CSotD: Friday Follies
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We’ll start the day with a serious piece of folly before we get into the fun stuff. Guy Badeaux reports that Gary Varvel (Creators) got himself into a jam in Canada after the Toronto Sun ran this anti-Ukraine cartoon in a nation with a very large Ukrainian population. {There are places on the prairies where Ukrainian is commonly spoken.)
Adding to the outrage is that he exaggerated Zelenskyy’s nose. I hadn’t caught the fact that Zelenskyy is Jewish, but others knew it, and, combined with the theme of stealing money, were not amused.
I’m going to call BS on that part, because while Zelenskyy does have a somewhat, though not extraordinarily, large nose, he has an otherwise very average face. I think using it as an innocent identifier is within normal caricature bounds, just as Obama’s jug ears were a reasonable feature for cartoonists to play with.
Still, given that Zelenskyy made his plea for help openly and honestly, there’s no reason to call him a thief and Ukrainians are justified in being offended by the accusation.
For that matter, it’s a historic fact that Canadians stood up to German aggression in the 1930s while that generation’s America Firsters were working to keep us out of the war. There are numerous reasons the editor of the Sun might have thought twice before selecting this cartoon, and she acknowledged the error in an apology to readers.
Varvel’s work will no longer appear in the Sun, she wrote, but she placed the bulk of the blame on her own shoulders, not on him, which is a more reasonable response than we’ve seen in other such controversies.
Take it as a message that people really care about cartoons and that editors should pay more attention to the artform and their audience.
Can’t We Talk About Something More Pleasant?
Watson got more than a smile with this one. It’s normally a sweet, gentle strip, and this is no exception, but it addresses a serious topic for those of us who have passed the September of our years. I remember my father once wondering aloud if he’d made enough of his life, and I’ve asked myself the same thing, though both of us were wondering, not having a mid-life crisis over it.
Watson is right. It’s not necessary to achieve fame to have mattered. I wouldn’t have chosen his particular metaphor, but, then again, for a dog, it’s not a metaphor, and there are other mundane acts that will help you make your mark.
Moderately Confused (AMS) also speaks for me. I’m certainly too old to be a digital native, but I’ve kept up with things fairly well, which makes me part of the transitional generation that knows how to download apps, but also how — and when — to use a phone as a phone.
I don’t know if I’m being really hip or an old fogey when I am suspicious about companies demanding more information than I think they need. I do know that, while a lot of identity theft can be blamed on people taking stupid quizzes on social media or passing along sentimental glurge they find there, plenty of it also comes from normal transactions with reputable companies.
But even without that concern, it’s often easier to just call in your order than to use the stupid app.
Juxtaposition of the Day
I don’t understand the British fascination with Harry and Meghan. When King Whoever He Was left the throne and became the Duke of Windsor, it was an earthshaking moment, but then the Windsors seemed to become plain overly-pampered celebrities whose doings were more gossip than news.
Admittedly, I don’t recall the Duke writing a book about it all, and the Sussexes have drawn attention to themselves, but Venables’ cartoon is pretty innocent stuff and I laughed. I’ve seen less affectionate depictions of Meghan that make her look as dark as Grace Jones and I don’t think it’s an accidental trick of the lighting. We know what it is.
It’s not just them. I don’t get the utter devotion to royals. Taylor and Travis have earned their audience honestly, but I think Charlie looks just as silly in his for-real crown as Harry does in a paper crown from a cracker, and he can’t sing, dance or catch footballs.
Which brings us to Jonesy’s cartoon and the fact that British judges still wear wigs. It’s good that the UK doesn’t have a death penalty, because being sentenced to hang by someone wearing something like that on his head would add insult to injury.
Here’s an explanation of why judges and barristers wear the things, and while I got a laugh out of Jonesy’s cartoon, I got a bigger one out of the statement that “It brings a sense of solemnity to proceedings.”
So would a rubber nose and a seltzer bottle.
Your kilometerage may vary.
Cruel humor from Bizarro (KFS). Not that the joke is cruel. The joke is funny, but it was cruel to mention taxes at this time of year. The problem for this fellow is that elf, god and leprechaun require different occupational codes. My advice would be to use “sprite” and cut down on the duplicate forms.
The IRS will be piloting “Direct File,” a free tax preparation service competing with H&R Block and Turbotax, for 2024 in several states, but it’s apparently only for people with W-2 income. We self-employed wretches will still be filling out Schedule C and Schedule SE and Schedule LSMFT by hand.
I have, admittedly, already begun toting up the year in anticipation of doing taxes, but they didn’t have to bring it up during the holidays.
Ben (MWAM) counters Bizarro’s grinchy mention of tax prep with some cheerful news: The Muzak is about to return to normal. I worked in a store around this time of year once, and you really stop hearing it after awhile, but that doesn’t mean the earworms aren’t being inserted.
New Stories for a New Year
It looks like Rip Haywire (AMS) is about to start up a new arc.
And Vintage Buz Sawyer (KFS) has a new, promising storyline set at Cape Canaveral less than a year before Gagarin and Shepard made their first flights.
We know a lot more about space today:
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