The Mystic River Press and the Search for Meaning
Each week the postperson hereabouts inflicts not
one, but two, free community newspapers on us innocent Grotonites. Both the
Mystic River
Press and the
Groton
Times share the defect of poor editing,
manifested in almost every article by atrocious grammatical slips. But the
Mystic River
Press has one thing the
Times
doesn't have, an editorial cartoonist that I will have the courtesy not to
attempt to name.
I reproduce below the latest cartoon. I defy anyone to explain it.
Now, I overlook the fact that Diana Urban, a member of the House of Representatives, has no senatorial hat to doff (does the cartoonist really mean "don", not that it matters). Even bloggers make mistakes, so why not cartoonists. But what is "cognitive perusal"? (There are exactly zero Google hits where the words are paired. This post will probably shoot to the top of that particular search). What does Donald Trump have to do with whatever the subject of this cartoon happens to be? And finally, what is the subject of this cartoon?
Lest you think this is an anomaly, I hereby confess that I have yet to understand a single cartoon from the pen of this person who shall remain unnamed. In those rare instances that a cartoon refers to some recognizable event or issue, I have never yet been able to glean the point the cartoonist is trying to make about said event or issue. But I pair with these admissions the assertion that no living being could make any more sense of these cartoons than me.
Perspicacious readers might note that I am a fan of Zippy comics, which is often every bit as incomprehensible. This I admit, but I deny the comparison. Zippy operates at a subconscious level, and at at that level, he makes sense, or at least rings true. This stuff isn't deep enough to operate at that level. It is not inspired nonsense. It simply makes no sense.
UPDATE: A commenter has come up with a comprehensible interpretation of this cartoon. While she has resorted to some speculation, that speculation appears to be based on more than just cognitive perusal. I doff my Blogertorial hat to her.
CONFESSION: Post edited to correct grammatical error.
I reproduce below the latest cartoon. I defy anyone to explain it.
Now, I overlook the fact that Diana Urban, a member of the House of Representatives, has no senatorial hat to doff (does the cartoonist really mean "don", not that it matters). Even bloggers make mistakes, so why not cartoonists. But what is "cognitive perusal"? (There are exactly zero Google hits where the words are paired. This post will probably shoot to the top of that particular search). What does Donald Trump have to do with whatever the subject of this cartoon happens to be? And finally, what is the subject of this cartoon?
Lest you think this is an anomaly, I hereby confess that I have yet to understand a single cartoon from the pen of this person who shall remain unnamed. In those rare instances that a cartoon refers to some recognizable event or issue, I have never yet been able to glean the point the cartoonist is trying to make about said event or issue. But I pair with these admissions the assertion that no living being could make any more sense of these cartoons than me.
Perspicacious readers might note that I am a fan of Zippy comics, which is often every bit as incomprehensible. This I admit, but I deny the comparison. Zippy operates at a subconscious level, and at at that level, he makes sense, or at least rings true. This stuff isn't deep enough to operate at that level. It is not inspired nonsense. It simply makes no sense.
UPDATE: A commenter has come up with a comprehensible interpretation of this cartoon. While she has resorted to some speculation, that speculation appears to be based on more than just cognitive perusal. I doff my Blogertorial hat to her.
CONFESSION: Post edited to correct grammatical error.
Posted: Thursday - February 22, 2007 at 06:18 PM
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Published On: Apr 17, 2007 07:19 PM
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Published On: Apr 17, 2007 07:19 PM