SlowpokeBlog

So now, on top of all the snooping and spying and wiretapping and data mining, Bush's two Supreme Court appointees have done a little activist judgin', overturning a centuries-old precedent that cops can't burst into your home without knocking. Isn't this the sort of thing that libertarian types have, you know, historically opposed? Don't tread on me, and all that? Ah, but you've got nothing to worry about if you've done nothing wrong. Life's just that simple! Yay.

And yes, a bill quietly moving through the House would make it a felony for police officers from different jurisdictions to share info about lawbreaking gun dealers. Just more of the usual creepy stuff happening beneath most Americans' radars, while Zarqawi and immigration and flag burning dominate our headlines.

Normally I like to take my cartoons a little higher off the ground than this one, but sometimes it feels like a direct explanation is best. Let me just reiterate that Alito and Roberts will take this country in a freaky direction, and anyone who professes surprise at their extremism (as the Washington Post did in a recent house editorial) is either feigning "balance" or is a clinical bonehead.

So I thought it would be funny to have Drooly fill in for hatemongering talk show host Laura Ingraham. Ms. Ingraham came to mind because her show preceded my recent interview on WINA, and the few minutes I happened to hear were horrifying (the subject, of course, was immigration -- she was sprayin' Rid-Mex all over the place).

Before doing the strip, I thought I'd take a gander at her website, and it did not disappoint. Laura is selling "P2TP" car decals -- that's "Power 2 the People," for those not in the know. Another instance of the ruling elites and their public emissaries posing as the grassroots (see earlier post about the "Web of Deception" cartoon, and "Notes from Down Under").

But it gets better. The "Need to Know" section on the front page delightedly picks up on a questionable Slate.com article about soccer's popularity among American "intellectuals." It reads:

WORLD CUP SEPARATES THE BRANIACS FROM THE REST OF US? An amusing piece about the latest elite obsession with the World Cup. From Slate.com: "'Many people would say that soccer is the latte or the Subaru of the sporting spectrum'... Taking an interest in soccer indicates a certain cosmopolitanism; the game is an international one. A rooting interest in a British club like Arsenal might indicate Anglophilia, which never hurts in polite society."

The page also includes a poll which asks, "If you could have great seats to one of the following, which would you choose?" -- the choices being the World Series or the World Cup. (Google cache of that day's page here)

So the World Cup appears to be the latest fodder in the ruling elite's efforts to demonize the so-called "liberal elite" -- something that never would have occurred to me in a million years. Note the header, "What separates the Brainiacs from the Rest of Us?" which implies Laura's listeners are "the rest of us." Or, as they might say, "the people."

Note also the implicit chiding of internationalism. As though an interest in other countries is deserving of mockery. I find this stuff frightening; many of the world's most terrible dictatorships have demonized (and executed) "the intellectuals," whose only crime was to be conscious of what was going on.

Another background note: I wrote part of this cartoon sitting in the Mudhouse coffee shop, which often displays the work of local artists. Directly in front of me were what appeared to be several large, blue, papier-mache vulvas. I found them disturbing, yet somehow appropriate to the task at hand.

And lastly, if anybody thinks I'm disrespecting the military with this cartoon, let me just say I have heard from The Troops. And I think they will like it just fine.

A couple of readers in Australia have chimed in recently. Regarding the "Web of Deception" cartoon about the telcos' Orwellian efforts to take over internet content, Peter writes:

I was particularly humoured by the line they sprouted, "Who should control the future of the internet? The government or the people?". They mean the people, all right, just a very small percentage of them. I first came across this specious line of reasoning many years ago. I live in Australia and back then one of our states (N.S.W) sold off a very efficient and serviceable government owned insurance company. Their main PR line was "giving it back to the people"

So these lingustic shenanigans aren't limited to the U.S. Comforting, isn't it?

Another Aussie, Frederick Chooke, Esq., debonair founder of Frilly Shirt, wrote to point out that he had similar thoughts about impressionist graffiti at the same time I did (see "Aesthetic Movements to Come" cartoon).

Placing low content in a high context may be memorable, for an easy option, but to place high content in a low context is a truly radical act...

Spraypaint a Renoir on a public wall. Perform your favourite opera in a busy shopping strip. Write letters to the editor in verse. Picket a paticularly banal commercial broadcaster in the form of a waltz, demanding Mahler.

I am most impressed with Sir Chooke's web-craftsmanship, and intend to order his Leopard Oil at once.

Lately I've been catching up on some movies I haven't seen. I go to the theater very infrequently, which means I'm usually at a loss whenever the latest flick comes up in conversation. (I can't stand the thought of paying $8.50 for what typically turns out to be two hours of tedium.)

At risk of sounding totally out-of-it, I've recently seen Napoleon Dynamite, The Virgin Suicides, and Kill Bill, Vol. 1, among other things. I've been struck by a recurring trend in filmmaking: overwhelming attention paid to visual details like retro fashions and kitschy decor, accompanied by the total absence of meaningful plot. It's as though MTV has attenuated an entire generation's higher brain functions. Or maybe people have become so jaded by reality TV that they can no longer take plot or characters or ideas seriously. I've noticed a similar elevation of form over content in many indie comics. Don't get me wrong; I like eye candy -- but there has to be a message, too.

I am also weary of gratuitous ninjas. Note to Hollywood: ninjas do not equal automatic hilarity or coolness. Although I must admit, the second half of Kill Bill, vol. 1 pleasantly surprised me with its visual gags and stunning sets. The first half, however, was a total hodgepodge.

Those "Vote for Pedro" t-shirts should read on the back: "Just another viral marketer for Viacom." At the MOCCA festival in New York, I saw someone with a "Pedro lacks political experience" t-shirt, which made me chuckle momentarily. But better not to advertise Napoleon Dynamite at all. Now, a "My Dinner With Andre" t-shirt -- that might be cool.

I'm currently sitting in Café Cubano, another Charlottesville coffee shop in which I sometimes attempt to work. At the moment I am simmering with frustration at my laptop, which claims to be connected to the wireless network, yet is in fact not. To the casual observer, I appear to be lazily dinking around on my computer, yet inside I am vibrating with techno-rage.

This week's cartoon is a kind of sequel to the original Gay-Ban strip. I hadn't really intended to do a cartoon about immigration. While the issue is certainly important, I feel it has become a distraction from more pressing concerns like the health insurance crisis, or the possibility of Verizon controlling internet content, or the fact that we're gobbling fish laced with PCBs and mercury. I fully expect to be squawked at by angry readers who think I am suggesting immigration policy is not a legitimate concern -- but that's not what I'm saying. The cartoon is about the vile race-baiting coming out of the right-wing blabosphere, the pundits and politicians who are using "those people" to incite rage among their audience. The right has long understood the emotional component of voting, and they manipulate it ruthlessly. Isn't it interesting that we 're having this debate now, a few months before the congressional elections, at a time when the majority of the country has become deeply dissatisfied with the Republican party?

And isn't it interesting that the people complaining about all the social ills caused by "the illegals" are mostly mum about the same problems caused by Wal-Mart? Deal with those first, and then I'll take you seriously.

I'll be presenting a slideshow along with "Laugh While You Can" tourmates Tom Hart and Tim Kreider at the MoCCA art festival in NYC this Saturday, June 10, at 11:30am. Admission to the convention is $8. More info

If you don't catch our presentation, I'll be hovering around the festival all weekend. I'll be loosely based at the Alternative Comics table.