If you can’t beat them, draw them | Ruben Oppenheimer | TEDxMaastricht

What is the position of satire in our society today? Is it a part of the cure we are looking for? From ‘Donald Duck’ to school newspaper to established newspapers to social media, Ruben L. Oppenheimer's cartoons commenting on the world around him have become a fixture in Dutch news. Oppenheimer sees it as his mission to touch on the raw nerves of our society. [Filmed at TEDxMaastricht] For Ruben L. Oppenheimer (1975) it all started with the ‘Donald Duck’ magazine in his youth. Over and over again he would draw the character of Donald Duck until it was perfect. In high school he would draw his teachers, which ‘earned’ him a spot as a cartoonist in the school newspaper. Even at that time it became clear to him that not everyone was equally open to the position of satire in our society: an entire issue of the newspaper was published without a frontpage, because Ruben’s cartoon found no mercy in the eyes of the school’s principal… His cartoons commenting on the world around him have become a fixture in Dutch news. He sees it as his mission to touch on the raw nerves of our society. From his cartoon on the murder of Pim Fortuyn in 2002, to his Charlie Hebdo cartoon of the ‘Twin Towers’ , to his more recent depiction of a well-known Dutch lawyer – which earned him a lawsuit for libel: Ruben constantly ‘fights the powers that be’ and provides a counter balance. This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at http://ted.com/tedx