The Use Of Metaphors In Political Cartoons: The 2008 Financial Crisis

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The financial crisis of 2008 occurred due to a number of complicated financial actions taken by bankers and wall street financiers paired with a deregulated system that allowed for the actions to be taken in the first place. The average American lacks familiarity with financial and economics jargon, therefore, this prohibits them from fully comprehending the financial crisis and what led to it. Horner’s piece investigates the terminology and metaphors used in public discourse to describe the governmental bailout and the financial crisis in the ten days leading up to the congress vote on The Emergency Economic Stabilization Act. Bounegru and Forceville's piece examine’s the use of metaphors in political cartoons regarding the global financial …show more content…

However, the real life implications regarding this simplified and skewed understanding are not discussed. The financial crisis as a natural disaster disseminates the idea that the crisis was not preventable and lacked direct human causes. This shifts blame and accountability away from the individuals and system that created the financial climate that eventually had to crash. Thus, making it harder for the average person to understand why certain changes should be made within our neoliberal capitalist system, and also quieting angry claims for greedy and shady bankers to be held accountable. Metaphors are a powerful way to disseminate ideas, but when these ideas cripple the populations factual understanding of an event metaphors can become problematic. They cause changes in understanding that hinders the call for progress and changes to our system that should come as a reaction to the 2008 financial …show more content…

This metaphor utilized by the government when pushing for a financial bail out, and circulated around the globe in political cartoons has real life consequences. By convincing the general public that the government, bankers and the capitalist system are not to blame for the crash hinders pushes from the general public for any progressive changes to be made. The crash happened due to a lack of government regulations coupled with greedy bankers who thrive within the capitalist system. If the blame is placed elsewhere, it will be harder to convince the general public that stronger financial regulations must be put in place to stop this from occurring again. As we know, bankers who played a strong role in the crash often got huge bonuses and kept their jobs, this metaphor as it takes the responsibility off of the bankers, can explain why the average person may not be completely outraged by this fact. Metaphors easily convey complicated concepts, however, they can have real life consequences. The real life consequences of circulating the financial crisis as a natural disaster through metaphors are left out of Horner and Bounegru and Forceville’s

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