CSotD: WWCTD?
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I was kind of hoping to lessen the political stuff in the mix, but today's Candorville is irresistable.
Darrin Bell must have some short deadlines, but, in any case, he rolled the dice and won with this one, since Cain has not yet manned up and faced the situation. A fine, fine job of anticipating the arrogance, in any case. The punchline not only cracked me up, but it has not been overtaken by a sudden attack of, well, candor.
It's been interesting to watch this thing unfold.
Cain's backers are acting like it's a dirty trick to examine a candidate's background, which makes you wonder what else they don't know about how the electoral system works. For one thing, they clearly think the media is there to take dictation and dutifully report what the candidate says without looking into it.
Been watching too much Fox News, apparently. Or listening to Sarah "Where the hell did I disappear to?" Palin.
Meanwhile, the false-objectivity crowd continues to tiptoe around the thing as if it were a rumor, a he-said, she-said instead of something that went through an extensive review that ended with the writing of a check and a pledge of silence. At least twice.
Sure, there are times it's cheaper to pay someone off than go to court. But it's nearly always because you disagree over the amount of the damage, not because you dispute that something bad happened. When you doubt they can prove it, you intimidate them with the threat of a massive countersuit.
It may not be established fact that Cain actually harassed anyone. But any fool who has sat through those stupid videos and PowerPoint lectures from corporate in the wake of some local breakout of harassment knows that they don't pay off people for nothing and that you have to be pretty far up the ladder to provoke these moments without being handed a cardboard box and asked to fill it.
Whatever happened, It is an established fact that they had to pay off more than one employee on his behalf. Given that the attorneys involved have come forward, that one has gone beyond "allegedly."
There is most definitely a turtle on top of that fence post, and it is not "objectivity" to suggest that it might have climbed up there by itself.
Moreover, this is not, despite some claims, "Clarence Thomas II."
For one thing, Anita Hill walked straight into the middle of a rightwing buzzsaw of deliberate, dishonest spin, as outlined in David Brock's confessional, "Blinded by the Right."
There is no way the conservative establishment is going to mount that kind of offensive to protect someone who, the minute they prop him up, is so very likely to fall on his face all over again.
Plus, 20 years is a long time, and the workplace has changed. There is a solid paper trail this time, and, if you keep picking at the strings, it's apt to unfurl in your face.
As in the James Thurber retelling of Little Red Riding Hood, "It is not so easy to fool little girls nowadays as it used to be."
What's more, this is post-racial America. The Thomas hearing happened in, I guess, pre-racial America. In any case, it came at a time when the mainstream was unwilling to criticize a black man too harshly.
We've had nearly three years of practice now, criticizing a black man too harshly.
Now, as to today's strip, we're certainly not at a place where just anybody can yell "Pimp!" in a crowded theater.
But we are at a place where a black man can have a comic strip that is not focused on race but that does not avoid it, either.
Which is to say, we are at a place where there are conversations going on in mainstream places like "Candorville" that were once kept quietly within the community.
Which, in turn, is to say, you better get a chinstrap for that hat, Herman.
Mike Peterson has posted his "Comic Strip of the Day" column every day since 2010. His opinions are his own, but we welcome comments either agreeing or in opposition.
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