It might be a good idea to allow the horrible that we can’t do anything about but just try not to be there when it happens. Survival has a meaning all of its own.
And again people think they have the right to be offended about someone talking and/or feeling about a national tragedy in a way that does not completely match the One Sanctioned Way of tv pundits. By the way this is a thing that terrorists want: for everybody to shut down their brains and just react in the most obvious way possible.
For those not familiar with classic legends, Pheidippides allegorically died after running to Athens to report victory at the battle of Marathon.
For those not following current events, bombings on the 15th killed 3 people in Boston… and more than 50 across Iraq.
It’s amazing how media priorities can differ so wildly – US and British media have largely ignored what’s happened in Iraq. US media understandably focusing on their own tragedy, whilst headlines in the UK focus on… the funeral of Baroness Thatcher (wtf?).
I really love this strip. It struck me with a “Wow, I’m going to hell for this,” by the last panel. But honestly, it is apt.
Obama kills hundreds of children each month with his predator drones; thousands each year. The US bombs weddings and then the funerals for those who died at the weddings. When it comes to the Boston bombing, what would people expect from a race original based on the legend of a man dying from his run? Or a nation that is the largest state sponsor of terrorism in the world being the victim of a form of terrorism itself.
Oh don’t get me started on the gun laws… “the only thing thing that can stop a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun” REALLY? Bad guys and good guys? Are we 5 year olds? It’s more down to people becoming mentally unhinged, which isn’t a result of moral stance – good guys go crazy at teh same per capita rate as bad guys…
…And how many killing sprees were ever stopped by an armed man who wasn’t a law enforcement officer? How many were perpetrated by licensed gun owners?
Tragedies happen all the time. Well, yeah, of course they do. Not really much as insights go, is it? Not so as you had to rush into print with it and show how clever you are, anyway.
Glennnn, the Pogo line was actually, “We have met the enemy and he is us,” a twist on Oliver Hazard Perry’s “We have met the enemy, and they are ours,” his reporting on the US victory in the Battle of Lake Erie, during the War of 1812.
Grotesque details may be the sticks we poke ourselves with… they both distract from the pain and add to it. You think more information will make sense of it, make closure… but it just makes more intense after-images when you close your eyes.
I was with you up til then.
The second to last panel, feels like a kick to the gut. Too soon, dorothy. Too soon.
Just because other people across the world have to deal with these types of atrocities every day, don’t lay some kind of first world guilt trip on me, that this wasn’t a big deal, or scary, or worth mourning.
Do I mourn for the world too? Yes, but this I lived through.
“The truth? The TRUTH! You can’t HANDLE THE TRUTH!”
Humans are often downright gits. It’s doubtful that any of the righteous indignators really give a rat’s ass. While stirred in the heat of the moment by the news media, they make great sound and fury, signifying nothing. Or go beat up some Sikh thinking they’ve show defiance against Islam. Yep.
Meanwhile another dronestrike just wiped out people harvesting crops. Don’t worry none of them were innocent, especially the children.
With great note antigun laws prevented mass genocide in Rwanda.
April 17, 2013
I don’t often see something that’s both coldly exploitative and smugly self-superior. I prefer it that way.
April 17, 2013
It might be a good idea to allow the horrible that we can’t do anything about but just try not to be there when it happens. Survival has a meaning all of its own.
April 17, 2013
This is bad and you should feel bad.
April 17, 2013
This is incredible and you should feel incredible.
April 17, 2013
Wow.
(those of you who are angry at Dorothy, or this strip, are missing the point.)
April 17, 2013
I get what the strip is saying but it still leaves a bad taste in my mouth; I suppose that’s the point though.
April 17, 2013
And again people think they have the right to be offended about someone talking and/or feeling about a national tragedy in a way that does not completely match the One Sanctioned Way of tv pundits. By the way this is a thing that terrorists want: for everybody to shut down their brains and just react in the most obvious way possible.
April 17, 2013
For those not familiar with classic legends, Pheidippides allegorically died after running to Athens to report victory at the battle of Marathon.
For those not following current events, bombings on the 15th killed 3 people in Boston… and more than 50 across Iraq.
It’s amazing how media priorities can differ so wildly – US and British media have largely ignored what’s happened in Iraq. US media understandably focusing on their own tragedy, whilst headlines in the UK focus on… the funeral of Baroness Thatcher (wtf?).
My sympathies to anyone touched by recent events.
April 18, 2013
The thing about our rare, unimaginable tragedies is that they happen all the time.
And while we’re being respectful about this one, the barely-toothed gun bill inspired by the last one is slowly sinking.
April 18, 2013
I really love this strip. It struck me with a “Wow, I’m going to hell for this,” by the last panel. But honestly, it is apt.
Obama kills hundreds of children each month with his predator drones; thousands each year. The US bombs weddings and then the funerals for those who died at the weddings. When it comes to the Boston bombing, what would people expect from a race original based on the legend of a man dying from his run? Or a nation that is the largest state sponsor of terrorism in the world being the victim of a form of terrorism itself.
April 18, 2013
Very brave
April 18, 2013
Oh don’t get me started on the gun laws… “the only thing thing that can stop a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun” REALLY? Bad guys and good guys? Are we 5 year olds? It’s more down to people becoming mentally unhinged, which isn’t a result of moral stance – good guys go crazy at teh same per capita rate as bad guys…
…And how many killing sprees were ever stopped by an armed man who wasn’t a law enforcement officer? How many were perpetrated by licensed gun owners?
April 18, 2013
Pogo: “We have found the enemy and it is us.”
April 18, 2013
Absolute spot-on perfection.
April 18, 2013
Very good, Dorothy.
April 20, 2013
Tragedies happen all the time. Well, yeah, of course they do. Not really much as insights go, is it? Not so as you had to rush into print with it and show how clever you are, anyway.
April 20, 2013
Good on you.
April 22, 2013
Wonderfully said.
April 22, 2013
Glennnn, the Pogo line was actually, “We have met the enemy and he is us,” a twist on Oliver Hazard Perry’s “We have met the enemy, and they are ours,” his reporting on the US victory in the Battle of Lake Erie, during the War of 1812.
April 23, 2013
Grotesque details may be the sticks we poke ourselves with… they both distract from the pain and add to it. You think more information will make sense of it, make closure… but it just makes more intense after-images when you close your eyes.
I was with you up til then.
The second to last panel, feels like a kick to the gut. Too soon, dorothy. Too soon.
Just because other people across the world have to deal with these types of atrocities every day, don’t lay some kind of first world guilt trip on me, that this wasn’t a big deal, or scary, or worth mourning.
Do I mourn for the world too? Yes, but this I lived through.
tl:dr; sigh.
April 23, 2013
Lenny Bruce is smiling at that second to last panel.
October 23, 2013
“The truth? The TRUTH! You can’t HANDLE THE TRUTH!”
Humans are often downright gits. It’s doubtful that any of the righteous indignators really give a rat’s ass. While stirred in the heat of the moment by the news media, they make great sound and fury, signifying nothing. Or go beat up some Sikh thinking they’ve show defiance against Islam. Yep.
Meanwhile another dronestrike just wiped out people harvesting crops. Don’t worry none of them were innocent, especially the children.
With great note antigun laws prevented mass genocide in Rwanda.
March 29, 2014
So how does one prove the statement “I give a rat’s ass” one way or the other?