Calvin and Hobbes by Bill Watterson for May 02, 2011

Bin Laden bin dead. Hurrah!!

Don’t listen to him, Suzie.

Dogsniff, what’s with the x?

Excellent strip today. It seems illogical that humans should be willing so quickly to form alliances, even with their enemies, in order to hurt others. But we do it all the time, as children, as adults, and as nations.

Perhaps if we could somehow teach our children to rise above this, by not forming cliques to team up against other children, we could improve the world long term. But we don’t really know how to teach this to our children, since we have never learned to overcome it ourselves, as children or as adults.

And yet, there are some cases where such behavior is warranted, in order to confront and try to defeat a source of evil (Osama Bin Laden comes to mind today as an extreme case).

How do we learn to resist this instinct for clique behavior in cases where we want to hurt others in petty ways, and in cases where we ourselves might even become the perpetrators of evil, and yet discern the cases where such alliances are warranted and even necessary, and act accordingly?

Perhaps we should be focusing on trying to find better ways to teach our children complex thinking and discernment as they are growing up.

Susie, stay still, ‘kay?

Well spoken, Hobbes.

If comics work they way I’ve read them for the last 50 years, Why am I feeling sorry for Calvin?

One possible outcome in Cartoon Physics:

Calvin falls through floor rotten apples fall through floor with greater acceleration than Calvin At that exact moment, Susie steps away to pick flower.

41 keys (from yesterday), the edit and delete options for your posts are always shown when you are logged in. If you logout, the options will go away.

Susie is too smart..she will move Calvin.

Actually, Lewreader, I think it would be better if Calvin fell with greater accelleration and the apples landed on top of him.

Good Morning, Marg, Mike & ♠Lonewolf♠!

Hobbes (the Poster),

The problem is not that such thinking is illogical - logic can justify anything. The problem is not that such thinking is not complex and discriminative - try to remember what it was like being the wunderkind you probably were.

The problem, my dear Hobbes, is that “the heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked; who can know it?” (Jeremiah 17:9)

We are immersed in a sea of spiritual negativity, like a pit of black tar from which no amount of human effort can extricate us. We are a world held captive and our captor needs to be removed before the human condition can change.

Annnnnd back to to strip…

Hobbes (the Tiger), quit while you’re ahead. What could possibly be better (for a tiger) than First Tiger? Besides, it was your lack of patience and insubordination that got you both in this conundrum in the first place.

A musician comes to his changing-room and looks horrible. His manager said, how do you look, what had happened to you! People threw tomatoes upon me, the musician answered. “Oh, it’s not so bad”, said the manager. “The tomatoes were in the tins” meant the musician.

Mushy and apples are good separately, but not together! Susie is ‘the apple of Hobbes’ eye’. He’d like to be mushy with her. Calvin A Dope (CAD) is living up to his name.

Johanan:

I agree that the root problem of evil cannot be overcome simply by logic, complex thinking, and human effort. In addition to discernment, we need to teach our children spirituality.

I wonder whether all of these depressing, complex thoughts about evil and the human condition are going through Calvin’s mind today as he reaches for the bag of mushy apples. :>)

Oh sure.

Hobbes, you and Johanan say much that is true, but the fact is that America is founded on cliques that have finally evolved into the Democratic and Republican Party, The problem today seems to be how to get them out of a war against each other and start using their individual ways to create something good and worthy. In so many ways Calvin and Hobbes and Susie are so much like our political parties…or maybe I just caught on to the fact that you meant this all these years???

Calvin, push Hobbes down instead. That way you hit two birds (Hobbes and Susie) with one stone.

Move quick Susie! He will mess up your hair!! :)

The US is not out of war yet there are terriorts here. But for now American’s can celebrate over the death of Osama Bin Laden.

Calvin will be at war with himself over Susie.

The US is not out of war yet there are terriorts here. But for now American’s can celebrate over the death of Osama Bin Laden.

Calvin will be at war with himself over Susie.

An apple a day will keep Susie away!

We have a way for red and blue to get along - the Constitution. Our Constitution allows states to be socialist - or anything else not specifically prohibited, like slavery. What is not allowed is for the Federal Government to be socialist - or anything else not specifically authorized, like the Post Office.

Dems need to keep their socialism out of the Federal Government, and conservatives need to allow states like California to try socialism. (Just make sure we don’t bail them out.)

While I wouldn’t want to live in one, I do think socialism can be fiscally sound - you just have to lower your expectations. Average prosperity will be much lower under socialism, but there is more security - which appeals to some people. Socialism also can’t absorb too many immigrants at a time.

Make it fast Calvin before Susie comes to know of your plans!!

About sixty years ago a Commencement speaker pointed out to us that there are two extreme conditions of human life. You can have complete security–and no freedom–or complete freedom–and no security. The first describes a prisoner and the second, a hobo [today we would say a ‘street person’]. There are political analogies. The first is a state where everything that is not forbidden is required, Afghanistan under the Taliban, perhaps. The second is a state where there is anarchy, approached by some small Third World countries. Individuals–and countries–are somewhere in between. In this spectrum, the Democrats and the Republicans aren’t that far apart. Think of them as Calvin and Hobbes (and I’m not about to tell you which is which).

………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….

I think Calvin is falling into the human habit of fighting with friends (or neighbors or kin)–but when a perceived bigger “outside” threat comes along, the friends close ranks, at least until the threat is dealt with.

Think of France and England, rivals–until Germany showed up in 1870. And dozens of other examples.

I like to begin my day with humor and for me the greatest gift is the delightful antics of Calvin & Hobbes. The philosophical comments related to the day’s strip can be entertaining and thoughtful. Could we, however, please leave the referencing of Political discourse & diatribe out of one aspect of our lives? The inundation is already to the extreme and overwhelming. It does not enhance or fit this venue. Thank you for your future consideration.

Actually, they got together some 20 years earlier - remember the Crimea War? Or am I the only one old enough to remember? It was with the Turks and against the Russians. In WW-I, they were with the Russians and against the Turks.

When will they ever learn?

yeah, no 1 learns from their past mistakes……

Hobbes, a good start would be to stop indoctrinating kids into the organized sports culture as soon as they are old enough to chase a ball or wave a pom-pom. Teach them some logical thinking, civics, and personal responsibility first. It’s all about having and supporting an elite home team, the We vs. They mindset, competition instead of cooperation. Recall that for a week or so after 9-11, all professional sports games were canceled, and yet the world didn’t end. People finally realized that there was something more important. Too bad it didn’t last. God help you if you suggest at a school board meeting that something like yoga and chess would be more useful to a student throughout his lifetime than indoctrinating him into being a fan of organized sports and building an expensive stadium. By age 30, most of them will be reduced to drinking cheap beer in front of a TV instead of fulfilling their potential as human beings.

I saved this from a comment by someone else on another board: “Sports and the military definitely go hand in hand. Hero worship and territorial struggles are essential elements that the state needs to instill in its population in order to insure that the common people will fight their wars. Ingraining the ideas of “team spirit” and “physical conflict” within the masses helps the elite focus the energies of the working classes so that they will accept the order to fight another country or creed. In this way the rulers of every country can ensure that the restless energies of the masses can be turned against foreign citizens rather than focused at the rulers themselves. Kings and religious leaders remain wealthy and removed from the battles that they encourage their subjects to fight. Go Team!!!!!”

I was told that last night, in my old college town, when the news of Bin Laden’s death was announced, they were burning couches in the street and practically rioting, just as they would have done after winning or losing a football game.

Dogsniff, What ‘looms’ ahead as the ‘fruit’ of Calvin’s mischief?

“Into the valley of death rode the six hundred” The Charge of the Light Brigade

hippogriff, exactly my point–they got together vs. Russia, but then were less allied until about 1900, when Germany got pushy. And stayed pushy (except in the 1920s) through 1945.

Its a great day for Calvin Hobbes America and me.

Susie is going to catch on sooner or later. I think sooner, then she can mould Calvin into husband material and she will stuff poor Hobbes in some kind of foot locker .

Lewreader - how about

Mom comes out and stands below treehouse to tell Calvin to come in for lunch, just as rotten apples get launched….

Some of the commentary based on mushy apples is, frankly, more than I have wanted to read with respect to this strip. There is no guarantee that the bag, at this point, will still be capable of holding the apples, or that they are even throwable either….

I’d rather read comments about mushy apples than everyone’s political views on something totally unrelated to the comic strip. Usually, it is amusing to read the comments as they add to the HUMOR of the strip, but for some reason, just about everyone has decided to air their soap-box view on politics. Why can’t we just stick to the comic strip? If you want to broadcast your political views, there are venues for that elsewhere!

I think Hobbes is delaying passing the apples because he doesn’t want Susie to get hit by them. Maybe he is dreaming about smooches???

I agree, Hobbes.

“Ding dong! Ding dong! Osama’s dead! Osama’s dead! Ding dong! Ding dong! Osama bin Laden’s dead!!!!!!!!!!!”

OOH COME ON HOBBS - HAND OVER THE MUSHY APPLES.

Okay - retirees - stop with your stuuuuuupid polical crap. This is a comic and let it stay that way. PLEEEASE GET A LIFE!!

still the best strip of all time

Who besides Calvin would think of rotten apples for ammo? In winter snow balls are a natural,…. but rotten apples?????.

I don’t know why he hates little girls. They are the most beautiful humans in the world to me, the future of humanity in every sense of the word. It makes me sad that this is our common upbringing.

I don’t know why he hates little girls. They are the most beautiful humans in the world to me, the future of humanity in every sense of the word. It makes me sad that this is our common upbringing.

While I think it’s absolutely wrong for Calvin to feel the way he does about girls – especially Susie – and therefore acts on those feelings in a negative way he shouldn’t … isn’t it also the way of life for 6-year-old little boys to “hate” girls and their “cooties”?

Meanwhile, Susie is a lot smarter than Calvin gives her credit for. Hearing the words “mushy apples” and him telling her not to move from the exact spot she’s standing in will definitely tip her off to the fact that where she is is exactly where she shouldn’t be! Therefore, she’ll be gone by the time a mushy apple comes flying her way!

Thanks Mr. Ed.

Hobbes, I have mixed emotions about our desire to kill bin Laden at any cost. I imagine he would have gotten a death sentence in any case–which I’m also against. So many questions…

MisterEd, thanks for the info. Do you have the movie in your collection? It was quite cute and the horses were beautiful! :D

lin4869, I don’t think bin Laden would have had it any other way. They weren’t going to take him alive, whether they wanted to or not.

Susie..U R about to Get Mushy…… Just U wait..

@”Johanan Rakkav א” : So, perhaps we should be glad that Calvin doesn’t have a big bag of rocks up there.

Is that an “Aleph”next to your name?

Sometimes, I think Hobbes (the comic) is Calvin’s better side trying to guide him in the way that is right. (“SOMEtimes”)

=)

Lin 4869, yes. I have all of the Francis movies and Mister Ed TV series. Only the four early Francis movies with Donald O’Connor were released on DVD. The other later three were released on VHS, with the last one starring Mickey Rooney instead of Donald O’Connor.

Yeah, stay exactly where you are… do I hear a catch?