TED RALL'S CARTOON ON PAT TILLMAN...
Rall is an absolute SKUNK.
Posted on 05/04/2004 2:21:18 PM PDT by pogo101
Two things I did to respond to Ted Rall's hateful political toon that grave-pisses on Pat Tillman. Maybe some of you will respond in a similar manner, if you wish:
1. Yesterday, I did as suggested by Andrew Sullivan by writing politely but firmly to the syndicate that publishes Rall's acidic spewings:
2. Just now, I wrote this email Letter To The Editor of "Men's Health" magazine, a monthly that publishes a non-political (well, except for some light gender politics) strip by Rall called "The Testosterone Diaries." I have never found this strip offensive, although it is funny only about 40% of the time. But the point is, Do I really want to give money to a publication that passes on a chunk of that money to Ted Rall? No way, Jose. Here's what I wrote:PROTEST RALL: The hate-monger is syndicated by Universal Press Syndicate. It's not censorship or "McCarthyism" for people to complain about any syndicate that peddles the poison that Rall lives off. Today's disgusting diatribe against Pat Tillman is so vile, so utterly devoid of any motive or argument but personal malice and hatred, some form of protest is surely merited. Email the vice-president for print syndication, Lee Salem, and tell him what you think of Rall's cartoon. Please, please, be civil. His email is lsalem@amuniversal.com. He needs to hear from you.
Re: Dump the Ted Rall 'Toon, Or I Dump M.H.
To the Editor:
As you may know, MH's "Testosterone Diaries" cartoonist, Ted Rall, recently vented his proverbial bladder on the grave of soldier Pat Tillman in the following cartoon:
http://images.ucomics.com/comics/trall/2004/trall040503.gif
Yes, yes: I know MH doesn't endorse Rall's political views just because it publishes his "Diaries."
But consider. Rall is an outrageous bigot who has lampooned a KIA soldier for having been motivated to join the Army by his desire to "get to kill Arabs."
Does MH really need to be paying this guy money? Even if it's for a non-political strip? Of course not.
And I refuse to patronize any publication that pays Rall money. Currently, that means MH.
So, bottom line: MH dumps Rall -- and publishes its decision to do so -- or I dump MH. It's really that simple.
Maybe you should be a little more aggressive, like: "I have dumped MH."
Trust me, you won't be missing too much. I read the ones my husband leaves in the bathroom. The advice on how to please a woman, are as bad as their cartoons.
Don't you believe for a minute that their editor didn't see that cartoon before it was published. He can hide behind whatever policy he would like, but it makes him worse for propagating Rall's treason and disrespect to the Tillman Family.
Maybe they should feature an article on how to grow a pair of... oh, never mind. It would be too complicated for their editor and Rall. As far as I am concerned, both are zeroes.
Dear Sir,I wanted to write to you and comment on Ted Rall’s cartoon regarding the death of Pat Tillman. After reading it, I was struck by the poster behind Tillman’s head in the first panel, which reads, “We’re looking for guys who don’t read the paper.” Though this may have referred to the enlistment form, it seems to me that Rall meant “paper” as in “newspaper.” This is especially hilarious when one considers the allegations in the rest of the cartoon. If Rall believes Tillman was a racist doofus, he hasn’t read the testimony of his family and friends about the type of man he was. If he believes that Al-Qaeda wasn’t based in Afghanistan, he hasn’t read the papers. And if he believes that Al-Qaeda hated Iraq too much to work with them, he hasn’t read anything published on the subject since the fall of Saddam, some of it in publications that can only be described as leftist. In fact, it appears that Rall can only be getting his information from Al-Jazeera, or from one of the western tabloids and websites that make Al-Jazeera look like fair and balanced journalism.
Of course, the most important thing about Rall’s cartoon is that it has no real point except to denigrate Tillman’s memory, to vent Rall’s rhetorical bladder on Tillman’s grave. The cartoon would be out of line if it spoke of all soldiers this way, or if the soldier portrayed were a fictional character. By singling Tillman out specifically, Rall has gone out of his way to increase the suffering of Tillman’s family and friends. The overtones of racism are also silly and slanderous to those in uniform. I’m a veteran of the Cold War and Gulf War, and I didn’t know anyone who joined up to kill Russians and Iraqis. We joined to serve and protect history’s greatest nation and carry on her legacy of liberty, and those impulses are shared by my brothers and sisters who serve proudly today.
Please forgive the length of this correspondence, but these things needed to be said. In closing, I have some requests:
1. Please dump Mr. Rall, or at least pass on renewing his contract. Keeping him on at Universal Press Syndicate is like owning a paint factory and continuing to churn out lead paint.
2. Please issue an apology to the members of the United States Armed Forces and specifically to Corporal Tillman’s family and comrades. I believe his wife should get a personal letter or phone call from the syndicate, apologizing for this despicable cartoon. We who defend the nation deserve better than this, and so do those who wait at home for us.
You may have noticed that I haven’t asked you to request an apology from Mr. Rall. Certainly that would be appropriate, but it appears that it would be as futile as asking a pig to do calculus—the boy just doesn’t have it in him.
I hope you will act quickly to counter the damage Rall’s cowardly back-biting has done to your company. Thank you for your consideration.
Sincerely,
[Secret Identity Removed by Censor]
I'm also going to forward the email address to my whole address book.
Paying for a magazine that features this subversive is like paying for an obscene collect phone call.
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