bobquasit: (Me)
bobquasit ([personal profile] bobquasit) wrote2005-05-29 10:56 pm
Entry tags:

There is no war

Just a note to myself, more than anything: today (Sunday, May 29) I saw a comic in the paper that amazed me. It was one of those boring-old-fart strips, "Crankshaft", which I only was reading out of pure desperation.

Unfortunately the online strip archive seems to be two weeks behind the times, so I have to remember to look for it two weeks from now.

Here's what it said:

Panel #1: Title ("Crankshaft by Batiuk & Ayers") and the front of a building labeled "VFW Post No."

Panel #2: Man in yellow (MiY) says to Crankshaft "Not too many of us showing up for a free beer on Memorial Day anymore."

Panel #3: Crankshaft: "Nope...It's pretty quiet."

Panel #4: MiY: "If we don't get more vets in here...this VFW post will probably have to close."

Panel #5: MiY: "We're going to have to do something to increase our membership."

Panel #6: Crankshaft: "I hope we don't." MiY: "You do?"

Panel #7: Crankshaft (drinking a beer) "Think about it."

And that's the end.

Now, here's the thing:

ISN'T THERE A FUCKING WAR BEING FOUGHT BY AMERICAN SOLDIERS NOW ON FOREIGN SOIL???

Or did I wander into a parallel universe?

Yeah, gee, it's sure nice we live in a peaceful, war-free world.

Okay, for all I know, maybe VFW posts are having a problem recruiting younger veterans. I don't know. But if that's the case, the punchline becomes completely nonsensical. Or, maybe, I don't know...maybe not many veterans are coming home from Iraq (thanks to that lovely retention policy), so the - no, that ruins the joke, too.

It just makes no sense at all. What the HELL is going on here?

Sorry, I guess this is picayune. But it still kind of shocked me to read a nationally-distributed comic strip on Memorial Day Sunday, and have it apparently deny the fact that we are manufacturing new veterans at a furious rate.

Damn you, George Orwell! Must you ALWAYS be right?
ext_9: (Default)

[identity profile] zarhooie.livejournal.com 2005-05-30 03:03 am (UTC)(link)
Not nearly enough vets are coming home...

[identity profile] unquietsoul5.livejournal.com 2005-05-30 03:39 am (UTC)(link)
This has a sound of a repeat strip, one that is run year after year on the holiday, without thinking about the content, sort of like 'holiday specials' that show up before xmas etc.

[identity profile] dancing-kiralee.livejournal.com 2005-05-30 03:55 pm (UTC)(link)
And after three years (or so) they haven't noticed the problem?

Kiralee

[identity profile] unquietsoul5.livejournal.com 2005-05-31 12:45 am (UTC)(link)
I've seen it before with strips... so I'm not easily surprised. Unless people complain they will keep doing it...