Crazy Times

If anyone wondered why I am doing these cartoons, the answer is fairly complicated. It isn’t because I hate the president. I don’t hate anyone. And besides, I believe it’s poor writing to criticize someone, or create a villain, without trying to understand where they’re coming from. Everyone is living a private drama. It’s good to try to understand others. That’s why I talked to everyone who emailed me. All the hate mail people. All the death threat people who didn’t use a fake email account. I believe in trying to be reasonable even if other people weren’t (I’ll admit I was a little snarky with some of them, but you try getting a ton of hatemail in 48 hours and see how you handle it).

That said, one of the main reasons I decided to take President Obama on is I am creeped out by group think. Always have been. When I was in High School, religious cults were everywhere trying to seduce people into going to their retreats so they could brainwash them. I had an experience with a couple of groups. I would talk to them, listen to their philosophy and they could tell from the questions I asked and the way I responded to them, I was a waste of their time. Because I generally see through BS. I am also not a follower.

So when Barack Obama ran for president, I became more turned off the more popular he became. The cult of personality is a very dangerous and creepy phenomena. Barack Obama’s cult attracted many zombie eyed followers who hung on his every word, even though he had never done anything important besides getting elected to higher office. And each time he got elected, would run for a even higher position before he finished his first term. He seemed only interested in ladder climbing. Not accomplishing things.

When he got elected he disappointed many of those followers. He didn’t do most of what he promised. He lied to their faces. I figured by now people would see him for what he is, but there are still plenty of hold outs as I discovered this week. People who defended him without even listening to our arguments came on here or contact us, saying some of the most extreme stuff you can imagine. They believed what the hacks said about us without question. It was sad. Fortunately, many people came to our defense. Many of our colleagues in comics did as well. But too often they would preface their email with something like this “I REALLY don’t agree with the comic, I think its terrible. But I defend your right to do it.”

OK, but honestly, I know from previous discussions, it wasn’t the art or the writing they hated as much as the actual message the cartoon had. Batton and I were always being playful and both of us are very easy going people. We’re not mean. We try to be friendly with everyone. So it was a shock to have our work attacked the way that it was. We thought the stuff we did was pretty mild. But it seems it hit a nerve with those cult of O people, big time.

And that is what disturbs me about the left. They are mostly followers. Not leaders. They mainly believe and do what they’re told. Because in lefty land you MUST do as your told or there may be trouble. That’s partially why so many people who supported us had to say “I hate what you do, but…” because their friends may be watching and they didn’t want to catch flak.

We live in a climate where many people are afraid to speak their minds for fear of persecution. That really offends me. So I do what I do as a response to that. I will not be cowed.

I’ve always abhorred group think. I’ve been put off by ideologies. But we now live in the crazy times where it’s a kind of civil war or opposing beliefs. And people who are somewhere in the middle like Batton and myself have to stand our ground against a seething madness sweeping the land. I hope many of you who come to this site have read my response, listened to the audio of the radio show I did and understand that we were the victims here. We’re not the hate mongers.

To those of you who came here angry but talked to me like an adult, thank you.