Letters to the Editor
mtgradwell
Published Letters: 7
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Eureka!
[Read the article: Opus]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]That's the word I have for all the people criticizing this and the previous masterpiece. (Don't worry, it can be cured, just use plenty of soap and water).
Yes, the neologisms come from widely-circulated internet lists, some of which may even have had a previous incarnation in real life. But the neologisms aren't the joke, which is fortunate since those lists are possibly the most tired and unfunny things circulating on the net at the moment; and the longer the list, the more tired and unfunny it becomes. Transforming such unpromising material into a comic gem is something which can only be done by a real master, and that is what Mr. Breathed certainly is.
The joke is in the apparent ease and spontaneity with which Opus delivers the definitions; the way he can't help himself, and has to express himself regardless of the danger involved. It's in the eccentricity of the mindset that would be needed to think in this way (how *would* you have to think, to be able to come up with definitions like that on-the-fly?). It's in the blaming of "liberals" for this assault on language. In the facial expressions, and in a thousand subtleties that are not to be found anwhere in the internet lists.
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Terry Pratchett's Hogfather
[Read the article: Irving the Snowchicken is coming to town]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]As another alternative, you can have a non-Christian winter celebration and still have a big fat guy in a sleigh who dishes out presents. The sleigh is pulled by hogs, with names like gouger and rooter, and for kids who haven't been good he leaves a bag of bloody bones, but all of that just makes him more awe-inspiring than our currently watered down, bland and insipid commercial Santa. For extra fun, when the big guy goes missing, another anthropomorphic personification, Death, has to fill in for him. HO HO HO. Pratchett's an atheist, but I think his fables are suitable for all, including Christians. Ideal for "interfaith" families, perhaps.
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To all the people calling for it to stop
[Read the article: Kansas O'Flaherty ... Secret Agent]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Aren't you paying attention? Look at the fourth panel. Isn't it obvious that it's going to stop next week anyway? So why all the impatience?
Seriously, though, it is getting better. To see how much better, compare the most recent episodes with the first one. How many other comic strips try so hard to respond to reader criticism? And isn't anybody curious to see how good this strip might become, if the trend continues? O.K., so we were pitched into the middle of a story, with no point of reference, so it didn't mean a lot to us and still doesn't. But all the stuff that was missing to start with is being revealed, four frames at a time. If it doesn't die, there'll eventually be enough backstory to satisfy anybody. And, if you like, you can always pretend that the story began with this week's episode, or the previous one, and expunge the faltering first steps from your memory. If we're going to be thrown into the middle of the story anyway, why not start from now? Judge the current panel on its own merits.
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Why not go further?
[Read the article: Story Minute]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]If imposing control on everyone worked so well, why not extend the approach to include all life? How can uncontrolled reproduction be bad for humans yet good for all other known flora and fauna? How can the consequences of the exact same policy be horrible in one case, beautiful in another?
It could be argued that the balance is tipped too far towards the humans, i.e. "the world had too many people to survive", that they are destroying the rest of creation, and drastic measures are required to put things right. Which of course is what this strip does argue. But when almost every species of animal is extinct or endangered, and everything is polluted, It won't be because of numbers. As a species we're probably inventive enough to achieve the described state with just ten people, if we put our minds to it. We don't need billions. No, it'll happen because our philosophy is to control everything, regardless of whether it wants or needs to be controlled. An extension of that philosophy won't save us from its consequences.
Of course Carol is aware that her drastic solution would have its problems. hence her description of it as an impossible fairy tale. But it's a curiously persistent fairy tale, having been with us at least since Malthus.
V. Ryan: people are "shouting about eugenics" because that's what the strip is about. That's why it mentions a comprehensive test. You note that your own genes are "seriously flawed", which means presumably that by your own criteria it would have been better for your parents not to have had you. Now, why should anyone heed the words of a self-admitted mistake? (Answer: because you're not a mistake. The real mistakes are those people who think they are so perfect that they should be among the chosen few who are permitted to reproduce, and that they should get to decide who the other chosen few are too.)
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"bugs in my teeth"
[Read the article: WayLay]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]"I started wearing a helmet when I found all those bugs in my teeth". That line made me laugh. It would be funny in almost any circumstances, but I suppose it's particularly poignant for people whose teeth are made of baleen.
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@Tom Rakewell: Making the images bigger
[Read the article: Tom the Dancing Bug]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]One way to view the images at a larger size is to use FireFox, and download the "Image Zoom" add on. Then you can right-click on any image and choose the amount of zoom you want. Add-ons are installed using the menu tools|add-ons and selecting "get extensions". The site linked to in my URL (just click on my name) includes a "download firefox" button.