WaPo website drops Ted Rall

[asthmaticeog]

http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1000723114

<snip>
Rall said he thinks the site dropped his work because of a Nov. 4 cartoon he did showing a drooling, mentally handicapped student taking over a classroom. "The idea was to draw ana analogy to the electorate -- in essense, the idiots are now running the country," he told E&P.
<snip>

Here's the 'toon:
http://www.ucomics.com/rallcom/2004/11/08/

[Buzz Clik]

1. Rall can expect a lot of this...

Rall pushes the envelope constantly and really doesn't care who he offends. Unfortunately for him, newpaper publishers are a bit more sensitive about their readers' reactions.

I love his work, but he frequently makes me cringe.

[RivetJoint]

2. That's a pretty sick cartoon

I can see why the Post pulled him...maybe they'll reconsider after a "cooling off" period.

[Kathy in Cambridge]

6. At first I thought it was offensive due to the subject matter

but the message is right on target. You may not agree with the delivery, but don't you agree with the message?

[RivetJoint]

15. No, I don't agree with the message either

It's too over the top.

[Cat Atomic]

3. I love Ted Rall.

That cartoon is offensive, but it's effective. He's an excellent cartoonist.

[RivetJoint]

4. Obviously more offensive than effective

since the WaPo shit-canned him...

[captain disgruntled]

5. I think that cartoon is right over the top...

I think I grasp his point, but I also believe he could have made it in a far less OVERTLY OFFENSIVE manner.

[wtmusic]

7. Rall is talented

but insecure -- all of his work screams 'please notice me'

[AverageJoe]

8. My only problem with the cartoon

is that Charlie should have been named Georgie. I think it would have been clear enough then to avoid offending at least some of the readers that it did.

I think TR rules.

[RivetJoint]

9. That cartoon, no matter what he called "Charlie"

is VERY offensive to many, like me, who have mentally disabled family members.

Ted Rall is a piece of shit.

[AverageJoe]

10. I respect your opinion

but don't require that you respect mine. That's up to you.

I am sincerely sorry that someone in your family suffers from such an affliction.

[RivetJoint]

11. You are entitled to like him

It is your opinion after all. :-)

[StClone]

13. Rall Found a poor way to make a point

It was difficult to see Rall overreach to make a point that in the end did harm to our cause.

He did not seek to offend the disabled and their families, but did, and he can be faulted for his work.

These are frustrating times for all and I see Rall as frustrated as any in the way this country is going...and it shows.

[UdoKier]

17. I sorta understand your feelings on this...

But just out of curiosity, are you also offended by terms like "freeptard", "moran", etc.?

Or are you more offended that Rall is using a mentally disabled person/character and thhe drooling etc. as comedy fodder?

Just curious.

[RivetJoint]

18. I don't like the term

"freeptard" much...it reminds me of people calling my older brother a retard and that pains me. It's obvious that freeptard is an extension of retard--retard is such a hateful word. "Moran" does bother me as much...though when applied to a mental disabled person, despite it's proper meaning, I fine it can be cruel.

OF course that does not bother me nearly as much as Rall's cartoon depicting the mentally disabled as drooling simpletons.

[UdoKier]

12. WaHoPo is going to be the next "USA Today"

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A61383-2004Nov18.html

More pretty pictures, shorter articles. DUMB IT DOWN!

As for Rall's cartoon, it doesn't offend me, but I don't think it makes its point all that well. I found the Tillman toon a while back more offensive.

[ShaneGR]

14. See ya Ted.....

Actually, I think it had something to do with calling Pat Tillman an idiot. Delayed reaction.

Anyways, he's a good cartoonist who doesn't know when to not cross the line.

[Plaid Adder]

16. OK, that is totally creepy.

Slam Bush all you want, for my money, but why slam everyone who's mentally diasbled along with him? I don't want to get into a debate about the merits of mainstreaming, but the way he's drawn "Charlie," with the drool and the snot and whatnot, is IMHO not very far from those racist caricatures of African-Americans we've all learned to be disgusted by.

The dumbing-down of America is a serious problem, but to compare Bush's takeover of this country to the mainstreaming of disabled students is a) unhelpful and b) meanspirited in the extreme. Yes, Bush is a lot dumber than a president should be, but that's not because he's congenitally impaired; it's because he could never be inspired to get off his ass and learn something. And it wouldn't matter how dumb Bush was if there wasn't an enormous apparatus out there--including the media, the political parties, and advertising--industriously working to bring everyone else down to his level.

Rall meant the analogy to be an insult to Bush, which tells you how he feels about the mentally disabled. I read it as a huge insult to the mentally disabled, who may not be able to find the volume of a rotating curve, but who on average are probably smart enough to figure out that you shouldn't hit unless you're prepared to get hit back.

Yeesh,

The Plaid Adder

[southpaw]

19. That's fuckin' FUNNY!

"GOOMBA GOOM! 4+3!"


Love it!