Letters of anger and disgust

Space Moose stinks

Re: All 78 episodes of Star Trek

In reference to the Space Moose cartoon which appeared in the Thursday, September 13 issue of The Gateway, I felt I had to write about it. In it, there was the implication that Trekkies, like myself, have a less than social hobby. Well, I believe very strongly (and I think I speak for Trekkies around the world when I say this) that the cartoon really stunk. The author obviously was pressed for a topic so he chose to resort to a very low form on humor--insult.

The U of A Star Trek Club is dedicated to the appreciation of entertainment from the Star Trek genre. I invite the author of Space Moose to attend one of the meetings and judge firsthand just who it is who should "get a life."

Live long and prosper,
Howard Roang
Engineering III

Space Moose mean-spirited

Re: Saved by the fat fuck

You have got to be kidding! The fact that someone would allow material as rude, crude and down right appalling to seep into our university newspaper is one thing, but to place it in the comics section as an issue that people should be laughing at is another matter.

Obesity in today's society is no laughing matter. Being overweight often tends to lead to discrimination against the individual not only in HUB mall, but in the "real world" and in the workplace as well. In some cases the fact that a person is "heavy" is beyond their control, perhaps linked to something deeper. But is it our position to judge their skills or "lack-thereof" by their pants size or by what they eat for lunch? I think not.

"Fat" people are people too. Just like you and I, they have feelings, fear and futures. To the "artist" of this cartoon I would ask that he/she take that into consideration before daring to put his/her useless scrawlings on paper and before having the audacity to submit it to the Gateway as "funny stuff."

Tracy Eschelman

Offense and enlightenment

Re: I don't think she knows what a dik-dik is

To Stephen Notley and Fish Griwkowsky:

This letter is in response to the latest Space Moose cartoon - not very funny guys... at least not for over 650 males and females who have used the Safewalk service since its opening in November. I was offended both as the initiator, and as a user of the service, by the implication of the cartoon that the Safewalk program was a "way to meet chicks with at least half a brain." I'd like to enlighten everyone who read the cartoon with the knowledge that both our male and female volunteers are involved in the program because they are dedicated and want to do their part in helping to make campus a safer place. As well, I would like to point out that our teams of volunteers are co-ed, and all undertake a thorough and extensive interviewing, screening and training process. I realize that the creator of the Space Moose cartoon probably was unaware of any offense that would be taken by its latent humour, but I would like to clarify that the implications in the cartoon are not a reflection of the purpose and goals of the Safewalk program. To all who have used the program, thank you for your support, and to all those who haven't discovered us, please do not let the cartoon influence your decision.

Jo-Anne Bishop
Students' Union vice-president Academic
Safewalk Program Initiator

Alberta Special Olympics

Re: 2-to-1 odds on PKU

Mr. Jason Brown &
Mr. Darren R. Zenko
Editors
The Solstice

Dear Sirs:

I was appalled at the Space Moose comic which your newspaper ran on July 10, 1995. The comic is extremely offensive and cruel in its depiction of Special Olympians and all individuals with a mental handicap. I cannot believe that you have endorsed this obnoxious use of a stereotype in your newspaper.

Special Olympics and many other fine organizations are dedicated to working with individuals who have a mental handicap, helping them become the best they can be. Included in this is the advancement of their acceptance in society, as individuals with their own unique contributions to make. It is apparent that we have not come nearly far enough in accomplishing this goal when a newspaper such as yours can show the level of insensitivity contained in the comic.

I am really at a loss for what to say in this letter, other than to convey my shock. I cannot conceive of any circumstance under which your comic could be considered appropriate, nor can I think of any satisfactory rationale you could put forward which would justify your choice to print this comic.

This comic was brought forward to my attention by one of your readers who felt that this required some kind of response from Special Olympics. The most appropriate response I can think of is to invite you to find out the truth.

Therefore, I invite both of you and the person who developed the comic to attend a Special Olympics training program or a competition and gain first hand experience with the athletes. Please feel free to give me a call to arrange this, or if you would like any other information about the individuals in our programs, their dreams and aspirations.

Sincerely,
Tim Haak
Executive Director

Anonymous e-mail

-- 

_______________________________________________________________
Firstname Lastname               Your Section
Firstname.Lastname@anu.edu.au    Your Department
+61-6-249xxxx                    Australian National University
i think your comics suck shit and you are probebly an ugly fag with no life

Anonymous e-mail

I hope you will post this on your feedback page and that you will be able to understand what I am about to say to you. Of course, having read Space Moose periodically during my stay at the U of A, I am pretty sure you cannot grasp much beyond a certain tumescence...

I like to have a good laugh regardless of how bawdy the humour. Space Moose, however, remains bawdy without humour. If it were just bawdy, I would probably still be happy to read it. What makes the comic so pathetic is that you are so desparate to be politically incorrect that you forget to include humour. Also, while your jokes against minorities of various types are plentiful, you have no jokes at the majority's expense. It's really easy to get people to laugh at the underpriveleged. People are already willing to do it. You need not even MAKE a joke and people will laugh. That's fortunate for you since I am not sure you could make a good joke even that your very life depended on it. The only thing I find funny about the cartoon is that Space Moose looks an awful lot like you. I couldn't believe the resemblance when I looked at your homepage, but there it is. I always thought that his ridiculous face was part of the joke, but that is the face that you wear. And I am not referring to looks, but to your Space Moose-like expression. You really don't know how to make people laugh from a good place do you? You can only cater to the basest human emotion. Often, however, Space Moose accomplishes less than that and is merely boring.

Space Moose angers many

Re: Antlers of the damned

I would like to address the creator(s) of Space Moose regarding the Thursday, October 17th comic, which referred to Jesus Christ.

I am a Christian. But I don't shove the Bible in your face. I may present my viewpoint, but I don't harass you to become a Chirstian. It's your choice. Why do you feel it necessary to lash out so offensively at my faith and discredit my beliefs?

I find it ironic that the Gateway states that "the Gateway doesn't print anything sexist, racist, homophobic, or libelous" (BIG PRINT, page 7, Thursday, October 17, 1996), and yet this gets printed. So what you're saying is that it's not acceptable to slam women, different races, or homosexuals, but yet it's still OK to trash religious groups?

If you're not sure about the existence of God, whether Jesus really is the Son of God, or whether faith in Jesus is really the way to Heaven, then I have one question: wouldn't you rather err on the side of caution and respect the possibility? (Just in case there IS an afterlife?)

All I know is, Jesus has touched my life in wonderful ways that you can never understand until you give Him a chance. And as much as I'm enjoying life right now, death doesn't scare me because I have confidence in God's promise that it's the beginning of a more peaceful life than I can ever imagine.

Your comic strip made me angry. But more than that, I felt sorry for you.

Melissa Hilderman

Thrasher's just bad

Re: Antlers of the damned

I must say I was deeply disturbed and appalled by the cartoon Space Moose, entitled "Antlers of the Damned." How dare you defile my Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, I think it is very sad that in today's society we lift up characters such as Beavis and Butthead and degrade the likes of Christ and Christianity. If this had been a cartoon degrading homosexuals or any other religious group it would not be tolerated. This is very sad, and paints a true picture of society and the "values" that will take us into the next century. God help us all.

Jim Laird

No time wasted

Re: Antlers of the damned

I will not waste my time criticizing or insulting the author of Space Moose as, A: he is unlikely to change, and B: he probably revels in the letters of shock and repulsion that he receives regularly. Instead, I will focus on the newspaper which publishes Space Moose: our own, open-minded, Gateway. In the last (Oct. 17) issue of Gateway I read the Space Moose comic and was shocked, not at the content, which I have come to expect, but that this particular strip was published. In this strip the author demonstrates an intolerance against religion. He presents religion as delusion and ridicules both the figurehead of Christianity and the beliefs. In the opinion section of the newspaper it reads: "the Gateway doesn't print anything sexist, racist, homophobic, or libelous." Though this statement does not specifically identify intolerance against religion as being censored by the Gateway, the general message given is: intolerance as a whole will not be published.

If religion is in fact open to defacement within the pages of the Gateway, then the editors are missing the point. Religion, as much as many would like to believe otherwise, is closely tied to culture and race. Was religion not one of the focuses of Hitler's persecution of the Jews and Roman Catholics? The author of Space Moose is certainly not intelligent or powerful enough to be of the same danger Hitler was. However, this is not an excuse to print intolerance, which the Gateway should not mistake as acting open-minded.

Michael Taerum

Turning the other cheek

Re: Antlers of the damned

I am writing this letter in response to Mustafa Al-Habib's Space Moose comic in the Thursday October 17, 1996 edition of the Gateway. I was totally offended by Thrasher's twisted and obscene interpretation of Christianity which was made to look like an evangelistic tract.

The most offensive part of his comic was in the last two frames; especially the last frame where Thrasher directly makes fun of the Christian statement of faith and conversion. I feel hurt by his mockery of Christianity as stated by:

"Rub the Bible vigorously between your legs every day to get to know Christ better."

Being a Christian myself, and a member of Campus Crusade for Christ, I know that my relationship with God is meaningful to me and in order to know Christ better, this involves reading the Bible daily. I know that this is not my belief alone. Many other Christians also agree with me and should stand up to anything that is against their beliefs.

Now to conclude, and in the true spirit of Christianity, I invite you, Mr. Thrasher to drop by the club office (SUB 040-H) where we can enlighten you about what we truly believe as Christians.

Edward Wong
Arts 4

Negative e-mail

Re: Antlers of the damned

> Oddly, I haven't received one bit of negative e-mail about the strip

Consider this your first piece of negative email. The strip not only wasn't funny, but it was offensive and belies a certain lack of originality that seems to be common in all of your strips. You don't seem to be able to come up with any original themes, so you attack easily exploited stereotypes without very much humor.

I would not ban you strips, especially the one in question, because I want to restrict your freedom of speech. I would ban it because it is in incredibly poor taste, not funny and totally lacking in redeeming social value...of course, I think probably one of the only people who realize I can just not review your not so humourous ramblings. As few realize, this is, effectively, accomplishes the same thing as "banning" your tripe, while not preventing your freedom of expression and that of the moronic cavedwellering sheep and other troglodytes who enjoy your type of "humor."

M. Steven McClanahan, MICP
Redding, CA

A little advice

Re: Antlers of the damned

We laud the attempts of the present Gateway staff to improve the content and stature of the Gateway. We gladly pass on the positive comments which we hear from students concerning the improved quality of this year's efforts.

It was with some surprise, therefore, that we read the cartoon, "Space Moose" in the edition of Oct. 17, 1996. The caricature of Christianity presented in the cartoon is nothing short of slanderous and hurtful to Christians, and offensive to people of all religions. Particularly offensive is the questionnaire which mocks the genuine spirituality of Christians by confusing it with prudishness. It also implicitly accuses Christians (once again) of intolerance and forcing themselves on others. How ironic that the cartoonist him/herself has displayed such an intolerant view of Christian faith and practise. If this kind of portrayal had been made of any religion other than Christianity, charges of bigotry and racism would already have been publicly aired. How incongruous then that Christians are the ones portrayed as vicious and judgemental, sexually obsessed and coercive in their beliefs.

While it would be impossible to prevent the cartoonist from entertaining his/her one-sided notions of faith - perhaps, (s)he has generalized from a bad experience - and everyone can utter in private any religious opinions or prejudices, this does not mean that every opinion is entitled to a public forum. We urge the editorial staff to be more critical in its judgment of what enters this newspaper.

We wish you all the best in producing what is definitely a more readable version of the Gateway than we have seen in some years.

Sincerely yours,
University of Alberta Chaplains
Tom Oosterhuis, Christian Reformed Chaplaincy
Davis Bittner, Roman Catholic Campus Ministry
Bill Eubank, Baptist Student Ministries
Saleem Ganam, Islamic Campus Ministry
Pauline Grant, Presbyterian Campus Ministry
Stephen Hallford, Anglican Campus Ministry
Julie Kohler, Roman Catholic Campus Ministry
Wes Miller, Pentecostal Campus Ministries
Richard Reimer, Lutheran Campus Ministry
Randy Schilling, Church of Christ
Marti Settle, United Church Campus Ministry

Objection

Re: Antlers of the damned

...I object to the Space Moose cartoon of the October 17. I fail to see how you can censor racist, homophobic and other hateful slants and then allow a cartoon like this to be printed. I myself do not follow any particular religion, but I am, nonetheless, offended by this cartoon. I would be just as offended by cartoons that derided race or sexual preference. I am offended because trash like this fosters an intolerant attitude when tolerance is the way to succeed in the world.

Leslie McKeague
Arts IV

Two wrongs don't make a right

Re: Antlers of the damned

When I was about 6 years old I was skating with my dad and a little boy pushed me over when he was skating by. So I grabbed my dad's hockey stick and slashed him in the gut. My dad immediately grabbed my arm and dragged me over to the boards and proceed with his "2 wrongs don't make a right" speech. I didn't understand. So he put it into simple math. 1 rotton apple + 1 rotton apple = 2 rotton apples. (It doesn't equal 1 good apple.) This is why Space Moose was wrong. Whether Chrisians "shove" bibles in our faces or not, it doesn't give anyone the right to discriminate against them. If they are wrong, the world has not been righted if we are wrong, too.

Discrimination is always wrong. No one person has the right to decide that it's okay to publicly victimize homosexuals, but not okay to do the same to Jews. We do not have the right to allow prejudice on the basis of color, and condemn those who are gender biased. There are gay parades, women's rallies, church crusades, freedom marches, and special interests groups who promote their lifestyles and beliefs. There will always be people who disagree with them, but it doesn't give people the right to publish slander. I realize this topic may have been exhausted already, but this is a point we have all missed. In the future I hope the Gateway staff is more aware of the intolerance they are presented with.

T-L MacLellan
Arts II

Space Moose puts women at risk

Re: Clobberin' time

Space Moose has recently found out something that women on campus have always known: voicing your opinion on campus is risky, especially if those opinions tend to question the status quo. I haven't seen the comic strip, and from what I've heard I don't care to, but I do resent those who've created and endorse this comic waving the Charter of Rights in my face chanting 'freedom of speech.' The rights within the Charter are not absolute and without limits, so please quit hiding behind it, take responsibility for the fact that your brand of humor infringes on my right to security of the person and freedom of speech.

The attitude expressed in Space Moose mocks the seriousness of violence against women. It serves to perpetuate misguided views of feminism which portray feminists as radicals or feminazis. It gives people permission to be apathetic to simply accept violence against women. In accepting it we allow it to continue. That puts me and every woman on this campus at risk.

This kind of humor not only puts women at risk, it also serves to shut women up. It bolsters those on campus who take feminism as a joke, who resent and dismiss what women are trying to accomplish. In an atmosphere such as this it's difficult and, for some, impossible to speak freely. Come and talk to me about freedom of speech when you're afraid to go into class and bring up women's issues because it may reflect poorly on your mark, or when you're afraid to stand up for your beliefs because you'll be mocked, dismissed, and labelled. Talk to me about freedom of speech when you don't want to put your name on your comic for fear of being the target of anything from verbal to physical abuse.

I don't have the right to censor you, that's what the Charter says, but if the Charter applies to all of us equally, what gives you the right to put me at risk and censor me? Quit hiding behind the Charter - it was never meant to be manipulated to serve those who refuse to think before they speak.

Kyla Sandwith
Law I

Prof not impervious to bullets

Re: Clobberin' time

I am writing to indicate my dissatisfaction with the editorial direction taken by The Gateway. I am shocked and appalled at the tone of this publication. Under the guise of "stimulating debate and illuminating ... diverse perspectives" (Globe and Mail, Oct. 22) it has actively promoted disrespect toward women. I find this behaviour unacceptable. For this reason, I ask the editorial staff to discontinue the cartoon, and resign from the paper.

I am appalled by The Gateway's publication of Mustafa Al-Habib's depiction of male violence against women. His message of hatred in the form of a cartoon is found in the October 9 edition of the student newspaper The Gateway. In the censored strip, that is nonetheless advertised in a publication associated with this university and that appears on the university-sponsored website, his protagonist identifies women who protest rape and violence against women as the "enemy." He caricatures the sorts of women who support public expressions that condemn male violence in unflattering ways, suggesting that such women are "unfeminine," and that feminists respond to male violence in kind. We do not.

Most importantly, the attention he gives to women who demand their rights to security of the person, to feminist women who have an analysis of why male violence exists, and students of Women's Studies is unasked for by us. In effect, he singles out these groups, targeting them as objects of derision and harm. I do not find this funny. It is not a matter of my personal taste and preferences but of the images used by the strip's creator to intimidate us into silence. It is a profoundly silencing result, I presume, to the women shot in the eye. When images of this kind are put about in the name of "humour," my character is demeaned. So is that of people like me - colleagues, students, women in general.

I teach Women's Studies. I am deeply offended by the cartoonist's implication that people like me are impervious to bullets or other harm caused by an assassin. It is a misrepresentation of my activities, and what students learn in Women's Studies courses for the cartoonist to suggest that we are involved in an activity akin to brainwashing. The Space Moose character is "reprogrammed" by being made to watch insipid non-violent entertainment.

What is it about me and mine that makes Mustafa Al-Habib depict people like me as an unacceptable "hard-core feminist"? (ibid.) What "fun" is there in his depiction of male violence at a Take Back the Night rally? There is none.

His cartoon should not be associated with the student newspaper. Following these events, I conclude, that a change in the editorship of The Gateway is needed. I have written a similar letter to the president of the Students' Union suggesting that the cartoon permanently be withdrawn from the paper, that the editor resign, and a new editorial direction be taken under new leadership.

Jane Arscott
Women's Studies

An open letter to Mustafa Al-Habib

Re: Clobberin' time

I have a good sense of humour. On occasion, I can be brilliant (usually about a day after the right moment has passed). Certainly, I have a keen sense of the absurd, and believe me, it gets a lot of honing in the land of Alberta Report. All this talent and experience notwithstanding (did I mention modesty?), I could not find anything comical about the Space Moose "comics" published/advertised by The Gateway on October 9, 16, and 23 in print and website forms. Let me tell you why.

First, a criterion of successful satire is critical thinking. Second, when you lampoon, you lampoon the powerful. Satire is a political weapon used against ruling elites by opponents who cannot defeat them by material or military means alone. Satire is used by radicals and social critics to debunk the idees fixees of the day. The targets (literally) of Space Moose are not powerful, do not constitute a ruling elite, and their beliefs are anything but dominant in any part of the world. If they were, women would not need to march together to protest the normalcy of the de facto curfew under which we - one half of the population - live. If feminists had achieved their goals, female corpses would not turn up in Alberta homes, streets and fields. In the real world, the freedom of women - let alone feminists - to speak and be heard is constricted, censored, and yes, repressed by acts of violence and intimidation.

There is nothing anti-establishment about trivializing violence against women, or in depicting the slaughter of social critics as an amusing event. I've got news for you, Mr. Thrasher: the establishment is you. There is nothing intellectually provocative in the tired rehashing of misogynist and homophobic stereotypes. You are talking only to your buddies, reassuring each other with the same old representations of power-mad, mind-controlling feminists and lesbians. (You seem not to have noticed, Mr. Thrasher, but the scary guys are the ones with guns.)

The facts of men's violence against women are unquestionable, and should be unacceptable to men truly committed to social equality. The important point - which the Globe and Mail has taken pains to overlook - is that every time women take some action to assert their right to live in this world without fear of male violence, some men choose to accuse them of everything from hysteria to male-bashing. Space Moose's treatment of the Take Back the Night March uses such accusations - along with threat of violent retribution - to ridicule, dismiss, and silence women's voices. The real issues here are not the silencing of men, but the silencing of women, and the silence of men regarding male violence.

Now, in attributing to Women's Studies a brainwashing function a la A Clockwork Orange you actually approached the laughable: the bizarre imaginings to which men's anxieties about their masculinity can be led. But if making a comparison between the pedagogical work of Women's Studies and the coercive techniques used to treat social psychopaths in A Clockwork Orange is absurd, it is really unfunny, for two reasons.

First, the criminal subject in A Clockwork Orange, like Marc Lepine, and your Space Moose, is no social hero - no freedom fighter. He commits horrific, sadistic acts of violence. I never saw the entire length of the film version. During the brutal, extended rape scene, the young men sitting in the row behind me in the Queen's University cinema shouted "yeah! Go! Do it, man!" and other such encouragements to the screen rapist. Between the horror of the film and these male spectator/cheerleaders I was so shaken that I had to leave the cinema.

Of course you'll only get this is you want to, Mr. Thrasher (that's why you're privileged in relation to women), but the fact that some men find this kind of brutality entertaining, indeed, titillating, is deeply horrifying to the past and potential victims of such behaviour. I guess that's why we sometimes indulge in feminist jokes like: "If they can send a man to the moon, why don't they send them all there?" Cheers us up on days when we feel less than thrilled about sharing the planet with the X-chromosome deficient.

The second reason your comparison falls flat as satire is that it reveals your function not as a social critic, but as an unoriginal imitator of the ruling ideologues. Didn't you know? Their game is to associate feminism and Women's Studies with indoctrination, illiberalism, and great big baddie "political correctness," and you have done your bit to help out. But to what end? To intimidate, marginalize, and silence Women's Studies faculty and students, feminists, lesbians, and women in general. In the name of freedom. Nice trick, eh?

Now, what a comic strip exposing that trick would make! But let's imagine for a moment what would be involved in writing a feminist comic strip for The Gateway. By virtue of being identified as a feminist, the author would become the target of abuse, harassment, and even threats of violence. Some of her professors, feeling threatened by her critical views, would single her out as a feminist "trouble-maker" and characterize her work as "not scholarly," "too narrow," and "lacking in objectivity." Male classmates would taunt and goad her with sexist comments, write graffiti on her locker, and exclude her from student activities. If called on this, they would say: "Can't you take a joke?" They would inform her that depicting violence against feminists or lesbians as merited by their views is - what did the Globe and Mail say? - "harmless" (See Oct. 25 editorial). She would receive obscene/threatening phone calls in the middle of the night. Male students and professors would write letters to The Gateway complaining about the new "politically correct" cartoon, and claiming that it discriminates against men. If her cartoons identified in any way a group of men (e.g. male professors of Department X), as exhibiting behaviour meriting criticism or ridicule, at least some of these men would threaten to sue our cartoonist for having impunged their reputations. The Globe and Mail might even write another editorial proclaiming: "enough with the angry feminism, enough with the fear-mongering about men being intrinsically dangerous to women" (demonstrating once more the Globe and Mail's profound understanding of the diversity and accomplishments of feminist thought).

As a result of this barrage of hostile reactions, she would experience intense levels of stress, difficulty sleeping, and anxiety about her physical safety as well as her academic career. She would begin to ask herslef whether the struggle to express her views were worth all the devastating consequences. She would begin to ask who is interested in protecting her freedom to speak without fear of intimidation, exclusion, and penalization.

Think I'm exaggerating? Askany feminist or lesbian-identified woman on campus. Oh, but I forgot. You are not interested in hearing them, Mr. Thrasher; you are trying to shut them up - in the name of freedom of speech. Very unfunny.

Laurie Adkin
Associate Professor
Department of Political Science

Proud to be a woman, feminist, and student

Re: Clobberin' time

While this letter is not about Mustafa Al-Habib's Space Moose cartoon, it is about the response that such a cartoon has generated. In reading the various letters to the editor on the subject of Thrasher's cartoon it occurs to me that a space has opened up wherein such issues as misogyny, violence against women, Take Back the Night marches, feminist and lesbian stereotypes, and promotion of hate speech are central, rather than marginal. the conscientious and critical reaction of such women as Laurie Adkin, Shannon Sampert and Jane Arscott to the Space Moose cartoon is responsible for creating this necessary and important space. To them I must express thanks. And when John Charles claims that Jane Arscott's desire to highlight the dangerous ideological, social and emotional repercussions of Thrasher's cartoon is about a "hard-core feminist" attempting to "wield [her] power" and who thus contributes to our university's "chilly climate," I giggle. What I believe to be the silliness, not to mention ignorance, or Charles' claim is rooted in the fact that Arscott and others are enabling us all to engage and participate in a afeminist critical discourse that encourages us to not only actively think about what we read, but to further consider the implications of such reading. As far as I know, this self-reflexive, self-critical reading process is important "for both men and women pursuing intellectual growth" and not, Mr. Charles, one that fosters a "chilly" academic environment. While Thrasher's October 9 cartoon worries me in so much as it represents women like me as likely targets of violence and further trivializes such violence, what Jane Arscott, Laurie Adkin and others are doing to combat this trivialization makes me both hopeful and proud to be female, to be feminist and to be studying in a university where such women are willing to speak up and speak out.

Andrea Katz
English IV

Nothing personal, but...

Re: Antlers of the damned

Adam, true talent does not need profanity, it does not need to knock others, or make fun of religions. I hope you find your way to looking at things a little milder, obviously, you do not believe in a supreme being and that is your choice, but my children are impressionable, it is the lack of sensitivity that children are missing these days that bother me. For instance, someone thought it probably would be hilarious to pull a fire alarm switch and shoot people as they ran out a school building. But I ask this, if you were hanging on the edge of a cliff, Adam, would you rather the hand that reached for you to be one of a Christian, or from someone who believes that they are not accountable for what they say or do? Someone who believes that there is no place in this world for values or morals or the responsiblity to teach them (Someone else can do that)? You may not believe it Adam, but you are teaching. Unless you can control each and every child and what they see, you are teaching. How will it change the world? If you think it is only parents that should safegaurd children, then you are passing responsiblity also, and are as guilty as those who let their children see anything. So many people who are like you fail to take responsiblity for that. It's their problem, right? I have heard people who use the "freedom of speech" argument, but I ask what is so important in what you say? I've heard all the arguments--anyway, my point is not to shame you, or to antagonize you, seriously, but rather it is just something for you to think about, or probably not. Maybe I put too much into what you say, maybe tonight I am too much of a prude, or maybe I am freaked about how morbid people's sense of humor is getting to be, I really don't mean anything personal... but I want to know, someday do you want someone teaching your children about love or about humping dogs? My child's playmate showed my child this page when I let him spend the night... I made sure the parents don't use drugs, or leave guns laying around, and they seemed like really good people to me. I try to teach my children respect for other's religious beliefs, even if they don't agree with mine. I talked to my child about respecting your "freedom of speech" although it was hard, and I told him that it wasn't right, but I still overheard him talking about your page to a friend. Just had to get this off my mind.

Freewriter

Barbarianism up at Langara (literacy down)

Re: The prof has a boner, Smash your ugly face in, The lesions aren't herpetic

Gleaner,

I must make note of this tasteless display of barbarianism and blatent display of homophobia in your Jan 30 and Feb 13 issues. As a gay male I feel that you have discriminated against my sexuality and that by supporting such a homophobic cartoon that you at the Gleaner are saying that it is okay to discriminate against me.

Would you feel accepted in a society where hate literature was not only accepted but also endorsed in such a way that it is published to mass audiences making STRAIGHT people the brunt of your jokes?

If not, then how can you endorse such a destructive comment or comic which obviously discriminates against gays...

Are there not laws that ban discrimination in Canada? These sorts of actions are similar to saying that there is something "funny" about him. The only thing that I or anyone who is gay and has read this grotesque comic find funny is that the Gleaner is dumb enough to subscribe to it's notion's and then try to defend the stupidity of others.

I find that I have to admit that such a fine paper is destroying their own reputation by printing such an abrasive comic...

Do you not have anything pleasant to say?!

LOUD, PROUD, P.O.ed,
And a Langara student
David Rouse

Do not be deceived...

Re: Tamagotchi

To: The Gleaner

I found the enclosed cartoon with its curse using the name of Jesus Christ highly offensive to my faith. I wonder if a similar epithet directed against Muhammad or Buddha would be accepted for publication.

Christianity embodies one billion people throughout the world. The Christian faith for over 2,000 years has been the civilizing influence that brought man from the barbarity of the Roman Empire to the relatively peaceful, free and law-abiding society in which we live today.

I myself became a follower of Jesus Christ 10 years ago, and have seen my life transformed from one of bitterness and failure to one of stability, peace and progress. I got married last August and am now enrolled in Computer Information Systems after many years in a dead-end job.

All of the above made your cartoon feel like a slap in the face to me when I read it; it was crude and needlessly offensive. I hope you will be more discerning in your choice of publication material in the future. As for Mr. Thrasher, whom I understand lives in Calgary, he will find someday that any poison which he imparts to other people will someday come back to him and destroy his life:

Do not be deceived,
God is not mocked;
for whatever a man sows,
that he will also reap.
-Galations 6:7

Food for thought

Dearest Adam,

Having recently read an interview with you by the editor of The Red Lion, the University of Manitoba Engineering Society's publication, I feel compelled to contact you (hence the e-mail). This may be because I'm a masochist, but damn that brick wall just feels so good on the forehead, you know?

What I mean by that, is it's pretty obvious that you don't actually listen to the arguments that people make in regards to the offensive nature of your cartoon. Clearly, you get some kind of jolly out of mocking and offending people. Perhaps its some kind of mis-wiring problem. The ol' synapses aren't firing quite right.

I guess, because I've made clear that I don't like your little comic, you'll just stick me in the category of "radical feminist" and immediately dismiss my concerns. Well, I guess by your definition I would be a radical feminist. After all, I wear pants, and I have the gall to neither be barefoot, nor pregnant, nor in a kitchen! I guess I'm also a radical disabled-persons rightsist, and radical animal-rightsist, a radical obesist, and first and foremost, a radical humanist.

But I digress. It's pretty obvious to me that you're not going to be convinced of the idiocy of your skewed, myopic conceptions of feminism, etc. I really just wrote because I have a question, that absolutely burns in my mind every time I subject myself to your comic. And it is this:

What the hell is wrong with you?

I'll elaborate. I suspect you'll need the clarification. It's obvious to me that you get a huge kick out of printing the most offensive, horrible, derisive things that you can think of, because you think you're making some kind of point about free speech and fighting censorship. Now, aside from the fact that freedom of speech was NEVER intended to give people free reign to promote sexism, racism, homophobia or other forms of hate and derision, I'm baffled by your need to crusade for free speech by printing really vile, defamatory material. There are a lot of ways to prove the value of free speech that don't involve perpetuating stereotypes. Take someone like Dr. Nancy Olivieri, for example, who has the courage to stand up against a huge company that funded her research when that company tried to hide the fact that her research proved one of their experimental drugs to have potentially dangerous side effects. Now there's someone who stands up for free speech, and indeed, proves why freedom of speech is such an important concept.

Even if I accept your argument that, on the grounds of free speech, you are entitled to print whatever you want in Spacemoose, I still don't understand why you'd want to. There is, my dear, a difference between "can" and "should" that is not merely semantic. Just because you CAN do something doesn't make it a good idea.

I'd also like to address your answer to Cameron Melvin's question, "You have been called a misogyinst. How do you address this?" in The Red Lion. Your answer merely insults those who are offended by your comic, and does nothing to convince me that your cartoon does not promote hateful and derogatory attitudes toward women (and other groups, but I'm working within the context). Given the large number of people who find your comic strip offensive, you must either assume that a large percentage of the world has a "tenuous grip on reality," or you were simply trying to skirt the question.

I don't have a deadened sense of humour. I kind of like laughing. In fact, many people I know think I have a fairly good sense of humour. For example, I understand The Far Side comics. I also think I have a pretty firm grip on reality. That doesn't, however, mean that I have to like reality. Just because it IS, doesn't mean that it is ok. The status quo does not automatically self-justify.

Well, you've probably stopped reading this by now. Feel free to post it on your web page, as yet another example of those crazed, torch-carrying, McCarthyist, self-righteous social crusaders who so plague you. I'd really like it if you'd respond to my queries and complaints with some kind of rationale argument, but if precedence is anything to go by, I doubt such an argument is forthcoming.

You may wonder why I went to the time and effort to write all of this to you. I kind of wonder the same. However, basically, I just wanted to give you some food for thought, ask a couple of questions that the boys at The Red Lion wouldn't dare, and see how you'd respond.

Kelly Friesen
University of Manitoba Students' Union
Director of Public Relations

Two cents from the Penny Arcade

I was pointed to your web site by a fan of my own web based comic who had nothing but nice things to say about you. I have looked over your site and it doesn't make me want to die. I find it odd that you can't crap out at least one comic a week. I mean it's not like it your strips are masterful works of art or anything. I can't see them taking more than about four minutes to whip out. I hope your able to start producing comics on a more regular basis. Until then I will try and reproduce the experience I get from your comics by playing with my own shit in the toilet. I look forward to seeing more cartoons about asses and all the things that come out of them. Keep up the piss-poor work.

Mike