CSotD: A hangover, and the cure for it
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Here's why I love Bug Martini: Adam Huber knows what a pathetic whiner he is.
Bunnies. Today, he's whining about bunnies. Freaking bunnies.
Maybe what he knows is what a pathetic whiner the protagonist of his cartoon is. Maybe Adam Huber is a standup guy who, like the writers of "Seinfeld," despises self-involved narcissists.
I think I'm suffering from a Fourth of July hangover.
It comes in part from yesterday's posting, in which I immersed myself in cartoons from a moment in our history in which cartoonists, and people in general, got over themselves, made common cause and dealt with things that actually mattered.
And it comes in part from not operating on a whole lot of sleep, which has less to do with late-night fireworks than with the fact that, for those of us who are self-employed, a "national holiday" is simply a day without mail and a day when you can work without ringing phones or client emails.
So I got totally fired up and ended up working until about 11 o'clock, which, when the morning begins at 4 am, doesn't make for a lot of sleep.
The combination came together this morning when I started my day on Facebook and ran smack into a massive collection of Social Justice Warrior postings combined with personal whining combined with dumbass hateful … well, you can see I haven't taken it well.
It's been bubbling under the surface, mostly in the realm of half-understood bullshit. That includes Brexit, which is an obvious and excellent opportunity to either do research or shut up, but a whole lot of cartoonists have chosen neither option.
The more I hear from people who actually have to live with, and deal with, the results of that vote, the more I understand that it's like gossiping about somebody else's divorce: It's not that you shouldn't talk about it at all, but you should certainly hedge your comments with the admission that you weren't there and can't possibly know everything about it.
Or maybe anything.
By the way, my retirement account has recovered from the downturn in the days following the vote. And never fell as far as it did in February for reasons I can't remember, but from which it recovered. In fact, it was a penny lower on May 19 than it was after Brexit and I can't remember why that was either.
I realize it is having more impact in Britain. I also realize I'm not British. See above divorce analogy.
I am American, however, and I happen to be doing some research for a bit of historical fiction set during the Revolution, which makes me particularly vulnerable to SJWs who celebrate July 4th by pointing out that the Founders were all men and that many of them owned slaves.
Which is true and is, indeed, troubling, but which does not change the fact that the American Revolution was a significant step forward, nor does it change the fact that many of the Founders were well aware of the injustice of slavery and, though to a lesser extent, of the inequities of women's status.
Facebook has also seen a recent flood of people quoting what Charles Bukowski almost said: "The problem with the world is that the intelligent people are full of doubts, while the stupid ones are full of confidence."
Had he really said that, it would still have been a poor imitation of Yeats's more fully realized quote:
Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,
The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere
The ceremony of innocence is drowned;
The best lack all conviction, while the worst
Are full of passionate intensity.
Which you should have read by sophomore year in high school, or at least picked up from Joni Mitchell, and which, in context, has a lot more to say about our current situation than a misquoted, out-of-context remark about poets.
Though the poem he had been asked about is remarkably relevant to my mood this morning:
… and don't go around misquoting those who should, and do.
More cheerful news:
Rick Friday, the cartoonist fired from Farm News over a cartoon that championed farmers over major corporations, has been reinstated there with an apology.
There isn't a lot of background explaining the change in heart at the small paper, but given that he had cartooned for them for 21 years, it seems likely that the national press wasn't the only source of criticism they had to endure over the decision.
Not only is Friday back on the job, but the resulting publicity has landed him more work and, judging from his Facebook page, not dulled his criticism of major agriculture.
To repeat: He's picked up some work.
So much for another common Facebook whine, which is that "exposure" does nothing to advance your career.
And a cartoonist who underwent much more horror for her work has been freed, apparently also as a result of embarrassing publicity.
Atena Farghadani's page shows her no less unrepentent as a result of her brutal imprisonment, and good for her.
Obviously, she risks a lot more than Friday in continuing her mission of comforting the afflicted and afflicting the comfortable, but the bottom line is much the same.
I wrote about both cartoonists in May, and said at the time, "I'd rather work for a villain than a coward," but it's hard to tell them apart these days.
As I noted when she was first imprisoned, the situation in Iran is complex, with modernists and fundamentalists in constant conflict not simply in the streets but within the government, such that the extremists take steps that the moderates are then forced to walk back, and those who understand the situation would prefer it not be unnecessarily tested.
Farghadani is among those who feel it necessary to test, on purpose and with herself being the person who will pay the price.
Knowing she's back cheers me up considerably.
And puts me in mind of another bit of Yeats, which will be
Your Moment of Zen:
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