Non Sequitur by Wiley Miller for November 17, 2009

Reality bytes!

I love that horse!

Coming from a stuffed horse, that’s kinda rich..

I thought it was a pony

This younger generation needs a reality check.

”This younger generation needs a reality check.” – pouncingtiger

Hey, it wasn’t the younger generation got us in the mess we’re in today.

My money’s always on the kids. They may be young and foolish, like I was in my misspent yout’, as were countless others, but at least they’re still able to learn.

Unlike some politici- er, some people I could mention, if this weren’t A Comic Strip Blog Run By A Certain Very Strict Person.

regards, olderbutstillBouncingtiGGer

”No. It’s a live midget horse.”

There are actual miniature horses. Not shaped like Shetland ponies, thinner – proportioned like full sized horses. Grow to be about 3’ tall. I saw a new-born one once. About the size of a small house-cat. Perfectly formed horse. Most amazing animal I’ve ever seen.

Er, no offence, Lucy. Yer bee-yoo-tiful!

That’s a weird coincidence, I’ll be working with miniature horses for the next three days.

Everyone who’s enjoying this week’s strips should hie themselves to www.despair.com. Darkest humor on the web, present company excepted.

Especially on the topic of the week. To wit:

Here’s a poster I made on their DIY page, using their own graphics and text available on tee-shirts, coffee mugs, calendars, et cetera ad getrichquick.

http://sites.google.com/site/sequiturianfreezone/art-gallery

Lucy Lucy is a talking pygmy Clydesdale who, like Hobbes of Calvin and Hobbes, plays the silent observer most of the time. Lucy was introduced in the July 11, 2003 strip, in a storyline that had Danae and Kate going to a summer horse riding camp. At the end of the summer, Danae became good friends with Lucy and took her home. Danae, and occasionally Kate, are the only ones who can talk to Lucy, and all three of them are fully aware that the conversations only take place in their imaginations.

It was the Martians, remember? http://www.gocomics.com/nonsequitur/2009/06/13/

nonsequitous, love the artwork… :)

Great move Wiley!!!

I often find quite ironic that morning show dj’s on popular bubble-gum radio stations are probably the same age as the kids parents.

nonsequitous, love the artwork… :)

Aw, shucks … thanks.

Here’s one I did from a tee-shirt I saw and a jpg I found on google.

Warning: bad word, grownup word, so kids, don’t tell your parents you’re clicking here, because you’ve never heard this word before, ever.

That’s my story and I’m sticking to it.

http://sites.google.com/site/sequiturianfreezone/you-kids-get-off-my-damned-lawn

And we did not have to call: Obviousman

“This younger generation needs a reality check.”

Actually, it’s older guys like us who twitter more than the kids. They do it some, but it’s the middle-aged folks who are the real Twitterheads.

nonsequitous, I LOVE the Despair website! Now I’ve got my Christmas shopping handled!

Desultourist, I’m not a genius (in so many ways), so I can’t look at your link. Sigh.

Gweedo, When I was a little kid my uncle told me Roy Rogers was a midget (back then, in the middle ages, it was ok to use that term) and that Trigger was a Shetland pony. I actually believed that for a year or two.

nonsequitous, Ditto what cdward said about the website. LOVE it. “Christmas shopping handled”…..what a great idea.

And now I realize I have to drop Facebook :)

As always, Wiley, great strip.

I love Danae’s look when reality sinks in.

as one of said reality challenged people, I thank you for acknowledging our existence. although since there are millions of people using these social tools made by the reality-challenged, we’re probably not that deficient after all…

Great Strip, Wiley!

I would have said the RICHEST social retards. Such is the check on reality.

You get midget clydesdales the same way you get jumbo shrimp.

Who’s more reality challenged, the one that creates the program or the one that uses it?

Danae & cognitive dissonance….priceless.

It’s not social-networking … it’s social-hibernation

It’s not social-networking … it’s social-hibernation

most of it is much ado about nothing. or as my brother said, “Stop updating me about your stupid farmville! I don’t care and I don’t want to hear it!”

“Great Strip, Wiley!”

Are you kidding, dasandman? Wiley’s comic is an endless parade of misanthropy and male-bashing… and his charming little “retard” comment in today’s strip demonstrates a major insensitivity towards the mentally challenged.

Twit: –noun Informal. an insignificant or bothersome person.

I give you that “twitter” is just an extension of the above.

Being the ornery old cuss I am, I’m posting this on my Facebook page.

I agree with yyyguy for the most part and expect I’ll dump the fool thing soon.

What happens when your reality check bounces?

you get to live out your dreams?

Reality is overrated…

@openminded, might CKO86 bother because it’s better than no interaction at all? Might CKO86 be a troll, or a geeky “social retard”? Just speculating…

Danae, gotcha! lols!

Oh, like Danae is going to say “mentally challenged.” People have gone way overboard on P.C. (Please excuse the mention of the P. word, Wiley!)

I knew I didn’t Twitter for a reason and find Facebook a real pain in the butt! I am not a nerd! Hooray!

Nonsequitis, fabulous site. Thanks.

Ghost Pony - Galloping Twit of the Year? For those unable to open nonsequitis link, just copy it onto a memo to yourself or an email by highlighting it and right click on your mouse. Email this page should appear very near the top of the screen that comes up. Send it to yourself at your normal email address.

Wiley, Thanks again for your marvelous take on life.

”nonsequitous, I LOVE the Despair website! Now I’ve got my Christmas shopping handled!” - cdward

Doesn’t take a rocket surgeon to figure out that successful Christmas marketing strategy. To attract buyers who hate Christmas shopping, put up a website full of really cynical stuff. Then send someone like me to a website that attracts cynical readers of a very popular cynical comic strip.

I only wish I hadn’t volunteered to do it for free.

Deck the malls with advertising Fa la la la laaa la la la laaa ‘Tis the time for merchandising Fa la la la laaa la la la laaaaaa – Stan Freberg, Green Chri$tma$, 1958

”Are you kidding, dasandman? Wiley’s comic is an endless parade of misanthropy and male-bashing… and his charming little “retard” comment in today’s strip demonstrates a major insensitivity towards the mentally

Socially, CK, not mentally, socially. There’s a difference. Next you’ll be complaining about auto mechanics when they speak of ‘retarding’ the ignition timing.

challenged.” – CKO86

And yet, here you are. Reading. And … commenting.

Slow day on the whatever-else-it-is-you-do-besides-pearls-before-swine front?

nonsequitous: I put a buck in the jukebox and NO MUSIC. Please refund my dollar - thank you.

For all of you thinking that using the term “retard” or “retarded” as a joke/insult when meaning mental illness had better wise up really quickly. President Obama just signed the Defense bill into law and added to this was a nice amendment that added homosexuality to the “protected” list As well as classifying use of language attacking anyone who is mentally disabled or physically disabled…a federal felony and is now considered Hate Speech. This means that Mr. Willey can be prosecuted if someone makes a big enough stink about today’s cartoon and he is not protected by the First Amendment as he is not a reporter. He has the right of free speech but he also has the right to take the fall out as words have meaning. My source on this is Agent Thomas from the United States Department of Justice in Washington DC. A complaint has already been filed about this with Universal Syndicate and so far over 2000 newspapers will be running apologies in tomorrows paper for printing this. And if you dont think something will come of this, guess again. Doonsbury also used a vile comment about retardation and the outcry grew so large that he had to make a public apology on his website and so did Universal Syndicate or get hit with a national boycott on all that Universal was selling until the apology was made. And Doonsbury is by far, bigger then Mr.Miller will ever be and if they can make him and Universal blink and back down..what chance does Mr.Miller have?

nonsequitous said, about 1 hour ago

”Are you kidding, dasandman? Wiley’s comic is an endless parade of misanthropy and male-bashing… and his charming little “retard” comment in today’s strip demonstrates a major insensitivity towards the mentally

Socially, CK, not mentally, socially. There’s a difference. Next you’ll be complaining about auto mechanics when they speak of ‘retarding’ the ignition timing.

challenged.” – CKO86

And yet, here you are. Reading. And … commenting.

Slow day on the whatever-else-it-is-you-do-besides-pearls-before-swine front?

No nonsequitous, it is NOT ok., you are just blowing smoke and splitting hairs. Willey could have used “socially backword” or inept or a hundred other different ways to say this and get his point across. Instead he tries to use a cheap and disgusting shot at people who cannot fight back. Wanda Sykes and the rest of the characters that do the “dont use gay to mean stupid” PSA’s have ALL of them used “thats so retarded” in their acts. So I guess it is somehow ok for them to make fun of mentally disabled people but how dare you make fun of their lifestyle choice. People like you and them are going to have to learn that words have meaning and if you intend to use them like this then dont be a bit suprised when some very upset people have an angry police officer cuff you and stuff you and then after the judge throws the book at you for using hate speech and violating federal law….then you can spend a while sleeping with one eye open to make sure that your cell mate does not want to get all touchy fealy with you in the middle of the night, or rename you his “mrs.”

Where’s Petey ???????????????????

Wiley, GREAT strip! our home pc bit the dust and we’re looking for a replacement, so i can’t get here til WORK…. . Oh the ANTICIPATION!!!!!

Wiley, I am so sick of political correctness. I have a son that has an i.q. in the 70’s love him to pieces, but he is retarded. He is not mentally “challenged”. I wish these people who insist on using this p.c. bleeep had to live with it. The terms change on a daily basis. He also is in a wheelchair. He is crippled. He is not physically challenged! And for goodness sake do not ever call him differently abled. He is disabled. A perfectly good word and it means what it is supposed to mean. He cannot walk. Period. Lord give me strength. He is a person. Period. White, black, yellow, in a wheelchair or not please just say human. Now I have to go to jail too. Oops. Good thing I live in Canada. Come join us Wiley. Just like the 70’s. We export the draft dodgers now, but hopefully your crimes will be exempt.

nonsequitous: I put a buck in the jukebox and NO MUSIC. Please refund my dollar - thank you.” - Ushindi

‘e check is in e-mail. Yer welcome.

”Because of the way Lucy is drawn here, she looks more like a dwarf horse. Her head and her hooves are not in perfect proportion to her body.” - Joe Allen Doty

Well sir, back in my misspent youth, I spent a spell as a cowboy on a giant dwarf horse ranch in Montana. Now that’s not the oxymoron it sounds like, nosir. It weren’t a ranch stocked with giant dwarf horses, and it weren’t a giant ranch dwarfed by even bigger ranches next door, nosir. It was a giant ranch stocked with a giant herd of dwarf horses, and I rode herd on that herd.

I see you’ve herd of dwarf horses.

Well sir, I read what you said about what you think dwarf horses look like after reading this fine comic here, so I copied today’s strip into my PaintShopPro, and blowed it up a deal, and looked at it close, and, well sir, it’s been a long time since I rode herd on that tiny little giant herd, but, well sir, I don’t rightly recollect them having elbows and knees that look anything like ours.

And another thing, sir. I don’t also recall them having eyes next one ‘tother on the front of their face – fact is, sir, I don’t rightly recollect them having actual faces at all – if mem’ry serves, their eyes was one on each side of their heads, a-starin’ out a hunnert and eighty degrees away from each ‘tother, or dang near, just like reg’lar size horses, or Shetland ponies, or miniature horses, or midget horses, or realistic lookin’ stuffed horses.

Now a cartoon horse, well, they can look just about any way you take a notion you want ‘em to. Say, f’rinstance, they can have a mouth like you or me, if you wanted ‘em to be able to talk. But that’d be silly. ‘Cause a horse is a horse, of course. But no one can talk to a horse, of course.

I mean, y’ can, of course, and they’re prob’ly smart enough to t’ talk back – fact is, sir even them dwarf horses I rode herd on, most of ‘em was smarter than a lot of folks I’ve herd of in my life, like them politi- well, never mind that.

Point is, if they did talk back to us, we might get the idea that they was smart enough to do some work instead of just strollin’ around all day keepin’ the pasture weeds down.

Gnome sane?

”He also is in a wheelchair. He is crippled. He is not physically challenged! And for goodness sake do not ever call him differently abled. He is disabled. A perfectly good word and it means what it is supposed to mean. He cannot walk. Period” - MatureCanadian

Bless you for posting this, and bless you and your son with strength in your trials for his troubles and for dealing with the army of marching morons out there. I have a relatively easy life, live in an enlightened town and state, and they still drive me crazy every day.

I knew a young man, 20, never could walk in his life. Called himself Wheelz. Tattooed on his shoulder. Painted on his chair. Everyone called him that. Some of his friends didn’t even know he was Shawn. It’s called making the best of what you have. He knew that. You know that.

I called him Wheelz to a social worker, nobody else there but us two. This guy was the most PC person I ever met. Heart of gold, ran 3 homeless shelters, devout Christian, but … sheesh. He said, you mean SHAWN?!? in a voice dripping with venom.

I explained all what I said above and said, it doesn’t offend him. He said It offends ME!!!

That is Political Correctness. That is the enemy of sanity. That is what people like CKO86 and Coffinsurfer don’t understand, and I’m not going to waste my breath arguing with someone who stereotypes me as misusing terms like “retard” after I criticized someone else for confusing “social” and “mental” retardation. What’s the point, if a person makes such an elementary mistake in reading comprehension and then makes such a giant leap in total illogic.

I’d rather argue with a box of rocks. “Dumb as a box of rocks”? I don’t think so. At least boxes of rocks understand the old Chinese adage about keeping silent and being thought a fool.

Political correctness is the idea that nobody, nowhere, at no time, should use any word that might offend anyone, EVEN IF NOBODY WHO MIGHT BE OFFENDED IS PRESENT WHEN AND WHERE THE WORD IS USED. This includes using the word as a meta-word, simply to discuss the word itself, such as two white people alone, talking about “the n-word” and refusing to say the word itself. I’ve seen this happen, pointed it out, and the folks still wouldn’t use the word.

(OTOH, I’ve used the meta-n-word and even the n-word in satire without euphemisms with very n-people who didn’t bat an eye because they knew about such matters and knew that I knew. We knew – it’s just a word.)

What’s the cure for the PC insanity? Lenny Bruce had it right.

Here’s a clip from youtube, from the movie Lenny, starring Dustin Hoffman: his nightclub bit, which starts out “Are there any…”. You may know which bit I mean.

STRONG WARNING: mature subject matter, strong language, hard biting satire. Please don’t come back whining and flagging over PI words after you’ve been warned. If you think you’ll be offended, don’t click-on.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SOnkv76rNL4

”As far as the word “retard” goes, well… nonsequitous already answered that for me (thank you).” - Wiley

You’re welcome. May I put this in my résumé?

Nonsequitous - Thanks. Loved Lenny & miss Carlin every day……

Coffinsurfer said: President Obama just signed the Defense bill into law and added to this was a nice amendment that added homosexuality to the “protected” list As well as classifying use of language attacking anyone who is mentally disabled or physically disabled…a federal felony and is now considered Hate Speech.

Out of curiosity, I did a brief fact-check on this claim. The bill in question, a provision attached to a military spending provision, expands the “hate crime” provisions for violent crimes to include gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, or disability. My source is the New York Times: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/09/us/politics/09hate.html?fta=y

In general, it is unconstitutional to prosecute speech, save for defamation and incitement to riot. These protections include protections for general calls to rebellion and violence against ethnic minorities.

The relevant case is Brandenburg v. Ohio (1969) which overturned the conviction of a KKK member for hate speech, because his speech failed to meet the criteria that it was “likely to incite imminent lawless action.”

So - Wiley is right to scorn these claims. Any public apology by Doonsbury or other comics was due to public outrage, NOT legal consequences.

Don’t knock them, Danae. The reality challenged are the reason “The Big Bang Theory” remains in the top ten…

”Don’t knock them, Danae. The reality challenged are the reason “The Big Bang Theory” remains in the top ten.” - Kali48

Are you drop-dead certain that “knocking them” is what’s going on here? Not to tell tales out of school, but satire is a slippery business. Knocking the knockers, knocking the knocker-knockers, etc. I’d better stop with this particular line of metaphor before I get flagged for inappropriate language.

Can we say knockers here, Wiley?

TBBT is a good example of what I’m talking about. When Christine Baranksi shows up as Sheldon’s mom and bonds with Leonard, all nerd stereotype bets are off.

The very best satire is that which works on many of these levels at once. Lewis Carroll was one of the all time Masters, and he could turn the satire into a literary mobius strip, a Klein bottle. When he got into overdrive, one could never be sure exactly how many gears he actually was in.

“When I use a word,” Humpty Dumpty said in rather a scornful tone, “it means just what I choose it to mean – neither more nor less.” “The question is,” said Alice, “whether you can make words mean so many different things.” “The question is,” said Humpty Dumpty, “which is to be master – that’s all.”

He wasn’t just writing about people making stuff up and pretending they weren’t. I suspect he was also poking fun at himself as a writer.

“But I don’t want to go among mad people,” said Alice. “Oh, you can’t help that,” said the Cat. “We’re all quite mad here.”

Writing about himself again, I suspect.

I suspect Wil- Danae could tell us a thing or two about all this, if h- she wanted.

Actually, the most hateful stuff I’ve read here today came out of Coffinsurfer’s mouth!

”Nonsequitous - Thanks. Loved Lenny & miss Carlin every day.”

No, thank you. The pleasure and honor are all mine.

I saw Carlin in a small theater near here in ‘97, about 500 seats. Talk about a man who needed no introduction. They didn’t. He simply walked on stage and started talking.

Somewhere in storage I have one of my greatest treasures. An original vinyl LP copy of Lenny’s “How to Talk Dirty and Influence People.” I could probably get a lot of money for it on eBay, but that would make me nothing more than a Philistine.

A very very rich Philistine, but still …

Satisfied Mind, by Joe Hayes and Jack Rhodes sung by Joe Ely & Joel Guzman music starts at 2:15 perfect performance of a song that says it best

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GOWSC3EKSWQ

Coffinsurfer: Then we won’t be able to use stupid or short or fat or tall or ugly or anything that CAN be insulting if you want it to be. I, frankly, enjoy saying whatever I want, and if you don’t like it don’t listen. I probably won’t be insulting people like that, but if others want to that is their business. I don’t need government censorship.

MatureCanadian: If you have (or get) an iGoogle page, one of the many apps (which I love) is every day receiving a new quote by Lenny, George, or Richard Pryor. Also another app where it’s just a different Carlin quote every day. I have both apps, of course - how could I not?

nonsequitous: I’ll check my mail every day…

Coffinsurfer: You are “socially backward and inept”, if I have ever seen a socially backward and inept person before.

The geeks shall inherit the earth. Too late, we already did when you weren’t looking. Bwahahahahaha!

Wiley…My point is that it’s time(past time, actually) you hung up your pen for good and made room in the cartooning ranks for somebody who DOESN’T have a seething grudge against 90 percent of the human race. And incidentally, anyone who thinks Canadians are more civilized than Americans has obviously never watched an NHL game.

Bmonk…You owe me an apology for that “troll” comment.

Jon…Calling someone “socially retarded” is every bit as bad as calling them “mentally retarded”. Case closed.

Awww poor moderator, wanna guess wat is going to happen? Someone gets upset and sues, then it goes to court. Then you have different decisions by judges till it gets to the US Supreme Court who by Article 3 can only decide if the law is constitutional. Since there are already restrictions on free speech and the first amendment (cannot yell fire n a crowded theater and so on) then it is perfectly legal to make using some words illegal as a precedent has already been set. As such you CAN make some words illegal to be used and Canada already has proved that. My source? Arthur Oneil and Mertz LPA and Judge Nathaniel R. Jones, retired 6th US District Court (one step below the US Supreme Court)

So if you think you are safe in using the term “retarded” as a joke or an insult and that you cannot be prosecuted…I would strongly rethink that position and learn to find another word to use or you could find yourself in a whole heap of trouble!