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CBLDF Auction with Sim & Gaiman
As most regular readers know, I/we are fans of the CBLDF and the EFF (Contribute to both!) The CBLDF is running a charity auction which is collaboration between Dave Sim of Cerebus fame and Neil Gaiman of Sandman amongst others. There's some good background online as well as the auction itself. The money raised will go to fighting censorship in the graphic arts. I'd also heartily recommend reading Neil's blog and taking Dave Sim up on his offer. His collected form letter are funny, thought provoking and great to read. Oh - and happy birthday, Neil.
Don't forget guys, these are the people who are fighting against the DMCA, the USA PATRIOT ACT, and any other civil liberty limiting crap legislation.
Good job guys, we love ya all.
IGB: More fun than eating oatmeal!
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There are others, but this really stands out. Comics have been targeted for decades, Google for Frederick Wertham and see what happened to EC Comics in the 50's.
Bravo.
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It is very, very difficult to read Dave Sim's work once you've read his Tangents essay. I read it a good while ago, and was, well....
It's hard to define the feeling. It wasn't horror that someone thought along these lines; and it wasn't a feeling they shouldn't be said. I think the closest I could relate it to is like finding bugs in your morning cereal. What was previously an enjoyable experience is, for the short (and maybe long) term soured and ruined. Maybe you'll forget and heal, and maybe you just can't.
The most problematic part of Tangents is that it is very in-depth and very long-winded about the thoughts being expressed, which means it specifically appeals to that part of the population who are into reading, which means that these good folks are the ones who will be slapped around for their efforts. I can't imagine anyone reading his Tangents essay and pumping their fist going "Yes! Yes! He finally makes it all clear for me!"
For those whom intense reading of a long essay set is simply not in the forseeable future, here's an (admittedly coarse) summary of the essay.
PRE-TANGENT: My female typesetter quit putting together this essay for my comic book. This is typical of chicks and an example of why feminism is a failure.
TANGENT 1: While researching for my comic book, I interviewed a lot of women. There is no "there" there in them. They are, essentially, sub-human, emotional creatures. They do not think. Any positive qualities they show are what they're parroting from males. There has been a lot of gnashing of teeth by society to ignore this obvious fact, but a fact it is: women are, ultimately, parasites on males.
TANGENT 2: The queers and the feminists are trying to shove acceptability of their false and wrong philosophies down society's throat. They are doing it everywhere, in laws, media, and even in the bible.
TANGENT 3: Because of the false belief that women are human, a lot of very dumb laws are being passed, which treat children like adults and adults like children. This is going to cause a lot of problems for society and possibly ruin it for good. Children should be beaten when they're bad, and alimony comes from the idea that women can't survive on their own. Any variant from these statements are being caused by women imparting their illogical, brainless take on the world on males.
TANGENT 4: Domestic Cats are filthy, horrible animals that should not be in a home. That they are there is because, at some point in history, women brought them into the house. Also, animal rights are stupid.
TANGENT 5: The Civil Rights movement was hijacked by feminists, who then killed Martin Luther King, Jr. And now the feminists define civil rights.
It's perfectly OK to not believe this is what the essay says. Read the original source.
They're bugs in my breakfast. I'm sure I'll be buying his books in the future. Just not the near future.
One of the cases I'm familiar with because it's a comic book shop I occasionally shop at. Ketih's Comics in Dallas, TX. One of the employee's was convicted of selling an adult comic to an adult. The adult books were kept in a separate section of the store, and children were NOT allowed in that section. Still, a concerned mother (read "fundamentalist wack" -- oops, I mean faithful churchgoer) complained, and an undercover cop (I think he was a sherrif's deputy?) went in and - Gasp! - was allowed to buy and adult book (some Manga title).
It is unfortunate perhaps, that the CBLDF needs to spend too much time defending people that sell or produce pornography. But Freedom of Speech means just that. They have had a case were the artist was forbidden to even draw anything, even for personal use!, and a case where a parody of the Starbucks symbol was attacked by Starbucks.
I believe I have a right to read whatever the heck I want, and that artists and authors have the right to produce whatever the heck they want. That's why I give to the CBLDF every year, and have since they were started.
On a related note, some ABC stations have decided not to air the unedited "Saving Private Ryan", to avoid complaints about obsenity. Even though this has already been on network TV unedited! Just fucking amazing. Damn Janet's boobs, damn them to hell!
Everything you know is wrong, Just forget the words and sing along.
On the one hand, I have very little sympathy for those who churn out turgid pulp for the express purpose of ripping off those brainless enough to buy a product on shock value, rather than by whether they actually want the thing. However, I'd argue that most of the problem lies in how stupid consumers are encouraged to be, particularly by the educational system, so fixing the stupidity seems a more worthy aim than fixing the comics.
Take care of the root causes, and the symptoms will take care of themselves.
On the other hand, I do not believe that censorship is a useful mechanism. It engenders a lot of hostility, it creates a social pressure point of non-conformance, and it is generally self-destructive.
Again, though, if you tackled the underlying causes for the stuff you don't like, then those things that have no useful purpose will simply go of their own accord. If you tackle only the issues that are visible, then the underlying issues never get resolved, and the impact will simply mutate.
If you are in a house, and the foundations collapse, re-painting the kitchen isn't going to help. It'll conceal the cracks in the walls, but the house will still fall down.
To me, censorship of the comics is neither a problem nor a solution. Nor are the so-called "adult" comics. Both are simply different parts of society venting in different ways. Blocking one side from venting at all will simply build up pressure, leading to an explosion. Doesn't matter which side you block. If you had to block one side, though, I'd say blocking the censors is likely the better choice.
The best solution of all is to dig deeper and reduce or remove those stresses that create the problems in the first place. You'll never fix them all, but at the moment, nobody is doing much to fix any of them at all.
It's a small world and it smells funny; I'd buy another if it wasn't for the money; Take back what I paid (SoM)