That cat is just following the arrows.
Hypothesis:
- John Brown has a dog (per @Dr.Drake).
- His soul goes marching on (i.e. he roams the Earth with his trusty dog, fighting crimes or injustice or Nazis or whatever).
- Doggo is thirsty as they pass the aptly-named shop; John Brown stretches the hose to fill the dish so she can have a drink.
- Proprietor notices and realizes: John Brown was/is here! With his dog!
Also: “If we pull this off, we’ll eat like kings.”
Another one of my all time favorites.
I once sent the Onion’s “Loved Ones Recall Local Man’s Cowardly Battle with Cancer” to a friend before remembering her first husband died of cancer. Fortunately she found it hilarious.
I think that there is a real possibility that those who are on the other side cancer experiences may especially appreciate that. The framing of courageously battling cancer is often unhelpful to those dealing with making difficult decisions about what sort of care to have. Mocking that may be appreciated by those who have had to deal with others imposing that framing on them?
As someone dealing with having cancer, I definitely don’t feel courageous and do love the dark humor on the topic. But then again I loved the Far Side long before my diagnosis.
Looking back on my practice of medicine, a LOT of my patients dealing with chronic, ultimately fatal conditions showed an enjoyment of such humor, too. I’ve concluded that most humor is based on shared pain and fear.
Maybe I’m far removed from reading much Far Side, but I never thought they were dark at all. Certainly not within a million miles of The Onion.
Yes, for the Onion headline it’s not just that it’s dark, it’s specifically skewering this kind of whitewashing about what that process actually entails for people, and how painful and scary it can be.
See Also: Smile! You’ve Got Cancer! by the journalist Barbara Ehrenreich about her experience with being pressured to make breast cancer into an opportunity for personal growth.
Quote:
In the most extreme characterisation, breast cancer is not a problem at all, not even an annoyance – it is a “gift”, deserving of the most heartfelt gratitude. One survivor writes in her book The Gift Of Cancer: A Call To Awakening that “cancer is your ticket to your real life. Cancer is your passport to the life you were truly meant to live.” And if that is not enough to make you want to go out and get an injection of live cancer cells, she insists, “Cancer will lead you to God. Let me say that again. Cancer is your connection to the Divine.”
I recently read a book called Everything Happens for a Reason: And Other Lies I’ve Loved written by a Christian theologian (Kate Bowler) about her experience dying of cancer. I found it a very frank and unvarnished account, filled with humor and love but also fear and sorrow. I think coming as she does from a religious community the pressure is especially great for her to be extolling the blessings of God love and grace and eternal life and how happy she should be to meet her eternal reward. Bowler rejects all of that while still maintaining her faith in her own personal way. I note she’s written two books since she started dying, as if I didn’t feel like a slacker already.