The Wasp — 1896 — page 100: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

This political cartoon satirizes wartime propaganda and misinformation. A caricatured figure (labeled as representing the "war spirit") emerges from an inkwell, wielding a quill like a weapon. The list itemizes the tools of propaganda: fake dispatches, false interviews, doctored news, exaggerated reports, sensational stories, and lies. Small figures labeled "EXTRA" and "WAR" scurry around the inkwell, suggesting newspaper vendors or journalists spreading these falsehoods. The subtitle notes this "fearful spectre" represents how Americans across the Atlantic perceive wartime propaganda. The cartoon critiques how ink—and by extension, the press—weaponizes misinformation to stir public emotion during wartime, presenting propaganda as a dangerous, ghostly force that corrupts truth.