Martha Thomases: “If You Have A Message…”
The events of the last several weeks, while horrible, raise several issues that affect us not only as citizens, but as creative people and fans of the popular arts.
How do we respond to racism and other forms of bigotry in our government. Do we cooperate and try to change the minds of the people in power? Do we quit and make a statement? Do we resist? Do we perform non-violent acts of civil disobedience and fill the jails?
In my life, I’ve advocated (and disagreed with) all of these things. Different times in my life, different circumstances, different perspectives. Therefore, I hesitate to call out people who make different choices than I do, as long as we share the goals of a fair and just, egalitarian, non-hateful non-violent society.
When the artists who were chosen for the Kennedy Center honors refused to attend a White House celebration hosted by a president they considered immoral, I was pleased. I was even more pleased to see the result of their resistance.
And I was also delighted by the clever way in which the Committee on the Arts and the Humanities resigned, with a hidden message for people who love puzzles.
Should people in the arts resist? Should we try to change people’s minds with art? Should we use art to share our points of view in the hopes of understanding each other?
Absolutely.
My mom’s favorite author as a child was E. Nesbit, and she turned me on to those books as soon as my reading level allowed. I loved the fantasy, but I also loved the insight into the lives of children like myself, but also not like myself. Nesbit was a Fabian Socialist, but none of her characters or their struggles pit the proletariat against the capitalists.
Later on, a librarian gave me A Wrinkle in Time, with a heroine as committed to social justice and compassion for all people as I wanted to be.
Neither of those authors was marketed as political propagandists. Both heavily influenced my political development.
(Also, decades later, reading a dedication to Nesbit in the front of The Books of Magic started my friendship with Neil Gaiman.)
We watched a fair amount of television in my house, all gathering around our only set on Sunday nights to watch Ed Sullivan. Even before the Beatles, I loved the show because of the stand-up comics. Often New York Jews, they sounded like my relatives, only smarter. And then there were guys like Dick Gregory, who didn’t start out political (at least to my child’s ears at the time) and then became radicalized and inspired me for the rest of my life. I will miss him and his Twitter feed.
In comics, I was knocked out by Denny O’Neil and Neal Adams’s brilliant Green Lantern/Green Arrow stories, which, unfortunately, are still much too relevant.
Not everyone reading this will share my passion for these stories and story-tellers. Some of them will quote Moss Hart and say, “If you have a message, call Western Union.” That’s an easy way to dismiss work you don’t like, or that makes you uncomfortable.
ComicMix is sending a message this fall, with Mine! A Comics Collection to Benefit Planned Parenthood. I’m really excited about this project. Not only do I have a story in it, illustrated by the brilliant Bob Camp, but the book shows how committed our community is to making healthcare available to all.
Looking around the Internet, I notice some people complaining about our book and Planned Parenthood, with the usual lies and distortions about the services it provides. I don’t know where they get their information, but I know this much is true: Planned Parenthood is often the only place where people of all ages and genders can get cancer screenings, STD tests and treatments. Especially in rural communities, there might be no place else to get a PAP test or a mammogram. It might be the only place to get pre-natal care.
If you haven’t pledged already, please consider donating whatever you can afford. We have some really cool stuff for perks, and the book looks to be awesome. I’m sure a first edition is a terrific investment.
I would be happy to support the Mine! project if Planned Parenthood’s services did not include abortion. As for “the usual lies and distortions” and where they come from, that information is available everywhere, except it isn’t lies and distortions. If distortion is the issue, then Planned Parenthood is foremost in that regard.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qtgqxvaV-8U
I see nothing there but playing with statistics, from an unknown group, who distorts the numbers. Who the hell are they? What are they taking out of context?
Just because Live Action not known to you does not make it an unknown group. https://www.liveaction.org
And how are the numbers distorted? If you watched the video you saw how the “only 3% of Planned Parenthood’s business is abortion” is a misrepresentation, something even Slate and the Washington Post acknowledge. I read the promotional columns here on ComicMix and the Kickstarter page. Abortion is never mentioned, only that Planned Parenthood is a “health care provider.” That isn’t a distortion?
They say that Planned Parenthood “commits” abortion, which makes it sound like a crime. They distort their statistics, sensationalizing the percentage of abortions PP performs, which is, no doubt, because so many other providers have been shut down, terrorized by radical religious terrorists.
We are not fund-raising for Planned Parenthood because they provide abortions (although I, for one, support that). We are doing this book because people need Planned Parenthood and ALL of e services they provide.
Again, how are the statistics distorted? The numbers come from Planned Parenthood: the number of abortions divided by the number of patients. And all the various things that are counted as services, (a discreet clinical interaction, according to their own annual report), serve only to pad that number in order to achieve that 3%.
And as far as PAP tests, 0.97%, and breast exams, 1.8%, those numbers have not been disputed. So “all of the services they provide”, other than abortion, are incredibly deficient.
I love (ironically) that your post is illustrated with the beginning of one of the great paper-tiger arguments of all time, when Hal really should have grown a pair. What he could have said:
OLD MAN: I been readin’ about you… How you work for the blue skins…and you done considerable for the purple skins! Only there’s skins you never bothered with–the black skins! I want to know…how come?! Anwer me that, Mr. Green Lantern!
HAL: Could I have done more here on Earth for people of color, sir? Sure! And I still can. But, you still have an Earth to stand on. You haven’t been wiped out by an artificially-created solar flare. And you aren’t living under the yoke of alien invaders. That’s what I’ve done!
Of course, that’s not the point that Denny was going for. He wanted Hal to be guilt-ridden and regretful. However, the above might have represented a more honest response on GL’s part.
Mine! sounds like a worthy cause and I wish I could afford to contribute via the campaign. Many anti-abortion folks get so hung-up on that issue that they have no idea how small a part it plays in what Planned Parenthood does. Too many don’t seem to realize that fewer pregnancies in the first place equates to fewer abortions.
Andrew Laubacher said, “they have no idea how small a part it, (abortion) plays in what Planned Parenthood does.”
I suggest you watch the video linked above. At the time that video was made, Planned Parenthood performed 30.6% of all abortions in the country. An update in the Notes field indicates the percentage is now up to 34.9. That is not a “small part.” It averages to one abortion every 97 seconds. Planned Parenthood is an abortion corporation. Yes, fewer pregnancies do result in fewer abortions, (a good thing), but contraception is not Planned Parenthood’s focus. Contraception is widely available in various methods. People don’t need Planned Parenthood for that, and there’s more money to be made in abortions. What Planned Parenthood does play a small part in is everything else, as shown here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RJjSPsVuS8g