Alas A Blog’s Amp has drawn a, shall we say, relatively truthful cartoon in an eye-popping style titled ‘An Easy Mistake To Make’. In it two women were having a conversation about transwomen (dratted qualifiers. But they’re both qualifiers, really, in the grand scheme o’ things…) with in the end panel being revealed that while both conversationalists have different identities, (conservative christian and radical feminist, respectively) they share the same opinions about trans women. La Di Da, big surprise there, that particular belief has been floating around for a long, long time and has been held by people all across the board.

Also, I don’t mean to be rude, really, but why should anyone get a ‘free pass’ on spouting bigoted beliefs, no matter how small (or how large) the faction in question is? Is there a percentage cut-off point I’m not aware of, where it’s A-Okay! as long as your Good Deeds quota for the week are filled?

I was reasonably astounded at some of the responses he’s gotten for the image.

Link located here for “An Easy Mistake To Make”

Here then, is a lesson in safe logic.

~Cue Guitar~

It is a political cartoon, if I’m not mistaken. It’s what he does, and he does them rather well, which is no faint praise from myself as I’m picky in what I like. I was under the apparently erroneous impression that when political cartoons are viewed, people are aware that much like the “We’re not talking about YOU (if you don’t do such and such, even if some of the group you belong to does” in the discussions that go on with every other issue (like class, gender, ability et cetera) was easily viewed and that if you or I don’t do something that a rather vocal part of an identity group that you or I belong to seems to do readily, than guess what? It isn’t about you or I. It isn’t personal. No one embodies everyone’s beliefs and opinions in a grouping that you (or I, again) belong to.

Which is also why “You’re not a real ________ doesn’t fly, either. If you don’t consist of the thousands of people that identify as you do (And you don’t, there’s no question ’bout that, I’m just waitin’ for someone to exclaim that ‘Yes! They’re all Me!” (It’s happened before, and what a riot that was) then you can’t claim to define a movement or an ideology that they also claim for themselves.

You just can’t.

Now, since no one can logically claim to be any other person but themselves, and a single individual does not a group make, than why do people take it to heart (ooooo, there’s a pun in the making) that Amp meant every radical feminist instead of what some people who’re radical feminists espouse?

Hrm? It’s a fucking political cartoon, people. It no more represents every radical feminist than it does every conservative christian!

You can only fit so much in a picture, or a cartoon panel as the case may be. Two panels isn’t a lot, nor is four or six and you have to keep the reader engaged or they’ll wander off in boredom and your message will be lost, much like any other medium. An addendum at the bottom of the cartoon isn’t (or really shouldn’t be) needed to explain that if you ain’t doing what the cartoon says you’re group does, than it isn’t talking about, describing, pointing fingers, making references, eyeing you beadily or finger wagging at you. To explain in detail why *You* (or I) are not like whatever point a cartoon is trying to get across is not the cartoonists job, especially if the cartoonist wasn’t talking about you specifically in the first place. If ya don’t want a group you belong to to be illustrated like that than be the change you want, and call other people on bigoted behavior so others know there’s alternate voices in the crowd besides the loudest little buggers that foam at the mouth.

~”Here then, a lesson in safe logic” I unabashedly nicked from Phil Och’s, “Love Me, I’m A Liberal.”