I have no interest in performing - even on radio! Although I do love talk radio, I don't think I have the best voice, and get very self-conscious if I talk to more than one person at a time.
But last week I did a cartoon for
Slate on the swine flu and Mexico that you see here. Slate put it on the front page, and the firestorm started. If you've read me before you know that I am fanatical about copyright. I'm also without sympathy for bloggers who lack writing skill or subject matter, and then use "filler" like Youtube or photos or cartoons, to take up a lot of space and do the work for them.
Well one blogger stole it, another followed, and there were at least 5 blogs - another one today, titled Steal These, that took my © cartoons and used it, without attribution, or links, or permission, or payment, or anything at all. Of course I complained immediately, either in the comments or by email, and eventually to their ISPs, and I haven't stopped. But I wish I had a lawyer!
WHAT. BIG . BABIES. The bloggers were so incensed that I wanted to stop them from using my cartoons that they had stolen, they wrote about me again. And used more cartoons.
Did I mention that all of these blogs are hate liberal blogs? And every single one called me a racist, some of them in the post title? Not just once. 10 or 20 times. And 20 more times in the comments. Got hate mail, a death threat, a threat to find me and hit me (this was on a blog called a "feminist" blog, which described itself as "a safe space." Insane!!) I had 100s and then thousands of hits on my blog and website (I'm nowhere near the size of MS, so that was big for me.)
Anyway, you can read more about what I have to say about the cartoon in my blog,
Why I Did It. But I was feeling so so awful about the poison all over me. A friend suggested I send the story to
John & Ken. I was sure they wouldn't be interested, but he insisted, so I did on Thursday, and later that night the producer, Ray Lopez, wrote and invited me to be on the show at 4 on Friday!
I was hoping they would mention it, not have me talk about it...I was sick from nervousness, but long story short, they were very sweet, kind of like nice uncles! They described the cartoon very well, and told me to ignore the hate talk and racist label, and not give the hate blogs any power. I told them I wanted to do some about illegal immigration, but that now I felt like my first amendment right was curtailed, and I was afraid to.
Well, I think I said that. It's now up in podcast on
their site, so you can listen to it for yourself. I'm too embarrassed to hear myself again. It's on the May 1 page, and you can see my letter to them (which, um, I didn't exactly want for the haters to see) and I mentioned Mayor Sam there!
The best part was finally getting some nice comments in my blog, and supportive emails. They even went to the
Gocomics page to comment. Maybe it wasn't the best part: talking to them was pretty great.
I guess some readers here might not like this cartoon, either. That makes me sad. Mayor Sam commenters haven't always been that welcoming or friendly, but after having to spend time on those freaky free-association blogs, whose only purpose is to tear down and destroy, and pride themselves on being cesspools of hate and filth, I'd like to say this is a really great blog, and I'm proud to be a part of it.
Cartoon is ©D. Barstow, all rights totally reserved, with no permission at all to use elsewhere. One time use on this blog only.
Labels: donna barstow, editorial cartoon, racism
