The Daily Wildcat Was Written in a Sort of Obsolete Vernacular….

So lately I haven’t been writing much because of a lack of inspiration. Currently nothing in my life has sparked enough interest for me to actually take time to write out my thoughts about it. I blame myself really. Over the past few months I’ve become increasingly anti-social. My life consists of doing school work, working a job where I’m apparently the only person there who isn’t overly enthused about selling overpriced coffee and tea products, listening to music and occasionally watching televisions. All in all, it’s a pretty mundane life. So really it’s my own fault that I have no inspiration, my life is incredibly boring. I’m actually pretty ok with how bland my life currently is, it’s actually quite relaxing. But lately I’ve been wanting to write something. So today I’m going to back a week or so and discuss a local news story that I was momentarily interested in.

The Daily Wildcat is the student newspaper for the University of Arizona. They sparked some controversy recently when they published this (seemingly) anti-Semitic comic:

Naturally this comic was not well received, with the exception of the University’s Neo-Nazi club. The paper quickly went into damage control mode and the editor issued an apology the next day. Now the logical question to ask here is: Why the hell was this allowed to be printed?

According to both the editor of The Daily Wildcat and the author of the above comic strip, this comic was allowed to run because it wasn’t racist. Instead, both parties claimed the comic’s intent was to make fun of people who believe in stereotypes. Now I’ve read this comic a dozen times and I’m really not sure how the hell you could interpret this as anything but racist. However, the pro free-speech crowd (read: people who’s life’s are even more boring then I my own) claims that this comic should have been allowed to run because of our free speech laws. Now I’m not one to impede on anyone’s free speech, but I can think of at least two reasons as to why this should have been printed. First off, it’s blatantly racist. Regardless of how you interpret our right to free speech you still have to apply some common sense to it. Obviously this was an extremely derogatory comic that was going to come off as a cheap shot at the Jewish community. Secondly, and maybe more importantly, it’s not even remotely funny.

Generally speaking I’d say that I have a darker sense of humor then most. I tend to enjoy jokes other would find distasteful or over the line, etc. That said, the comic strip in question is just incredibly unfunny. And that is the first reason why it should not have been printed. Now I realize it’s a college newspaper and it’s not like all the comics that run are going to be gems, but this one in particular is not funny, clever or even that creative and on top of all that it’s very offensive. In her apology, the editor had this to say about the offending comic:

“ The Daily Wildcat apologizes for the misunderstanding over the comic and does not, in any way, wish to belittle the Jewish community or depict it negatively. The Wildcat values the Jewish community as a constituent of this newspaper, and as members of this university and the world at large. We apologize to any readers who were offended.”

Now maybe I’m not interpreting this correctly, but that reads more like a ‘oh you don’t get our sense of humor’ more then it reads like an apology. This ‘apology’ comes off like the editors thinks the reader is at fault for finding this comic offensive. Which raises two pressing question: Why would you act so damned smug in a supposed apology and why the hell would you go to bat for this unfunny of a comic?

The other day I was thinking about the whole fiasco, because my current life schedule allows for lots of time to sit and think about useless things. Anyhow, I was thinking about how this whole mess would have gone away if it turns out the writer of this strip had been Jewish. I’ve never understood how it’s allowable to say racist things if you’re a member of that race. For instance, numerous black comedians often talk about how they hate certain sects of the black community (whom they generally refer to as n*****). If I dislike this same sect of people, because of the way they act not because of their race or ethnicity, I’m considered racist. How the hell does that work? If you’re racist against people, even if you belong to that race, aren’t you still a racists? I’m not sure what the answer to that is or how it relates to the topic on hand. I’m just going to stop thinking about it because I don’t think I’d ever come up with a serviceable answer.

In other news, my little brother, who’s in high school, recently participated in his schools’ blood drive. For his contributions he received a pin that said: “It’s my first time!”. I’m not sure the operators of this blood drive fully understand the context of that sentiment. Either way, it certainly gave me a good chortle. And much like the last paragraph this has nothing to do with the topic on hand, I just wanted to end on that note.

Until We Meet Again