Indian Comics Irregular #65

"An eye for an eye and the whole world goes blind."

Mohandas K. Gandhi

In the wake of the 9/11 holocaust in New York City, I received the
following e-mail:

This is Nicholas Longo, the CEO of CoffeeCup Software. As you may
have heard the World Trade Center and Pentagon were attacked about
45 minutes ago.

The Team at CoffeeCup would like to send our heart felt sorrow to
those that perished in these attacks.

We would like to also say on record that if any country is found
responsible for these attacks, we call for that country's complete
destruction and annihilation.

What? Why stop with just annihilating a few million innocent
people? Why not destroy the whole continent? Perhaps the whole
hemisphere? Maybe if we killed every human being who isn't an
American, we'd finally be safe.

Of course, it would be ironic if this attack, like the Oklahoma City
bombing, turned out to be the work of America's freedom-loving
"patriots." Then we'd have to annihilate ourselves. Ooops.

Meanwhile, Neil Clark wrote the following comments to the LA Times,
9/12/01:

Tell me again how Islam is a religion of peace; tell me again that
the adherents of Islam abhor violence; tell me again how "unfair"
it is of the media to portray the majority of terrorists as Middle
Eastern fanatics.

Clark and others seem ready to condemn the world's 1.1 billion
Moslems. Or maybe they'd just like to throw one-fifth of the world's
population into concentration camps until we have time to sort them
out. We're not doing anything with Alaska now; maybe they'll all fit
in there.

Exactly how many of these 1.1 billion people does Clark think
conspired to harm the US? A million? Ten million? A hundred
million? Give us a number or spare us the stupid stereotypes.

Can there be a better example of how stereotyping people replaces
nuanced understanding with knee-jerk reactions? I doubt it.

America, the Warrior Society

George W. Bush has cast the battle against terrorism in comic-book
terms: good vs. evil. He and others have said we must be strong,
like John Wayne or Superman. But some examples suggest we may be
"strong" enough already:

· A dozen football players have died this summer after thinking
they had to work out in enervating heat and take ephedrine
supplements to win.

· After onlookers urged a Seattle woman to jump off a bridge, a
columnist wrote, "Given that nearly every person suffers romantic
rejection, threatening suicide over this loss is the action of a
profoundly immature individual."

· After visiting LA's Museum of Tolerance, Andrew Franks, 11, who
identified himself as "Spanish, Indian, and American," said he liked
"where they showed all the stuff they used to kill."

Quote of the Day

We told them to let us alone, and keep away from us; but they
followed on, and beset our paths, and they coiled themselves among
us, like the snake. They poisoned us by their touch. We were not
safe. We lived in danger. We were becoming like them, hypocrites
and liars, adulterers, lazy drones, all talkers, and no workers.

Osama bin Laden justifying his murderous acts? No, Chief Black Hawk,
Sauk Indian, surrendering to the forces of American dominion, 1832.

For more on the terrorist attacks, go to
http://www.bluecorncomics.com/terror.htm.

Rob Schmidt
Blue Corn Comics