Life in the Analog Age
September 7th, 2010 by GabeHere's the very first installment of my new project, Life in the Analog Age. For more (updated every Tuesday and Thursday) please visit: www.lifeintheanaolgeage.com
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...Oh, right, Ricky started using it as a soapbox for idiot rants about subjects about which he didn't have a single clue--sometimes lefty, sometimes right-wing, but always based on preposterous stereotypes.
what happened??
oh whoops
sorry. IM JUST KIDDING
it still kicks ASS
BOOO YAAA
you gotta be careful when making comments like that. surprisingly enough, insulting someones integrity might just piss them off.
@ Ricky
lol @ your reply, but you might've went a little overboard.
...and they tell more about U.S. culture than hundreds of Hollywood movies. Makes me wonder if it´s all true that I learn here...
Bravo!
Are welfare 'cases' the same as people on welfare? Or are they just a little less human?
I like your work a lot, Ricky, and I would have thought that repeating this kind of knee-jerk 'welfare' queen' stereotype was beneath you.
As humans, we tend to prop up semi-rational and irrational feelings of jealousy and resentment with all kinds of justifications. When such feelings are directed at people we don’t actually know they can usually be traced back to plain old pre-judgement and a willingness to pigeonhole people, rather than think about more complex issues.
Do you really think all those ‘welfare cases’ depicted in the strip (or that you met in real life) have it better than you because they don’t work? Do you crave a life with nothing to do but watch giant HD images?
I’m guessing that you don’t honestly feel hatred towards the caricatures depicted in the strip, but such stereotypes have a pretty unpleasant history of being used to abuse and marginalise the poor and justify slashing welfare again and again.
Put it this way, every ‘lazy bum’ in the in US could be given double their current allowance and the total wouldn’t amount to 1% of what is pissed away on ‘defence’ and corporate welfare every year.
Getting mad at the least fortunate in society is encouraged by the billionaire welfare recipients and is a great way to divert the public from thinking about the real and enormous inequities of the current system. Divide and rule...
Keep up the good (gruesome) work!
Any way you look at it, there are good, honest people who work and have fallen behind and actually need a little help. But then there are those who take advantage of the system and couldn't care less as they suck it dry. I used to work in a tax office and would be blown away at the unemployed who would get a $5000 "refund," yet I'd be lucky to get $500 back working full time 40 hrs/week. Priorities, people! If you can't afford that HDTV, just wait 'til Uncle Sam helps ya out a bit!
oh and i LOVE Kimbo's face in panel 6 :D
That's why this is a comic. He's supposed to go overboard.
I can't believe Kimbo has a picture of his non-hot girlfriend on the wall. Vespula is the way to go!
Live a little.
To me, it's just surprising to see such a simplistic, mainstream and somewhat mean-spirited portrayal from an artist I consider insightful, perceptive, intelligent and funny.
Thanks for your thoughtful critique and your kind compliments!
Believe me when I say that I've seen this kind of thing happen first-hand. The way the rent-to-own scam works is like this:
...Rent rich stuff to people who can't afford it. The company initially stands to earn 200% over the retail price by adding interest in the form of "rental fees". When the poor sucker is tapped out, the company sends in the Repo squad to retrieve the merchandise. Repeat. We could stand to make 4 to 5 times the value of a piece of merchandise by exploiting customers in this manner.
The only time I felt I was doing anyone a real service was when I would deliver basic human needs like a bed, a couch, or a washing machine... even a *modest* 60" tv or a computer. Hell, we all deserve entertainment and the ability to communicate.
But there's some scandalous fuckers out there: If you can't afford to feed your children, pay your bills, and you live in a shack, what the hell are you doing with a big screen t.v. and a pimped-out ride?
when we stop being greedy we'll stop being exploited.
A long time ago,on a galaxy far, far, FAR away, I used to be a devout Catholic (like I said, far FAR away!), and went to a little Missionary trip to a remote town deep in the Mexican Sierra Madre. There, in this town of scarcely 40 people, where barely 5 of the houses had cement floors, I discovered that in some of those homes these incredibly poor people had a big screen TV more fit for a upper middle-class family! People are more willing to neglect basic needs in favor of a big screen or a flashy car; and I must admit I'm one of them! I bought a 42" LCD TV a year before I acquired a medical insurance.
And of course, governments are OK with that; because TV is the perfect medium to inject advertisement to people's subconscious, encouraging them to keep buying shit they don't need, making them feel inadequate and unsatisfied so the big engine of consumerism keeps spinning.
And do I spy Kimboa in that frame?
Yeah, it seems like everyone has an HD tv-flat sceen thing nowadays... I still have a regular ol' fat tv,and I'm more than satisfied with it :)
Renting never seemed like a good idea unless you were only going to live in a house for 2 months, or just put in random furniture while you're selling your home. How about the hotels that throw away good shit because it's a year old? If you're going to be cheep, be smart cheep.
It's hard to be liberal when there are so many freeloaders deliberately tacking advantage the things we work hard to pay for in hopes that people who DO need it can use.
laugh at the irony.
laugh at the stereotypes.
laugh.