The Sorensen Monologues

This Week’s Cartoon: “Media-Made News, Alternate Version”

I’m not one of those people who like to say, “Why is the news always so negative? Why can’t they report the GOOD news?” I can’t stand those people. News outlets must report unpleasant facts, for sure. But what I question about the case of pastor Terry Jones — who, as you may have heard, threatened to burn the Koran — is its newsworthiness. Had some major American political figure (Sarah Palin, anyone?) threatened to do that, I’d call it news. But some podunk preacher with a congregation of 50? Please. That’s a PR stunt, a “News of the Weird” story at best.

It’s important to remind ourselves that news doesn’t just happen; it gets created. Lots of things happen every day, and it’s the job of journalism to select what’s important. In the case of 24-hour cable news, controversy — especially of the “culture war” variety — will always trump stories about peace efforts. I used to do web work for a professor who ran a number of interfaith programs at the University of Virginia. (Yes, that page still bears my handiwork.) As far as I know, he hasn’t attained even a fraction of the celebrity as that nutball pastor.

This Week’s Cartoon: “Low-Information Nation”

I saw a post on Think Progress the other day about a new Pew survey showing only 28% of Americans can identify John Roberts as Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. To make matters worse, the Pew site states:

Asked to name the current chief justice of the Supreme Court, and given four possible names, nearly one-in-ten Americans (8%) choose Thurgood Marshall, despite the fact that Justice Marshall left the Supreme Court roughly 20 years ago, and passed away in 1993.

I also found this item on the Pew site about Americans’ gross level of misinformation about Obama’s religion:

A substantial and growing number of Americans say that Barack Obama is a Muslim, while the proportion saying he is a Christian has declined. More than a year and a half into his presidency, a plurality of the public says they do not know what religion Obama follows.

You just can’t run a democracy when people are this clueless. Related cartoon from a few years ago: “The Mental Welfare State.”

Reader Mail

A reader with a credible email address writes in to report:

Jen, my office is two blocks from the White House.

As you can imagine, we get a lot of Tea Partiers around here. The “I’m Taking Back America” shirted folks.

During one of their recent rallies, a guy paraded past here holding a sign that read, exactly:

NO REPRESENTATION
WITHOUT TAXATION!

I am not making this up.

To be fair, I suppose it’s possible that a counter-protester was walking around with an intentionally-bungled sign. But given the number of badly-spelled signs and confused statements made by tea partiers that I’ve heard over the past year, I’m going with Occam’s razor. If it looks like a tea partier and quacks like a tea partier, it’s probably a tea partier.

Last Week’s Cartoon: “A Volatile Situation”

I’m playing catch-up here, as I had to go back to Virginia last week to get my stuff out of storage. If any of you are thinking about doing a cross-country move, let me advise you not to do it in fourteen different stages as I’ve done.

It’s been a while since I did an autobiographical comic, but it felt appropriate for this one. In the process of furnishing my apartment, I have been sucked into a vortex of competing scientific claims. For example, this Planet Green article, ominously titled “Five Ways Your Bedroom is Killing You,” insists that conventional carpeting, paint, mattresses, pillows, and furniture are all pretty much deadly. In other words, your entire bedroom! I’ve become a master of indoor-pollution vocabulary, from “bioaccumulation” to “PDBEs” (flame retardants) to”off-gassing” (probably my new favorite word).

It’s hard to say where to draw the line — how much is cause for concern, and how much is marketing hype. I actually like the idea of nontoxic mattresses made by local hipsters, but the prices will kill a hipster budget. One starts to sense an eco-class system at work, with people making products they couldn’t afford to buy themselves, at least not without an employee discount.

Wool carpeting, VOC-free paint, solid hardwood furniture free of formaldehyde-leaking fiberboard — it’s all expensive stuff. So we have “green” products for the affluent, and for the masses? Let them be off-gassed! Now, if you’ll excuse me, I need to return to my bubble.

This Week’s Cartoon: “More Things For Islamophobes to Worry About”

Until now, I resisted doing a cartoon on the mosque controversy because, like many aspects of American politics these days, it seemed too stupid to address. But as the debate built to a crescendo last week, even I found myself getting annoyed at slogans like “STOP THE GROUND ZERO MEGA-MOSQUE.” You do realize the protesters are calling it a “mega-mosque,” don’t you? And a “9/11 victory mosque?” Do a Google image search for “Ground Zero 2010” and you’ll find all sorts of colorful signage. The problem, of course, is that these people are inventing their own reality. Does this sound like a 9/11 victory monument?:

The facility’s design includes a 500-seat auditorium, theater, performing arts center, fitness center, swimming pool, basketball court, childcare area, bookstore, culinary school, art studio, food court, September 11th memorial, and prayer space that could accommodate 1,000–2,000 people…

The project’s organizers state that it is intended to be “a platform for multi-faith dialogue. It will strive to promote inter-community peace, tolerance and understanding locally in New York City, nationally in America, and globally,” and have stated that it is modeled on the noted Manhattan Jewish community and cultural center, the 92nd Street Y. The project’s sponsors explained that the original name of the center was meant to invoke 8th–11th century Córdoba, which they call a model of peaceful coexistence between Muslims, Christians, and Jews.

Sounds like something we could use, actually. Emphasis above is mine.

Since some people have asked about the Dr. Oz panel in the cartoon, I will add here that yes, Dr. Oz is a practicing Muslim; he discusses his faith in this interview on The Root.

Confidential to New York, Seattle

Speaking of where I’m appearing in print these days, there’s a Slowpoke cartoon in this week’s Stranger (Seattle), and I hear Slowpoke is running in the Village Voice again. If you live in either of those cities, pick up a paper and support good ol’ fashioned print journalism.

Note for Lit Nerds

I have an essay in the current issue of Whitefish Review, a cool literary journal out of Montana that focuses on life in the Rockies.

Cartoonists In Afghanistan

I should let you know that my colleagues Ted Rall, Matt Bors, and Steven Cloud are currently traveling across Afghanistan on a fact-finding mission. They’ve got an expensive satellite phone and are posting all sorts of fascinating reportage, including sketches and photos. I find the easiest way to follow everything is to tune into the Cartoonists With Attitude blog, which aggregates the feeds from Matt and Ted. You won’t want to miss the photos of them in Afghan garb!

This Week’s Cartoon: “How Straight Marriage Will Be Destroyed”

I realize that making fun of bigots’ paradoxical “protect marriage” rhetoric is practically a cliché at this point, but if they keep saying it, I suppose we need to keep mocking it. In this case, I was set off by a quote in the NYT from an anti-gay marriage attorney who, in response to the judge’s ruling, said “the right of Americans to protect marriage in their state constitutions will ultimately be upheld.” Things don’t get much more ass-backwards than that.

Webless in Seattle

I really do seem cursed when it comes to internet access. Having some problems getting broadband in the middle of Seattle, one of the tech capitals of the world. So this space will continue to be quiet for a little while.

This Week’s Cartoon: “Why We Still Need the Bush Tax Cuts”

If there was ever any indication that the Republican party does not represent a  political philosophy, but sheer self-interest of the moneyed class, it is their insistence on keeping the Bush tax cuts at the same time that they howl about deficits. They tried to shut down unemployment benefits for desperate workers, and filibustered a bill to help small businesses. They speak plaintively about “burdening our children.” But hey, if you’re still makin’ mad Benjamins, nothing compares 2 U. Have some more!

The art in the second panel was inspired by an illustration I did many years ago. You can see the original here.

This Week’s Cartoon: “This Week in Celebrity Imitation”

For more on the Lady Gaga contact lens phenomenon, check out this NYT article.

I’d heard Glenn Beck had started an online “university,” but only got around to looking at the website recently. Do you know what premium Glenn Beck website subscribers are called? INSIDER EXTREME MEMBERS. Somehow, this seems highly appropriate.  Even more appropriate? This image of Beck that appears on the INSIDER EXTREME page. Yes, this man, in a straitjacket of caution tape, is perhaps the most powerful political voice in America. Methinks it says it all.