Project Wonderful Banner

Sunday, June 15, 2008

Those damned Dads

What's Mallard raving about today?

Dads.

I'm not going to mention the not so subtle comment made by the color of the childless father's fatherless child's skin.

I would however like to point out that for all the good they do, Dads seem to cause elephantitis of the head.

See, I managed to get through this without mentioning the not so subtle comment made by the color of the childless father's fatherless child's skin.

Update: Thanks for pointing out the error...big difference.

9 comments:

Scott H. said...

Don't you mean "fatherless child"? Without mentioning the not-so-subtle skin tone of said child, of course.

Anonymous said...

"I was being racially inclusive, yes I was!"

Ought to have said something about lesbian mothers in there somewhere. In fact, I'm still waiting for Mallard's opinion on gay marriage in California. Perhaps it is a non-issue for him after all (just like the colour of someone's skin is in no way an issue for him, no sir...cough)

Kaitlyn said...

Way to trash a bunch of kids, you prick.


Sometimes divorce is the best option, you know? Not everyone should be a parent, and it sucks for everyone when people go ahead and do it anyway.

Both my grandmothers definitely believed their kids needed dads after their husbands died(maternal) and left(paternal). My mom's step-dad isn't a bad guy, per se, but all six kids hated him. My dad's step-dad was an abusive piece of shit, and my dad is the only one who kept his last name instead of going back to their dad's name.

Mallard's statistics are a great way to celebrate father's day, you know?

My sister and I are more likely to run away now? No, if they'd stayed together, my sister and I would definitely be worse off.

I know two teen moms, and one's father has always been in the picture and the other's dad has been in and out.

All anecdotal, but dammit, when it comes to statistics about not having a father and being a child of divorce, do people ever look at the big picture? Why did they divorce? Was there a nasty custody battle? Why didn't the dad stay around? What can we do to make sure that single moms have easier lives?

I hope everybody who's got a great dad is having a happy father's day.

rewinn said...

Since the racism in today's strip is too obvious for comment, let me point out that this is another "Holiday Treacle" strip that is just lazy writing.

A good comic tries to be funny first, and make a point second. A competent writer would make the exact same point as Tinsley is pretending to make, and end it with a punchline, a joke, something "comic".

At least Mallard gives us some idea of what it must have been like reading the comic section of Pravda. "Laugh Comrade For This Is A Comic Ho-Ho! We Have No Need For Bourgeois Humor!"

rewinn said...

kaitlyn - you make excellent points.

Part of the problem is that Tinsley and his ilk get causation backward. Alcoholism, lousy family relationships, lots of stuff can lead both to screwed-up kids and to divorce, but correlation is not causation.

GeoX, one of the GeoX boys. said...

I don't find today's strip particularly objectionable in and of itself--although Kaitlyn makes a compelling case that maybe I should--but given things like yesterday's comic, I am no longer going to give Tinsley any credit for his occasional innocuous moments. He can suck a bag of dicks 24/7/365.25.

ajm said...

It's not always a choice between

a) a happily married mother and father and

b) bitterly divorced parents.


Sometimes it's a choice between

a) miserably married mom & pop and

b) separated/divorced parents who put aside their differences to put their kids first.

Anonymous said...

One heck of a lazy eye Mallard's got there.

Anonymous said...

Yes!

Dead fathers! Rise up from the graves! You have been called forth to give America's Youth a Fighting Chance to be Decent people!

But anyways. Cause and effect aren't so simple as Kaitlyn points out. Someone incapable of being a father would not automatically raise a child's chance for success by attempting to force the role.

I believe the REAL culprit here is sex. It feels good and doesn't do a psychological test before it results in babies.