Thursday, December 20, 2007

Reader accuses Candorville of RAPE joke

It takes a certain kind of person to read today's Candorville strip and conclude I'm joking about rape. It takes the kind of person who can read Candorville for any length of time and still conclude that its author would find something like rape funny. It takes the kind of person who thinks the words "rape" and "pillage" are interchangeable (if they were, the usual phrase describing the horrors of war wouldn't be "rape AND pillage").

It takes this kind of person:

Hey.

Funny strip most the time. Racial commentary and all that.

But todays strip (12-20-07) appalled me. Unless I am reading that wrong, it seems to be a blatant and casual reference to rape. Who calls that humor? Rape is not something that should be include in anything labeled as “comic”.

I’m sure you are aware of racist issues. Try to be aware of sexist issues. They are not that far apart.


JW


I can't believe anyone who's read Candorville for any length of time would even entertain the notion that its author would find rape funny. If any other readers out there jumped to that same outlandishly offensive conclusion, please don't bother me with it. I spend hours each week going back and forth with irate or confused readers about the topics I raise in Candorville, and I do it gladly. I love that part of this job. But this misinterpretation is just way too insulting to comment on any further.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

To be honest, the phrase "rape and pillage" did come to mind when I read today's comic, but as soon as it did, so did the distinct ABSENCE of the "rape" part. So I knew right off Lemont wasn't talking about rape.

I can see how someone could think otherwise if they've never read Candorville before, but anyone who knows Lemont should know better.

Anonymous said...

I didn't think of "rape" at all. That's way off base.

Anonymous said...

Holy crap. "Casual reference to rape"? WTF?

Anonymous said...

BTW, I laughed out loud at this one. Good to see Lemont's not falling for her tricks.

Steven Rowe said...

re-reading, it's obvious the original complainer had heard the expression "rape and pillage" but didnt know what pillage meant.
sad world ain't it

Anonymous said...

Yeah, I'm not seein' this either. Anyone who is a regular reader knows that C-dog would "pillage" by jacking Roxanne's stuff to fund his gangster rap label lol...