Jonathan Shapiro

I see the cartoonist as contributing to the content, being critical, because we do poke holes in some of the dialogue and find new ways of seeing things.

It's to be a person who's able to shoot little arrows into sacred cows and knock politicians off their pedestals, to look out for hypocrisy, advocate for all sorts of things from social justice to peace.

I would think a sense of the absurd is more important for a political cartoonist, because that could define things like a sense of hypocrisy or a sense of the things one has to be skeptical about.

There was a teacher who recognized that I was interested in cartooning and he was great.

Even people that I agree with can do something that would be a target for a bit of humor.

What's much harder is taking on people in your own community.

Primarily I'm a social commentator rather than someone who's out to get the belly laugh.

I try not to change my political point of view from paper to paper.

I eventually saw the satirical nature of caricaturing individuals.

There are certain people within the new government who have a slightly disturbing tendency toward authoritarianism, but there are so many checks and balances that in that way their noises are just noises.

Certainly in cartooning I'm given huge free rein at the moment.

Sometimes I have to compromise my views, but I never compromise on issues like the death penalty and the arm trade laws, despite what the readers or letters may say.