To the Editor:

During this holiday season, someone posted a cartoon on the Berne Republican Party Facebook page.  The cartoon appears to rename Mt. Rushmore — United States Park Service National Memorial — using a lewd pun denoting sexual assault.

It replaces the images of the father of our country, the author of the Declaration of Independence, the martyred Republican who ended slavery, and America’s most progressive president with those of four other men.

The first three include a man who raped children internationally on an industrial scale, and two others who are currently imprisoned after forcibly raping numerous women.

The fourth image appears to be that of President-elect Joe Biden wearing an imaginary hat emblazoned with the motto “Make China Great Again.” Biden’s inclusion apparently attempts to imply that the president-elect is associated with rape, child rape, and treason.

Although the cartoon itself appears to be a hilarious, stand-alone mockery of the president-elect, the person who posted it on the Berne Republican Page site makes it even funnier by including the legend:  “What Switzkill Farms (sic) may become if Democrats had their way.”

Do you see what this clever person did? Not only does the national cartoon mock Biden, but the localized adaptation now associates the person’s neighbors and fellow residents of the town with sexual assault on children and unconscious women! Really, what could be funnier? How very foolish this makes the person’s disagreeable neighbors appear!

This approach may seem at first to be a little rough, or even crude, but it should be excused for two reasons:

— 1. It is all in good fun and people should have senses of humor; and

— 2. The threat that Switzkill Farms (sic) presents to our culture, history, and way of life is so horrible that it justifies extreme measures, as unpleasant as they may be sometimes.

The person who posted the cartoon and the person in charge of the Berne Republican Facebook page are probably sorry that it used up all the room and prevented them from saying what they really wanted to say, something like:

At the end of a hard, hard year, the Berne Republican Party wishes for every resident of the town, for every one of our neighbors and all of their loved ones, a new year that will be healthy, happy, and productive. No matter our various beliefs and positions, we are all here united in our love for our beautiful town and our concern for one another. Best wishes for the holiday season and the New Year from the Berne Republican Party.

But instead, there was no room, and they hope we like the cartoon.

Karen Schimmer

Berne

Editor’s note: Karen Schimmer, a Democrat, did not seek re-election to the Bene Town Board last November. She has served as the board’s liaison to Switzkill Farm.