Judge — March 2, 1918 — page 4: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

This Judge magazine cartoon satirizes anti-war sentiment during World War I. The caption introduces "Willie Bonehead," a pacifist who considers patriotism "tedious." The nightmare depicts his punishment: he's forced to dance uncontrollably to every note of "The Star-Spangled Banner" while a woman—who rejected him for being a "slacker" (draft-dodger)—plays the national anthem on piano. The satire mocks pacifists as cowardly and unmanliness, contrasting their opposition to the war with patriotic duty and romantic desirability. The dancing compulsion represents his inability to escape patriotic obligations. This reflects early-WWI American attitudes viewing draft resistance as dishonorable and unpatriotic, worthy of public ridicule.