Blamblog - Brett Lamb's Blog

Monday, July 14, 2008

Oh, Those Cartoons!

I may have told this story before ...

When I was at university, I was editor of a small college newspaper and in one issue we printed a story in the sports section accusing a team from another college of cheating in intramural sports.

The day the paper hit the stands, we were sitting around in front of the computer (a 286 with an amber monochrome monitor running Pagemaker 2.0, printing on a Hewlett-Packard Laserjet Series 2) and the head of college sports came running in, full of drama and panic, complaining that the sports rep from the other college was upset about the article and chewed him out.

Our sports editor replied, "Did you tell her to fuck off?"

And that was the slap in the face the sports guy needed. Sometimes people get all wound up over stupid things and need a jolt to get some perspective.

Obama's "offended" supporters need that; they're not offended, they're concerned about the cartoon because of how it might be interpreted by the patrons of the Creation Museum. Art Speigelman was offended by that:

"They sound so elitist," Spiegelman told The Chronicle. "The essence of what they're saying is, 'I get it, but I don't trust the people in Kansas to get it.' But isn't that what the whole hope and change thing is supposed to be about? That they will get it."

Tom Tomorrow wondered:

Personally I'm not sure why the conversation about this goes any further than, "Oh yes, that was a mildly amusing reference to those crazy right wing emails everyone has heard about," before moving on to other topics. But it's appalling that a piece of artwork clearly mocking the delusions of the right is being excoriated as if it presents those delusions approvingly.

Rueben Bolling asked:

Do cartoonists really have to worry about how the images they create could be misapporpriated by bad people? Every time I draw a picture, for whatever purpose, should I pause and wonder whether the forces of evil could possibly use it out of context in a nefarious scheme, thus saving the $250 it would cost to hire an illustrator to draw exactly they want?

I'm sure Dan Bailey over at istockphoto is asking himself that very question right now. Over in Ireland, the Orange Order splurged -- SPLURGED! -- and paid about ten bucks for an image of a cartoon superhero and adopted him as their new mascot, Diamond Dan (I am not making that up):

Orange Order education officer David Scott said the character, developed to appeal to young people, was meant to represent the true values of the Order.

"Diamond Dan will be the kind of person who offers his seat on a crowded bus to an elderly lady. He won't drop litter and he will be keen on recycling," he said.

That image has been downloaded almost four hundred times, so he should be keen on recycling.

Fortunately for all concerned, my ancestors left Ireland many generations ago, otherwise the mascot may have ended up being something more like this guy. His name is Diamond McPenisheadman! He recycles and smokes pot because he's proud of his Dutch heritage!

As for Diamond Dan, they're likely violating the terms of the license in some way, so expect an update later. Stock is useful for some things, but using a stock image for your organization's mascot makes you a dick. Pay an artist and get it done right.

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