Controversial Tillman cartoon

[Sharky]

I believe in freedom of speech and freedom of the press, but this is uncalled for. This cartoonist (Ted Rall) owes an apology to Pat Tillman's family.

What do you think?

 

[Inkara1]

Way to place words in the mouth of a dead man who can't defend himself. Way to call everyone fighting in the war idiots and saps. He doesn't just owe an apology to the Tillman family. He owes one to every family with a young man or woman who fought in Afghanistan or Iraq.

 

[Rose]

Way to place words in the mouth of a dead man who can't defend himself. Way to call everyone fighting in the war idiots and saps. He doesn't just owe an apology to the Tillman family. He owes one to every family with a young man or woman who fought in Afghanistan or Iraq.

Agreed. Totally. Agreed.




although on the devil's advocate, he does make a point of calling the fact that just because it was a football player who died in battle doesn't mean he should necessarily be ... I don't know how to word it. But he gets a lot of attention, you know. And there are soldiers dying daily in battle and not being called heroes by the press.

 

[Gonz]

They have the right to spew such hatred. With it comes the loss of credibility when saying stupid shit like "I support the troops, just not the war".

Many of us knew that was a lie anyway.

 

[HomeLAN]

He's obviously got his agenda, and no amount of personal tragedy will prevent him from vomiting that agenda all over Tillman's memory.

But that's OK, you're allowed to do that in the US. It's interesting, though, that he fails to see the irony that Tillman died defending a system that allows this twerp to spit on his grave.

 

[Sharky]

He's obviously got his agenda, and no amount of personal tragedy will prevent him from vomiting that agenda all over Tillman's memory.

But that's OK, you're allowed to do that in the US. It's interesting, though, that he fails to see the irony that Tillman died defending a system that allows this twerp to spit on his grave.

Bingo.

 

[chcr]

He's obviously got his agenda, and no amount of personal tragedy will prevent him from vomiting that agenda all over Tillman's memory.

But that's OK, you're allowed to do that in the US. It's interesting, though, that he fails to see the irony that Tillman died defending a system that allows this twerp to spit on his grave.

Good point, Homey.

 

[Thulsa Doom]

although on the devil's advocate, he does make a point of calling the fact that just because it was a football player who died in battle doesn't mean he should necessarily be ... I don't know how to word it. But he gets a lot of attention, you know. And there are soldiers dying daily in battle and not being called heroes by the press.

Thats because Im guessing very few of them turned down $3 millon so they could go far away from home and eat bad meals and get shot at. Call it naive if you like but I dont see how anyone can deny it wasnt a noble and selfless thing to do. And being like that in the face of an easy out IS heroic to me. Remind me again what the current president and vice president did when they had a chance to serve their country?

 

[Inkara1]

Cartoonist receives death threats, 6,000 e-mails

Thursday, May 6, 2004

From The Associated Press

NEW YORK -- Cartoonist Ted Rall says he has received numerous death threats over a cartoon he did this week that satirized the media's response to the death of Pat Tillman, the former pro-football player killed in Afghanistan.

Rall said in an interview Wednesday that he has received about 6,000 e-mails in response to the cartoon, which was distributed Monday. MSNBC.com pulled the cartoon from its Web site, saying it "did not meet MSNBC.com standards of fairness and taste."

The cartoon said that Tillman "falsely believed" that the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan were linked to the Sept. 11 attacks, and that Tillman was a "cog in a low-rent occupation army that shot more innocent civilians than terrorists to prop up puppet rulers and exploit gas and oil resources."

Rall said the responses to the cartoon started out "extremely negative," with critical responses outweighing positive ones by nearly 100-to-1. But he said the tide has since turned, and now about 80 percent of the reaction has been supportive, which he called "the natural ebb and flow of this kind of thing."

Some 300 of the messages threatened Rall with "death or bodily harm," he said, and he also said he had received several death threats by phone.

Universal Press Syndicate, which distributes Rall's cartoons to about 70 newspapers, has received several e-mails from readers who objected to the content of the comic, spokeswoman Kathie Kerr said.

But Kerr also added that the syndicate often receives feedback about the political columnists and cartoonists it carries, which also include Ann Coulter, a conservative commentator, as well as the comic strips "Doonesbury" and "The Boondocks."

Bill O'Reilly had Rall on his program on the Fox News Channel, and the two traded barbs over the cartoon.

Rall addressed the controversy on his Web site, saying his cartoon was a "reaction to the extraordinary lionizing of Mr. Tillman as a national hero."

He also criticized the media's "decision to genuflect to a cult of death," which he said was "terrifyingly similar to the cult of Palestinian suicide bombers in the Middle East and the glorious coverage given by the Japanese during World War II to fallen kamikaze fighters."

Rall told the AP that a previous comic of his also caused a controversy two years ago with its depiction of widows from the Sept. 11 attacks. He also said that his "average of creating outrage is about one in 400."

"It's not like Bil Keane who does Family Circus," Rall said. "People who buy political cartoons know what they're getting."

Other cartoons have also caused controversy with war-related themes in recent weeks. "Doonesbury" and "Get Fuzzy" both depicted characters that lost a leg in the war.

Tillman's death has also been the subject of controversy elsewhere. The University of Massachusetts in Amherst has been roiled by a student's newspaper column that said Tillman was not a hero but rather a "G.I. Joe guy who got what was coming to him." Graduate student Rene Gonzalez also criticized America's military response to the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

UMass president Jack Wilson issued a statement saying the comments in The Daily Collegian on Wednesday were "a disgusting, arrogant and intellectually immature attack on a human being who died in service to his country."

source

 

[Sharky]

UMass president Jack Wilson issued a statement saying the comments in The Daily Collegian on Wednesday were "a disgusting, arrogant and intellectually immature attack on a human being who died in service to his country."

Ditto for Rall's cheapshot "cartoon".

 

[Spunky]

Seconded.

 

[Thulsa Doom]

Although the fact that he got hundreds of death threats kind of sickens me. He just needed an onslaught of emails saying "youre an idiot".

 

[Gato_Solo]

Although the fact that he got hundreds of death threats kind of sickens me. He just needed an onslaught of emails saying "youre an idiot".

And he'd've promptly ignored them and/or deleted them. While I don't condone death threats, an immediate tour of duty with the very people he insulted would be a rather nice gesture...They don't even have to know his name.