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Saturday, January 17, 2009

That damned Standard

What's Mallard raving about today?

Hollywood Execs, Decency Standards.

The Hollywood Exec is a responsible parent. He's capable of determining what his children will and won't be allowed to watch and, by all indications, capable of enforcing that. He's also a Free Market Capitalist, producing what people will consume.

Quite distinct from Mallard.

Mallard wants a Nanny-State to interfere with the Free Market. Big Government must make decisions regarding what is acceptable. He is incapable of keeping his children (or should I say chicks) away from indecent entertainment. And, as we have learned, there is nothing on TV that he won't watch. With his pants off.

And that, Ladies and Gentleman, is the Modern Conservative in a nutshell.

14 comments:

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

Ah yes, the area where conservatism's latent authoritarian tendencies become most apparent. I know it's been said many times before, but it always bears repeating: you can't claim to be in favor of the free market while simultaneously moaning about standards of decency. The two things DO NOT FIT TOGETHER, and you end up with a misshapen, incoherent political "philosophy." If Tinsley REALLY thinks tee and eh in movies is a bane on our society, he should just admit that he things capitalism is a malign, corrupting influence; if he REALLY believes in the almighty market, he should shut the fuck up about how people are using it to do things he doesn't like. But NO, he has to have his cake and eat it too. And then he pukes the poorly-baked cake back up, and we see the results every day in the comics page. How delightful.

Anonymous said...

I like cake.

But there's really nothing that shows your age more than "movies these days with their violence and sex".

Take a rocking chair on the porch and shake your cane at teenagers while at it.

Anonymous said...

I'm confused over the balloons in today's strip. Is the first supposed to be spoken and the second thought, or are both thought but only the second has the smaller bubbles leading up to the text?

Further, why does the second part have to be a thought if the exec is clarifying decency standards? Clarification means being clear, direct, and explicit. Hence, uttered in some fashion, not left up to the inner workings of someone, though the utterance originates there.

Anonymous said...

Hollywood execs are supposed to have decency standards? Honestly, that ship sailed 40 years ago. There is a rating system that is supposed to keep kids away from inappropriate material. There are rules, recently dusted off after the Janet Jackson wardrobe malfunction, to keep kids from being corrupted by what Mallard would call "indecent". Beyond that, what do you want?

Anonymous said...

The really annoying part about all of this is that the ratings systems and standards for movies are a bit strange in terms of consistency. If you see 'This Film Has not Yet Been Rated' it discusses the hypocrisies apparent in the ratings world.

I can show a group of people decapitate each other in the goriest way possible-pg13
I show a 2 second flash of a breast-r rating minimum. Not to mention that homosexual couples tend to knock you into R rated territory regardless of how their relationship is treated. Not to mention that what is acceptable to you might not be to me, and vice versa.

When the conservative movement complains about wanting a smaller government they need to realize that using government policy to demand we all follow their moral code is hypocritical. As for the portrayal here, I might not like all the movies out or might disagree with their content, the way I show my displeasure is not buying a ticket, rather than screaming that it needs to be censored and 'think of the children'

rewinn said...

"...a misshapen, incoherent political "philosophy...."

If art follows life, then you have just explained Tinkley's drawing style.

=======

BTW has anyone noticed that videogames have pretty much replicated the Hollywood experiment in "standards"?

Hollywood churns out a wide variety, from a sex-and-violence standpoint, from "Hancock" to "Wall-E" (the blatant robot-sex scenes --- he actually implants life in her OMG!!!)

Likewise, videogames churn out a wide variety, from "Mario Brothers Part Infinity" to "GTA XXX".

I demand EQUAL TIME for cigar-chomping videogame execs!

Unknown said...

invisible yarmulke

Anonymous said...

GeoX
If you believe in your comments of today. Can't we apply many of your arguments to areas of the free market you claim to defend?

1 - I happen to like BT's cartoon Mallard Fillmore. But if you go back and read many of your comments to this blog, anyone who likes BT's conservative slant with his cartoon is both a "moron" and an "asshole" according to the word of the GeoX.

2 - Apply the same standards to conservative talk radio i.e. Rush Limbaugh. I like the man, I agree with much of what he has to say, he is intelligent, amusing and he has a huge following. You on the other hand, again think Limbaugh is an "asshole".

So why is it okay for you to rant and cuss over this cartoon or Rush Limbaugh but when anyone dares to slip in a conservative comment on this blog you cannot comment to them without using ever so intelligent words such as "fuck you", "asshole", etc.

Again I say, if you do not like this cartoon why read it? If you do not like conservative talk radio turn your radio to another station. But, No! Bring back the Fairness Doctrine so the liberals can take Limbaugh and others down. Do all you can to have your local paper stop printing Mallard Fillmore. Why not listen to a liberal radio show which is successful? Sorry, none exist. They cannot compete.

You are a liberal so you want life to be your way only. Because you are so much more intelligent than any conservative?

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

Hey Tinzanonymous--I fully support your right to enjoy dimwitted comic strips and racist talk shows! Knock yourself out!

The fact that you have the right to these things (as long as the free market supports them, of course), however, does NOT mean that I somehow don't have the right to call you a fucking idiot, or that me commenting on your idiocy and the idiocy of these cultural products somehow constitutes oppression or censorship.

But then, if you weren't so frightfully stupid, you would have understood that in the first place, instead of embarrassing yourself by writing a dim, semi-coherent comment on the subject.

Anonymous said...

GeoX
What needs to happen to you is that someone should kick your ass a time or two. You made my point. You can say what you want to say. A conservative is not allowed to disagree with you. You are a "Pussy Boy".

I do not have to wonder how little liberals such as yourself would have reacted, if you had been married for a year and received your "draft notice" and the next few years were spent in Vietnam. You have not had to worry about that. Just sit at your keyboard and bitch about how bad life is.

I do not believe you would have made it. A washout. You do not have the balls. Probably would have gone to Canada and commplained about the weather.

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

Oh yeah? You're not "allowed" to disagree with me? You seem to be doing a pretty tolerable job of it right now. Are you really too stupid to get the rather basic point here?

It's also pretty funny that the dude who's whining about how he's somehow being oppressed by random blog commenters saying mean things about him is the same one to move, with surprising rapidity, to threats of physical violence. The ol' authoritarian streak didn't take long to come out, did it?

But this is getting rather ugly, so I will now apologize to DaveyK for bating the troll to this extent and bow out of the discussion. I have no idea why it latched onto me specifically, but it's actually rather unpleasant.

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

One last thing can I just say: I suspect, based on the surprisingly specific and out-of-nowhere reference to Vietnam that our anonymous correspondent may in fact be a veteran who may have accrued a certain amount of possibly well-deserved bitterness from the experience. Trollfights degrade all of us, so can I just say that, both on general principle and as the son of a Vietnam veteran, that I do in fact respect the sacrifices of our soldiers, and like that. It would be nice if our frustrations did not lead us to act like jerks to one another.

That said, I'm not gonna stop saying mean things about Mallard Fillmore.

Michael Foley said...

That hook in your cheek must be painful,GeoX.

Anonymous said...

And the "New Year's Prediction" sequence finally comes to an end.

Since there were like 20 predictions made, and about 1/20th of the year 2009 has already passed now, shouldn't one of the predictions have come true?