There are two issues here: the first is the continued perversity of Ted Rall, but that's nothing new. The second is a call for consistency on the part of the mainstream civil rights and other African-American advocacy organizations, to wit:
- Because of the racially-insensitive content of a recent cartoon, members of the African-American leadership network Project 21 are asking Universal Press Syndicate to cease the distribution of comics drawn by Ted Rall. Project 21 also is challenging several other civil rights-oriented groups to join in the demand.
A July [5] comic by Rall suggests "appropriate punishments for deposed Bushists" that parodies alleged treatment of Iraqi detainees at the Abu Ghraib prison. The panel featuring Bush Administration national security advisor Condoleezza Rice has her saying "I was Bush's beard! His house nigga. His..." She is interrupted by a character wearing a shirt reading "You're not white, stupid" who says, "Now hand over your hair straightener."
"Is it OK for Ted Rall to use such vile language because he's using it against a black conservative?" asks Project 21 member Michael King. "I'm beside myself with anger over this comic."
Project 21 is asking Universal Press Syndicate, the distributor of Rall's comics, to immediately terminate their relationship with him. Project 21 is also asking the NAACP, the National Association of Black Journalists (NABJ) and the Rainbow/PUSH Coalition to make similar demands based on their past involvement in pressuring ESPN to fire radio talk show host Rush Limbaugh in 2003.
Last year, in his capacity as a football commentator for ESPN's "Sunday NFL Countdown," Limbaugh criticized the performance of Philadelphia Eagle's quarterback Donovan McNabb, saying, "The media has been very desirous that a black quarterback do well." Afterwards, NAACP president and CEO Kweisi Mfume called Limbaugh's comments "bigoted and arrogant" and called for his removal. The NABJ demanded ESPN "separate itself" from Limbaugh. Rainbow/PUSH Coalition president Jesse Jackson called the remarks "not accurate and... insulting." Limbaugh later resigned.
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Article comments
1 - Laurence Simon
I think that Rall hates himself more than I hate him.
2 - SFC SKI
He's not rude, he's edgy!
He must be right, he's making people mad!
He is not syndicated in my paper, so he can pound sand as far as I'm concerned.
3 - Tim Hall
Rall commits the ultimate cardinal sin; he's not actually funny.
Give me The Guardian's Steve Bell any day!
4 - NC
Good question. Where's the Mac Diva post on this one?
5 - Dan
Not only is he un-funny, he can't draw! His characters resemble the type of crude depictions one might see on public bathroom stalls, only with clothes on. He seems to be a very ugly bitter-minded person. A type that is, unfortunately, finding a home in contemporary main-stream liberal politics.
6 - Eric Olsen
Oh, I don't think he is a liberal archetype so much as a just-plain-dick archetype.
7 - Dan
Didn't say he was archetypical, just that he was welcome.
8 - Phillip Winn
Rall is "finding a home in contemporary main-stream liberal politics?" By what measure?
9 - Dan
"By what measure?"
By their acceptance of it of course. Seems like there was a time when lib's didn't countenence the vile slander of blacks as Rall exhibits. Liberals show their hypocricy when conservative blacks like Rice and Powell are thrown under the bus. You think the term "house nigga" is appropriate?
10 - RJ
Bellafonte calling Powell a "house slave" got big-time attention, but Bellafonte is black, so he got a pass.
Ted Rall is a white guy, so his use of such verbage should spark an outcry from black leaders. Because it doesn't, there is clearly a double-standard based on political affiliation.
QED. :)
11 - Eric Olsen
the silence is deafening
12 - Phillip Winn
Dan (#9), "By their acceptance"? Whose acceptance? What constitutes "acceptance"? Should all of his strips be yanked in the name of political correctness? Should he lose his job?
In a world in which the vast majority of Americans are mourning 9/11 (rewind with me a bit), and Ted Rall publishes a vile cartoon that inflames the world, how exactly should a liberal satisfy you that he doesn't agree with or accept Rall? Must he burn an effigy of him in the town square, or is it okay to continue on with the mourning and simply ignore him?
I think Rall is beyond the pale, but I hardly think that liberals have been accepting of him _because_ of his statements. Instead I think that they, as I do, believe that it is important that the right to express even fringe political views is defended.
And yeah, if the people who raise a hue and cry when public figures make racist statements were consistent, I would expect an uproar over this. And I don't expect one, because those public figures are not consistent, and never have been. They also don't necessarily represent the views of mainstream liberals.
Does Michael Savage represent your views? What have you done to make that clear -- he's made some disgusting statements in public. Does the first comment on this page represent your views? What have you done to repudiate it?
If you're talking about the "liberal" bogeymen invented by the RNC to raise funds, then sure, they just love Ted Rall. But if you're talking about the majority of people who voted for Gore in the last election, I don't think so, not at all.
13 - boomcrashbaby
Perhaps most liberals are like me and don't read Rall.
14 - Distorted Angel
The only place I've ever seen Rall's stuff is right here on Blogcritics. Most of my friends are unfamiliar with his work as well. Is he widely syndicated?
15 - Phillip Winn
Shhh, BCB, don't confuse Dan with any possibility other than "liberals = evil", m'kay?
:-)