CSotD: Not a cartoonist was stirring
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Very quiet on the cartooning scene this morning — a lot of people getting in their annual holiday greetings. Few of them are particularly groundbreaking, but I did like this Rhymes with Orange acknowledgment of the Hannukah/Christmas synchronization.
I also thought Steve Breen did better than others on the topic of social media in general and Twitter specifically.
Someone said the other day that it felt like we'd gone back to the days when civil rights workers were beaten and even murdered in the South, but there was considerable public outrage over those events, and "decent people" didn't make excuses for thugs and bigots.
Or, if they did, "decent" publications and broadcasters would not give them much of a platform, beyond the occasional crackpot letter to the editor.
Certainly, there were Strom Thurmonds and George Wallaces and you can't deny their popularity.
But they were only winning regional elections, not national ones. When Wallace ran for president in 1968 on a platform only slightly more blatant than Trump's, he won five Southern states but less than 14% of the popular vote.
That's over. Crackpots have been good business since the Fairness Doctrine was scrapped, and I don't think Trump "unleashed" the sociopaths so much as he capitalized on the way talk radio had already unleashed them.
In any case, Breen is right that the holiday tradition of good spiritedness is being blunted, if not overwhelmed, though part of that is how well you curate your own social media. "Lie down with the dogs; get up with the fleas" and all that.
I have two Facebook accounts. One is personal and has more pictures of my dog and suchlike, the other (Mike CSotD Peterson) is tied into my interest in cartoons
I'm considerably more strict about my personal account and have bounced a number of people whose unpleasant, uninformed commentary was depressing.
On the professional side, however, I not only feel I have to keep more of an ear to the ground but I also have to contend with cartoonist friends who tolerate outright, blatant trolls in the interest of dialogue, or traffic, or something.
Which is to say, it's a bit like inviting your pal over to the house and then cringing at who he brings along.
Still, you have the right to throw people out of your house if they can't behave. Hospitality has its limits, and "open dialogue" isn't open when one side is simply screaming insults.
Emerson wrote, "If you see no god, perhaps it is because you harbor none," but the opposite could be just as true.
Who you harbor is going to determine who you see.
For those who will spend part of the holidays arguing over whether Pacific Avenue is worth Ventnor plus both utilities, Andy Warner has a history of Monopoly at the Nib.
It's an interesting story, though not, I think, as unknown as he presents it, but that may be generational.
The anti-capitalist origins of the game were well-discussed a generation ago and I even had a copy of Anti-Monopoly, the counter-game he mentions, which sparked a lawsuit (unsuccessful!) by Parker Brothers.
But I guess the story got reburied in the years that followed and it's worth retelling and rehearing.
Gather 'round, young'uns.
Finally, another year-end wrap-up, this one by Ann Telnaes, the graphic answer to those who wish we still had Molly Ivins around.
Lots of good stuff there to help you remember 2016, a goal I can't quite explain.
Now here's your moment of zen:
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