NationStates Jolt Archive

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Monday, May 03, 2004
Pat Tillman (http://www.tedrall.com/rants.html)

Today's cartoon is getting a lot of coverage from right-wing media outlets as well as more legitimate ones like Editor & Publisher. As is often the case in these situations, it's impossible to reply to each email individually, so I'll just say what I have to say here.

My cartoon is a reaction to the extraordinary lionizing of Mr. Tillman as a national hero. First of all, the media's decision to genuflect to a cult of death is terrifyingly similar to the cult of Palestinian suicide bombers in the Middle East and the glorious coverage given by the Japanese during World War II to fallen kamikaze fighters. Nowhere has this excessive praise for the act of voluntary death been more extreme than in Mr. Tillman's case.

The purpose of a political cartoon is to stimulate discussion, and there was no discussion about America's post-9/11 death cult.

Second, Mr. Tillman served an evil president and an evil cause. Anyone with an open mind after 9/11 could easily have learned the truth, that the invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq occured instead of a war on terror, not as part of one. A person who planned to risk his life in combat should reasonably be expected to dig a little deeper rather than to fall for Bush's transparent lies. We all judge each other, and while Tillman's decision to sacrifice millions of dollars for his beliefs is admirable, his belief that killing the citizens of Iraq and Afghanistan had something to do with defending America was not. At best, Tillman was foolish and misguided.

Finally, it's time for troops who signed up post-9/11 to take a little personal responsibility. It's one thing for a career soldier to go where the politicians tell him or her to go, but quite another to join the military when the "president" is an illegal usurper occupying the White House, he's an out-of-control warmonger using the deaths in New York, Washington and Pennsylvania to promote a partisan political agenda and his wars are nothing more than grabs for control of oil and gas resources and pipeline routes. Liberals tend to let volunteer soldiers off the hook, but let's not forget the hard, cold truth:

If no one had enlisted after 9/11, we wouldn't be fighting these immoral wars based on lies and greed now.

.: posted on 10:59 PM

:shock: :roll: :?:

As an American progressive/liberal, I am outraged by Ted Rall's comic displayed above. This crosses the line. I've been provoked to such a degree as to email him. I condemn his comic; he speaks for only the lunatic fringe of the left wing, not for the solid rank and file of the Democratic movement. I hope that the rest of the readers here will not judge the whole party based on this one man.

-Shal
:evil:

Good, I think that more people that identify theselves as Democrats should speak up against their fringe. Just as people who identify themselves as Republicans should do the same with their fringe.

If you think this cartoon is disgusting, tell the people who are paying this extreme wacko. Write an e-mail to lsalem@amuniversal.com and tell them you don't want to see any more filth!

:roll: You guys obviously are not familiar with Teds work. All his stuff is designed to raise controversy and make people react. He was just particularly successfull with this one.

:roll: You guys obviously are not familiar with Teds work. All his stuff is designed to raise controversy and make people react. He was just particularly successfull with this one.

It's all good, he has a First Amendment right! And, if he wants to draw negative attention to his particular ideological leanings and create a wedge between himself and others that lean his way (though not with as much anger and tackiness) then I'm all for it.

You know that it's people like him that wouldn't get a spot at "the table" in the socialist utopia. Tools get disposed of when they're not needed any longer. See, in the utopian dream state someone (or some body) has got to lead. Once the control of a society becomes centrally planned then individuals loose their ability to make their own decisions. I learned that lesson when I was required to read Animal Farm in middle school. Is that book even required reading anymore or has the NEA finally censored it?

You know that it's people like him that wouldn't get a spot at "the table" in the socialist utopia. Tools get disposed of when they're not needed any longer. See, in the utopian dream state someone (or some body) has got to lead. Once the control of a society becomes centrally planned then individuals loose their ability to make their own decisions. I learned that lesson when I was required to read Animal Farm in middle school. Is that book even required reading anymore or has it been finally sensored by the NEA?

well, either you or your teacher missed the point of animal farm. as a hint, it was written by a socialist with trotskyist leaninings.

You're right, Orwell was indeed a socialist but he was disgusted with communism as practiced by Stalin and it was one of the motivations behind the writing of that book. For the life of me, I can't figure out why he would remain committed to an ideology that could so easily be morphed into a political system like the one he outlines, through parable, in his book.

easily. he made the quite reasonable and obvious distinction between stalinism and socialism or communism. it took years of propaganda and abuse of language (the kind orwell also wrote about) to destroy that distinction.

besides, the world is littered with the ruins of failed democratic republics. all systems can be made to fail.

Freedom of Speech includes the abiltity to be crass.

It annoyed me but he has the right to make it. Mr. Tillman was a public figure.

The carton is disturbing, but it was meant to be. Man has a right to express himself and others have the right to express their disagreement with what is presented. Unfortunate part of the equation is that those on the dissenting side have much less visibility than the cartoonist. Never hurts to let the employer know your views on something offered to the public unless of course that is why the person was hired in the first place.

I cannot protect my children from hearing/reading/viewing such drivel but I do have the right and responsibility to talk it over with them and listen to their take on the situation. One does not become tolerant by showing intolerance nor does a person learn to deal with temptations by being isolated from them.

Well clearly Ted needs some help. This looked like some kind of publicity stunt that Ann Coulter might pull. If you're going to argue from the liberal perspective (or any perspective, for that matter), I like to see rational, ethical, and intellectual conversation.
:x

my problem with the cartoon is that he seems to be blaming the man, and not the people that thought his life was disposable.

I admired what Tillman did when he turned down a pro football contract extension and enlisted as a response to the 9-11 attacks. I still do. It's not an easy decision to deliberately put oneself in harm's way, perhaps more so when you have the sort of career and fame and money that Tillman did.

The place where Rall really is off the mark, though, is that he refuses to acknowledge that the war in Afghanistan was linked to the war against al Qaeda and was reasonable retaliation for the 9-11 attacks. The Taliban had been warned by the Clinton administration prior to the Cole attack that any future al Qaeda action would result in retribution against them. We had legitimate cause to go into Afghanistan prior to the 9-11 attacks; this just gave us the political will.

Rall is guilty of the same thing the Bush administration is--conflating al Qaeda and Iraq. The two wars are not the same. They're not the same when Bush equates the two, and they're not the same when Rall does it.

I appreciate that Tillman went to serve his country and fulfill his notion of "fight for what's right." He was a hero to me. I reviewed the cartoon that you decided not to print. It's not obscene or disrespectful to his memory. It reflects a thought that goes through many American minds. I guess that the image of burned American bodies hanging from a bridge in Iraq is more tasteful than that of a cartoon (read symbol). If I want my news/opinions slanted or geared to the conservative, I'll start checking out the FOX website.
Sincerely,
Michael Melvin

I appreciate that Tillman went to serve his country and fulfill his notion of "fight for what's right." He was a hero to me. I reviewed the cartoon that you decided not to print. It's not obscene or disrespectful to his memory. It reflects a thought that goes through many American minds. I guess that the image of burned American bodies hanging from a bridge in Iraq is more tasteful than that of a cartoon (read symbol). If I want my news/opinions slanted or geared to the conservative, I'll start checking out the FOX website.
Sincerely,
Michael Melvin


:roll: