With today’s cartoon I bring an end to a short-lived, benighted experiment in self-censorship. In response to vicious so-called “social justice activists” on a certain Right-Wing-Democrat-Blog-That-Must-Not-Be-Named, last week I abandoned drawing President Obama the way that I draw everyone else, in my usual style. I tried drawing him just as a :-).
I hated it.
I hated the way it looked. I hated the potential for confusion. Most of all, I hated myself for giving in to censors by censoring myself. The only way that censors can win is if artists and writers kowtow to them.
I spent the last few weeks reading and listening to feedback in the form of thousands of emails and comments about the way I draw President Obama. Which is, of course, exactly the way I draw everyone else.
As many, many people pointed out.
It didn’t take long for me to see that 99% of the criticism was motivated not by genuine concern or the perception of racism, but by simple, cynical political posturing: frustrated by my critiques of Obama and his policies from the left, militant Democrats gearing up for the 2014 midterm elections are pulling out all the stops to silence their most effective critics. If there is no support from the liberal/progressive base of the Democratic Party, after all, the GOP will probably pick up a lot of seats next year. So these Obama Democrats, who by any objective political standard are right wing conservatives in favor of torture, Guantánamo, drone strikes, bailing out the banksters, selling out real healthcare reform in favor of insurance company profits, refusing to lift a finger to help the long-term unemployed, expanding and extending the wars against the people of Iraq and Afghanistan ad infinitum, failing to appoint a single liberal to his cabinet, refusing to investigate torture under the Bush administration, continuing the practice of extraordinary rendition, brutally authorizing and torturing Private Chelsea Manning, authorizing and running interference for the despicable invasions of privacy by the out-of-control and lawbreaking NSA. These scum will literally say or do anything to destroy people like me.
They will unleash the most loathsome smears of all, including accusing me of totally unfounded racism. They, and the journalistic outlets that gave them a voice, have truly crossed a line. One of these days, they are going to go too far. What they are doing could literally cost someone’s life. What if some fanatic took the crap that they are saying seriously?
So anyway, the point is, these are disingenuous, almost all, anonymous Dem hacks. In fact, I doxied some of the most strident voices on the Internet – supposedly angry black people – to sock puppets controlled by Democratic Party activists who were in fact…white. There was evidence that these people draw a paycheck from Democratic Party sources.
Why should I give a shit about what these conniving assholes think? (Almost all of whom, by the way, are white males.)
On the other hand, the people who know me and know my work have been almost unanimous in their conviction that I should refuse to be bullied and should carry on the way I always have, viciously skewering this terrible president the way that I criticized the previous terrible president and the terrible president before him. I conducted a poll that showed that two out of three of my readers wanted me to continue as is or to draw Obama uglier than I had been.
So that is what I will be doing. My job. As a political cartoonist and commentator. Which is not to be nice. It is to speak truth to power.
I recognize that there is a price to be paid for refusing to apologize or change or adapt to the demands of the political correctness police online. There are people who will, many years from now, refuse to hear or read anything that I have to say or do because they once read a headline that implied that I was a terrible person back in 2013. They won’t know the facts. They won’t know the background. They will remember the smear. That is how smears work. And it really sucks.
This new McCarthyism, however, will never end until people like me stand up to it. Obviously, I can’t do it alone. I need your support in every way: rhetorically, politically, strategically and if you can afford it, financially.
To the many people who have offered their support in all of these ways and more over the last couple of weeks, thank you so much.
32 Comments.
You have my support Ted- I agree with what you’ve written here, and I too think that America has gone way over the top with political correctness and constantly trying to censor themselves – lest a side remark be used to drag you down or even worse, label you. The Internet is a real crazy place where the minute something happens and goes “viral”, it can produce tons and tons of “piling on” an issue – turning and twisting it. Now that we are all be watched and monitored so much, it even is more dangerous.
While I love the access to information and utility of the Internet, it is the last place you would ever want to be “tried by”.
DK isn’t about political correctness, it’s about being a good yellow dog Democrat, using any dirty, underhanded trick to undermine anyone who criticises any elected Democrat, especially a Democrat POTUS.
Rush, of course, doesn’t use political correctness, but uses other lies to denigrate all non-Tea Republicans.
In a just world, this wouldn’t work. Liars would be exposed, after which no one would believe them again, and they’d be de-fanged. Cheaters would be exposed, and no one would trust them again, and they’d be de-fanged.
But the real world is more like the novel Suspicion: A man who looks just like Cary Grant lies, cheats, steals, and murders, but, because he LOOKS angelic, because he LOOKS like he couldn’t possibly be a liar, cheat, thief, or murderer, no one can believe the truth, and he gets away with it all. (In the movie version, Cary Grant turns out to be completely innocent: all the evidence against him turns out to be misleading, since he’s really just as innocent as he looks.)
It’s the same thing if one criticizes Israel. No matter what the facts, say ANYTHING truthful about Israel, and you are an anti-semite. Same shit. But personally, I enjoy getting in the faces of those people who pull that smear, especially Dems, because as we know all too well, Dems are basically cowards, people without convictions or spines. Almost as ridiculous as TeaTards.
“These scum will literally say or do anything to destroy people like me.”
This is exactly right, as you found out. These Kos scumbags are the most vile trash out there, way worse than anyone on the right. They make Red Staters look tame by comparison.
“I doxied some of the most strident voices on the Internet – supposedly angry black people – to sock puppets controlled by Democratic Party activists who were in fact…white. There was evidence that these people draw a paycheck from Democratic Party sources.”
Can you do a post on this, naming names, etc ….? I would love to see this in print. These scumbags are like cockroaches, hiding in the corners spewing their smears and lies. Nothing makes them scurry more than shining the light on them. Please do a post on this.
I only wish this incident had gotten more attention, although you did get some traction and that was good. It’s time to tear the bark off these little Kos pricks and hold them accountable. Starting with the little scumbag Markos himself.
Maybe I should appropriate the rhetoric of the PRK and call them “pure human scum.”
Politically, I oppose doxying in public. I just wanted to know for my own consideration who I was dealing with. But I don’t rule it out if they don’t cut it out.
jshooper is banned. Doesn’t mean he can’t be unbanned, but that’s his current status.
Just now on the news, they’re showing footage of some sort of robot that is able to walk up a hill. It’s got four legs. It looks a little bit like a coffee table come to life. Two legs point forward, two point back, so it can go forward or backwards without any difficulty. It is absolutely the most frightening thing I can imagine because when I look at it, all I see is the camps of the future in which everyone who offends, irritates or inconveniences the Powers That Are will be put. These will be the guards in those future camps. They will be armed with lethal weaponry. Just like in the Terminator movies. And when we all look back to figure out how this happened, I hope someone remembers to point to DK and all the water-carrying and distracting they did while this country was inched toward a police state.
I used to laugh off the conspiracy crowd talking about forced registrations and relocations. I don’t do that anymore.
I hope you’re overestimating the influence of That Blog. I have run into an awful lot of people online who don’t take them seriously. They do stuff like run around and say “We have a million users!” because they have a million user ID numbers. They have as many users as the most highly recommended essay, I expect, which means only a few thousand. That and 900,000 banned users and sockpuppets, spam accounts, and people who just left out of disgust.
I think as use of the Internet evolves people will at least to some extent learn that there is an enormous amount of bullshit being spread around. And yes, there are even people paid to do it by various interests.
I don’t have a problem with people arguing for “political correctness.” I do have a problem with it being used to shut down debate. And if anybody needs special treatment in this sense, it’s political cartoonists, not their critics. You are the canaries in our coal mines of discourse, and shutting down political cartoonists is a sign of an emerging totalitarian state. How ironic that such efforts should come from the hands of Democrats.
A million users? Golly jeepers. The Nazis had lots more than that.
Wait. Numbers don’t matter when the issue is right and wrong?
“I need your support in every way: rhetorically, politically, strategically and if you can afford it, financially.”
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I’ve done my best to assist in the first three categories. I wish I could do something in regard to Number Four. (Maybe putting you in contact with a New Webmaster might count? 😀 )
After a re-read, I realize that could be misinterpreted as suggesting a replacement of the current Webmaster, which – of course – is NOT what I meant! 🙂
(Where the hell is that “EDIT” button?)
There is a plug-in for editing comments, though I don’t know anyone who uses it.
http://www.wpbeginner.com/plugins/allow-users-edit-comments-wordpress/
@ Miep –
Thanks for trying to help, but that looks as if only the Webmaster can authorize edits. I couldn’t see how I, as a user, could make any changes to the way I do things. It appears that I can only offer “follow-up” comments that clarify something stupid I’ve posted.
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What I meant to say originally was “Maybe having put you in contact with a New Webmaster might count? 😀 “
That’s the default position, that the blog owner can edit comments. A plug-in is a software patch and the article I linked to is about a plug-in that allows non-owners to edit comments. But the owner has to install it.
I’m kind of divided about whether the comment poster should be able to edit his or her comments. There’s a very big argument against it: the tendency of people to get angry and then delete all of their posts before they disappear, rendering threads devoid of context. Also, this way, it forces people to pay a little more attention to what they’re doing. On the other hand, obviously, it’s very convenient to be able to change minor spelling problems and such.
Thanks again for your input.
Maybe the site will eventually allow “Edit” and “Delete” from the user. (?)
Ted: if it works don’t fix it. Most people make spelling errors, etc., from time to time, and only jerks judge them for it. And unintentional misstatements or unintended implications can be fixed with another comment.
@ Ted,
“[T]he tendency of people to get angry and then delete all of their posts before they disappear, rendering threads devoid of context.”
You are, of course, correct. Minor sprelling errors are not so frustrating, because most readers don’t even see them; or, if they do, they recognize the intent.
What hacks me is when I write something stupid (as above) that can be misinterpreted by most readers to mean something that was not intended. It’s working well as it is – a follow-up clarification can be written if needed. (In extreme cases, I can ask the Webmaster to delete my stupid comments.) 😀
@ Miep –
“Most people make spelling errors, etc., from time to time, and only jerks judge them for it.”
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You & I are basically in agreement on this. I’ve had a change of mind about the importance of “Edit” in view of the post from Ted about destroying continuity.
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Did you notice “sprelling” in my post from 3:00 pm today?
😀
I see. I was a little clueless to suggest this might be a fun opportunity to experiment with portraying Obama. Obviously this has been torturous for you. I took the smiley to mean you were lambasting the PC police. If you and most supporters feel that it was and is self-censorship then clearly you need to refuse to change your style. The partisans sink lower every day. Not many things anger me as much as self-righteous die-hard Dems maneuvering to been seen as reasonable and moral, juxtaposed to the GOP.
Ted,
As I’ve mentioned before, most of the time, I agree with you. Of those times when I don’t, I find it amazing that I REALLY don’t agree with you. That is, when you miss the mark (in my estimation) you miss the damned thing completely.
” One of these days, they are going to go too far. What they are doing could literally cost someone’s life. What if some fanatic took the crap that they are saying seriously?”
I’m not a deep scholar of the DK psychosis. But I’ve made a few observations that I think are more accurate than less accurate. The DK cohort consists, to a large degree relative to other websites, of emotionally damaged or stunted people. Their reactions to criticism are lacking in depth of analysis. They take offense easily, internalizing pretty much everything. As with many other groups, they are easily led, and they are easily swayed by emotional appeals.
Ted, these people DO take the crap seriously. They, genuinely, believe that Barack Obama is a great and good man. That he has their interests at heart. When someone points out the people still trapped at Gitmo, out come the litany of excuses. There are EXCELLENT reasons for why Gitmo is still open. If you ask about Chelsea Manning, it’s the same response: the president isn’t doing anything wrong. If you roll the footage of maimed children after a U.S. drone strike ordered by the president, well, there’s a heavy sigh of equal parts disappointment that you still don’t get how great and good Mr. Obama is and that you’re stooping to such tactics as involving children in this.
I think that even if you had footage of the president murdering puppies, DK would try to argue than any other candidate would have killed more puppies than Obama.
I suspect that they’ve already, at some point, egged a member on to violence of some sort over something.
Alex: one of their 1,493 rules is about how it’s never okay to write anything that even looks like it’s encouraging violence, or wishing anyone dead. It’s a fairly broad rule, which supports your hypothesis that the admins recognize this is a real potential problem. Why there and not on other sites? Why, indeed?
Miep:
Yes, DK has a lot of those “no violence” reinforcements. Yes. No other site does that. Oh, everyone, the day’s reminder: don’t kidnap anyone, skin them, process the hide and wear it as a suit.
What’s that? You didn’t need to be told not to do that? You understood, as a functioning adult, that you don’t go around skinning people and turning them into clothing?
Exactly.
I’m always suspicious of the people who go around continually explaining how (peaceful, happy, good, decent, sincere, trustworthy, nonviolent) they are. It’s like the NYPD cop cars that say CPR (Courtesy. Professionalism. Respect.). It somehow doesn’t add up. If they were professional, why would I need a reminder of it? If the DKers are so nonviolent and peace-loving and so forth, why are they constantly reinforcing the directive to not go postal?
Give it 20 years. The Internet will have a Surgeon General’s Warning on it: This product will cause psychological distortion and could trigger psychotic episodes.
Miep, somehow that rule doesn’t seem to apply to me on Daily Kos, right? Because there are countless threats of violence against me in those threads.
Ted: such things tend to get hidden by someone, so I haven’t tried to ferret them out. But I did run into a long-time user who has been strongly supportive of you who was pointng out that an unnamed front-page poster had wished you dead in a comment now hidden. Front-pagers aren’t all admins but they are expected to conduct themselves in a professional manner, which obviously includes conforming to the site rules.
So yeah, when it comes to political cartoonists who make them uncomfortable, it’s screw the rules and impose martial law.
Alex:
“I’m always suspicious of the people who go around continually explaining how (peaceful, happy, good, decent, sincere, trustworthy, nonviolent) they are.”
That’s a form of grooming. The point is to predate on the naive and vulnerable and encourage them to suspend their critical faculties and become dependent on the predator. It’s a huge red flag.
Alex, I don’t really see how we disagree on this particular question?
These Daily Kos people are really over-the-top and psychotic. Anyone who is wallowing this deeply in cognitive dissonance is terrifying.
Sorry. I’m a little vague when I wake up (and the rest of the day too, but that’s different).
What I meant was this:
You said, “One of these days, they are going to go too far. What they are doing could literally cost someone’s life. What if some fanatic took the crap that they are saying seriously?”
I say that they’ve ALREADY gone too far. Look what they did to you, Ted. They ARE committing violence. Just because they haven’t (to our knowledge) elevated it to beatings or stabbings doesn’t mean it isn’t violence.
Answer this: How may cartoonists, making their illustrated laughing squares (as the New Yorker calls them), are now going, “Yeah, I’d better backpedal a little on Obama, I mean Mr. Obama, sir.”
The threat of violence, the promise of violence, is a form of violence.
They’ve already gone too far. If you forget that, Ted, you’re going to end up in a cell at Gitmo one day because you will not see the warning signs when everything turns superbad. And if/when it does, the superbad will come real, real fast.
I totally respect your stand-strong take on this matter. That being said given this:
“My job. As a political cartoonist and commentator. Which is not to be nice. It is to speak truth to power.”
I thought you should have stuck with the smiley face. As much as just drawing Obama the way you always have is a righteous “fuck you” to the Daily Kos and all self professed “social justice warriors,” the smiley face really was a bigger and funnier FU. If I was you I would probably hate drawing the smiley face version too instead of just drawing Obama normally. But really, every time the smiley face version was out there it was a twisting thumb in the eye socket of a bunch of people who all deserved it. It was a hilarious over-acquiescing to censorship that laid bare and mocked censorship and your sensors in particular every time it appeared, no matter what the strip it appeared in was about. The potential to really rub it in extra hard from time to time would have been wondrous too. You know things like: smiley-face Obama with his Hello Kitty flag, smiling pleasantly while presiding over a drone killing wedding massacre. Then throw in a Walmart mascot allusion as well and you would have a strip where you would be metaphorically jamming each one of your fingers painfully into a different deserving individuals eye socket simultaneously – it could have been glorious.
Someone: the problem with that approach is that it makes it be about them. I’ve seen whole blogs full of people devote themselves to criticizing That Blog and it just weakens their strength as an independent community. It grants those people more importance than they deserve.
The myth of the tar baby comes to mind. It’s kind of racist in framing, but the message is solid: trying to fight with the tar baby will just get you stuck in the tar.
In addition to what Miep said, I believe that NOBODY at DK will view Ted’s work, with or without the smiley face. They have already declared him to be anathema; so it would be a wasted effort in that regard, because they certainly can’t bring themselves to visit his site! And Ted’s regulars wouldn’t enjoy the benefit of his depiction of the ugly, evil Obama. 🙂
Some of them will keep reading this blog as long as we’re still talking about them. And the ones who were supportive of Ted will read his work anyway. There are more people like that than it appears. People are banned capriciously at times and the only way to be sure to avoid it is to avoid all conflict. It’s just one long abusive relationship over there.