I’ve heard so much criticism of Ted Rall for being a sop for all causes on the left, but the fact is that he throws punches at whomever he feels deserves them, regardless of political affiliation. In his latest cartoon, it seems that Mr. Rall has taken on Cindy Sheehan’s “Camp Casey” movement. And by gum, it’s refreshing.
Rall, of course, is not a sop for all causes on the left. Frankly, I can’t think of anyone who is. Left-leaning politics march in all different directions; if you’re a leftist (whatever the hell that is) you’re not necessarily a liberal or a progressive or anything else that falls in the left-of-center category. Regardless, Rall’s critics will damn him along with everyone else they happen to disagree with, dismissing them disrespectfully as an unthinking monolith.
Rall’s August 27 cartoon about Cindy Sheehan probably won’t get much play among many of the Bush supporters. It’s too complicated, and it doesn’t fit in with their canned dismissal of Rall and everything he has to say. I myself don’t always agree with Rall, but hell, at least the man arrives at his conclusions in a fair, thoughtful manner… unlike, say, Bruce Tinsley. I don’t expect any of Rall’s quick-draw Freeper critics to congratulate him for getting one right, though. They’ll just conveniently forget about this one.
Perhaps unrelated, but here’s the reactionary demonstration near Camp Casey: Pro-war demonstrators. Talk about being out of touch…
Yeah, it’s a wonder conservatives can even figure out how to get out from under the sheets in the morning. To stick with something uncomplicated and fullof one syllable words that I as a conservative can actually stammer out between bouts of drooling and shooting at things, Bite me.
That cartoon was pretty funny, but I think it exhibits Rall’s biggest flaw. One might call him a screed, but if one were in a more charitable frame of mind, one might just say that he doesn’t forgive people who come around to his way of thinking becasue they should have been there from the beginning. A tough attitude to justify if you really believe in the pluralism the left champions, and also it tends to turn off moderates because they don’t want to be the target of his wrath.
Rall is nice in person, just like every other misanthrope.
Politics aside, he is a poor cartoonist. His graphic layout requires too much decoding. His dialog is too often ALL SCREAMING ALL THE TIME. He is a poor artist. Darn it, Bush just doesn’t look like that.
Simplify, simplify, simplify.
Compare with the simple layout and clear, crisp writing of Matt in the Torygraph. Being a cartoonist is tough and Rall just doesn’t measure up.
He’s a real jerk in cartoons. He isn’t funny, even in a sardonic way. He basically seems to hate everyone, in a very bitter and vicious way. Disagree with him, and you are not merely wrong, but every bad thing there is: stupid, venal, cruel, tracherous, etc. Frankly, he’s the Chomsky of the cartooning world, I don’t mean that as a reference to his politics.
My dislike of Rall started with this comic http://www.ucomics.com/tedrall/2005/08/08/
that was discussed in detail here http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=329236&highlight=rall
Still being fooled is one thing, trying to twist it after your get busted for spreading shit is another. Then rather then accept his mistake like a man would of, he passes the idiot mistake onto Bush. Any respect I would of had for any of his comic work went out the window with these two statements he made.
He could of had my respect if he said “I feel stupid for falling for the 9,000 story, and will strive to fact check my work in the future” His attempt at blaming this on Bush is just being a pussy.
Yeah rather then just saying “I made a mistake, spread something totally untrue, possibly harming some of the cause, I’m sorry for the confusion this caused” he had to say that shit.
Bush is responsible for enough hardship for many people, his half assed comic did not do a service for any cause. Bottom line, he is an ass for acting like an ass, and not accepting responsibility for his half ass comic.
Link
As for his drawing ability, I am a fan of South Park so drawing is not a issue. Some of the issues Rall has drawn about make total sense, and are quite interesting. But his immature handling of that situation ruined him for me.
You know, that’s a fair point, and a decent assessment of Rall. I’ve met him in person, and he’s a nice guy, but he can be downright pig-headed. His values are certainly in the right place, but his jeremiads can be a bit of a turn-off. Sometimes, though, I wonder: maybe he’s just in touch with the way things are these days: it’s hard to be even-keeled and get yourself listened to anymore. Modern conservatives are pretty indifferent to all those who think differently from them, so maybe we have to start screaming at the tops of our lungs before it’s too late? Just a theory.
Of course not. To deny you your opinion would be illiberal.
Daryl Cagle, another political cartoonist, writes an interesting essay in his blog about how few of the current caricatures of Bush actually have anything to do with Bush- they’re caricatures of caricatures.
AUGUST 8, 2005 - How to Draw President George W. Bush:
"The image of President Bush evolves with each cartoonist’s personal perspective. Bush started out as most political cartoon characters start out, as a caricature of a real person, meant to be recognizable from a photograph. As time goes by, the cartoonists stop looking at photographs and start doing drawings of drawings, then drawings of drawings of drawings, so that the George W. Bush drawings morph into strangely deformed characters that look nothing like the real man, but are instantly recognizable because we’ve come to know the drawings as a symbol of the man. "
Now, having defended Rall’s caricaturing of the President, I will state that even when he is on my side of an issue (which I’m not sure he is here, anyways), I think Rall is a complete asshole.
I seem to remember having personally pitted Rall before, but the damned Search Engine won’t pull it up. Ah, well.
Right-wingers may publicly deplore Ted Rall but, after reading this cartoon and some of his others (e.g., the 9/11 widows, the post mortem character assassination of Pat Tillman), I can’t help but think that some of the more astute ones secretly chortle when they read cartoons like this not because they think they’re funny or that they agree with them but instead because they realize Rall is one of the best liberal friends the conservatives have. On one hand, you couldn’t find a better person who embodies the caricature of the sneeringly arrogant and disloyal liberal media elitist. Yet, as seen in Rall’s blasting of Cindy Sheehan and others who’ve lost family in the Iraq War because they “came late” to opposing the conflict, you also have someone who has no qualms about starting “lefter than thou” pissing matches with other liberals regardless of the divisiveness that inevitably results. So, as liberals starting ripping each other new ones, another movement founders, and the Republicans–all blindly patriotic and organized–ride to victory again.
Mm. This really strikes a nerve with me. I mean, I’ve opposed the Iraq war ever since Governor George W. Bush announced he was running for president, but I won’t curse anyone just because they supported this foolishness but have since changed their minds. I know other opponents of the war who act the same way, and discussing the matter with them is particularly aggravating, even though we agree on the basic premise that the administration shouldn’t have chosen to invade Iraq. Sure, it gets frustrating when you’re derided as some sort of fifth columnist just because you never believed this invasion was a good idea, but just because the stay-the-coursers tend to get shrill about it doesn’t mean it’s wise for the rest of us to.
You’re spot on, NDP: you should rip someone a new one when they’re wrong, sure, but when they were wrong but are right now, then welcome them aboard.
Would that it were so. But while Rall has gotten crazier since Bush and the War in Iraq, that’s because the world is crazier. His auctorial voice was similarly shrill back in the salad days of blow jobs and low unemployment.
Ever read Rall’s “My War With Brian”? It’s been some time since I thumbed my copy, but in the book he illustrates how constant bullying made him a harsher, tougher person in order to survive it. Apologia? Perhaps, but it provides an interesting insight.
Not that Chance needs me to stick up for him, I don’t see his comment as insulting your (or other conservatives’) intelligence at all.
Rather, I would say that the cartoon’s nuanced view of Sheehan (and others who once supported the war but now don’t), is too compicated to serve as an effective discrediting of Sheehan than if it had been more scathing and unanimous.
As such, conservatives can’t readily say, “Look at this cartoon – and the guy who did it is a liberal!”
That was my take on Chance’s comments – if I’m wrong, he can correct me.
Yeah, I’ve read it. And it’s eerily familiar to another person I know who was also bullied and is currently an unyielding, shrill, avowed socialist. (And I don’t use the term socialist lightly like they do on the Free Republic web site; he sincerely uses the term on himself.) The guy doesn’t give an inch, and he’s still pretty bitter. And he does love Ted Rall, too. We had a falling out after the 2004 election, which I predicted Kerry would win. He tore into me more than he did any Bush supporter, not because I wanted Kerry to win, but because of my soft-headed and dangerous thinking that led me to think that Bush wouldn’t get elected in 2004. Scary.
Getting back to the original matter: Rall does seem to relish taunting the bullies and getting them all worked up. While I’m pretty much glad to see him do that to the particular bullies he tends to harangue, Rall’s rigidity can leave me cold, too. It can be counterproductive, the way he relishes his past problems. His unbending reaction and constant goading speaks of his own past, but it’s an outdated map. Since he’s made a living at being rigid, he’s unlikely to consider changing. Rall’s about forty years old now, so he’s probably set in his ways.
The cartoon I started this thread about is a complex one. I agree with some of it, and some of it I don’t. It’s the last panel that really resonates with me: I figure we all should have the moral authority to oppose the war. If it comes to us just because we’ve lost a son or daughter to the opposition in Iraq, so be it. I wish it didn’t have to come to that for people to change their minds, but I’ll certainly be glad to offer them to offer a shoulder to cry on—both about their lost child and the wreck our country is becoming. Whether you agree with me or not, I don’t want you to die in this mess, no matter what the detractors of we progressives may say.
My War with Brian is an interesting book, and if you want to understand Ted Rall, I’d say that’s probably the best place to start. Of course, it’s not like I know the guy personally, but that book does contain plenty of insights that Mr. Rall offers about himself, and it’s certainly in line with the way he acts and reacts. When I get home tonight, I’ll have to dig out my copy, myself. I guess it’s not surprising that he’s made himself so vulnerable by publishing such a book: it’s exactly the kind of thing that he’d love to put out there in order to taunt bullies into bullying him.
That’s about right, F. U.—I didn’t mean to insult conservatives. I don’t do that kind of thing. (I will insult individuals, though. Anyway, my mother is a conservative. Sort of.) However, considering that Mullinator was responding to my post about poorly thought-out prejudices by making a poorly thought-out prejudice, I didn’t bother acknowledging it.
Damn straight! Compared with the “Golden Age of Protests” in the 60’s, the spelling and grammar of today’s demonstrators is shameful. Always remember: proofread before picketing. Otherwise, you’ll just hurt your cause and look like a real “moran.”
(I was going to mention this in my earlier entry but forgot.)
