pose the question in those terms). However, history will choose somebody to be the face of climate change denials. I’m betting on whoever ends up being the last high-profile person to take up the position. I suppose it works a lot like speculators flipping shady assets at the height of a bubble – as long as you aren’t the last one in the game, you’ll profit handsomely from allowing someone else to take over your briefly held position.
