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Thursday, April 24, 2008

Comic Controversy

>Date: 24 Apr 2008 13:46:48 -0400
>From: Katie T. Cheng
>Subject: Alex Felix '08 is...
>To: (Recipient list suppressed)

1. a Phrygian
2. a racist
3. an asshole

Just thought you should know.

Please refer to his oh-so-entertaining comic in today's D for support of statements 2 and 3.

Sorry if you've already recieved this blitz!

Might I add (4) a terrible cartoonist. We'll link to the cartoon once it's put online.

P.S. The Daily D isn't going to put the cartoon online, so we have pictures here.

Posted by A.S. Erickson at 2:31 PM

Comments

This post has been removed by the author.

Posted by Blogger Christine S. Tian — April 24, 2008 4:19 PM  

I sense Rally Against Hate part II may already be in the works.

Posted by Blogger W. Aubin — April 24, 2008 4:40 PM  

Will, you're probably right, but regardless of how ridiculous the campus reaction to the comic is, I think we can pretty much all agree that the cartoon itself WAS cheap and immature.

Posted by Blogger Christine S. Tian — April 24, 2008 4:53 PM  

Oh no question. My roommate (who is Asian) and I have been in hysterics at how many blatantly offensive things got crammed into one strip. It's a remarkable feat that such a thing got by the D's editorial board.

TDR's offices would be firebombed right now if it were their paper.

Posted by Blogger W. Aubin — April 24, 2008 5:10 PM  

1. If it did get censored by the D's editorial board, you would be complaining about the lack of free speech.

2. There were protests outside Robo after Drew Lerman's comic in fall 2006. Stop thinking the TDR is so special. Get over yourself.

Posted by Anonymous Anonymous — April 24, 2008 9:11 PM  

What's different about this is that it is a direct personal attack on one person, identified by name. Calling an individual student a "hooker"? Forget college discipline, it's time for a slander suit.

I wonder whether the Phrygian Society will survive this, even though the cartoon was not a product of the group.

Posted by Anonymous Anonymous — April 24, 2008 9:21 PM  

@ anon 9:11

Sir, Yes Sir!

Posted by Blogger W. Aubin — April 24, 2008 10:05 PM  

Slander? It was in a cartoon.

Posted by Anonymous d '08 — April 24, 2008 10:14 PM  

I've heard both authors of the comic currently members of the Phrygian Society? This may or may not be true.

If they were members of any other group, I don't believe this would be as big a deal. But when you think about it, their group is directly opposed to the concepts in Bonnie Lam's letter. It's obvious (I hope) that the group itself was not directing them to do this. But you have to think that the mentality of the Phrygians had something to do with this. How could they think they are immune and/or beyond community standards (codified by Dartmouth or even those dictated by reason and common decency) that they could pull a stunt like this?

Posted by Anonymous Anonymous — April 24, 2008 10:17 PM  

Re: Anon 9:11

"1. If it did get censored by the D's editorial board, you would be complaining about the lack of free speech."
Well, we're certainly not protesting the D's right to print this cartoon; however, considering the controversy that occurred over "The Still North" in 06F, I'm surprised the board of the D thought it was a good editorial decision to run this.

2. There were protests outside Robo after Drew Lerman's comic in fall 2006. Stop thinking the TDR is so special. Get over yourself.

Sure, this situation does bear a lot of resemblance to the cartoon controversy of 06F... but an '11 Review editor not knowing about that is not exactly demonstrative of overwhelming ignorance/self-absorption.

Posted by Blogger Christine S. Tian — April 24, 2008 10:50 PM  

The comic reached me via email, and I must say, it is blatantly racist and offensive. It directly attacks a particular individual on the basis of her race and gender. It's disgusting.

The College has an obligation to censure these students. Dartmouth is not a public forum, where we have to respect every idiot. It's a privileged and exclusive community of students and scholars. These students should face consequences for so embarrassingly violating the principles to which they are honor-bound.

I wouldn't be surprised if this is a concocted issue. The kids are probably looking for punishment. Then the conservative groups can rally their base and keep the current Association goons in power.

Posted by Anonymous Mr. Wheelock — April 24, 2008 10:53 PM  

Concocted, but by whom?

The editors at the D had no obligation to print the cartoon, yet did so. Was their motive to entertain, to inform, to insure the visibility of the offense to the offended, or what? If their purpose was reporting, they should have provided some around the cartoon itself. Any administrative followup should explore their participation.

Posted by Anonymous Anonymous — April 25, 2008 8:50 AM  

For those of you who think that a comic is just a comic, Black's Law Dictionary defines slander as a "defamatory assertion expressed in a transitory form, esp. speech..." That comic was a form of speech and it was most definitely defamatory. The cartoonist's suggestion that he is asserting his anti-board packing sentiments is really just a thinly veiled racist attack on a student who had an equal right to support the Dartmouth Board. However, her support took the form of a petition rather than an offensive, immature, and inappropriate cartoon. Can anyone expect the quality of the reactions to such a cartoon to be much better than what the cartoon deserved?

Posted by Anonymous Anonymous — April 26, 2008 12:34 PM  

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