# Objectionable "Non Sequiter" comic **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 14, 2012, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/objectionable-non-sequiter-comic/609515 "2012-01-14T17:55:49Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![kittenblue](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ba8739/32.png) [@kittenblue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kittenblue)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2012, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/objectionable-non-sequiter-comic/609515/1 "2012-01-14T17:55:49Z")
My local newspaper decided that [Friday’s Non Sequiter](http://www.gocomics.com/nonsequitur/2012/01/13) comic strip was objectionable and printed just a blank space with a note explaining that it was cut and that they didn’t have a replacement in time. Did your paper print it? Do you find it objectionable? ---
**Author:** ![PSXer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/48db29/32.png) [@PSXer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PSXer)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2012, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/objectionable-non-sequiter-comic/609515/2 "2012-01-14T18:17:33Z")
people still read the newspaper? anyway I think it’s fine and people need to lighten up ---
**Author:** ![guizot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guizot/32/3636_2.png) [@guizot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/guizot)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2012, 6:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/objectionable-non-sequiter-comic/609515/3 "2012-01-14T18:23:43Z")
He totally screwed it up. It should simply read: “They all look alike to me.” Then it would have enough satirical weight to override any objection. ---
**Author:** ![Gagundathar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a183cd/32.png) [@Gagundathar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gagundathar)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2012, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/objectionable-non-sequiter-comic/609515/4 "2012-01-14T18:26:05Z")
People are certainly thin-skinned these days. ---
**Author:** ![Max\_the\_Immortal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/6de8d8/32.png) [@Max\_the\_Immortal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_the_Immortal)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2012, 6:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/objectionable-non-sequiter-comic/609515/5 "2012-01-14T18:28:44Z")
Thin-pelted, even. ---
**Author:** ![Invisible\_Chimp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/f05b48/32.png) [@Invisible\_Chimp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Invisible_Chimp)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2012, 8:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/objectionable-non-sequiter-comic/609515/6 "2012-01-14T20:04:32Z")
I read the comic and was left wondering where the fuck this would be so objectionable. I expected the OP to live in some backwater, but Cleveland? Really?! ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Jeffrey\_Lebowski](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_jeffrey_lebowski/32/215_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Jeffrey\_Lebowski](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Jeffrey_Lebowski)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2012, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/objectionable-non-sequiter-comic/609515/7 "2012-01-14T20:16:39Z")
The name of the strip is “Non Sequitur”. I don’t get the outrage. ---
**Author:** ![Toucanna](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/3bc359/32.png) [@Toucanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Toucanna)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2012, 9:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/objectionable-non-sequiter-comic/609515/8 "2012-01-14T21:17:03Z")
The San Antonio _Express-News_ printed it. I thought it was kind of dumb. If I over-think it, I could see the joke’s “message” could be considered insensitive, but not objectionable. My mother didn’t get the joke at first. After I explained it, she thought the message was distinctly anti-racism. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2012, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/objectionable-non-sequiter-comic/609515/9 "2012-01-14T21:23:18Z")
If the predators had not all been white, the artist might have pre-empted _some_ (but not all, I expect) of the overreaction, I guess. For that matter, if the bear and fox are white, is this an arctic hare trying to make an ID? You’d think he’d be white, too. ---
**Author:** ![Manduck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/manduck/32/256_2.png) [@Manduck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Manduck)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2012, 9:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/objectionable-non-sequiter-comic/609515/10 "2012-01-14T21:31:33Z")
It shows a rabbit looking at a bunch of predators and saying they all look alike to him, i.e. all predators look alike. Out in the real world, a common thing for white people to say about black people is that they all look alike. So the cartoon kind of draws an equivalence between black people and predators. I don’t know if that was the intention, but it’s certainly possible to read it that way. ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2012, 9:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/objectionable-non-sequiter-comic/609515/11 "2012-01-14T21:31:43Z")
Um, objectionable? It’s making fun of the phrase. That’s a good thing, right? ---
**Author:** ![Gagundathar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a183cd/32.png) [@Gagundathar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gagundathar)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2012, 9:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/objectionable-non-sequiter-comic/609515/12 "2012-01-14T21:48:14Z")
Humor is supposed to make fun of our social mores. This does so. ---
**Author:** ![Rhiannon8404](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rhiannon8404/32/17929_2.png) [@Rhiannon8404](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhiannon8404)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2012, 9:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/objectionable-non-sequiter-comic/609515/13 "2012-01-14T21:52:58Z")
I definitely read it as making fun of the phrase and people who think like that. Not objectionable, but not particularly funny either. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Jeffrey\_Lebowski](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_jeffrey_lebowski/32/215_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Jeffrey\_Lebowski](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Jeffrey_Lebowski)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2012, 11:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/objectionable-non-sequiter-comic/609515/14 "2012-01-14T23:01:57Z")
> [@Manduck](#): > > Out in the real world, a common thing for white people to say about black people is that they all look alike. So the cartoon kind of draws an equivalence between black people and predators. I would argue that it’s just as common for white people to say that about Asian people. ---
**Author:** ![thelurkinghorror](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7c8e57/32.png) [@thelurkinghorror](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelurkinghorror)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2012, 11:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/objectionable-non-sequiter-comic/609515/15 "2012-01-14T23:10:15Z")
[And it’s a real thing](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cross-race_effect), everyone does it, not just racists. Yes, you too, to one extent or another. E.g. Asian people look more different and easier to discriminate if you move to Asia for a few years and get constant exposure. ETA: maybe not all of that article is completely revelant, the social psych stuff seems to go off into the bias direction. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2012, 11:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/objectionable-non-sequiter-comic/609515/16 "2012-01-14T23:31:03Z")
The Oregonian printed it. I thought it was amusing. Sue me. ---
**Author:** ![Eve](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2012, 12:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/objectionable-non-sequiter-comic/609515/17 "2012-01-15T00:12:05Z")
> [@PSXer](#): > > people still read the newspaper? Yes, some of us even \*write \*for newspapers. ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2012, 12:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/objectionable-non-sequiter-comic/609515/18 "2012-01-15T00:13:59Z")
> [@Eve](#): > > Yes, some of us even \*write \*for newspapers. Psst – we try to keep that quiet. Don’t blow my cover. ---
**Author:** ![Sam\_A.Robrin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sam_a.robrin/32/14497_2.png) [@Sam\_A.Robrin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_A.Robrin)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2012, 12:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/objectionable-non-sequiter-comic/609515/19 "2012-01-15T00:24:17Z")
Funny how _insensitive_ sensitivity often is… ---
**Author:** ![Lizard](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/dfb087/32.png) [@Lizard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lizard)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2012, 12:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/objectionable-non-sequiter-comic/609515/20 "2012-01-15T00:28:15Z")
> [@Invisible\_Chimp](#): > > I read the comic and was left wondering where the fuck this would be so objectionable. I expected the OP to live in some backwater, but Cleveland? Really?! Hey, it’s Ohio, heart of the Midwest. (I am a native.) Ohio isn’t Alabama, but it’s hardly the West Coast either. More importantly, Cleveland has a significant African-American population. Knowing that, What **Manduck** said is very relevant: [QUOTE=Manduck] It shows a rabbit looking at a bunch of predators and saying they all look alike to him, i.e. all predators look alike. Out in the real world, a common thing for white people to say about black people is that they all look alike. So the cartoon kind of draws an equivalence between black people and predators. I don’t know if that was the intention, but it’s certainly possible to read it that way. [/QUOTE] I’m assuming this came from the Cleveland _Plain Dealer_, a general interest (i.e., not alternative) paper. Those papers have to think of EVERYTHING that could cause offense. Given who the _Plain Dealer_’s readership and community are, I understand the paper yanking the strip. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/objectionable-non-sequiter-comic/609515.md?page=2)