Letters to the Editor
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Excellent cartoon
Humans should be way beyond the concept that women and their sexuality are evil and should be hidden from men. (Maybe the men should just learn to control themselves.) I will NEVER understand how women buy into the whole notion that they should hide themselves in some type of religious shame. These "burqini" designs harken back to the early days in America when women were considered hussies if they showed so much as an ankle.
Maybe men need to take some personal responsibility for their own sexual urges. And women should refuse to bear the burden of religious-oriented sexual repression.
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Absolutely
America does rock, and we do know what's best for everyone else. But as this cartoon shows, some people are determined to stubbornly refuse the gift of freedom out of some misguided desire to determine what that might be for themselves.
This was banned? Sigh. Yeah, it's really out there. Wild stuff.
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Whis is really sexist?
What is amazing is that pretty much all religions and cultures have some serious statement on how much women should cover themselves. If a woman wants to wear a burka, a hijab, a bikini, a shirt, a business suit, a baseball cap, then who are we to demand otherwise? Americans are such hypocrites- so quick to point out how "sexist" Muslim nations are when essentially they are doing the exact thing in reverse. Wearing a bikini does not mean equality for women. Choosing whether to wear a head scarf or a bikini without government interference and social discrimination is.
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This won't be seen in Austin
Here in Austin, Texas, the blue city trapped in a red state, the American Statesman chose not to run last week's cartoon. Given that no one raised a fuss about the switch, I'm betting we'll get a re-run again this week. If it weren't for Salon.com, I wouldn't have even known about the real cartoon. Thanks for running Opus!
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Yeah, thanks Berk, for really going overboard with the Muslim cartoon. Wow! Man!
Nothing like a controversy to revive your sagging career. It's not like you really put yourself in danger, like the Danish cartoonist did. It's not like you drew a guy with a beard and said it was Muhammad. That might get you killed. That would take guts. Guts you don't have.
Draw something really controversial, will you? How about a guy with a turban and beard down on his knees in a Minneapolis airport restroom stall peering under the partition while Opus fights him off with a toilet plunger in his hand. Oh, and be sure to put a shower cap or a swim cap or a fruit basket or something on Opus's head. That's always sooo funny when Opus wears a funny hat.
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Stolen punchline
By the way, the "Burqini" punchline was used on an episode of NPR's "Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me" (with guest Janeane Garofalo) on the episode of July 15, 2006. . . At least Breathed is still stealing from the best.
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arbitrary
It's just as arbitrary to demand that women should wear any bathing suit at all. For thousands of years, people were clever enough to realize that the most sensible bathing costume was skin.
Someone from the south of France could make a comic about how stupid Americans are to wear tops. Someone from Brazil could make a comic about how stupid Americans in some places are to outlaw thongs.
It's only ridiculous when it's not your standard.
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Why do I have to wait until Sunday night to see the Tom Tomorrow strip?
Sparky is a penguin with balls.
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I wanna know what the reaction is to
All the smiling anuses in the bidet ads.
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Burquini
I think it actually originated in "Little Mosque on the Prairie", the Canadian tv show. The Muslim women were taking swim class, and had a substitute male instructor. This is how they solved their modesty dilemma.
Which doesn't make Lola Granola or Steve Dallas any less funny. Thanks again, Mr Breathed! More Diet Coke sprayed on my keyboard ....
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Shocking...
... that this was censored in America.
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Its just not funny
I'm not shocked it was censored. Its not even original. Worst offense...not funny.
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Missed the point
I don't see how this could be taken to be offensive to Muslims. I don't mean Muslims are overreacting, assuming they even care; I mean the newspapers knee-jerked: Comic strip about burqas. Hmm, he must be making fun of burqas and therefore, by extension, making fun of Muslims.
This cartoon, as I see it, is about our shallow idea that everything we do is good and true and if another culture does not emulate us, well, we've got to show them the light.
And it's about the ridiculous notion that a guy insisting on seeing his hot girlfriend in a hot bikini is somehow a freedom fighter.
Notice that the guy doesn't even notice that nothing has changed and his girlfriend is continuing to do as she wishes.
Anyway, Joan Walsh is right to refuse credit for showing courage.
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Wait, was that supposed to be funny?
Am I missing something?
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Are people missing the point? I rather think so.
Right now, all the responses read something like, "Exactly! Why don't those barbarians take the gift of freedom that America is so generously handing them?"
The point is that freedom isn't freedom if someone is telling you to do it. Lola is making her own decisions here; whether Steve finds them right or wrong is immaterial. She's actually making her choices because she knows she has the freedom to do so. This strip isn't a 'rah, rah, America' strip.
It's not for America to decide what people do with their freedom. I don't like burqas or the idea that women should cover themselves; that women 'choose' to do it is largely the result of what I'd consider brainwashing during the woman's youth. (I also consider the bulk of Christianity just a form of brainwashing that takes root during childhood.) However, I believe in both freedom of religion and freedom from religion.
Stop telling people what to do. If they're not hurting you, it's not your place. (In the context of this strip, depriving men of the opportunity to see you in a bikini doesn't constitute harm, either.)
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Which is it?
OK, if I expect women to cavort around the beach dressed (or undressed) like sex kittens then I'm oppressing them by demanding that they be sex objects.
But if they go to the beach wearing too much covering, then they are being oppressed because they're not being... sex kitteny enough... or something?
I don't get this.
Hey, why don't we let women behave like fully functioning human beings and let them wear whatever the hell they want to the beach? What any particular women wears to the beach should be subject to my agenda. If Lola decides she wants to wear a burquini, why is that anyone else's business?
That's what I got from this comic.