From my e-mail box … somehow I don’t think Mr. Fish’s response to this reader will be satisfying to him.

Memorial Day cartoon from Mr. Fish.

Sent: Sunday, May 24, 2009 7:49 PM

To: cagle.com
Subject: Mr. Fish Memorial Day “Cartoon”

Please tell Mr. Booth that although it is fair to humiliate politicians who unthinkingly send young men off to war, it his improper and unacceptably demeaning to belittle those who are brought up in the tradition of answering the call to arms when it comes.  The cartoon is also unbelievably cruel to those who have lost family members in defense of our country.

Unless Mr. Booth can prove he served and put his tail on the line for this country, I suggest he keep his figurative mouth shut and ink bottled rather than make fun of a tradition that keeps us free and safe  Without all Kevins, you would have a very small volunteer military indeed.  And whether he agrees or not, we would be far less safe and fat and happy here if that were the case.

As a Former New Yorker, now living in Oklahoma, I further submit that since this tradition is strongest in the American South, Midwest and West, the cartoon is also brazenly elitist and sectionalist.  I teach returning GI’s from Iraq and Afghanistan and Booth should be first in line to kiss the ground upon which these wonderful men and women walk.

I am so sorry you gave this piece of trash the light of day.

Bob Avakian
Tulsa, Oklahoma

On May 25, 2009, at 1:04 PM, Daryl Cagle wrote:

Hola, Dwayne,
Write a nice response and I’ll post it in the blog and newsletter.
Best,
Daryl

From: Mr. Fish
Subject: Re: Mr. Fish Memorial Day “Cartoon”
Date: Mon, 25 May 2009 14:28:21 -0700

Hey Bob,

I must respectfully disagree with your assertion that we must support and honor all men and women who choose to sacrifice their bodies to the perpetuation of massive amounts of violence in any war, particularly one predicated on hubristic goals with reprehensible consequences.  Additionally, to address the broader implication of your note, to suggest that the tradition of any one nation engaged in war with another (or, in this particular circumstance, the tradition of one nation invading and then occupying another) be respected merely because it is a tradition is lazy at least and fascistic at worst.  Remember, slavery was also a tradition.  Should that atrocity be respected as well?  Do you, Bob,  raise your fist to the sky every morning and curse the fact that you have to dress yourself and prepare your own breakfast and rake your own yard?  Or, more to the point, do you waste your time addressing emails to abolitionists in the past who felt it was their moral obligation to dispel the horrific myth that insisted indentured servitude was glorious and should be cherished and upheld for future generations?  (I will now take a moment of silence so that you can sing Ol’ Man River with tears in your eyes.)  Finally, committing brave servicemen and women to acts of criminal behavior in an illegal war and then saying that their intentions are really to uphold peace, democracy and humanitarian law, none of which apply to the situation at hand, is a treacherous sleight of hand and one that should be ridiculed.  When an army is sent to commit a crime in the name of bureaucratic criminals, the nation is not being defended for me or anybody else.  Instead, it is being made uglier and morally indefensible.

Fish

I’m eager to see the comments on this one. See more of Mr. Fish’s cartoons here.
-Daryl