Cartoon Raises a Stink

Washinton Post ^ | Friday, November 21, 2003 | Johnny Hart

[livesbygrace]

Did Johnny Hart -- the beloved creator of "B.C." and one of the most widely read cartoonists on Earth -- sneak a vulgar defamation of Islam into the comics pages last week? The question was raised yesterday by the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), a Washington-based civil rights group, in an e-mail to its membership.

Hart and his syndicate say no -- that a simple, straightforward joke is being misconstrued. That may well be true, but the 73-year-old cartoonist's history of evangelizing his Christian beliefs through his comic cavemen have left many people doubtful.

The cartoon, which appeared Nov. 10 in more than 1,200 newspapers worldwide -- including The Washington Post -- shows a caveman entering an outhouse at night, and then saying, from inside, "Is it just me, or does it stink in here?"

The first public questioning of this cartoon arose in a washingtonpost.com chat Tuesday, when a reader noted that the cartoon seemed to make no sense, except metaphorically. The reader noted that the cartoon contained six crescent moons -- three in the sky, and three on the outhouse door -- and wondered if this might have been a veiled slur on the world's 1 billion practicing Muslims.

[elli1]

I should have clicked over to DU FIRST! Gotta' give them credit; most of the replies (that I read & I didn't read them all) thought the WaPo was nutz, too.

[m1-lightning]

Hate mail replying to these photos:

You freak. You insult not only Bin Laden but inocent Arabs. I now many arabs and Muslims. And god help us all if we use a Trident or other nuke. Because the world will nuke us back. Also Your ignorance is amazing the Shiites are the southern Iraqis we are helping. THEY ARE OUR ALLIES!!!!!!!!!!!! so shut up or grow a brain. You must be one of theose people who lost on the $100 question.

your web page is awful. you do not about islamic thinking. a muslim cannot be a terrorist and a terrorist cannot be a muslim. you are very narrow minded. you cannot use Kuran-ý Kerim in you awful cartoons. we also very sad about the terrorist attack on your country.but the guilty is not Quran or muslims. your country kill people in Iraq,Vietnam, and Japan. but you think that if your country do this,it is innocent.i do not defend terrorist but guilty is not islam and quran. islettin

AlmostaProverb

[elli1]

No offense intended. I think it's important to "name names" and specify the state when a senator starts grandstanding.

[b4its2late]

The WP probably monitors DU, and they probably get most of their material from there, more than they what's going on under their own noses. It's a sorry excuse for a paper.....

[walford]

"ALLAH" IS THE NAME OF A "MOON-GOD" ALLEGES A CHRISTIAN RESEARCH AND EDUCATION FOUNDATION
http://www.mostmerciful.com/moongod.htm

Moon Gods and Moon Goddesses
http://ancienthistory.about.com/library/bl/bl_myth_gods_moon.htm

Artemis (Greek)
Artemis and Selene, just like Apollo and Helius, came to be associated so that Artemis became the goddess of the moon.

Coyolxauhqui (Aztec)
Coyolxauhqui means "Golden Bells." Coyolxauhqui is the sister of the Sun god, Huitzilopochtli.

Diana (Roman)

Heng-O (Chinese)
Heng-O was the mother of the twelve moons and ten suns.

Ix Chel (Maya)
Lady Rainbow was a Maya old woman moon goddess.

Khons (Egyptian)
Amen's consort was Mut. Together they had a son, Khons the moon god.

Mawu (African)
Also spelled Maou. Female.

Selene (Greek)
Moon goddess -- actually moon Titan (Titaness) daughter of the Titans Hyperion and Thea. Selene is the sister of the sun god Helios.

Sin/Nanna (Sumerian)
Moon god.

Soma (Hindu)
A moon god in India.

Tsuki-Yomi (Japanese)
A Shinto moon god.

Yarikh (Ugarit)

[kimmie7]

a two holer? They were rich folk. ;-0

[FormerACLUmember]

Ii ithink ii ihave ibroken ithe isecret icode iof Ichristian ineo-crusaders! Iit iis iso iclever!!

[Phantom Lord]

I would love if someone could find a Doonsberry or Boondocks that has an outhouse in it with a moon on it.

If they exist, someone please find them and post them here and ping me. Thanks!

[Old Professer]

It's not the same drawing as is clearly seen by the vertical stripes (slots) in the door, the roof pitch, width, height, etc...

[agrarianlady]

Strange News - AP

Outhouse Door at Iowa Park Stolen
Fri Nov 21, 9:34 AM ET

ACKLEY, Iowa - The outhouse door is missing at a city park, and officials want it back.

Richard Swasand, a volunteer at Prairie Bridges Park, said someone probably took it overnight on Nov. 12 while the group was collecting an award from North Iowa Area Development park improvement program for its unique bathroom and other improvements.

"While we were getting the award, they were stealing the door," Swasand said.

Swasand said the door is special because it was painted to look like a barn door with the words "Outhouse" and a sliver of a moon added to it.

"It was unusual and it was functional," Swasand said.

The thief broke the handle off the steel door and then unscrewed the door from its hinges.

Replacing the door would cost anywhere from $300 to $500, Swasand said.

Volunteers made the restroom from a steel water tank. Crews cut the water tank in half and stood it on one end.

Prairie Bridges Park is an abandoned rock quarry and features a number of bridges.

[Old Professer]

3 panels; 3X2=6.

[Old Professer]

Too late, I done did it.

[Old Professer]

I would change that to commendable social insensitivity.

[Old Professer]

The joke is simply that outhouses stink - but no one wants to take the blame for it. Haven't you ever heard the retort, "And your Sh*t don't stink, either!"?

[CyberCowboy777]

It is only plausible that he wanted to slur Muslims because of the cartoonist's history of evangelizing his Christian beliefs through his comic cavemen.

If he was a liberal atheist...well then no offense was possible. This is the epitome of discrimination.

[Phantom Lord]

While yes, there are 6 total because of the 3 panels, there are only 2. Its the same moon in the sky and the same moon on the door.

[Old Professer]

Some one told me a long time ago that those baggy pants were worn for a reason - supposed to last for seven days, I believe.

[Old Professer]

Since you brought it up, are you a between-the-legs or a around-the-back?

[Old Professer]

Constipation?

[beezdotcom]

Too late, I done did it.

bwahahaha...THAT will teach you to always click 'View Replies' before clicking 'Reply'....