Free Speech, But With Pandas

coming soon to fans of Panda Satire!

I am very excited to tell you, that after much gnashing of teeth and swearing at the little circle thing that goes round and round and round and round and round…oh you get the idea…on my computer screen that I have uploaded and reloaded and reconfigured and reloaded again and now, I am just waiting for proof copies to be sent to make sure all is well in Pandyland before hitting the “publish” button on my new book “The Panda Chronicles Book 10: Litter Box of Chaos: The Mittens Years.”

The cover!!!!

My ‘toons have always had a more or less political slant to them, ever since the days of Pinky’s 2013 protest about the government shutdown that turned off her panda cam. But this book…well, there was a lot to write about in these last…um…8 years, wasn’t there? As I ruffled through the sheets of Bristol board that these ‘toons are drawn on, reading them over and over as I formatted the pages and and checked the margins and wrote the foreword and all the other notes on these ‘toons, it occurred to me that these were indeed the craziest times to live through. (And I’m still here!)

Now, more than once in the past, I have been criticized for writing about my political views in my ‘toons. But here’s the thing: it’s okay to criticize me, or disagree with my point of view. You don’t have to read them if they make you mad. It’s really okay. What you don’t get to do, is tell me what I can or can’t write about. If the consequences of speaking my mind is for someone to shun me and my ‘toons, that’s the way it is.

Just like someone can’t tell me what to write, I can’t tell them they have to listen and agree with me. They aren’t silencing me. They just aren’t listening.

(I may or may not have done this a bunch as a teenager.)

So, with the recent headlines about another cartoonist that seems to have gone off the deep end into a very strange pit, it does give me a bit of pause to be publishing something that is overtly political, and that some people may not like.

A recent Substack essay by A.R. Moxon shares a thorough and well thought out analysis of Scott Adams’ (creator of Dilbert) current meltdown and fall from… well, maybe not grace, since it seems this has been percolating for a while, maybe the long fall from rational discourse would be more like it.

I should say that in my early days of starting to write and draw comics, that Dilbert was one of the comic strips I reading enjoyed. I got large stacks of books from the library including Dilbert, and Pearls before Swine, and Doonesberry, and Get Fuzzy, and Calvin and Hobbes, and Lynda Barry. I definitely gravitated toward the snarky, smart, and sarcastic. (kind of like Pinky.) But I also love the sweet and silly work of Liz Climo and Sandra Boynton. I wanted to make something that was inspired and steeped from my influences. Like in painting, it’s always good to study from the masters!

I quit reading Dilbert and the newsletter to which I was once a subscriber from Adams, about the time he started talking about why a Tr**p candidacy was not a bad thing, which then evolved to why he thought Tr**p had a good chance of winning. At first, I couldn’t believe that was what he meant, and when he fully voiced his support for Tr**p, I was out of there and did not look back. I blocked him on Twidder. I would sometimes see one of his tweets when someone quote tweeted him, shudder, and then forget about him. So I was not aware at how full on misogynist, racist, and white supremacist he had become.

All this is to say, I have opinions too. I think they are good ones, but that’s what everyone thinks, isn’t it? I don’t remember who said, “You can’t write for everyone. If you try to, you really write for no one.” Or maybe I made that up. I’m not entirely sure. Are my opinions just as deranged as his and I just don’t know it?

I think all people have the right to exist.
I think that people should get to be who they are.
I think kindness is important.
I think my right to go to the grocery store or a child’s right to go school without getting shot overrides someone’s right to carry big guns and to shoot people.
I think understanding history is important, even if it makes you uncomfortable.
I think people have a right to follow any religion they want or no religion at all.
I think bodily autonomy and abortion and healthcare are rights we should all possess.
I think if you don’t want an abortion you shouldn’t have to have one.
I get to think some people are idiots and people can think I’m an idiot too.
I think that you can have free speech but understand your speech might have consequences you don’t like.
Not listening to someone is not the same as silencing them.

In the words of Bob T Panda, “You’d be surprised what people will swallow if they think they will get more whippy cream than anyone else.”

I’ll let you know as soon as my book is available!

One more time…

I am so, so appreciative of everyone who reads my Noozletter. Whether you are here for a free subscription, or if your situation and inclination to have a paid subscription moves you to send a little $$ my way. It’s a privilege to get to share my thoughts with you. If you’re here, I guess it’s because you want to be. Let’s all have some hot cocoa with little marshymallows and whippy cream!

Till next time.