Since breaking the Capitalist Pig cartoon story on March 3rd, the original thread has now run into the hundreds of comments. (And now it’s been linked at Fark) It’s time to update the post, if only to give the discussion a fresh start.
Pressure is still on theSheaf – local media isn’t letting the story go. The Saskatchewan Human Rights commission has received a number of complaints and will decide what to do by months end. FWIW, I think that’s going too far – but then, in my perfect world, these extra-legal, unaccountable thought policing bodies wouldn’t exist n the first place. Though, I’m just twisted enough to enjoy the show of a far-left commission facing hatemongering from “one of their own”. But that’s a topic for another day.
One comment (there are many good ones) did catch my eye, and I’ll reproduce it here – commentor “Karl” replies to “Chad”‘
You wrote: “The cartoon is showing the Christianity and Capitalism/consumerism go hand in hand.”
Actually, it seemed to be showing Christianity and Capitalism/Consumerism going dick in mouth. If he had wanted to convey “hand in hand”, he could have drawn them holding hands. The point (innane though it is) would have been made, and no one would have been offended by the vulgarity of it. Jesus did not need to be made out to be a homosexual with zoophilic tendencies. And Christians need not be told that we are somehow the immature ones for being offended at an image of our Lord performing fellatio on a pig.
You went on:“How is that not true? Has anyone noticed that Xmas is more about a fat guy wearing red than christ’s birth? What about easter? A rabbit that lays eggs.”
As a pastor I can tell you that there is no group who is more critical of this trend than Christians. Have you not noticed all of the ‘keep the Christ in Christmas’ stuff? Have you not noticed that it is non religious people who continually want ‘holiday trees’ and the non specific ‘happy holidays’ greetings rather than ‘merry Christmas’? Have you not seen that non religious people are the ones who insist upon the consumerist non-Christian holiday of sentimentality, greed and gluttony that Christmas has become?? I say non religious, because in my experience, non Christian religious people (eg Muslims, Jews, Hindus) have no problem with Christmas. The ones who have the problem are those of ‘Christian Stock’ who put on airs of sophisticated athiesm, or groovy non sprecific spirituality which means anything, and nothing. Thye claim to be above Christianity, but really they are obcessed with it, blaming it for all of society’s ills, for every tragedy and travesty, and no doubt for their acne as well. To blame Christianity for the bastardization of Christmas is laughable!! If you feel so strongly about it, why don’t you ‘stick it to the man’ by letting your employer know that you are available to work on December 24th and 25th. And don’t buy anybody any presents. Don’t accept any either. Don’t visit family. Refuse that Christmas bonus. And might I suggest a protest fast on the 25th. For myself, I’ll do what I always do on Christmas. Preach the Word, administer Holy Communion, and later that day, break my Advent fast as I feast with my family in celebration of the Nativity of my Lord.
You continued: “I think Christianity has turned became a thing of social status. I find this mind blowing because Jesus preached about doing the exact opposite of this.”
I would find this mind blowing too, if it were true. Perhaps it was once, but the ’70’s are a long time ago. I wear my clerical collar in public quite a lot. I can relate well to the goths, because I get as many hostile stares. (and they seem to like to dress in black as much as I do). Think about it man!!! Stockwell Day was vilified for his Christian beliefs (remember the ‘How Scary’ McLeans cover?). Christians are regularily ridiculed for their beliefs. If we were looking for worldly status, we would be trying out for Canadian Idol, not living as Christians.
I was offended by the cartoon, and I don’t buy the argument that I am missing some deeper meaning. To me it is a sophmoric neo marxist interpretation of religion and its relationship to capitalism which was already past its expiry date some 20 years ago, and is only currently alive in the never never land of tenured political science chairs occupied by professors who are still a little miffed that revolution they boldly predicted some 40 years ago never came to pass. And how their young sheep bleat!!
Nicely done, I thought.
Now, time to take this issue down another tangent – so far the controversy has been limited to the offense given to Christians. That raises an interesting, and as yet, unasked question – When are the cartoonists going to be called on the carpet to explain the hatred directed at so-called “capitalists”?
The premise that “capitalism=bad” and that any group, any individual, any religion should have to disassociate themselves from business to attain moral purity is an intellectual embarrassment to begin with. But the cartoon goes one step further – in choosing a pig to represent the businessman, they have chosen the time honored progaganda tool of dehumanization.
That these small-minded refugees of Marxism are receiving a heavily subsidized education at an institution funded by tax revenues generated in large part by the very “capitalists” they would portray as pigs, just adds injury to insult.
Instead of hauling them before the Human Rights Commission, or calling for a wholesale purge at the Sheaf. I’d suggest a not-so-gentle push towards a little moral purity of their own – by removing the stench of “capitalism/consumerism” from their university education. Allow the enlightened to demonstrate the courage of their left-wing convictions. Present them with an invoice for the total cost of their education to date, adjust tuition to cover 100% of the costs, and cut off of any tax-funded student loans.
Something tells me the artist Y!th and his defenders at the U of S would find that a little too hard to swallow.
Well said Kate,
Too many things are taken for “grant”ed
“..demonstrate the courage of their left-wing convictions.”
That would take too long. I say fire-bomb their houses – death to the infidel and all that – as it seems to be quite effective these days.
And where the hell is PETA? Thought they’d be all over this one.
I wonder if we capitalists can use that piggy thing, good god, as much as I despise all those “hate speech” laws and commisions and what not, seeing some lefty idiot hoist on that petard would be very hard not to smile about.
Schadenfreude – it’s not just for lefties anymore.
Yes the Human Rights Commission was taking it a bit far, but then again,it was wrong to post it.
Substitute your PC minority group and then suddenly it is alright to complain as we are standing up for equal rights.
Ironically, and if anything, this is a debate on protecting our freedom of speech, not surpressing it.
Kate:
Having a lazy streak, I’ll just repeat a comment I made on a previous thread. Did you see it, BTW?
Think of it this way:
The interesting part of all this cartoon foolishness, (Mohammad insult, no, Christian insult, yes) is the context, not the content.
It’s a University publication. A University was supposed to teach you how to think, but it has become a reality that to get an Arts degree, you must merely regurgitate whatever a particular prof thinks, and by extension what the institution thinks. Ergo, “Capitalist Piglet”.
Where is “Socialist Piglet”?
Again, context.
On the positive side, the kid who drew that cartoon, and the kids who publish the Sheaf, have likely gotten more genuine “education” from this entire canard than a year of university provides!
One of my favourite T-shirt slogans comes to mind;
“I Have A Liberal Arts Degree…
Would You Like Fries With That?”
Which shines a baleful light on the diminishing value of a U of S “education” in the real world.
Kate:
Maybe it’s time for another “editorial” from you, a la ‘Best of SDA’, asking what these kids are really learning in this institution. And who’s teaching. On our dime. I doubt very much that most working taxpayers really know.
Posted by Mad Mike at March 6, 2006 12:35 PM
If there really is hate shown by the cartoon towards, so-called, capitalists, the irony is that it would be hate directed towards the cartoonish Marxian understanding of free enterprise.
Capitalism was invented by Marx as a foil for his theory of communism. He had to have an invented group as a foil because individualist free enterprise is not a unified economic force.
Students should pay 100% of education costs. They get the benefit. The benefit to society is that there would be fewer socialists.
Kate:
Another item. You were on the CFQC TV news last night. Of course all they mentioned was “a blog”, not your blog. I noticed the camera shot of a computer screen twice, once cropped to show only the cartoon label, and once to show your blog page, carefully out-of-focus.
They don’t want to give credit to the newest competition, do they?
I wonder if all the lefties in Schools today remember how one of the most famous lefties dealt with adversity, greed, and corruption… I refer of course to Stalin.
“All aboard the train to Siberia… except you Mr. Teacher, can I get you to just follow that nice man with the gun to the other side of the building.”
In our PC world today, TV and movies can no longer depict “bad guys” who are members of any ethnic or racial group (e.g., Mafia, Islamic terrorists, etc.) so the “safe” target group is corrupt business leaders who literally kill off the competition! Many years back I recall a PBS program that examined students’ attitudes towards business. They framed it around the then-popular TV show “Dallas”, where corporate greed, corruption, etc. was a recurring theme. Students commented that they realized that this was fiction and believed that it did not influence their opinion of real businesses. However, when these same students’ attitudes about business were subsequently suveyed, they noted that many students believed that business leaders would commit murder to improve corporate profits. No wonder so many people today believe capitalism is evil. Yes, I know there have been some big corporate scandals recently, but I don’t believe they involved murder for profit! After 28 years in the (mostly) honest real world of capitalism, I am constantly offended at how the media portrays business.
Let’s start with the local highschools. I’ve tangled several times now with local Saskatoon highschool teachers who were Che Guevera worshippers, pushing their crap aggressively during classtime. Michael Boore, Noam Chomsky, and so-called docuementaries like F-911 and The Corporation were shown and treated like fact. 90% of the students believed the teachers in question and the dissenters were treated like fools. When I challenged the teachers they backtracked like the cowards they were, but continued until a call to a superintendant got some of the Che posters and attitude trimmed.
In fairness, there are one or two rightwing teachers I know that go too far as well, and could use a trimming. What ever happened to giving kids a balanced approach.
I ask, do you know what is going on in your child’s classroom? Do you know what is going on on your campus… much of which you fund with your tax dollars? To think that we as the general public have no input is wrong, we can at the very least demand balance in all educational institutions. I don’t know where the U of S is at today, but when I attended in the 80’s, it was a nest of Socialism, mostly in the humanities departments; and the socialogy department might as well have been the local CCCP headquarters. The proffs were all kickbacks to the 60’s and Castro/Trudeaupia worshippers. The few among them who were not stood out like roses among thorns.
I’d like to hear from students who are on campusses now. What’s it like?
Well said, Kate. You nailed it exactly as it is … and exactly as it should be. As the last few days have passed, I have drifted past my initial anger and rage at this totally unacceptable insult to our society ( which includes everyone of faith of any stripe, and those who profess no religion). I still am hoping that Y!th and his budds, will find out the true results of their totally stupid actions.I do believe that anyone can make a mistake, but I do not and will never, believe that this was a simple mistake. I am, like you Kate, a little skeptical of how our “politically correct” Human rights commission will react to the many complaints received. It is my sincere hope is that Y!th and those of like mind( or lack of mind, as it were) will find out the real results of their actions will come from how they are received by an enraged public. Like it or not, this has more to do with common decency than it does about anything else. I believe that we all tend to try to stretch the boundaries when we are young. Looking, back, I can hardly believe some of the things we did when in college. It does seem to me though, that we did some crazy things, but there was always a “magical line” that we understood was not to be crossed without consequences resulting. I think we need to allow our youth to find themselves, but we also need to teach them that they also have to pay the price for their own stupid stunts, that cross the decency line. I firmly believe that a true mistake only occurs when it is repeated. I hope this will become a “life lesson” for Y!th and others of like mind. Somehow, I sense from his posts that he hasn’t learned a thing. Too bad! Too sad!
As my outrage wanes and my anger subsides, I now see this event as possibly being a milepost for us all. Maybe there are lessons for us all. Maybe we need to cut through some of this political correctness bull s**t and call a spade a spade and a wrong a wrong, as many of us finally did when our decency was challenged past it’s breaking point. But we also need to do more than whine about all the wrongs we see in society. We also need to commend the good stuff we see. We need to raise the good to a higher level so that Y!th and his friends have something to strive towards. As the old saying goes, “you an attract more flies with sugar than you can with vinegar”
To Y!th( all the other Y!th’s out there)I would say, we will find forgiveness in time, only after we see that you have learned something from your actions. If you don’t learn, well, you deserve to spend your life probably working in some extreme leftist organization, totally unable to see the good in our society and only able to bitch and moan about it. To me, Hell would seem like a better place. Only you can make the decisions to where you want to go in your life. Wake up and smell the coffee.
Part of the problem with this cartoon is trying to relate to those that are in favour of it, the level of disgust the rest of us feel. How do you communicate one’s level of outrage to a limp-wristed leftie? What’s a good “moral equivelency” that would bring said socialists to the same level of outrage?
Hmmm, let’s see…you could call Oprah the “C” word? Call Hillary Clinton the “B” word? Suggest “Brokeback” be re-released with two queer goat herding fundamentalist Muslims in the leading roles? Remind them that even their messiah, Karl Marx had to seek employment in the capitalist system (he worked for a printing company) because spewing rhetoric atop an apple box all day was tiring and didn’t pay the bills. Tough choices.
I like the prospect of having these modern day hippie wannabes having to cough up the full freight for their alleged education. Nothing makes you take something serious like having to pay for it yourself!
Kate – excellent post – no wonder yours is about the only blog I still visit!!!
Your questioning of whether the U of S lefties would take your suggestions to heart is laughable – I have found that lefties look to the right for all the blame and neglect to look in the mirror to see what is looking back at them!
I cannot tell you how disgusted I am with the cartoon. I am not going to riot or throw stones. I will just pray for those who have pepetrated this monstousity, as they obiously need a lot of help.
Right now the universities are pushing for more government funding. No doubt Harper will give them something but we do have an opportunity to require something in return. And Kate, I’m still “choking” over that “swallow” at the end of your post.
Now that the Sheaf has cemented their apology to an “editorial mistake”, seeing as a small oversite let this Jesus blowing a pig comic through the defence lines, and does not represent the usual actions of the paper.
So I guess the Sheaf has never before run a comic mocking a religious faith before this one slipped onto it’s pages.
It would be difficult for the Sheaf to hold this moral high ground if one or more catoons surfaced from back issues, and established that the paper regularly printed offensive material to Christians or other religious groups while at the same time holding an apparent double standard for Muslims.
Or maybe nobody bothers keeping back issues?
What these little anti-capitalists need is a semester abroad in Cuba the last bastion of the communist “worker’s paradise”. No extras either.
They can sit droning platitudes without debate in Cuban classrooms. They can hustle to find extra rice and laundry soap before dinner. They can write a term paper on the wasted efficiency and degradation of a barter economy.
They should live paired with random Cuban families making it possible that a few of them will learn a useful trade like boat building from scrap and celestial navigation at night.
You and I know that the coven of Marxist professors on campuses, of which there are plenty, wouldn’t last a year living the life of a regular Cuban. Why these bold faced liars of an empirically proven failed system continue to spew Marxism at our kids and get away with it is beyond me.
I fail to see any relationship to Christianity in that cartoon other than the “Jesus Christ” as exclamation.
As for the poor attempt at imitating the marxists of past generations, its pathetic. By the University rag standards of the late sixties / early seventies that cartoon would have been considered mild and amateurish. Many of those responsible in those days, have gone on to become fat-cat capitalists.
Ignore them, you’re making Zundle’s out of them. Let the prepies play in their sandbox, sooner or later they will have to enter the real world.
isn’t publically funding a university leftist. Having to pay 100% of their education costs seems pretty capitalist to me, so I don’t understand how that would teach them the realities of a society without capitalism.
ps. interesting enough STM, where the cartoon creators supposedly attend school, has been the most prominent institution at the university to attempt to remove private funding. This was most notable in their refusal to place Coke machines in their building, at the cost of losing incentives from Coke.
sorry my mistake with regards to STM. They simply refused their share of money coming to university from Coca-Cola I think.
I’ve been silent in this mess up until now. Not because I was not outraged, but because I did not believe that my outrage and anger would make a difference. Or maybe, I have been desensitized to this kind of university rag crap. Personally, when I saw the cartoon, the first thing I thought is that it was like most any cartoon in any university “newspaper” I have seen. At my undergrad university, where we paid mandatory fees for the creation of smut, the same type of creation could be seen from time to time. I hated it then, I still hate it now.
As a conservative, both small and uppercase c, with a liberal arts degree, I dealt (and still deal) with many of the complaints about academia that are often heard here. However, I personally view it as an opportunity to understand the other side’s arguments, so I can strengthen my own. I came out of one of the most left minded schools a stronger conservative than when I went in. I knew the weakness of my arguments and sought to strengthen them. Unfortunately, I was always a minority. In political science classes, I was often the only voice of the right, amongst a sea of leftist theories. That leads me to my final point, one which was mentioned above: the problem must be starting earlier than university. Whether it be the public education system or even parental malaise, I don’t know, but I do know that many university students’ minds are already shaped before they step foot on campus. Once they are there, the freedom to “become their own person” fosters the illusion that means they can do what they will, consequences be damned.
Do I think the end of subsidization is the solution? No, education is one of very few areas I believe the government needs to be financially involved in at great levels. But I do believe, that the schools that rely more on corporate donations often have a more balanced sensitivity within. (Sure, naming a room or building after a company like Imperial Tobacco gives the leftists something to scream about too, which I always got a kick out of – watching the protests right after a class in which those same students used the new technologies made available by donations from the company they sought to vilify – but then again, I never thought the left understands irony very well, and hypocrisy is another story altogether.)
Reading some of the comments at Fark makes me nauseous at the number of punks supporting the cartoon.
Scary.
OK, eveyone.
Ignore, for just a moment, the attack on a religion.
The whole thing is framed by “Capitalist Piglet”!
Shouldn’t the attack on capitalism be an important concern? Considering the source?
Why do we blithely ACCEPT that our universities are rotten with socialist crap? That is the insult. That is the greater danger to our free and capitalist society.
Again, Where is the cartoon strip called “Socialist Piglet”?
There’s 2 issues here, not just one. And in the long run, the anti-capitalist atmosphere of our institutions (which we pay for) is the more salient point.
What really matters is that this cartoon must not be investigated anymore than the Muhammed cartoon. This is supposed to be a free country.
Both were seen as very insensitive by their targets.
One difference that should be investigated perhaps is the ways the targets have reacted. Burning and killing on the one hand, debating (and some calls for censorship) on the other.
It certainly shows that Christendom has been forced to become civilized through liberalism and enlightenment, whereas Islam still hasn’t reached their enlightenment period.
Where all these opinions and dissecting of the childish antics of some naive university students are mostly well thought out and intelligent,are we not barking up the wrong tree?
In high school,my friends and I “published” newsletters as vile and anti-establishment as this.Has no one ever read Hustler?
Now here we sit,again hurling insults and accusations at fellow Canadians as to where they sit on the political and religious planes.Have we forgotten where all this started?Propagandists
fueled by their desire to exterminate us and these freedoms we debate here today.
These stupid,attention-seeking,unworldly kids have played perfectly into the hands of terrorists half-way around the world,now the rest of us seem all to gleeful to follow.
Am I the only one who feels like a puppet on a string?….I thrive on a good debate like most of you here,just think we are being manipulated to feed on our own.The very real enemy our society faces today is not some immature egomaniacs at the U of S.
You know, it really cracks me up that people are so outraged. Typical hypocrisy among Xian types. The Danish cartoons are “just cartoons” but since “Capitalist Piglet” defames Christianity it’s “lefist this and leftist that”.
All religion is stupid and has slowed the progress of humanity for thousands of years via holy wars, the Inquisition, jihads, draconian laws, etc. based on words written long ago an interpreted by power-mad control freaks to keep their flocks in line.
Any intelligent person should be able to see religion for the command and control mechanism that it is but still, in 2006 we still base much of our lives on ridiculous superstitions.
Get over it. It’s just a cartoon.
Sorry, most of you got it. And got ahead of me on the keyboard.
I think we should all be taking a closer look at both the curriculum and the professors at these schools.
I left the U of S in the early 80’s, disgusted with the attitude of many profs. Evidently nothing has changed there.
It should. I’d be willing to debate the merits of freedom and capitalism with these clowns. Anytime. I will only charge one dollar. Anybody else?
😉
yes it is interesting to see that most people on here are more outraged about socialism than they are about a religious insult.
Human rights commissions can be an ugly vindictive little tool.
Ask the print shop operator who was judged by one such ‘animal’, in Ontario I believe, to be guilty for refusing to print material he felt to be against his beliefs.
He was fined some thousands of dollars, even though there were many other shops who would have taken the money without comment.
It appeals in some tiny way, to hold those responsible for publishing this set of images, *also responsible* for standing behind ‘their product’ before a tribunal of other than their peers.
Standing behind one’s product, or service, or publication is a sizable function of being a business owner, a capitalist.
How does it feel now, knowing that some folks are waiting to spike that call to the Commission, which will know what to do with it from there….sadly?
Some are handing in resignations, and graduating soon, but that doesn’t release them from complaints arising from this in the future.
Also troubling is that this paper does NOT pay its own way.
Does it respect those that *do*?
Does it matter?
What does the public do with that, besides cause a good dust-up, bringing it into focus to a larger audience?
And….Any bets more eyes will be on *all* of the student union papers for future content now?
Perhaps that will be penalty enough…. a kind of teaching tool if you like, about who actually pays the freight in the public systems…..what supply and demand and good business sense does in the real world.
Supporters of the editorial staff have a finer edge to walk explaining this to their communities.
A reasoned tone generally earns the ear.
Nat, very good points.
Personally, I feel this nonsense that has degraded so many universities/colleges will not stop until parents/the public demand academic diversity. State level bills demanding academic diversity are being drafted in a few states here.
Universities should be fair and balanced marketplaces of ideas not indoctrination camps of bad science and lame ideology. Look at Larry Summers demise.
Marxism is a failed idea by every empirical measure. It’s bad science to say otherwise, but the hacks and ideologues keep the falsehood alive. Conservatives are so frozen out of positions that there is no meaningful voice to challenge their garbage.
I beg everyone who is concerned to spend some time at David Horowitz’s site. He was an old radical lefty that saw the light and understanding firsthand the left’s dangerousness has been documenting and exposing them for years. His book and articles on campus radicals are eye-openers.
As someone in business and a corporate type I want to thank Kate for pointing out what should have been an obvious point in this debate but was largely missed but everyone.
I copied this posting and filed it a while back.
The commenter said he was a human resources executive who was writing the advice that he was not allowed to say out loud at work.
“Who To Hire”
�Must have at least some base level of hygiene.
� Are easy to get along with
� Are interested in the company�s success.
� Are not self-centered narcissists.
� Are not negative about work.
� Have not sued other people or organizations.
� Smiles more than he or she frowns.
� Who is there mentally and not somewhere else.
� Who treats others with respect, not arrogance
�must not feel justified to steal
�must not lie to suit themselves
* must understand profits are essential to the health of a company.
Avoid those
* who hate others on the basis of their race or gender
� Shows no motivation to learn and work
� Whines about their life, whether true or not
� Are pretty miserable all the time�like a perpetual bad mood
� Will back-stab, gossip, and make up things to suit themselves.
� Shows no interest in being part of a team
* Demonstrates no understanding of basic economics or business principles.
“The very real enemy our society faces today is not some immature egomaniacs at the U of S.
Posted by Canadian Observer at March 8, 2006 11:50 AM”
Canadian Observer,
Those little commies at U of S are just as much the enemy as those terroroists half way around the world. They do their work for them and their work is to destroy our way of life.
They should not be let off lightly. They should be held to account. They will take their beliefs with them out into the world and continue to work against the greater society.
Most of them will wind up working in government offices or classrooms since they don’t have the right attitude to work for a capitalist piglet.
They are evil people and they are indeed dangerous. There are several countries now involved in shooting the muslim terrorists in their own lands, but who is shooting the terrorists right here at home?
These students are enemy combantants in my view and should be charged for aiding and abetting the terrorists who share their contempt for our way of life. A bit extreme? … these are extreme times.
Religion is not stupid, & I’m speaking as an atheist. For many people it seems to provide purpose to their lives, and gives them support in situations that they may otherwise be unable to deal with.
Much of the Left appears to despise religion, particularily Christianty, probably seeing it as a competitor for “command & control”.
Yes, there certainly has been injustices done in the name of religion; if we want to refer to the injustices commited underCommunism, the Left can hardly claim to be free from the same guilt.
While I don’t proclaim to be a perfect Christian, nor a spokesman for the faith, I find it interesting the amount of scholars out there telling me how I should react when I see Jesus portrayed as a BJ’er.
While for others, the protest is about the Sheaf being hypocritical not publishing one cartoon and then turning around and publishing the other.
But wait, the term “hypocritical” would mean there has to be some standard in place to gauge by – and from what I see in the editorial process of the paper and the skills of the so called cartoonists, this seems to be lacking.
Just for the record, I think the cartoon was lacking in taste and if this was some dipwad magazine, I’d probably would have ignored it.
Seeing the Danish cartoons have been out since September, it wouldn’t be right to publish the Danish cartoons now if we knew they would offend Muslims.
Likewise, it wouldn’t right to publish Capitalist Pig cartoons if we knew they would offend Christians or Jews to prove a point.
I have to ask, to what purpose? If one needs to prove freedom of speech, then maybe they never really had it at all.
cheers
tom
Duke!!
Thank you for proving my point so well!!
They are NOT evil,they’re just stupid kids blindly trusting their profs until they reach the real world.
and obviously duke is at about the same level as them
OK correction. ORGANIZED religion is the problem.
If someone needs a fairy tale to get them through life, they are free to follow whichever one they want.
The minute someone else starts exploiting this then the problems start re: command and control. The problems continune when these same people want to regulate the behavior of those who do not require such crutches as religion, or as is the case here denouncing one “offensive” cartoon while defending another set because they happen to slag Islam. I consider myself a fiscal conservative and extreme civil libertarian, and honestly, if the right could just loose the religious bunk and stop trying to legislate morality then it would probably be more popular among sensible people.
Just came from the Fark…
Erk…feel like I gotta shower or something now.
Oh well, if everyone thought like me, we’d be a perfect society…
😉
Kate,
I was wondering why you have keep this post in such a prominent position, Thought it might just be to keep us busy while you were busy in the paint booth.
But your “tangent” as you call it cuts through the rest of the rhetoric and hits the nail right on the head.
“That these small-minded refugees of Marxism are receiving a heavily subsidized education at an institution funded by tax revenues..”
They are funded by the very system that they wish to destroy.
It shouldn’t be taken for granted that more students studying for more years will improve our world. The reason that so many can do this is because of generous government subsidies and loans.
Another concern put forward by Mark Steyn was something to the effect that:
– keeping large numbers of people in the education system until their mid to late 20’s delays adolesce to such an extent that they have a difficult time becoming adults and assuming their responsibilities as such.
The baby boomers made perpetual adolesce an art.
The later generations have made it into a science.
Thanks for keeping the spot light on this.
You have highlighted the foolishness of our current education system. I hope that the MSM and the population in general wake up to this ongoing threat to our society.
Paul,
You shouldn’t assume that all people here that hate this cartoon did not feel the same about the Danish cartoons. I personally hated both. But I am more offended by the choice to responsibily decline publishing one set, while negligently (or purposefully, whichever is true) publishing one which will invoke similar offense to another religious group. It is this double standard that is appalling. I believe in free speech, but believe those that advocate for free speech cannot do so without recognition of consequences.
Paul:
You’re from Fark, aren’t you.
To those of you who do not frequent it: The political and religious threads on Fark.com are populated largely by the sort of people who got kicked off Democratic Underground for being too far LEFT.
I can’t tell you how many times I’ve seen Farkers making arguments that boil down to nothing more complicated than “All Religion Is Poison, And By The Way, Bush Is A C-nt.”
Penny,
Diversity in academia exists, you just have to look harder to find it. Unfortunately, not many students desire to put that effort in. There are some that do, but not many. It makes me remember the maxim of many students: D is for Degree. It is sad to me that there are students that do not see the future value of their efforts, or any effort for that matter.
I think my favorite part of this whole uproar was the response by the artistic genius Y!ph in the origional thread, where he excuses his cartoon by saying he published it to “open some eyes”.
Because you know, the rest of us all walk around with our eyes shut, right?
Sorry, that should be:
THE CREED OF FARK
1. All Religion Is Poison
1a. Christianity Is Particularly Corrupt And Evil
1b. All Religious People Need To Fuck Off And Die, Like, Right Now
2. America Is Evil
2a. Everything That Is Wrong With The World Is Our Fault
2b. Bush Is A Cunt
2c. Bush Is Stupid
2d. Bush Is Evil
2e. Bush Is Hitler
2f. Bush Is Hitler
2g. Bush Is Hitler
Check out what Rick Mercer is up to.
it’s actually funny for him.
http://tinyurl.com/n6dxu
Well yes, of course that’s too hard to swallow, the whole premise behind the leftist mantra is that the state pay for everything – they also own everything, and control everything, and it collapsed for a reason that they don’t get.
How come we never idealize capitalism. For centuries we have idealized the theory of socialism, and when it failed in practice we blamed falible mankind. But just for mo, fancy capitalism idealized. All children would be educated to the best of their ability, the better to serve the system. Medical treatment would be based on the profit motive but working on the margins that the market would impose. All would recieve treatment, for it is advatageous to the system not to waste human capital. Art would have to appeal to the public and not just an acredited elite. Those who fall through the cracks would recieve effective treatment based on theories that work as opposed to treatment which keeps them where they are, and provides employment for “social scientists”. I could go on. The point is why is socialim the only path to a heaven on earth (not that I belive in such a thing)? Why can’t we have a fanciful capitalism to counter the equally fanciful socialist ideal?
Just a thought.
The net result of cartoons of religion seem more to cause hate and resentment between different groups while *Humour* is almost incidental.
Cartoons serve the Jihadists as fuel for their rampages and cover for the stealth of warlords who we allowed to take positions in Afghan government.
Those warlords are wolves in sheeps clothing and our troops are at tremndous risk. This comes from Abdule Saraf. Saraf is a true Afghan leader on the side of citizens.
The Afghan conflict opposes the opium industry, the Mafia, the Jihadists and those who enjoy total dictitoral power. Ominous.
The Russians backed years ago. We can not afford to do the same. The momentum that will give to Jihadists will imprision millions of muslims in Burkhas and lock millions out of schools. TG
The Russians backed out, that is.
“”That these small-minded refugees of Marxism are receiving a heavily subsidized education at an institution funded by tax revenues..”
They are funded by the very system that they wish to destroy”
Are you joking? Do you even know what the left or socialism is? I’m assuming you dont because of your statement. Socialism basically is a more prominent role of government(eg. crown corps, public health care, PUBLIC EDUCATION) Your so called Leftists are not funded by the system they want to destroy. Saskatchewan has a mixed economy where the government provides subsidies to the university through the use of tax revenues. If they were funded by the system they wanted to destroy it WOULDN’T be tax dollars funding them, it would the students paying their own way.