So this particular panel was mothballed for more than a few months, repeatedly pushed back in the production pipeline for publication - almost a year after drawing the damn thing. I usually have a handful of "filler" material - ones that can fill in any accidental blanks in the schedule. Kept bumping this one mostly on account of it not being particularly appropriate for the Nuggets®™ brand genuine homemade cartoon. As in, it's pretty much a political panel, and I usually wait to suckerpunch readers with something really serious until an issue comes along that merits muddying the water. And as of late, a series of them have. So this is another unpublished exclusive to Ink & Snow, since it's too serious for a funny and too obtuse for an editorial but just perfect for posting.
Folks normally like their entertainment unsullied with any current events, untethered from reality, which most of the time I'm all about anyways. More and more these days I exist as an existential observer - not ignorant or disengaged, but detached and objective as possible. But, above and beyond any "Dixie Chicks effect," there are some things one has to take a stand on, regardless.
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| Way back in 2018 when things were normally crazy |
Like, for example, my personal central issue of literacy - perhaps one of the last truly neutral topics we have left. Unfortunately we have seen the politicization of previously apolitical topics. And even though environmentalism issues are, in my opinion, the most important ones facing us as a species on this planet (aside from a few others that are lining us up for extinction) there is a crucial step beforehand that needs to be cleared away first. And I think that applies to every other cause under the sun, be it bigotry, social justice, rights etc. - each of us needs to step up to the plate as informed and aware as possible, and give what we can, do what we must.
These days I have really come to a love/hate relationship with the internet, and have been withdrawing more and more, which is at odds with my usual instinctual engagement, so it winds up the proverbial "between Scylla and Charybdis" dilemma. So much toxic crap out there, and it oftentimes seems to foment more trouble than it's worth - as illustrated by the panel posted above. On the other hand it enables the sharing of so many potential solutions, promote much positivity, and empowers so many more to take courage, and to take care. So I'll share a few more items along those lines.
Speaking of bigotry, we do well to study and learn from what has gone before, as history tells it. Failing that, which happens more often than not, even in popular media there are trails of breadcrumbs: last week I finally got around to checking out the HBO series Watchmen, and was just simply blown away. I'm a big fan of both the comic and the movie, and this was amazing, an outstanding homage and achievement unto itself. It's been many years since a television series had such a deeply personal impact on me - it was surprising how much was packed into such a comparatively short series, and it will require multiple viewings to unpack.
A few other items that dovetail quite nicely with this piece accompanying post. One is an interview with Henry Rollins who succinctly summarizes my exact situation with regards to so much these days ("There are a few men who can have the other half of my sandwich any day"). Add to that a sobering and passionate performance - direct link here - by Dave Chappelle ("This isn't funny at all"), bookended with this - direct link here - full-length interview with Kimberly Jones that was excerpted on June 7’s “Last Week Tonight” w/John Oliver.
They both have powerful words that hurt to hear, but need to be said, and most importantly, listened to. This is one of the few time in my life I need to constantly be on guard against the instinct to offer my vaunted opinion: as with so many other areas in my personal life, and along with many others screaming at each other in the public arena, this is a time I really need to just shut up and hear things out from other perspectives.
For several years now I have been waiting for guidance from the various groups than have been treated as property by white males, or otherwise cut off from the full, free expression of humanity due to prejudice. This is instead of taking off at a trot with whatever my own analysis is. The problem with racism is that the racists don't see it as a problem. They see it as natural order of things because they won evolution several centuries ago. Whatever they have, they feel they deserve, because they're superior. It merges with gun culture, because superior weapon technology was what allowed their ancestors to dominate the less technological cultures whose lands they invaded. This is a major reason that war imagery permeates their rhetoric. It's reinforced by the fact that white culture is a never ending pissing contest anyway. In the many schools I attended, the all-male, 99.9% white prep school was the most miserable for the constant dick-measuring that continues in higher education and the world of business and the military after the little heirs to the throne are "educated" and unleashed on the world. I ended up steeped in racism just by growing up in "normal" America when I did. There's been a lot to unlearn. And I'm someone who believed that everyone should be free to develop their potential unhindered by ignorant prejudice. I was blind to how much of it was built into everything.
ReplyDeleteMost white people don't understand white privilege, because many white people are subject to the pissing contest I mentioned above. White people being shit on by other white people don't feel privileged at all. They don't take the next step to consider that someone non-white can't just get a haircut and a suit and blend in with the elite. And then you have to make them care. Self-centeredness is a natural condition of any human. We have to sell the advantages of being anti-racist beyond the nebulous moral level.
The spread of the coronavirus is proof positive on that baked-in sense of inherent entitlement + myth of individualism. The societal benefits backed up by science is still not enough to even temporarily suspend the self-righteous superiority conditioning you write about.
DeleteIt also means a lot to share from our perspective as folks who eventually saw through the charade and now are living proof that we can change. Thank you for sharing your perspective, appreciate it.
Hoping for the best. Thank you for speaking up. Keep rocking!!=)
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