Letters to the Editor

This letter is associated with the following article:
Black or white? You can't be both.
  • I chuckled, and found this a good strip

    There is a good punchline in there, of the deeper sort. Almost all groups try to claim exclusivity if you want to be able to use their jargon, turn a slur into a term of inclusion. How can you claim to be one of the Opressed, the thinking goes, and wear the slur as a badge of honour when you can belong to the other group as well?

    It's the old "you're either with us or against us" mentality, and Opus, being the silly antihero that he is, chooses to remain un-hip. Opus is the kind-hearted but timid person in us, not the wise one. His actions are poignant because we all do the same, taking the path of least resistance.

    The humour comes from showing the situation we find ourselves in, wanting recognition, but not wanting to give up other parts of our identity just so we can belong, the feeling like that to belong we have to apply for a license from some dusty, hidebound bureaucrat.

    So yeah, I liked it.