Comic Strip of the Day

CSotD: Priorities

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Mike Peterson Published: November 29, 2012 1 minute 2 comments

Okay, time to examine our priorities as a society:

First, courtesy of Nick Anderson, the only Twinkie cartoon you'll ever need:

The "OMG, Twinkies are gonna end!" craze is like the snack cakes themselves: Light, fluffy, insubstantial and fun. And, while it's probably true that if half the people obsessing over the death of the Twinkie had actually been buying them, the "crisis" wouldn't exist, that's also sort of the point.

Nobody actually wants to do anything to solve these issues. If they did, they'd be over there with people concerned about more substantial things.

And who really gives a damn anyway? It's not like Little Debbie and Entenmanns are also shutting down.

I'm more concerned with the boatload of unfunny, uninsightful Twinkie political cartoons that are finally easing up and the boatload of equally unfunny, uninsightful Twinkie cartoon strips that are just clearing the deadline hurdle and showing up on the comics page. It is too late to sob, "Make it stop."

So Nick gets a trophy and the rest of them get some lovely parting gifts: A complete DVD collection of "Two-And-A-Half Men" episodes.

In case you missed it, Angus T. Jones, the "kid" on that show, has outgrown the role in more ways than one. The Washington Post's Lisa de Moraes has the takedown, from which I steal this gem of a summation:

Jones said, in a video that spread like wildfire early this week: “I’m on ‘Two and a Half Men’ and I don’t want to be on it. Please stop watching it. Please stop filling your head with filth.” But what he meant, he explained late Tuesday, was: “I am grateful to, and have the highest regard and respect for, all of the wonderful people on ‘Two and a Half Men’ with whom I have worked and over the past 10 years who have become an extension of my family.”

No word on how he feels about Twinkies. I've eaten an entire package of Twinkies, several times. Never made it more than seven minutes into an episode of that show. 

In any case, Nick Anderson isn't the only cartoonist commenting on skewed priorities. Check out this somewhat similar but completely different panel from Joe Heller:

I haven't seen actual evidence that people aren't also giving to charity this season, but he's certainly correct that, if you're going to throw away money, you could direct it towards something more immediately worthwhile.

Of course, people will seize on all sorts of reasons not to give to charity. Specific to Sally Ann, their media guy in Australia was asked about a homophobic part of their belief system and upheld it. Their national office corrected him and said they don't believe that anymore. Someone found a passage on their site that included the passage. They took it down. 

So nobody has actually shown that the Salvation Army is any more homophobic than any number of mainline churches, but this bit of "outing" provides a reason not to toss a coin in the kettle, which is, I'm sure, a great relief for those who had no intention of doing so anyway.

Meanwhile, thank god somebody won the damn Powerball, though the headline could also be "500 million tickets prove worthless." In any case, we won't have to hear about it as long as nobody sues anybody over it, shows up with a phony ticket or … okay, it's not over yet.

Lottery profits go to worthwhile things, but it's largely a case of shifting the burden. That is, whether the "cause" is schools or parks or whatever, it's not that lottery funds mean the state spends more on those things. It merely means that more of what is spent on those things comes from those least able to afford it.

Yes, the lottery is a tax on stupidity. But I said that 24 years ago, and I wasn't the first then. It sure as hell isn't an original observation now.

However, while the media was in full "Powerball!" promotional mode the past few days, CBS News had the counter-craze cojones to run this piece last night, noting among other things that, while the states are spending plenty to promote gambling, they've actually cut funds to help those who can't handle it.  (It's short and worth watching, even with the commercial intro)

I guess the moral of all this is "People really get excited over stupid shit," but I can't leave you with that, so here is Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal's take on how to best maximize a payout:

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.