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This Week’s Cartoon: “Spawn of Hot Yoga”
I’ve been sort of burned out on politics lately, so apologies to those of you wanting something about the general in charge of a mostly-stupid war saying something stupid, and people asking stupid questions about whether the stupid comments should have been published.
I have nothing against hot yoga; I actually think it sounds kind of interesting. It’s been on my mind because I follow Black Francis of the Pixies on Twitter, and he tweets about it all the time. Some people have said they don’t get this one, which I find a little surprising — to me, it feels like a Life in Hell strip, or maybe a Roz Chast cartoon that’s just riffing on a concept. I suppose I’ll try to be more down-to-earth next week.
People on Planes
I encountered a new form of obnoxiousness while flying back east to visit my parents yesterday. I had the middle seat in a row of three, which kind of sucks for a five-hour flight, but I can deal. This middle-aged, married-looking couple began sitting down on either side of me, so naturally, I offered to move one seat over so they could sit together. They exchanged pained, awkward glances, as though I had just told them not to mind my ebola virus, and then they explained that they had intentionally arranged to sit this way since the woman is claustrophobic and needed the aisle seat. Now, this reasoning didn’t hold water, because the dude could have easily traded places with me, and he didn’t — he stayed by the window. Obviously they both hated the middle seat and preferred to have a stranger suffering in between them. “Don’t worry, we won’t talk over you that much!” the guy said, but of course there was food being passed back and forth, and a cell phone (both engaged in baby talk with their grandson), and occasional conversation between them. It was like I’d unwittingly stepped into some weird, asexual ménage-à-trois. The woman, it should also be noted, kept slipping out of her Prada sandals, and putting her nasty feet all over her seat cushion.
By the time we reached Atlanta from Seattle, I detested them and their stunning sense of self-entitlement, and I think they knew it, because the woman apologized again for her “claustrophobia.” I’m sure they’re going to pull this stunt on someone else on the way home, and while I feel bad for that poor sucker, I sure hope it isn’t me.
Trend Forecast 2013
Not about fiscal cliffery, as I had an early deadline for the holiday. But you’re sick of that nonsense, right?
In the weeks leading up to Christmas, I noticed a mini-flurry of authors of books about presidents on the Daily Show and Colbert Report. Apparently books (and movies) about presidents are hot now. Especially Lincoln. He is the bacon of presidents.
2012 Wrap-Up: Stuff I Did This Year
Hard to believe it’s time to change the copyright date on my cartoons again, but alas, here we are. I’m both humbled and happy to report that 2012 was my best year yet as a Cartooning Professional. Thanks to all those publications that made it possible by using my comics and freelance illustrations, and thanks to readers who lent their support through print orders, donations, and thoughtful comments here and elsewhere.
Some highlights of 2012:
In March, I found out I was this year’s Herblock Prize Finalist. With my prize money, I purchased an emerald-encrusted mechanical pencil with a burled walnut barrel and deluxe boar leather handgrip. OK, maybe I didn’t.
In May, I flew to Vegas for the National Cartoonists Society annual gathering. There, I mingled with a number of the nation’s comic strip artists amidst the constant presence of cocktails. I felt briefly fancy, then returned home with a suitcase full of dirty laundry and no longer felt fancy.
Road trippin'
Shortly afterward, Mr. Slowpoke and I began an epic road trip from the Northwest to Austin, TX. During the drive, while we were somewhere in the middle of Utah, Kaiser Health News posted my comic about freelancers and health insurance (“An Open Letter to the Supreme Court About Health Insurance“), which blew up and became one of KHN’s most-read stories ever. (Clearly the SCOTUS decision upholding the Affordable Care Act was all thanks to me. You’re welcome.)
In June, I attended Netroots Nation in Providence, RI, where I was on a panel with fellow Daily Kos cartoonists Tom Tomorrow and Matt Bors. As an added bonus, Paul Krugman showed up in the audience while I was at the podium. Fortunately, I realized this after I sat down.
Making new friends at Big Nazo in Providence, RI
Also in June, I found out that I won the 2012 Association of Alternative Newsweeklies Awards for Best Cartoon. Huzzah!
In September, I covered the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte for the Austin Chronicle and C-VILLE Weekly. I can now say I saw the Foo Fighters live.
Me with the entire Obama family
A few days later, I was off to Washington, DC for the Association of American Editorial Cartoonists convention, where I gave a few presentations. I participated in the cartoon version of a “Literary Death Match,” in which I was narrowly defeated in the final round by Keith Knight, who drew better blindfolded than I did (I’m sure he cheated).
With Clay Bennett and Tom Tomorrow at AAEC. Photo by Bruce Guthrie
My travel season finally over, the fall brought an abundant harvest of freelance work, most notably a series of WPA-style posters for the National Women’s Law Center. This gave me a chance to admire the incredible handiwork that went into the old WWII posters, and to spend way too much time thinking about fonts.
Around this time, the Center for Cartoon Studies unveiled a tribute poster to Matt Groening’s “Life in Hell.” I was flattered to ask to participate. My contribution was published on Slate.
The year was rounded out with a pleasant interview with Tom Racine of “Tall Tale Radio.”
Whew, I’m exhausted just thinking about all that stuff. Here’s hoping 2013 is similarly righteous. I’ll be unleashing a completely revamped website in the new year, so stay tuned for that. Cheers!
I Get Hatemail
I’ve noticed an uptick in angry email lately, ranging from the mildly disgruntled to the downright ugly. To wit, this gentleman’s missive:
How exactly was the “shutdown” an “actual economic disaster” you dumb c*nt?
oh, never mind.
–corey
(Asterisk added by me.) OK, here’s your answer:
“The bottom line is the government shutdown has hurt the U.S. economy,” S&P said in a statement. “In September, we expected 3 percent annualized growth in the fourth quarter because we thought politicians would have learned from 2011 and taken steps to avoid things like a government shutdown and the possibility of a sovereign default. Since our forecast didn’t hold, we now have to lower our fourth-quarter growth estimate to closer to 2 percent.”
More on how the government shutdown hurt the economy here.
First They Came For The Tofu Dogs…
As plant-derived meat products gain in popularity, Big Meat is fighting back with labeling laws such as the one passed in Mississippi. Vox has a good summary:
The state now bans plant-based meat providers from using labels like “veggie burger” or “vegan hot dog” on their products. Such labels are potentially punishable with jail time. Words like “burger” and “hot dog” would be permitted only for products from slaughtered livestock. Proponents claim the law is necessary to avoid confusing consumers — but given that the phrase “veggie burger” hasn’t been especially confusing for consumers this whole time, it certainly seems more like an effort to keep alternatives to meat away from shoppers.
According to this Memphis news station, the state is also banning the terms “meatless meatballs” and “vegan bacon.” I regret that I found this source too late to include any meatball jokes in the cartoon. I especially loved the response from the Mississippi Agriculture and Commerce Commissioner to charges of anti-competitive protectionism of the meat industry:
“That’s hogwash,” said Mississippi Agriculture and Commerce Commissioner Andy Gipson. “What prompted this movement is that consumers of Mississippi have been crying out confused about what’s on the shelf. Is this meat? Or is this not meat?”
Yes, he actually used the word “hogwash.” Also, I think he’s insulting the intelligence of Mississippians more than he intends to here. I have a hard time envisioning many people looking at a package labeled “Meatless Veggie Burgers” and crying out in despair “BUT IS IT MEAT???”
I find the right’s obsession with meat culturally fascinating. When it made the news a few months ago that cattle farming is contributing massively to climate change, Fox and other outlets went bonkers with fear-stoking about “the libs wanting to take away your hamburgers.” The alt-right regularly insults lefty men as “soy boys” (never mind the fact that soy protein is excellent for building muscle mass). Meat is so heavily gendered and semiotically rich, there’s so much to unpack!
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Legal Horseplay
The most recent case this comic refers to, of course, is the appeals court verdict upholding Texas’s medically unnecessary abortion clinic regulations, which shuttered numerous providers around the state. In a perfect inversion of the law’s intent, the judges ruled that “the incidental effect of making it more difficult or more expensive to procure an abortion cannot be enough to invalidate it.” Yes, don’t mind that little thing about the clinics closing — just an incidental side effect!
A brief history of liberal demonization
There seems to be a whole editorial subgenre now of so-called liberals trolling their own for not being nice enough to working-class Americans (as though progressives themselves are not largely made up of the working class). What drives me nuts about this holier-than-thou finger-wagging is that it largely renders invisible the decades-long campaign in right-wing media to demonize and dehumanize “liberals” as a category of person. It’s an enormous industry without any institutional equivalent on the left. Yes, people of all political stripes call those they disagree with stupid, and insults fly on social media. But the double-standard when it comes to professional, big-money media outlets is mind-blowing. How often do you see tut-tutting essays in mainstream publications about the incivility of rich, elite conservative pundits, and how they will alienate hard-working Obama/Clinton voters with their over-the-top insults? Not bloody often!
The reference to plumber butt jokes came from a recent NYT op-ed using this as an example of liberals treating Trump voters with “elite condescension.” Way to use the very frame about “liberal elites” that Republicans been hammering home for eons to divert anger away from themselves, and from the real causes of ordinary people’s economic struggles. It is simply astonishing that this agenda of turning “the libs” into monsters — which has led us to the very door of fascism — could be invisible to so many people. And even that is letting the finger-waggers off too lightly: they are now themselves part of the demonization machine, urging liberals to condemn themselves just in case they haven’t had enough from Fox.
The Dignity of Work
Politicians are constantly moralizing about the “dignity of work.” I’m all for being able to pay the bills, but I find the phrase condescending, as though people in need of the social safety net don’t quite grasp the concept of a job. And plenty of jobs are lacking in dignity; I’ve worked a few myself.
While doing some image research for this cartoon, I made a fascinating discovery. Did you know the Porta-john industry has its own trade publication, Portable Restroom Operator Monthly? Or that the 2014 Pumper and Cleaner Expo, billed as “the largest annual event in the world for the liquid waste industry,” will be held next week in Indianapolis? Not to suggest such work is undignified, mind you. But I bet they earn their pay.
Iraq: Now and Zen
Ugh, doing cartoons about Bush administration neocons and Iraq is giving me terrible flashbacks of the early oughts. I never thought I’d spend time thinking about the ill-groomed John Bolton again, but there he was on Fox News, saying that past decisions are “irrelevant to the circumstances we face now” and that he’s “happy to discuss the past 10 years and we can start 10 years before that if you want,” but that it’s “not the question that America faces today.” I also happen to be reading The Snow Leopard by Peter Matthiessen, which contains reflections on Buddhism. The hotheaded Bolton is probably the farthest a person can get from a Buddhist monk, and yet he shares a Zen master’s single-minded — some might say insistent — focus on the now.
TPP: Fast Track to Oligarchy
The Trans-Pacific Partnership, or “TPP,” may sound like a boring subject to some Americans, but the details are alarming. Leaked documents show that the agreement would allow multinationals to sue any country whose laws they claim stand in the way of profits. These companies’ challenges to environmental regulations, worker safety laws, and other protections, would be hashed out in private tribunals that operate outside of established legal systems. Obama has staunchly defended the secret agreement and is pushing for fast-track approval, alienating many in his own party. Which makes me wonder: WTF?
Paul Krugman’s column from a couple weeks ago explains why concerns about threats to national, state, or local laws are not unfounded. Canada’s finance minister is challenging the Volcker Rule under NAFTA. Jim Hightower also has more on the Investor-State Dispute Settlement process, and how it’s being used by Phillip Morris to challenge anti-smoking laws in Australia and Uruguay.
Gigantic corporations already have more than enough power. Obama shouldn’t be pushing to give them even more, or belittling those who argue otherwise.
Behind the Red White and Blue Curtain
The Republican tax bill — and the way it was passed, in gross violation of democratic norms — resembles the hyper-corruption we typically see in authoritarian kleptocracies. As the cartoon lays out, there are many ways in which the US is moving towards the kind of dystopian state we used to satirize.
It’s not a stretch at all to note these similarities between the authoritarian tactics of the present-day GOP and Russian oligarchs. Yet I’ve noticed a knee-jerk reaction among some readers whenever Russia comes up. Some object because they see concerns about Russian interference in the 2016 elections as somehow overshadowing the fact that America had plenty of problems with its own political system before Russia got involved. To which I respond, duh. This does not obviate the fact that Russia’s efforts were highly effective. If you follow international news, it’s clear that these influence campaigns are a global problem. Of course, this cartoon isn’t even about election interference, except for the panel about Fox spreading BS about the Mueller investigation.
Another hot take that makes me groan is that criticism of Russia in 2017 amounts to “red-baiting” or McCarthyism. These people have their heads stuck up a 20th-century butt. (Don’t think about that too hard.) You see, in 1950s America, the McCarthyites were the people in power. They persecuted essentially powerless actors and writers for having political sympathies largely imagined. Today’s America is a completely different context. The people in power — virtually unchecked power, mind you — are the ones colluding with a repressive, right-wing traditionalist, crony capitalist Russia. If anything, they are the neo-McCarthyites, quashing dissent by charging peaceful protesters with felony rioting, infiltrating leftist activist groups, and implying entire demographic groups are criminals or terrorists.
