Wednesday, May 16, 2018

Observation on Free Speech in Comics AKA Richard Meyer is a Moron

A classic piece by xkcd.
I have an observation on the concept of free speech in the field of comics. Basically, if the things you say within your comics, in regards to the comic industry, or when it comes to politics don't get you arrested and charged with a crime such as obscenity (like Mike Diana was) or locked-up in prison, you still are exercising your freedom of speech free as defined by the constitution. If your name is Richard Meyer and you say horrible and hateful things that result in the comic-book industry despising you to such a degree that a fine comic company such as Anarctic Press refuses to publish your book once made aware of your beliefs, that is fully within their rights as well. You haven't had your freedom of speech trampled on, you still are free of incarceration or being charged with any crimes. You aren't suffering for your beliefs in any way like say, Malaysian political cartoonist Zunar who has suffered horribly for critiquing the corrupt government.

Richard Meyer has said things that are homophobic, sexist, transphobic, and otherwise has proven himself to be extremely capable of blaming others for his failure to succeed in the field of comics, but shown he sucks at basically anything else--such as making good comics or behaving in manner similar to a decent human being. In other words, Meyer isn't being mistreated or persecuted. He's just mad he's getting called-out for being a dick and has rallied other hateful people to support him who like to blame any kind of diversity as making comics worse for...reasons (e.g. Comicsgate). Richard Meyer has the freedom of speech to be a horrible person, and everyone else has the right to choose not to give him any money. He isn't being arrested or locked-up, he's just a loudmouthed moron spreading hatred on the internet.

No comments:

Post a Comment