CSotD: Knock-knock-knockin’ on Kevin’s door
Skip to comments
If you're not already following Prickly City, this might be a good time to start. The election of Kevin, the Lost Bunny of the Apocalypse, to the US Senate has produced some good laughs and the prospect of his making a run for the presidency is promising.
For a number of years, the answer to "Aren't there any funny conservative cartoonists?" was "Well, there was Jeff MacNelly, but he's dead …"
There were plenty of conservative cartoonists whose names would provoke a reaction of, "No, I said funny," particularly when such a person created a strip to be marketed as a counterbalance to Doonesbury.
These occasional attempts have generally produced strips so doctinaire and ham-handed that they are like the singer in the old joke who, following his performance of "My Old Kentucky Home," says to an audience member, "I noticed you weeping as I sang. You must be from Kentucky," to which the man replies, "No, I'm a musician."
It's possible to hate a strip, not because you disagree with its politics, but because it's horribly done and pathetically unfunny. (No names, please.)
Part of the problem is that there is no need for a conservative counterbalance to Doonesbury in the first place, since, while Trudeau certainly goes after conservatives and their folly, he regularly goes after liberals and their social follies as well. The idea that Doonesbury is a continuous promotion for liberal doctrine is simply a false perception — conservatives apparently ignore the strip on the days it targets liberal foolishness and then are offended on the days it attacks their own sacred cows.
And then there is the concept of sacred cows, which has more literal resonance on the right-hand side of the aisle. Liberal viewpoints tend to be based on Rousseau and Plato and the like, which viewpoint explicitly calls for questioning, for self-doubt and for self-criticism. It's an open invitation to humor, and the New Yorker has built an entire cartooning heritage on the liberal willingness to mock its own inconsistencies and shortcomings.
When you base your worldview on the Bible, however, doubt becomes not a vantage point from which to examine your positions, but a moral failing. Core values are, indeed, "sacred," and inconsistencies are not funny.
As a result, conservative cartoonists, for the most part, are not prone to self-mockery.
Except Scott Stantis, who is the answer to the question, "Aren't there any funny conservative cartoonists?"
Yes, there is Scott Stantis.
Now, obviously a cartoonist would not create a character called "The Lost Bunny of the Apocalypse" if he were not at least willing to be playful with some of the literary elements of rightwing ideology. But it's not a matter of questioning the beliefs. It's a matter of poking fun at the social anomalies that spring from doctrinaire beliefs, and Stantis is perfectly willing to do that.
Prickly City is a conservative strip and when it comes down to actual core values, Stantis will draw a firm line to the right of center. But he has a perspective that goes beyond those core values and watches the political process itself, and that can provide some very funny moments.
Last night, I watched the GOP candidates' debate and it was an interesting exercise in attempting to appeal to mainstream voters without alienating the True Believers. For the most part, they did a pretty nice job of that. Still, I think I heard Michele Bachman say she thought the issue of gay marriage should be left up to the states, but that she would support an Constitutional amendment to outlaw it.
As it says in the Bible, right there in the Book of St. Lawrence de Cable, chapter XII, verses 24-25, "That doth be humorous, I care not who* thou art."
Prickly City is going to be an interesting strip to watch as this campaign season kicks into gear, because Scott Stantis also sees humor in those inconsistencies, and cares not who* thou art.
* No, it shouldn't. The verb "to be" cannot take a direct object.
Comments 1
Comments are closed.