Monday, December 7, 2009

Obsessive Compulsive Cartooning (OCC)

Bizarro is brought to you today by The Magically Aging Man.

Whenever I do cartoons about disabilities or diseases, I get complaints from people who think it is insensitive to make fun of people with problems. I did a cartoon a few years ago about a band called the "A.D.D.s" in which all of the teenage musicians were scattered about the stage, busy doing something other than playing music. I got a ton of mail from angry parents of kids with A.D.D. Same thing happens if I do one on dyslexia or amputees.

In this case, I figured it was safe to make fun of this topic because I have a touch of OCD myself. Just as predicted, I got a ton of mail complaining about this cartoon. Although, perhaps not surprisingly, it was all from the same person.

NOTE: I think it bears mentioning that in each of these types of circumstances (and last week during the "Death With Dignity" controversy) I also get mail from people within these movements or suffering from these afflictions who really enjoy the humorous take on the subject at hand. Many people understand the healing properties of laughing at one's own hardships.

15 comments:

Anonymous said...

I work with a bunch of engineers. OCD hereabouts is like blue eyes in Sweden.

ojeano said...

Well, and a foot *IS* the perfect stocking stuffer. It's not about the footless limb, it's about our use of language.

Vladhed said...

My daughter is dyslexic, we bought her this T-shirt http://www.bustedtees.com/idyslexiaheart#female which she thought was really funny. So she wore it to school one day and all her teachers thought it was pretty funny/gutsy of her to wear it, except the vice principle who tagged it "unappropriate".

He is now in a board role that does not involve contact with any of the children.

MarkS said...

Too too many offendable people

doug nicodemus said...

as a fellow compulsive, though i can not figure about what, i applaud you..

what is the sound of one hand clapping..

keep up the good work bro, the smart car bad attitude one is on the refrigerator...i am doing a series on the top environmental blogs...can i use it next week...

Anonymous said...

I got a touch of OCD myself and I found this cartoon absolutely hilarious. Some people get a bit too defensive and play the victim card a bit too much.

Anonymous said...

Hi Dan- I thought the 'toon was perfect! I work with entertainers and musicians who show signs of OCD. Perhaps it's that fabled touch of madness that creative people are supposed to exhibit, which leads to suffering for one's art. Or something like that.

On to tilt at bigger windmills.

Frank_Lingo

Lysergic Asset said...

Love the cartoon and your commentary - esp. the mail all being from the same person.

Your creativity and originality consistently amaze and amuse me.

Tegin said...

AC/DC played yesterday night at the River Plate Stadium here in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

I thougth you should know (?)

Shoshanah Marohn said...

I used to work with this high school kid who was severely physically disabled, and he said his one wish was that people would make fun of him. Then he would feel like he really belonged.

I swear, I'm not making this up!

Anonymous said...

If you spend the rest of your life fretting about what someone else thinks, you'll never succeed.
Look! Funny is funny... don't worry about it. There are people who always insist on maintaining "victimhood" status. That is the job of being a liberal: produce crocodile tears at the drop of a hat.

Unknown said...

Ha hahahaha Ur just great!! Well I guess U do ur work and leave the rest to the others ......I think not taking a disability too seriously makes it easier to bear U know .... but oh well .... keep up the work though. I have fun reading your cartoons... I live in India, Mumbai specifically, 'Bizzaro' and 'Pearls before Swine' are the first things I look for in the paper... there are also the daily Murders amd robberies and bombings ...but Ur stuff is fresh!!

Penny Mitchell said...

Is it sad that the first thing I did was count the numbers of dots between all the "tests"?

jckmnpa said...

This is funny and if anyone is offended by it they really need to have way more therapy. How do they get up in the morning? Is there a pill for people that have no sense of humor?

GAlcidesS said...

Brilliant.