Conservative daughters, new conservative boyfriends, small children, endangered species.
"I can't believe it!"
In that spirit, here's what I can't believe:
- That liberal Dad cant believe his daughter is bringing her boyfriend home for dinner.
- That liberal Dad believes conservatives have a different diet.
- That Mallard went through a whole panel involving the conservative college daughter without mentioning that NEW is spreading like wildfire.
10 comments:
Fairly sluggish wildfire, but wildfire nonetheless!
Today's installment seemed more like a real comic strip than anything Tinsley has done in months, which is very faint praise.
At he least he implicitly acknowledges the sad fact that many colleges have become anti-intellectual breeding grounds for knee-jerk conservativism. Where I live, at least, college kids are more likely to be indoctrinated with radical free market economic theory than any liberal ideology.
It's not surprising that the liberal thinks conservatives have a different diet. In Mallard's universe, liberals eat things like Malaysian food and tofurky, while conservatives eat real food like pork chops smothered in bacon and 32-oz steaks with a side of freedom fries.
Lets not forget the massive amounts of alcohol that the conservatives seem to drink -- perhaps to drown out that tiny voice of conscience in the backs of their heads.
So on to the gratuitous comic whoring:
Taking Stock
Given the fact that Tinsley and other right-wingers are constantly ranting about liberal academia corrupting our youth, it seems odd that he would suddenly claim a trend of "new conservatism" on campus. But, like all his fellow right-wingers, Tinsley is desperate for subject matter in the wake of the 2006 elections and the collapse of the Bush Administration. All of them are making less sense than usual these days.
Actually, there is some increase in conservatism on campus... but it's mostly due to financial pressures. With the cost of tuition skyrocketing and scholarships harder to get, students know they'll carry a huge debt load as soon as they leave the hallowed halls. They have to be prepared to maximize their income so they can pay off their student loans.
It's kind of how low wages and no unions make workers more "competitive" -- a.k.a. desperate.
If this was a real liberal parent, not some pointless strawman, he wouldn't care.
Hell, he'd probably be happy that she came to her own conclusions about life, rather than copying his.
But this MallardWorld, so nothing like that will happen.
And this will go on all week.
I guess Walter Williams got a restraining order.
Minor epiphany: "Mallard Fillmore" is to the comic pages exactly as Millard Fillmore is to the pantheon of Presidents -- a dour, humorless third-rater that very few have heard of and even fewer care about...
Interesting detail about the third "frame" in today's strip. Aside from the strange perspective (Tinsley was apparently too drunk to draw eyes by that point, so he went with a stirring rendition of the back of a duck's head), Mr. Straw Man Liberal Guy has disappeared, and Mallard is walking alone.
Which leads one to wonder, does Mr. SMLG actually exist at all, or is he a figment of Mallard's imagination -- his Tyler Durden? When Tinsley finally finishes off all the cooking sherry in the house and starts on the antifreeze, will he end up drawing Mallard tying himself to a chair, then shooting himself in the face while skyscrapers collapse in the background?
Well, probably not. But it's fun to dream.
Given that this is a strip about a duck who works in a news station and has his own apartment, I wouldn't be surprised if EVERYTHING in the strip was imaginary. In fact, it is not hard to imagine Tinsley talking to an invisible, suitcoat-wearing duck when he's at home, ala "Harvey."
You know, if not for the preceding drawings and the word balloons, you'd have no idea what the #@$*& you were looking in the third panel.
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