Religious Commentary Baaaddd, Social Engineering Gooooddd!!!

Jim Willse, editor of THE STAR LEDGER of Newark, NJ, wrote an OP-ED letter back in May explaining that the paper stopped running “B.C.” because the comics pages were “no place for religious commentary.”

Fair enough. I may be conservative but I am no shill for the religious right. If Hart’s conservative Christian views were deemed too partisan or controversial for the funny pages, I can accept that, and in any case, I was never really a big fan of “B.C.” to begin with.

So what is the problem then? I’ll tell ya what the problem is – the problem is that once again we are presented with unquestionable proof of the liberal double standard.

If “B.C.” is too “political” or “religious” for the funny pages, why is “Doonsbury” given a miss?

Ostensibly, THE STAR LEDGER pulled the comic after a 2001 Easter Strip, in which Hart references the spirituality of the holiest of Christian celebrations (as opposed to the secular gods of Easter – namely, furry, pastel rodents carrying Technicolor chicken embryos).

For Jim Willse, this showed manifest insensitivity towards Jews (despite the protestations of many prominent Jews and journalists like Binyamin L. Jolkovsky, editor in chief of “Jewish World Review” who defended the cartoon), and was cause enough for “B.C.’s” banishment from “funny-pages land”.

The fact of the matter is that “B.C.” has been under attack from various liberal forces for some time now.

The movement to have Johnny Hart's venerable strip pulled from papers across this nation is large and organized. The staff of the STAR LEDGER not only felt this pressure, they were basically in the same proverbial “bed” with the liberal forces arrayed against them and were simply awaiting an incident which would give them cause for action.

This brings us back to “Doonesbury”. Trudeau spews his leftist propaganda in funny-pages color every Sunday with nary an outrage being uttered. I don’t know how many of you read this Sunday’s (11/11/01) dose of drivel from Trudeau, but it was typical of his style. Masquerading as support of free speech, we were treated to that special form of anti-American sarcasm and bile which is “Doonsbury’s” trademark.

And ya know what? That is fine by me – he is certainly entitled to his opinion – but therein lies the rub. Trudeau utilizes his comic strip as a vehicle for propagating his liberal political agenda. Now I read lots of political cartoons – many of which I disagree with – but I read them in the OP-ED section…and that is the place for them. That is the reason the OP-ED pages exist – as a forum for the expression of OPINION and EDITORIALIZING.

In point of fact, that is exactly where you will find “Doonsbury” Monday-Saturday. THE STAR LEDGER, as well as numerous other newspapers nationwide, agree that Trudeau’s skewed bias, however close to their own hearts it may be, is also closer to political commentary than benign entertainment.

Why then, if they tacitly acknowledge this fact, do they still insist on headlining their Sunday strips with his tripe?

Some people love sports, others the arts. I am a political junkie. I live for “The McLaughlin Group” and “Meet the Press”. The OP-ED’s are the first section of the paper I dive for every day. And while I may not agree with Trudeau’s perspective, I acknowledge his right to express it…where it is appropriate. Even I need a break from politics on occasion and the one place I do not want to see it while I am trying to enjoy a bagel and coffee without having a coronary is the damn funnies! More importantly, I have enough to concern me in the rearing of my daughter without having to worry about her getting “The Manchurian Candidate” treatment in between “Garfield” and “Rose is Rose”.

THE STAR LEDGER apparently agrees with me…to a point…

They have made it quite clear that political/religious/partisan propaganda will not be permitted in the comics section…

Unless, of course, it happens to be their kind of propaganda…