SKOOL
"Two Wongs don't make a Wright." No, that's not a typo. It's the punchline in an upcoming installment of the comic strip "BC" by Johnny Hart, referring to two Asian characters who fail in their attempt to build a working airplane — a play on words about the first flight of the Wright brothers. Unfunny, stupid, and offensive. A few papers have already decided to not to run it: Two newspapers substitute "B.C." comic strip. It's a lame, cheap pun, at the expense of Asians. AND TOTALLY UNORIGINAL, lifted from a freakin' t-shirt. Been there, done that, with Abercrombie. That's racist!
Speaking of racist Johnny, I'd be interested to see when the ants first appeared in B.C. I can't imagine it's a coincidence that all these jokes with ants are about underperforming public schools. The ant world is a whole separate society generally invisible to the white characters in the strip.
Comments
Editors who shit bricks about Boondocks better be losing Hart soon.
Posted by: nedlog | January 12, 2004 5:28 PM
amy's robot called attention to b.c.'s racist content a few months ago. adam, i often wondered about those ants. i think your reading is on target. thanks for posting this.
Posted by: adriana | January 12, 2004 5:33 PM
We had this post about it.
Posted by: nedlog | January 12, 2004 10:51 PM
hart has been showing what appear to be signs of senility and/or dementia in his comic strip for more than a decade now, with frequent bizarre non-sequitur references to religion [where there really fundamentalist christians in prehistoric times??]. i really think the guy went off the deep end long ago. apparently he plays well with the reader's digest/heritage foundation crowd.
Posted by: r@d@r | January 13, 2004 5:45 PM
I picture him also as a part of the Refrigerator Posting in Middle America crowd. God I'm a snob.
I must confess my mother has now become part of the Family-Circus-On-the-Refrigerator crowd. I was giving it five years, at least.
Posted by: nedlog | January 13, 2004 9:54 PM
That's a great point about the ants.
It's sad when that type of thing happens in comics, but what about when bloggers use real people?
the insidious conrad from gweilo diaries in hong kong.
he's part of the blogging scene there. interesting, isn't it?
Posted by: gweilo watcher | January 14, 2004 1:51 AM
If you're making an accusation GW, out with it. I made a joke, based upon fact. Dog is still eaten in Korea (and Vietnam for that matter, where I myself have tasted it). Since that fact is undeniable, I assume that you are one of those oh so very sensitive souls who wouldn't dream of making a joke at anyone's expense, even when based on the truth, lest they get their wittle feelwings hurt.
Well, I'm not and I don't cater tot he hyper-sensitive. If you don't approve, don't visit my site. If you have a complaint, refer it to my customer relations department, which doesn't exist.
Posted by: Conrad | January 14, 2004 5:28 AM
The opposite of mockery is not sensitivity, it is civility.
Posted by: sudama | January 14, 2004 7:20 AM