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Posted: 03.08.2002
And to add to the list of people going to hell
Next up...this cartoonist! Can someone please tell me exactly what's funny and/or political satire about a cartoon strip with captions like:

"I keep waiting for Kevin to come home, but I know he never will. Fortunately, the $3.2 million I collected from the Red Cross keeps me warm at night."

Another panel shows a widow saying, in a reference to the slaying of Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl: "Of course it's a bummer that they slashed my husband's throat -- but the worst was having to watch the Olympics alone!"

And yet another shows a 9-11 'terror widow' being interviewed on Larry King. She's asked, "So when your husband called you from the 104th floor, he knew he was going to die?" To which she answers, "Oh yes - he was on fire! By the way Larry, that's a bitchin' tie!"

Excuse me. I have to go back to bed and get up on the other side, before I venture out into the streets and start to randomly punch people today...



Hey boy take a look at me...let me dirty up your mind...



That's very harsh. Obviously the cartoonist was trying to attempt to talk about the point how some families are trying to "get money" out of their tragedy... but there's really no need to do that in the way he did.

¤ ¤ credit: meryl | 03.08.02 at 09:28 AM | link--this ¤ ¤

The warbloggers jumped on this the second it came out, deluging the NY Times offices with irate e-mails. Stephen of Vodkapundit actually got a response from an editor agreeing with him and letting him know the strip had been pulled.



That strip was the most apalling, unfunny (and poorly drawn) thing I have ever seen...but jerky has the right to do it...a right I will grudgingly help him defend. By the same token, I have the right to cancel my NY Times subscription and never give that pathetic rag another cent of my money. The only effective method of punishing a moron like Rall is to ignore him, shun him. Every time one of his ridiculous, never-funny cartoons appears in a paper, unsubscribe. And get your friends to do the same.



As it is now, with all the publicity this clown has garnered (he was on Fox News yesterday...Bill O'Reilly's show, I think), he's no doubt thinking he's made it to the big time and attention is good, even if it's bad. Kind of reminds me of a toddler, actually.

¤ ¤ credit: Sekimori | 03.08.02 at 10:13 AM | link--this ¤ ¤

Social criticism is meant to make people uncomfortable. But I think in these cases the satirists have become confused, mistaking anything that offends people for valid commentary.

¤ ¤ credit: jamese | 03.08.02 at 10:19 AM | link--this ¤ ¤

The only thing worse than these "people", and I use the term lightly, that write these words are the ones that publish them. I agree, don't subscribe to the publications----and loudly let them know why. Yes they have the right to write the words, and we have the right to not give them any credit or publish them. Think of it, if they don't get any attention, then why do it? In some perverse way the attention validates their writing and their urge to do so. I work where my co-workers are going to Afghanistan to fight these terrorists, it really makes me sick to think we are here at home calling this "humor" while someone is dying to preserve their right to write this dirt.

¤ ¤ credit: Mama | 03.08.02 at 01:31 PM | link--this ¤ ¤

Sick....that is what I can say for this guy. He has the righ to do it and they have the right to publish it as many of you had said but it doesn't make it right. He knew this was going to happen, it was an attempt to get his name out there to more people.

¤ ¤ credit: Heath | 03.08.02 at 02:08 PM | link--this ¤ ¤

Very well said, Stacy! You put into words what I was waaay too angry to process and type out!

¤ ¤ credit: robyn | 03.08.02 at 02:30 PM | link--this ¤ ¤

You guys have some great ideas. Let's force the press only to print what we agree with or approve of -- that way people with different opinions will get the message and leave our country!

¤ ¤ credit: posterposter | 03.08.02 at 02:49 PM | link--this ¤ ¤

There are the same number of letters in "Ted Rall" and "asshole." Coincidence? I think not...

¤ ¤ credit: BarCodeKing | 03.08.02 at 03:09 PM | link--this ¤ ¤

I am trying to find the words to convey how that article made me feel, and I just can't. At the moment I am seeing all shades of red and sputtering. Of all the ill conceived, inconsiderate uncouth, and totally moronic things to publish. Sekimori is right, the only effective way to deal with someone like him is to ignore what he does, though at times like this it's bloody tough and all I feel like doing is sitting down with the idiot and taking a slug at him.

¤ ¤ credit: munin | 03.08.02 at 03:20 PM | link--this ¤ ¤

Need I remind you "anonymous poster" that the right in having a voice is also having the right to respectfully disagree? I see no one here proposing the cartoonist be arrested, or jailed or even deported. Merely saying it is within their right to find the "humor" disgusting and choosing not to waste their money on anything that would fund more of the "art".

Now I will remind you that anonymous comments are NOT allowed in my blog, and should you do it again, I have your IP and they will be deleted. My house. My rules. Thank you.

¤ ¤ credit: robyn | 03.08.02 at 03:30 PM | link--this ¤ ¤

There. Not so anonymous.

When other posters start to suggest that
this cartoonist should be shunned, sent to hell and referring to "these 'people,'" by
which we are supposed to infer that they are less than human (I guess), I
get a little nervous about the state of a free press in this country,
especially during times of national crisis.

I'm not suggesting that
we should agree with Rall and rubber-stamp his opinions (I certainly don't
and feel that whatever point he was trying to make was lost due to the
inflammatory exaggerations of the cartoon), but I think it's a little
sketchy to call for the downfall of the New York Times because of one
political cartoon. I, personally, value being exposed to opinions other than
my own.

Of course, if you don't, you have my IP and you can ban me, censor my comments and preserve your little rah-rah club. Oh, I guess you have already.


¤ ¤ credit: Flavio | 03.08.02 at 04:15 PM | link--this ¤ ¤

No, you are more than welcome to post under a name and REAL e-mail address. I don't need a rah rah club -- and I welcome opposing voices as long as they are well-thought-out and rational. I'm a former cheerleader and can make up my own cheers, thankyouverymuch.

¤ ¤ credit: robyn | 03.08.02 at 04:17 PM | link--this ¤ ¤

By the way, I'd like to point you towards the Robert Frost quote I put up in my husband's comments:

"Thinking isn't agreeing or disagreeing. That's voting."

¤ ¤ credit: robyn | 03.08.02 at 04:22 PM | link--this ¤ ¤

Flavio (which incidentally has the same number of letters as "nitwit"), I don't see a single person calling for the "downfall of the New York Times." I see people agreeing that if they don't like what they read in it, they should unsubscribe.


Is it your position that we are duty bound to support the press, monetarily or otherwise, even if we do not agree with what they choose to print? Because that sounds a helluva lot like censorship to me...censoring MY right to choose! And if you think that's a good idea, bring your fascism over to MY blog and we'll get it on. ¤ ¤ credit: Sekimori | 03.08.02 at 06:22 PM | link--this ¤ ¤

Sekimori -- of course you're not bound to subscribe and/or even read publications that you may find antithetical to your beliefs and ideas. Read my post. Then read the others. Rall should be condemned to hell, beaten and shunned (not necessarily in that order), and we should all cancel our subscriptions to the New York Times. All based on one cartoon that many found offensive -- and understandably so. Personally, I find the New York Times to be much more than one cartoon, and I value it as such.

Rall has been called names, dehumanized and had his skills as an artist assailed, yet no one has offered a cogent response, such as, "I disagree with this cartoon, and here's why."

In regards to your invitation, if counting the number of letters in a word is what passes as intellectual discourse, I'll take a pass.

¤ ¤ credit: Flavio | 03.08.02 at 11:35 PM | link--this ¤ ¤

Put away the Webster's, Flavio, you can't keep your story straight. Subscribe, don't subscribe...it's still about freedom of speech and choice. I think it's worth unsubscribing, YOU do not. Not much left to argue about.

¤ ¤ credit: Sekimori | 03.09.02 at 12:03 AM | link--this ¤ ¤




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