Wednesday, March 11, 2009

Blind Justice is 20/20

Bizarro is brought to you today by Lassie Knows Dad is Hiding Something.

Lawyers like jokes about themselves. Almost any time I do a joke about lawyers, an attorney contacts me and wants to buy the original art. You might say that's because they frequently have expendable income, but the same thing is true of doctors and I don't hear from them when I do a doctor cartoon. There's just something about the sort of personality that becomes a lawyer that enjoys self-deprecating humor.

Granted, it would require a sense of humor to live with the fact that your chosen profession is among the highest paid and most hated in society, and that many times during your career you will be required to use all of your intellectual faculties to assure that a guilty party goes unpunished. It's a pretty weird job.

I have nothing against the sort of people who become lawyers, with some exceptions. I have several friends who are attorneys and find nothing fundamentally wrong with them. They just have a different perspective on the world than I do, as they tend to respect law above justice. I think the average person is the other way around.

I suspect most lawyers would agree that courts are about "law" and not particularly interested in "justice." There are a lot of high-minded reasons for this with which I agree, but I'm not cut out to serve that system on a daily basis. If I had been the judge overseeing the O.J. case for instance, when the jury announced their "not guilty" verdict, I would have sentenced him to life in prison anyway. And that's only because I don't believe in the death penalty.


SPECIAL COMMENT NOT RELATED TO LAW OR THE ABOVE CARTOON:
Thank no one (atheist) I came out with this idea before this cartoon appeared in The New Yorker. Different cartoonists coming across the same idea independently is very common, it's just way better to be in the first position rather than the second. I'm guessing this idea has been touched upon by other cartoonists in the past, too, so I can't get too cocky. Mick Stevens is one of my favorites from New Yorker, so I'm honored to be in good company.

26 comments:

derekamalo said...

My family learned at a young age, screw paying the attorney , just pay off the judge

Anonymous said...

It's alright, Victor would of found the New Yorker version then sent it your way.

derekamalo said...

Comment to be made on cartoons that look alike. i remeber a cartoon i drew called $5 an hour movers showed guys making a mess and throwing shit in the baclk of a truck off porcch. i was stunned that a similar one was done 30 plus years s before in the new yorker til i was reading a ny memoir book in borders.

i see your point its cool to be in selct company which is why i dont frown being apart of bizarro every now and then

then again a r. chast or someone noone is in that company cause no one else draws shit like that ...only one person can suck to that extreme

Karlo said...

Ojala puedas pasar a ver mis tiras comicas

soy gran admirador de tu trabajo

saludos cordiales
Karlo

Anonymous said...

I laughed out loud. Then I realized I was reading F-Minus, not Bizarro.

Karl said...

Interesting you mentioned lawyers asking to buy your original cartoon artwork. It sounds like those lawyers have a sense of humour. Of course, lawyers can afford to laugh since many are overpaid, egotistical, self serving heartless hypocrites only concerned about winning cases and taking people's money. I hope you charged them a good deal of cash for your work, sadly I believe it's now in the wrong hands.

Jeremy said...

Sure, Dan, just keep telling yourself that.

Anonymous said...

Dan,


I know Victor and he told me to send my submissions to you.

Here they are.

http://www.newyorker.com/humor/issuecartoons/2009/03/09/cartoons_20090302

Anonymous said...

I've been a big fan of Bizarro for years now. I never liked the Wizard of Oz. (I think that is Dorothy and Toto in the panel.) I think this is the first Bizarro cartoon that I just don't understand. What's the joke? Any help would be appreciated.

Anonymous said...

When Victor first sent the joke it was

L.T.B.O.M

derekamalo said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
derekamalo said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
derekamalo said...

with riends never discuss religion ,money or ploitics if you want to keep them around ..

i believe when we d die al questions we have are then answered..ive been believing that since i ws 10

derekamalo said...

jremey i tried posting a comment twice now that didnt make sense...like all the rest of them ...i cant understand what you and anoympus are hopping on are you speaking of new yorker poblication cause i like i said that really happened with me ..

youlike keeping the wall guessing

isee3dtoo said...

Does anyone know if I'm really dead?

Anonymous said...

Dan,your reaction to a previous commnet bothers me.

Your quote when answering "Why do i bother but here goes"

You bother because you need your fans or in this case fa(n)

as hes 300 personalities on this board

For the record the submissions you received from Victor yesterday that dog in the comic is named snoopy and the guy with the yellow shirt is Charlie.

Jeremy said...

I was mostly referring to Dan's saying there is no one to thank. Why not just modify your language instead of smearing our faces in it?

Karl said...

Jeremy,

I don't think Dan was being disrespectful. Many of us have differing opinions about whether God exists, and honestly, no one really knows for sure. That we'll find out when we die (and possibly not even then).

Anonymous said...

Well thank you KTM

alias, MR ROGERS

Karl said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Karl said...

Anonymous,

As a good believer, it appears you believe in reincarnation.

John Radke said...

I am not one, but I would think lawyers would argue that administering the law is the best way for any human society to go about administering justice. True justice cannot exist without omniscience, and so we employ the law to approximate justice as best we can.

For example, you've just made a judgement on OJ while knowing only a limited set of facts about the case, which is rather unjust (not that that really bears any consequences to OJ). You may have been exaggerating for the sake of comedy, but there's still a vast number of people who would judge him likewise in earnest. And there's loads of people who think he's innocent, based on equally incomplete knowledge. Who's right?

My guess? He's guilty and had good lawyers. But: I really don't know and neither do you. So we use the law, so that we can approximate justice as closely as humanly possible.

Piraro said...

It took me a long time to figure out why so many comments were about the afterlife. The comment, "..just keep telling yourself that" went completely over my head and left me mystified. By the end of the comments I realized some of you were talking about my "atheist" comment.

If I had said "Thank God" would I have gotten comments from offended atheists? Seriously,it was meant as a throw-away joke, why does anyone care whether or not I believe in a god?

And what's with this latest "Anonymous" clown who has a crush on Victor?

Jeremy said...

Dan,

I apologize then if you meant it as a joke. I guess I took it too personally.

Praise HaShem!

Anonymous said...

The thing I like about this one is that there are really two jokes in the panel. You have the obvious name of the firm, which is amusing all by itself, but then you get a closer look at the receptionist and what's on the desk, and it goes to another level. Bravo!

Anonymous said...

John, Most of the lawyers I know don't equate law with justice; they see it as conflict resolution for fun and profit. Mostly profit.