January 13, 2014
Some Advice for Jamie Stiehm
Full disclosure:
I'm not a Catholic. I'm a Methodist...we're way removed from those Catholic types because we got excommunicated from the Anglican Church over several disagreements of which ordaining ministers in the rebellious 13 colonies was the final straw...though a strong strain of what would later be called Disestablishmentarianism probably did not help. I mention this for two reasons....
First: I have for years tried to work the word antidisestablishmentarianism into a post and the above mention of its polar opposite is probably the closest I'll ever get.
Second: For the purposes of this post I need to assure my readers that that as far as I'm concerned them thar Catholics are all infidels and I am not being manipulated, threatened or brainwashed by papist puppeteers.
AUUUGH...He's taking about, politics...AND religion...in the same post. Now I'll NEVER have any friends!
US News &World Report is publishing Chick Tracts without art.
I'm afraid this is just poor form.
There's good analysis of this unpleasant development here, and here, but in both cases it does not actually touch on the lack of illustrations. This is a major problem.
Allow me to explain:
Jamie Stiehm, you've made a fundamental error that is inhibiting your ability to spread your message.
If your opinion piece contains paragraphs like...
...then your target audience is composed mostly of a bunch of Know Nothings with two digit IQs.
Now there are certainly some communist leaning, intellectuals who are on the same page as you ...but they don't need to be persuaded.They aren't your target audience...they're your cheer-leading squad.
The people you're trying to PERSUADE are those who don't already believe this crap. Unfortunately for you, it is likely that most of them are actually going to be pretty horrified by talking points that would not be out of place at a KKK rally, so you've got to go for the ones that don't read history, preferably those who don't read much at all.
Now don't despair! Keep in mind that it is not generally appreciated nowadays just how vitriolic and pernicious anti-Catholic bigotry was in the 19th and early 20th century, or how that Kennedy's election was seen as nearly as big a step forward as Obama's with regard to equal opportunity...So you've got that bit of ignorance going for you.
However, there is a fine line between this and those who don't read at ALL, because it's hard to convey ideas to true illiterates in print and anyway, they probably don't have drivers licenses...so you need to aim just a BIT higher.
I suggest that your happy medium is is best reached by comics.
Look, here is someone saying exactly what you are and reaching the ignorant mountebanks you need to persuade...
See how easy that was? Just take out "Satanic" to preserve your secular bonifides and you may want to do something about that flag reference so you don't get dis-invited to the dinner parties, but in general, Thomas Nast is your friend...and mentor.
Here's someone else who can probably help you out. Mr. Chick is still breathing and he may even be hiring. He pretty much agrees with you that those damn papal puppets cannot be trusted anywhere near the halls of power. He believes a lot of other things too, but if you're going to set as a precedent singling out a group and barring them from public office then,,,well...why stop there? You can always control any prairie fire you light since you have the match..right?
At least your publisher has your back.
Anyway, I hope this helps....
*************************
This, perhaps, ought not to be under the fold...it isn't strictly about politics...or religion for that matter, at least it ought not to be...not in the US I grew up in. Religious freedom and freedom of speech are foundational principals of this Republic going back before the Constitution, or the Articles of Confederation to people like William Penn and Lord Baltimore... I don't see this being partisan...and yet...
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Post is locked.
Full disclosure:
I'm not a Catholic. I'm a Methodist...we're way removed from those Catholic types because we got excommunicated from the Anglican Church over several disagreements of which ordaining ministers in the rebellious 13 colonies was the final straw...though a strong strain of what would later be called Disestablishmentarianism probably did not help. I mention this for two reasons....
First: I have for years tried to work the word antidisestablishmentarianism into a post and the above mention of its polar opposite is probably the closest I'll ever get.
Second: For the purposes of this post I need to assure my readers that that as far as I'm concerned them thar Catholics are all infidels and I am not being manipulated, threatened or brainwashed by papist puppeteers.
AUUUGH...He's taking about, politics...AND religion...in the same post. Now I'll NEVER have any friends!
That's why we put these things below the fold....
US News &World Report is publishing Chick Tracts without art.
I'm afraid this is just poor form.
There's good analysis of this unpleasant development here, and here, but in both cases it does not actually touch on the lack of illustrations. This is a major problem.
Allow me to explain:
Jamie Stiehm, you've made a fundamental error that is inhibiting your ability to spread your message.
If your opinion piece contains paragraphs like...
Catholics in high places of power have the most trouble, I've noticed, practicing the separation of church and state. The pugnacious Catholic Justice, Antonin Scalia, is the most aggressive offender on the Court, but not the only one. Of course, we can't know for sure what Sotomayor was thinking, but it seems she has joined the ranks of the five Republican Catholic men on the John Roberts Court in showing a clear religious bias when it comes to women's rights and liberties. We can no longer be silent about this. Thomas Jefferson, the principal champion of the separation between state and church, was thinking particularly of pernicious Rome in his writings. He deeply distrusted the narrowness of Vatican hegemony.
...then your target audience is composed mostly of a bunch of Know Nothings with two digit IQs.
Now there are certainly some communist leaning, intellectuals who are on the same page as you ...but they don't need to be persuaded.They aren't your target audience...they're your cheer-leading squad.
The people you're trying to PERSUADE are those who don't already believe this crap. Unfortunately for you, it is likely that most of them are actually going to be pretty horrified by talking points that would not be out of place at a KKK rally, so you've got to go for the ones that don't read history, preferably those who don't read much at all.
Now don't despair! Keep in mind that it is not generally appreciated nowadays just how vitriolic and pernicious anti-Catholic bigotry was in the 19th and early 20th century, or how that Kennedy's election was seen as nearly as big a step forward as Obama's with regard to equal opportunity...So you've got that bit of ignorance going for you.
However, there is a fine line between this and those who don't read at ALL, because it's hard to convey ideas to true illiterates in print and anyway, they probably don't have drivers licenses...so you need to aim just a BIT higher.
I suggest that your happy medium is is best reached by comics.
Look, here is someone saying exactly what you are and reaching the ignorant mountebanks you need to persuade...
See how easy that was? Just take out "Satanic" to preserve your secular bonifides and you may want to do something about that flag reference so you don't get dis-invited to the dinner parties, but in general, Thomas Nast is your friend...and mentor.
Here's someone else who can probably help you out. Mr. Chick is still breathing and he may even be hiring. He pretty much agrees with you that those damn papal puppets cannot be trusted anywhere near the halls of power. He believes a lot of other things too, but if you're going to set as a precedent singling out a group and barring them from public office then,,,well...why stop there? You can always control any prairie fire you light since you have the match..right?
At least your publisher has your back.
Anyway, I hope this helps....
This, perhaps, ought not to be under the fold...it isn't strictly about politics...or religion for that matter, at least it ought not to be...not in the US I grew up in. Religious freedom and freedom of speech are foundational principals of this Republic going back before the Constitution, or the Articles of Confederation to people like William Penn and Lord Baltimore... I don't see this being partisan...and yet...
Posted by: The Brickmuppet at
11:06 PM
| Comments (8)
| Add Comment
Post contains 796 words, total size 7 kb.
1
People keep giving me those things. Apparently I'm a Chick Magnet.
That gif is remarkable, well, animated.
That gif is remarkable, well, animated.
Posted by: Mauser at Tue Jan 14 04:40:31 2014 (TJ7ih)
2
Nice post. I especially liked the Weather Underground reference.
Posted by: RickC at Tue Jan 14 10:12:43 2014 (ECH2/)
3
Mr. Chick is still breathing
That's a shame, if I may say so. It's an even bigger shame that, if Jamie Stiehm is any indication, Jack Chick's vitriol may outlive him. (Just how old is Chick, anyway? He must be getting up there. Like Montgomery Burns, he's evil, but he'll be dead soon; we can take some comfort in that.)
it isn't strictly about politics
If I may inject a smidgen of politics, I feel compelled to point out that this is yet another instance of leftists turning on one their own like a pack of wolves at the slightest step away from the party line. In less than four years, Chief Justice Sotomayor has gone from being praised as a "wise Latina woman" to being branded a Papist tyrant.
That's a shame, if I may say so. It's an even bigger shame that, if Jamie Stiehm is any indication, Jack Chick's vitriol may outlive him. (Just how old is Chick, anyway? He must be getting up there. Like Montgomery Burns, he's evil, but he'll be dead soon; we can take some comfort in that.)
it isn't strictly about politics
If I may inject a smidgen of politics, I feel compelled to point out that this is yet another instance of leftists turning on one their own like a pack of wolves at the slightest step away from the party line. In less than four years, Chief Justice Sotomayor has gone from being praised as a "wise Latina woman" to being branded a Papist tyrant.
Posted by: Peter the Not-so-Great at Tue Jan 14 20:35:14 2014 (0KEH0)
4
Seriously, what is that image from? The flowers made me think Railgun, but it's not.
Posted by: Mauser at Wed Jan 15 07:28:22 2014 (TJ7ih)
5
A Certain Magical Index I think.
Posted by: The Brickmuppet at Wed Jan 15 10:23:25 2014 (DnAJl)
6
It may be from the second Index series. Uiharu wasn't in the first one. And it isn't from the first Railgun series, either.
Posted by: Steven Den Beste at Wed Jan 15 13:30:08 2014 (+rSRq)
Posted by: The Brickmuppet at Wed Jan 15 13:38:48 2014 (DnAJl)
8
Ah, that dates back to before the big hard drive. I think I moved that to DVD, but I've had bad luck with DVD's I burned back then....
Posted by: Mauser at Sat Jan 18 04:48:28 2014 (TJ7ih)
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