Non Sequitur by Wiley Miller for December 14, 2012
December 13, 2012
December 15, 2012
Transcript:
Boss: ... so in leading the way back to traditional America, one of us here is now a janitor and another one goes to the secretarial pool. The Moving Target of Utopia
Ever notice how whenever someone wants to return America to what it was like in the 1950s, it’s never a black, a Hispanic or a woman? Why is that, I wonder …
Hmmm… Now WHO could he mean?It reminds me of former Senate Minority Leader Trent Lott (R-Mississippi), who in 2002, praised Strom Thurmond’s 1948 run for president on a segregation platform: “When Strom Thurmond ran for president, we voted for him. We’re proud of it. And if the rest of the country had followed our lead, we wouldn’t have had all these problems over the years, either.”Oh yeah, Trent resigned his post as Minority Leader a few days after making the statement because of protests.I bet he didn’t see the irony in suporting segregation while being in a “minority.”
always surprised by people saying that they want traditional america back. so, no catholics, no irish, no italians, no germans, etc….because, at some point in the us history, they were the demonized group. how about no us, since the natives were here before the europeans.
Not sure about anyone else, but if I make a reference to older times or traditional America, I am referring to the simplicity of the times – no strikes by sport teams, no myriad of entertainment options, no zillion channels of TV, no huge personal debt – etc. I’m certainly not thinking it was better – just simpler. – And the thought that anyone wants to regress with regard to race and gender is insulting and just plain silly.
Of course there are some people who are racist and sexist, but the conservative belief system includes neither. It calls for a return to lower taxes, greater freedoms, reasonable regulations and more personal responsibility. To say they want to return to racism and sexism is nothing but a lie propagated by the liberals. It appears from the responses written above that if you tell a lie often enough, people will believe it.
Labels, such as conservative or liberal, are a handy escapism used by all of us to castigate those who hold different beliefs or agendas. Rather than listen and rationally discuss ideas with the " other side" , we seem to find it easier to close our ears and minds and simply brand them with political or religious epithets.Terminology shifts and original meanings blur over time or are obfuscated through competing views of history. Nevertheless, we do have an obligation, at least to our ration selves, to peer behind the curtain and confront the Great Oz.That is the true aim of satire – to point out that the emperor truly has no clothes !
" It calls for a return to lower taxes, greater freedoms, reasonable regulations and more personal responsibility."
So just when was this Utopian paradise that apparently only White males can remember? Lower taxes? In the 50’s? Greater freedoms? Seriously? Why was there a need for the Civil Rights Act in the 60’s and the women’s movement in 70’s? Reasonable regulations? You mean all those regulations that the republican worked so hard to eliminate over the past two decades? And more personal responsibility? Seriously? How so? You mean like how drunk drivers were allowed to keep driving and wife beating was considered a “private family matter”? Please provide us with some actual facts to support assertion of “traditional America”. What you have cited is complete fantasy. A White male fantasy.
@ BluePumpkinYou are correct in what you said, but there really aren’t many people who actually want to go back in time and make things the way they were in the 40’s and 50’s. People who choose to interpret conservative policy that way are simply filtering the things they hear to say what they want. We’ve come a long way in many areas but have gone in the wrong direction in others. My earlier post was pretty clear. Nobody should object to:" a return to lower taxes, greater freedoms, reasonable regulations and more personal responsibility."But I appreciate your comment.
When I was in prep school in the early-mid 1950s I contributed “diversity” to the otherwise WASP student body because I was a Catholic and my last name ended in a vowel.
And one of the Masters, after seeing my sister who is fairer skinned than I am, wanted to know if we were the product of a “mixed marriage.” Responded: “yes, our mother is a woman and our father is a man.” What a jerk.
Yup, every time you hear the old ‘Take America Back’ line this is exactly what they mean. Put blacks, women, hispanics, asians and any other minority back in their place. That’s when the angry white men didn’t have to be so angry because they decided everything. But the times they are a-changing.
No toilet paper. I am part of a Middle Age show group and it always amuses me to destroy the dreams of those wanting to live like lords, knights and great ladies of the old time.
“The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit.” .Have you noticed that management always wants to reduce overhead, but never reduces themselves when the company downsizes?
Hurst5809: Let’s stick within my lifetime, so we don’t get into the great conservative ideas such as slavery and overt genocide..Lower taxes, like 90% on corporations and millionaires?.Greater freedoms, only for rich, white males. What, the greater freedom to lynch?.Reasonable regulations, like white primaries; concentration camps if you grandfather came from Japan, but Supreme Commender in Europe or Pacific if from Germany; married women require husband’s consent for contracts and not allowed on juries; etc..This is no “liberal lie”, but my biography. The “good old days” are only good to those who didn’t live them.
Once again we have someone lost in His Story.Part Fox fiction, part wishful thinking, and part white male middle age fantasy, your delusional Ozzie and Harriet view of America is no more real now than it was then !Get a grip ! The days of the " Negro" tipping his hat and stepping off the curb are long gone ! The days of the " little woman " bringing you your cocktail, slippers and pipe when you come home from work is a pipe dream ! The days of the fawning secretary making your coffee and stroking your ego, NEVER HAPPENED !Today we had twenty children and seven adults needlessly slaughtered in Connecticut !Today is December 14th 2012 not Dec. 14th 1952 ! Get it ? Got it ? Good !!
Return to lower taxes? Seriously? Idiots? No, just ignorant. (From the root, to ignore something, ) Google it. The income taxes in the United States are the lowest, today, then they have ever been in history. Anybody tells you differently, you shouldn’t turn your back on….And not only that, but, we have the lowest income taxes in the world compared to all modern industrial and successful countries…..If you believe other wise, it’s on you…
Conservatives are so paranoid, maybe they should be watched by secret socialist government shadow agencies that don’t exist on paper…That’ll teach ’em to be paranoid………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….BOO!
Amazing ! I have never seen it to fail. When an ideologue is confronted with reality, they resort to name calling and character assassination. I simply pointed out that your argument resides,mistakenly , in the reality of the Father Knows Best generational mis-remembrances.But troll that you are, you must question my mental capacity and intelligence quotient – no doubt due to you own intellectual penis envy.The only parrot is the one on my shoulder ( metaphorically ) and unfortunately, reality trumps rhetoric every time.You my friend, can lose yourself in idiotic polemic but you can’t evade the truth . Twenty innocent children were slaughtered today. DEAL WITH THAT !!!
You are correct in assessing Eisenhower as a basically decent guy trying to do the best job he could.-You are incorrect in presuming this decency translated into every home. “Leave it to Beaver” and “Ozzie and Harriet” were idealized propaganda.-The reality was that soldiers came home from WW2 deeply traumatized. Their homes were not idyllic. This is what the ’60’s were all about: dishonesty and hypocrisy retaliation. There never were “the good old days” in reality; only on TV. One event bled into and influenced the next decade, until here we are watching the horrific slaughter of small children.-It’s all connected. History is little more than the reaction to the last generation’s foolishness. Step back and see the big picture, man. We are not where we need to be as a (supposedly) civilized people.-“Civilized”: what a nebulous term that few even know the meaning of anymore. It does not include citizens needing to be armed. If that is necessary or desirable, then we have no right to call ourselves civilized.
The#1BoiseStateFan almost 12 years ago
I’ll take it I want to go to janitor.
Linguist almost 12 years ago
Let’s guess who ?
millie p almost 12 years ago
Seeing the direction he’s looking, I take it it’s not going to be any of the white guys.
rayannina almost 12 years ago
Ever notice how whenever someone wants to return America to what it was like in the 1950s, it’s never a black, a Hispanic or a woman? Why is that, I wonder …
Can't Sleep almost 12 years ago
Hmmm… Now WHO could he mean?It reminds me of former Senate Minority Leader Trent Lott (R-Mississippi), who in 2002, praised Strom Thurmond’s 1948 run for president on a segregation platform: “When Strom Thurmond ran for president, we voted for him. We’re proud of it. And if the rest of the country had followed our lead, we wouldn’t have had all these problems over the years, either.”Oh yeah, Trent resigned his post as Minority Leader a few days after making the statement because of protests.I bet he didn’t see the irony in suporting segregation while being in a “minority.”
Linguist almost 12 years ago
Another meeting of the RNC Post Election Planning Committee.
jnik23260 almost 12 years ago
Back to the “Mad Men” days!
Proginoskes almost 12 years ago
“I hope you like cleaning up puke, boss!”
batterd_citizen almost 12 years ago
Mrs. Slocum (Are You Being Served) once said it right on the head.“That’s the trouble nowadays, all the WRONG people have all the money”.
tripwire45 almost 12 years ago
Of course tradition doesn’t always have to play to the stereotypes…depending on your social and political assumptions.
vwdualnomand almost 12 years ago
always surprised by people saying that they want traditional america back. so, no catholics, no irish, no italians, no germans, etc….because, at some point in the us history, they were the demonized group. how about no us, since the natives were here before the europeans.
roctor almost 12 years ago
Post modern roll play.
bransom almost 12 years ago
At least they’ll be doing something productive!
gorbag almost 12 years ago
Not to mention the BOTTOM tax rate was 20%. So if you earned 5k, you had to pay 1k to the federales.
Varnes almost 12 years ago
Wliey, you’re the greatest! Funnier than hell, dude….Good one….One of your best! I’m gonna be chuckling all day…..
rnmontgomery almost 12 years ago
This strip is pretty edgy today – wow.
Wiley creator almost 12 years ago
So your point is….what?
dabugger almost 12 years ago
Return of ‘Conservatives’……so what is new?
freewaydog almost 12 years ago
Of course the secretary will be the lady in the group.
gordrogb Premium Member almost 12 years ago
Not sure about anyone else, but if I make a reference to older times or traditional America, I am referring to the simplicity of the times – no strikes by sport teams, no myriad of entertainment options, no zillion channels of TV, no huge personal debt – etc. I’m certainly not thinking it was better – just simpler. – And the thought that anyone wants to regress with regard to race and gender is insulting and just plain silly.
Hurst5809 almost 12 years ago
Of course there are some people who are racist and sexist, but the conservative belief system includes neither. It calls for a return to lower taxes, greater freedoms, reasonable regulations and more personal responsibility. To say they want to return to racism and sexism is nothing but a lie propagated by the liberals. It appears from the responses written above that if you tell a lie often enough, people will believe it.
Linguist almost 12 years ago
Labels, such as conservative or liberal, are a handy escapism used by all of us to castigate those who hold different beliefs or agendas. Rather than listen and rationally discuss ideas with the " other side" , we seem to find it easier to close our ears and minds and simply brand them with political or religious epithets.Terminology shifts and original meanings blur over time or are obfuscated through competing views of history. Nevertheless, we do have an obligation, at least to our ration selves, to peer behind the curtain and confront the Great Oz.That is the true aim of satire – to point out that the emperor truly has no clothes !
Wiley creator almost 12 years ago
" It calls for a return to lower taxes, greater freedoms, reasonable regulations and more personal responsibility."
So just when was this Utopian paradise that apparently only White males can remember? Lower taxes? In the 50’s? Greater freedoms? Seriously? Why was there a need for the Civil Rights Act in the 60’s and the women’s movement in 70’s? Reasonable regulations? You mean all those regulations that the republican worked so hard to eliminate over the past two decades? And more personal responsibility? Seriously? How so? You mean like how drunk drivers were allowed to keep driving and wife beating was considered a “private family matter”? Please provide us with some actual facts to support assertion of “traditional America”. What you have cited is complete fantasy. A White male fantasy.
Nelly55 almost 12 years ago
don’t forget The Poor House
Buggerlugs almost 12 years ago
WILEY FOR PRESIDENT !!
burleigh2 almost 12 years ago
Ouch and LOL! It took me a minute to get it, but that’s just wrong and funny. ;-)
Hurst5809 almost 12 years ago
@ BluePumpkinYou are correct in what you said, but there really aren’t many people who actually want to go back in time and make things the way they were in the 40’s and 50’s. People who choose to interpret conservative policy that way are simply filtering the things they hear to say what they want. We’ve come a long way in many areas but have gone in the wrong direction in others. My earlier post was pretty clear. Nobody should object to:" a return to lower taxes, greater freedoms, reasonable regulations and more personal responsibility."But I appreciate your comment.
tigre1again almost 12 years ago
absolutely the best comment I’ve ever seen on much current madness…
galanti almost 12 years ago
When I was in prep school in the early-mid 1950s I contributed “diversity” to the otherwise WASP student body because I was a Catholic and my last name ended in a vowel.
And one of the Masters, after seeing my sister who is fairer skinned than I am, wanted to know if we were the product of a “mixed marriage.” Responded: “yes, our mother is a woman and our father is a man.” What a jerk.
Vonne Anton almost 12 years ago
Wow…just wow! There would probably be EEOC lawsuits over this, but that just means bigger government. What to do…what to do…?
poppy1313 almost 12 years ago
gee, I thought it was just funny
Rickapolis almost 12 years ago
Yup, every time you hear the old ‘Take America Back’ line this is exactly what they mean. Put blacks, women, hispanics, asians and any other minority back in their place. That’s when the angry white men didn’t have to be so angry because they decided everything. But the times they are a-changing.
pcolli almost 12 years ago
People say they’re poor now, but in the 1950s a lot more people were a LOT poorer. More illness, more still born children.
Vonne Anton almost 12 years ago
…no assault rifles in the hands of nuts who kill children…prayers to all involved. So sad.
Barbaratoo almost 12 years ago
Whew! Yikes! Hope not!!
cabalonrye almost 12 years ago
No toilet paper. I am part of a Middle Age show group and it always amuses me to destroy the dreams of those wanting to live like lords, knights and great ladies of the old time.
The Life I Draw Upon almost 12 years ago
“The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit.” .Have you noticed that management always wants to reduce overhead, but never reduces themselves when the company downsizes?
roctor almost 12 years ago
republican policy…Driving the Model-T forward while only looking in the rear view mirror,
hippogriff almost 12 years ago
Hurst5809: Let’s stick within my lifetime, so we don’t get into the great conservative ideas such as slavery and overt genocide..Lower taxes, like 90% on corporations and millionaires?.Greater freedoms, only for rich, white males. What, the greater freedom to lynch?.Reasonable regulations, like white primaries; concentration camps if you grandfather came from Japan, but Supreme Commender in Europe or Pacific if from Germany; married women require husband’s consent for contracts and not allowed on juries; etc..This is no “liberal lie”, but my biography. The “good old days” are only good to those who didn’t live them.
doris sloan almost 12 years ago
Yawn… banging the hate whitey male drum a bit on the loud side, dont’cha think?
Linguist almost 12 years ago
Once again we have someone lost in His Story.Part Fox fiction, part wishful thinking, and part white male middle age fantasy, your delusional Ozzie and Harriet view of America is no more real now than it was then !Get a grip ! The days of the " Negro" tipping his hat and stepping off the curb are long gone ! The days of the " little woman " bringing you your cocktail, slippers and pipe when you come home from work is a pipe dream ! The days of the fawning secretary making your coffee and stroking your ego, NEVER HAPPENED !Today we had twenty children and seven adults needlessly slaughtered in Connecticut !Today is December 14th 2012 not Dec. 14th 1952 ! Get it ? Got it ? Good !!
Varnes almost 12 years ago
Return to lower taxes? Seriously? Idiots? No, just ignorant. (From the root, to ignore something, ) Google it. The income taxes in the United States are the lowest, today, then they have ever been in history. Anybody tells you differently, you shouldn’t turn your back on….And not only that, but, we have the lowest income taxes in the world compared to all modern industrial and successful countries…..If you believe other wise, it’s on you…
Conservatives are so paranoid, maybe they should be watched by secret socialist government shadow agencies that don’t exist on paper…That’ll teach ’em to be paranoid………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….BOO!
Linguist almost 12 years ago
Amazing ! I have never seen it to fail. When an ideologue is confronted with reality, they resort to name calling and character assassination. I simply pointed out that your argument resides,mistakenly , in the reality of the Father Knows Best generational mis-remembrances.But troll that you are, you must question my mental capacity and intelligence quotient – no doubt due to you own intellectual penis envy.The only parrot is the one on my shoulder ( metaphorically ) and unfortunately, reality trumps rhetoric every time.You my friend, can lose yourself in idiotic polemic but you can’t evade the truth . Twenty innocent children were slaughtered today. DEAL WITH THAT !!!
Gokie5 almost 12 years ago
Notice that the good ol’ white boys whose faces we can see are smiling? The other two whose faces we can see, aren’t.
Vonne Anton almost 12 years ago
You are correct in assessing Eisenhower as a basically decent guy trying to do the best job he could.-You are incorrect in presuming this decency translated into every home. “Leave it to Beaver” and “Ozzie and Harriet” were idealized propaganda.-The reality was that soldiers came home from WW2 deeply traumatized. Their homes were not idyllic. This is what the ’60’s were all about: dishonesty and hypocrisy retaliation. There never were “the good old days” in reality; only on TV. One event bled into and influenced the next decade, until here we are watching the horrific slaughter of small children.-It’s all connected. History is little more than the reaction to the last generation’s foolishness. Step back and see the big picture, man. We are not where we need to be as a (supposedly) civilized people.-“Civilized”: what a nebulous term that few even know the meaning of anymore. It does not include citizens needing to be armed. If that is necessary or desirable, then we have no right to call ourselves civilized.
mike.reno almost 12 years ago
Wow, some rather racist and sexist attitudes coming out in your strip today. Why?