Tuesday, October 21, 2008

Boot Quaking

Bizarro is made possible today by Fox News Channel's in-depth expose´, "A Fair and Balanced Look at the Race for the White House: Obama the Terrorist-Loving Socialist Baby Killer."

There is no doubt that Fox News Channel is a blight on the country. If it was even remotely disguised as honest journalism with a conservative slant it would be different, but it is quite simply half-truths and complete lies sold as the only "real truth," followed by more complete lies to back up utterly scripted opinions favoring the rich and powerful. It is, in a very real sense, an opiate for the masses, keeping them in line behind the Murdochs, Bushes, and Exxons of the world.

But what can we do about it in a free society? Not much. To shut them down for misleading the country would violate our freedom of speech, which all of us hold dear. But allowing them to perpetuate ignorance, bigotry and jingoism erodes all of our rights and the constitution itself. It's a catch-22 with no end in sight.

On the bright side, judging by the polls and the unprecedented number of people who have donated small amounts to Obama's campaign, I'm tempted to think that most Americans really are smart enough to finally rise up and do something about this trend toward the abyss. Perhaps we really are about to see average people band together and defeat the corporate old-boy network that runs the world. Perhaps on November 4, more people than anyone could have predicted will turn out to vote and McCain will be buried under a landslide of discontent and things will begin to turn around.

Or perhaps the Fox-News-Channel generation of low-info voters will do the same (with the aid of Diebold Republican Voting Machines and crooked precinct captains) and defeat the best chance this country will likely ever have at saving itself from the precipice on which we teter, and all will be lost.

I continue to quake in my boots.

25 comments:

derekamalo said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
derekamalo said...

um attempted spell check you can junk the other one

dan i didnt know if i was aloud to say that yes dan has supplied me with originals of his artwork as payment

think about it $350- $450 a pop

even repuatble papers that syndicate all across the country like the cleveland funny times
pay just $25 an idea..


im just fine and dan is more than fair ....once again hes explained himself more than once just the fact that he admits to the small percent he does except as oppose to the ones who take everything

and trust me im adiment on my originals and have never ever been jilted one yet ..

i just found out that a pulitzer prize winner and many time cartoon panel winner ..

runs his comic strip as a .com and buys everything you heard me buys everything ..end of story

think about this... dans way even taking one idea in his lifetime puts him in a a category as the man not behind bizarro ...so that says a lot for someone to think high enough of a readers work to be featured in bizarro that he puts his reputation on the line


anonymous way of viewing things and frans way of course is suppose dan has 8000 strips to date and 74 arent his...well oh my god dans a fraud and no other reader buys into their theory

as far as im concerned no more to ever discuss on this topic ..

dan has bizarro strip and i have my parents inheritance

end of story you 2

we win

Anonymous said...

i think you are being taken advantage of too

on ebay the buy it now price for a bizarro original is $150

Unknown said...

Even after spell check I don't know what the hell you're talking about. Did someone forget to take their meds?

Anonymous said...

Dan - was this one of those comics you were talking about that was not supposed to be funny?

derekamalo said...

wow don being as the internet is both at our disposal i dont see why i would ever take your word for the original 150 comment and not try to seefor myself

do a little more homework check this link hero

http://cgi.ebay.com/DAN-PIRARO-BIZARRO-SUNDAY-PANEL-ART-12-30-07-EVOLUTION_W0QQitemZ310080683347QQcmdZViewItem?_trksid=p3286.m20.l1116

Anonymous said...

http://cgi.ebay.com/DAN-PIRARO-BIZARRO-DAILY-PANEL-ORIG-ART-3-3-06-ROMANS_W0QQitemZ230285223434QQihZ013QQcategoryZ14009QQrdZ1QQssPageNameZWD1VQQcmdZViewItemQQ_trksidZp1638Q2em118Q2el1247

aren't all your comics dailies like this

Anonymous said...

If you are naive enough to think only 74 out of 8000 Bizarros were based on another artist's work, then all I can say is it is a good thing you have an inheritance at your disposal.

Unknown said...

We are the sum of our experience and there is nothing original left in the human world, only that which is to be rediscovered. What is creativity but using you own experience to express that which you feel? The only original thinker was Adam if you are a creationist. If you're an evolutionist, then it becomes a chicken and egg enigma, who had the first "Human Thought?" We will never really know so it becomes a moot point. If you wish true "original ideas" you're S.O.L.

derekamalo said...

millions hun millions hope you have a tough time sleeping tonight cause of it ..lol

Lorie said...

Anti-intellectualism. Defined as: politically correct for stupid. Cozying up to ignorance to garner votes is a dangerous, frightening campaign tactic. As my mother used to say when I was impudent, "don't get smart with me."

doug nicodemus said...

ahhh don't quake buddy its a waste of energy. great hood ornaments. could we see more of the ones that didn't make the papers? they are wildly popular.

Lanes said...

I am very sad that I followed the link on your comic today. I thought, "Wow, maybe I can see more really funny stuff from a really funny cartoonist. You know, somone that funny must be really smart too."

Alas, all I got was the same old "quasi-intellectual" crap. You know what I mean, "Bush Sucks . . . We were really only MEANT to eat vegetables . . . Animals are people too."

Okay, we get it. You think you are really smart. I bet if I read on I would read something about how we must respect all cultures and religions . . . oh, except for the mainstream ones, of course, like, I don't know, Christianity, they're fair game because, really, what a stupid concept for a religion.

Guess what, you're not that smart. You have really funny comic . . . but you're just not that smart. You follow the masses just like everyone you make fun of. But, your masses tell you that you are a "free-thinker."

I am sad today because one of the joys of my day is reading Bizarro, and now it has been tainted with the bitter poison of partisanship mixed with a hint of self-righteousness.

By the way, I am not a Republican, I know Bush sucks, I enjoy a good salad, and the first, and last time I ever saw an animal through the sights of a rifle, I couldn't bear to take the shot.

Smart comedians and cartoonists know that on each side of almost every issue there are going to be really stupid people . . . really smart people know there are intelligent people on both sides as well.

Penny Mitchell said...

Lanes, it's Dan's blog. It's kind of logical that Dan would expound upon the things that Dan is interested in on, you know, Dan's blog.

It amuses me that this continues to be a topic of discussion here.

Anonymous said...

Lanes, I agree 100% with everything you've said. You should witness the "free-thinkers" when someone voices a negative opinion on this blog. When it isn't their own voice, they are more than eager to silence it.

Anonymous said...

Well stated, lanes. I experience what you've described daily on this blog. But I find it humorous.

HollyBerry said...

you know mr. p, i've thought about what a windmill on a car would look like and it was absolutely HILARIOUS that you drew what i had in mind. i laughed so hard...

as far as faux-news goes, i feel your pain. have you seen the documentary called "outfoxed"? it goes over exactly what you described, that it is completely NOT fair and balanced, yet, they continue to thrive on that statement. everyone i talk to seems to agree with me about how terrible it is, but of course i hang out with like-minded people. most people do. as an amployee of a fox-news affiliate, i have to say i am absolutely SICKENED by the content they air, but only on fex-news tv. fox-news radio is almost a completely different story.. which is kinda weird... but they actually report NEWS and not a bunch of biased crap. then again, they DO report celebrity news... and that's just on a whole 'nother level of stupid.

Shannon said...

Go green!!Use wind power!!!

Lanes said...

Penny, you're right, I should have looked at the name of the blog and realized . . . oh, wait . . . it says "BIZARRO BLOG." And I got the URL from his comic. Sorry Penny, it's a topic of discussion probably because people expect something different when they come here. I understand the purpose of blogs and all, but if he wants a place to express his feelings, he might want to think about getting a different page for that, and then not putting the URL on his very funny comic, where very diverse people with different political views will find it, and want to go and find more funny things to read, and instead find quasi-intellectual, closed-minded, unfunny drivel instead. Just a thought.

I don't disagree with many of his ideas. Much of what I simply detest about his rants are the same things I hate about Sean Hannity's rants. It's the way he dismisses anyone who disagrees with him as ignorant or just downright stupid.

Example:
"On the bright side, judging by the polls and the unprecedented number of people who have donated small amounts to Obama's campaign, I'm tempted to think that most Americans really are smart enough to finally rise up and do something about this trend toward the abyss."

Dan's argument is that anyone who doesn't vote for Barrack Obama must not be very smart. Because how could you possibly vote for that old-guy who can't even hold his arms up correctly, I mean really, he's so old. There are a lot of reasons to vote for Barrack Obama, but there are also a lot of reasons to vote for John McCain or Ralph Nader for that matter.

Can't we disagree without being disagreeable?

Anonymous said...

Lanes, you are the antidote to the Dans, Shortcakes and Pennys of this blog. Thank you for a dose of sanity.

Josh Duncan said...

Good for you, Lanes!

Penny Mitchell said...

Josh! How's Iraq????

Penny Mitchell said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Penny Mitchell said...

Double post. Sorry about that. I removed it. I was just so excited to see my little warlord back. ;-)

Prof. Rick Duncan said...

You'll like this, Penny. I'm the political columnist for my school now and I'm driving one of my liberal prof. nuts. He's writing scathing letters to the editor loaded with ad hominem attacks in response to my columns. Not unlike Mr. Piraro's rants.