Last Friday a comic appeared in my school paper that led to the suspension of the writer for “at least four weeks.” The editor at the time was also suspended. I don’t have it with me but I know the gist of it. There are two guys talking to each other. One laments that he has nothing to put in todays strip because he had a jewish joke, but deemed it too offensive. The second guy asks him if he was worried about his reputation. The first replies that he wasn’t, he was just worried about the guy at the bank beating him with his giant nose.
The comic has a style like that of South Park in that it makes fun of everything without being too serious about it. Here are some examples. What do you think of the punishment? Was it too harsh or perhaps not harsh enough? There have been several letters that appeared in the same paper this week arguing both sides, but I want a little broader response.
Anti-semitic jokes about big noses and banks are about as funny as racist jokes about watermelons. There’s a difference between being edgy and irreverent and just being stupid and offensive. You mentioned South Park but SP is a good illustration of the difference. Cartman is portrayed as an anti-semite but the joke is that Cartman is a moron, not that “Jews have big noses, haw haw haw.” SP is mocking Cartman’s bigotry not mocking Jews.
This cartoon is just mocking Jews without any irony or greater point at all.
I don’t about the suspensions, but I do think it was wise to pull the cartoon.
I think it’s funny and very ironic. First, the artist is winking directly at you: It clearly is an offensive strip despite the guy saying otherwise. Also you have the level where the characters are being earnest. On that level, it’s funny to see the contrast between concern for offending Jews and matter-of-fact statement that a Jew banker has a big nose.
At most schools (I’m assuming high school, not college, right?), there are faculty advisers who supervise the operation. Some are more hands-on than others, but most would at least look at the paper before it went to the printer. Where was the adviser here? The cartoon sounds stupid and offensive, no matter whether it was intended to be ironic or not, and it’s hard to imagine that a teacher would have approved it. So here’s the question: were the students suspended just for running the cartoon, or were they suspended for sneaking the cartoon into the paper behind the adviser’s back? Either way, I think a four week suspension is way too harsh, but dishonest is worse than stupid.
No, it’s a college paper. I suppose I wasn’t clear about what I meant when I said suspension. The comic was pulled for that amount of time. Sorry for the confusion.
Just doesn’t seem offensive to me because the ending is absurd. This makes me think the author doesn’t believe a stereotype or isn’t trying to perpetuate it, and that’s the big thing to me.
I am not offended because IANA ;j and because it takes a lot to offend me. I think the comic should be pulled permanently for being incredibly un-funny and stupid.
Agreed. The punchlines are about as hard to spot coming as an oiltanker, and about as funny when they hit you. As for the Jewish joke, you’ve got to try a lot harder for irony to be in any way meaningful.
I see the joke as less about being offensive to Jews and more about the irony of taking actions to not offend a group of people and then saying something that is clearly offensive. Along those I thought the comic was funny. However, not being a Jew myself, I can certainly not speak on their behalf.
No offense taken, here. I didn’t find it funny, though. In this day and age, it’s probably better to err on the side of caution with potentially offensive material, but If I had seen it in a college paper I wouldn’t have called anyone to complan, just rolled my eyes and moved on. ;j
Such a tricky dilemma. Is the joke offensive? A little, I think. Of course, not being Jewish, I can’t say if it offends me properly, cause it clearly doesn’t. However, I do see it as not being a straightforward “let’s make fun of Jews” joke. It works on a different level. TommyTutone hit the nail on the head. It’s about our society being so PC, that in effect, we are actually more offensive and discriminatory. There was an excellent episode of South Park that dealt with this (it had to do with a school nurse with a dead fetus on her head. In an attempt to make her fit in more, and feel acepted, they actually alienated her and put her up on a spotlight.)
However, the issue here is punishment. I’d like to quote something for you, if I may.
Sorry, he has the right to say what he wants, when he wants, how he wants. I realize that he’s not facing criminal charges, and therefore a school can make whatever crazy “code of conduct” rules they want, but I would like to think that most colleges like to promont an atmosphere of not infringing on personal rights. it just irks me so much that people get in a tizzt over stupid, small stuff like this, while students are drinking themselves to death, cheating on tests, and sexually assaulting each other. :mad:
“I may disagree with what you have to say, but I shall defend, to the death, your right to say it.” ~Voltaire
The joke is archly ironic - refusing to perpetuate a stereotype while “inadvertantly” perpetuating a stereotype - mildly funny. The error is that it repeats the libel. Thin ice.
The comic should, however, be banned for being a total rip-off of Get Your War On, except not very funny.
Congress banned this comic? The government can not abridge freedom of speech. If this is a private school there is no freedom of speech issue. If this is a public school but its a student run paper there is no FOS issue. Its an editorial decision not an abridgement of FOS. If it an edict coming down from the administration of a state run school then we start getting into an argument about FOS. I believe in this case they are still not stamping on someones rights. No one is saying he can’t write the comic. There is no law saying that the government (in this case a school) must give a forum to everyone, they just can’t tell him he is not allowed to write the comic at all.
Um… no he doesn’t. At least, the school is in no way required to offer him a free outlet for his nonsense comic. He should be happy that his comic was just suspended instead of banned entirely, which they would have the right to do as well. As a matter of fact, they have the right to… suspend printing the paper entirely :eek: or change the entire editorial staff :eek: or do whatever they damn well please with their paper.
Not harsh enough. Not only offensive, it’s far worse than that, it’s not funny. This is a capital offense for any comic strip as far as I’m concerned. Zero tolerance. A stand against this creeping disease needs to be made before our children are next.
Freedom of the press is useful only for the guy who owns (or manages) the press. If this cartoonist is angry about his strip being pulled, he can always look for another client. School newspapers have always been a good place for cartoonists to stretch their legs and discover that they aren’t any good at it. Bill Watterson drew an early, crummy version of his Spaceman Spiff character in a school paper. Spiff later emerged as Calvin’s fantasy in Calvin and Hobbes.
The government can not abridge freedom of speech. If this is a private school there is no freedom of speech issue. If this is a public school but its a student run paper there is no FOS issue. Its an editorial decision not an abridgement of FOS. If it an edict coming down from the administration of a state run school then we start getting into an argument about FOS. I believe in this case they are still not stamping on someones rights. No one is saying he can’t write the comic. There is no law saying that the government (in this case a school) must give a forum to everyone, they just can’t tell him he is not allowed to write the comic at all.