Just a Friendly Debate


I have a collection of comics that I visit regularly and once in a while I like to share them here. For instance, here’s one about Jesus and Mo celebrating International Women’s day in their singular fashion. One source for comics is the Seattle Star, which runs a collection of them every Sunday. That’s where I learned about Ampersand, written by Barry Deutsch, and where I encountered today’s gem.

This comic is about how bigots try to disguise their bigotry by dressing it up as “debate.” This allows them to say all the hateful things they need to say while feeling as if they’re simply involved in an exchange of intellectual ideas. It reminds me a bit of the “debate” that someone who insulted and demeaned atheists wanted to have with me when I pointed out their bigotry. Later they objected to the use of the word “nonsense” to describe creationist thought, then directed me to an anti-evolution manual that was full of much worse. You can check out that “debate” here.

Barry Deutsch kindly makes a transcript of his cartoons. Here’s the one for the first panel of the cartoon in question today:

This cartoon has four panels, each of which takes place in a different setting, and with a different set of characters.

PANEL 1

A man wearing a polo shirt and jeans follows a woman down the street. The woman is wearing a hoodie and is walking a small dog. The man is talking cheerfully, doing the “explaining with my hands” palms up gesture; the woman is looking back at him out of the corner of her eye and has raised her voice testily.

POLO SHIRT: So you see, when you “transgenders” insist you’re women, that’s you forcing society to along with your delusions. Let’s discuss this.

DOG WALKER: LEAVE ME ALONE!

DOG (in thought balloon): Jerk!

Here’s a little more information about Barry Deutsch:

My name is Barry Deutsch, and I write and draw Ampersand, a political comic with a generally progressive sensibility. A new Ampersand comic appears in every issue of Dollars and Sense Magazine.

I’ve attended Oberlin College in Ohio in the late 1980s, the School of Visual Arts in New York City in the 1990s (where I was lucky enough to take classes from comics legend Will Eisner), and I finally graduated from Portland State University several years ago. While I was at PSU, my political cartoons won the Charles M. Schulz Award.

Aside from my political cartooning, my current comics project is my comic book Hereville, a fantasy adventure comic about an 11-year-old Jewish girl. You can also read some of my older comics here. And like everyone else in the world (alas), I have a blog.

I currently live in Portland, Oregon, in a bright blue house with bubble-gum-pink trim.

I strongly advise going to the Ampersand website to see the rest of this cartoon.


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About arjaybe

Jim has fought forest fires and controlled traffic in the air and on the sea. Now he writes stories.
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6 Responses to Just a Friendly Debate

  1. gomcloud says:

    This entire epson is one big bunch of Ad Hominem bigotry. The author probably doesn’t even ahve a correct understanding of what the term “bigot” means.

  2. gomcloud says:

    This entire post, oops, sorry, spelling error.

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