Dave Sim's blogandmail #429 (November 14th, 2007)

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Fifteen Impossible Things to Believe Before Breakfast That Make You a Good Feminist

1. A mother who works a full-time job and delegates to strangers the raising of her children eight hours a day, five days a week does just as good a job as a mother who hand-rears her children full time.

2. It makes great sense for the government to pay 10 to 15,000 dollars a year to fund a daycare space for a child so its mother - who pays perhaps 2,000 dollars in taxes - can be a contributing member of society.

3. A woman's doctor has more of a valid claim to participate in the decision to abort a fetus than does the father of that fetus.

4. So long as a woman makes a decision after consulting with her doctor, she is incapable of making an unethical choice.

5. A car with two steering wheels, two gas pedals and two brakes drives more efficiently than a car with one steering wheel, one gas pedal and one brake which is why marriage should always be an equal partnership.

6. It is absolutely necessary for women to be allowed to join or participate fully in any gathering place for men, just as it is absolutely necessary that there be women only environments from which men are excluded.

7. Because it involves taking jobs away from men and giving them to women, affirmative action makes for a fairer and more just society.

8. It is important to have lower physical standards for women firepersons and women policepersons so that, one day, half of all firepersons and policepersons will be women, thus more effectively protecting the safety of the public.

9. Affirmative action at colleges and universities needs to be maintained now that more women than men are being enrolled, in order to keep from giving men an unfair advantage academically.

10. Having ensured that there is no environment for men where women don't belong (see no.6) it is important to have zero tolerance of any expression or action which any woman might regard as sexist to ensure greater freedom for everyone.

11. Only in a society which maintains a level of 95% of alimony and child support being paid by men to women can men and women be considered as equals.

12. An airline stewardess who earned $20,000 a year at the time that she married a baseball player earning $6 million a year is entitled, in the event of a divorce, to $3 million for each year of the marriage and probably more.

13. A man's opinions on how to rear and/or raise a child are invalid because he is not the child's mother. However, his financial obligation is greater because no woman gets pregnant by herself.

14. Disagreeing with any of these statements makes you anti-woman and/or a misogynist.

15. Legislature Seats must be allocated to women and women must be allowed to bypass the democratic winnowing process in order to guarantee female representation and, thereby, make democracy fairer.

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I think my subscription to Robin Snyder's THE COMICS is about to lapse, so I'm sending him a cheque for $35 (foreign 12-issue subscription). It's $28 in the U.S. Robin Snyder, 3745 Canterbury Lane Apt. 81, Bellingham, WA 98225. The latest issue starts a new essay by Steve Ditko, "Toyland". The most interesting thing for me in this issue is Jim Ivey's memoir where he mentions


"What a sight: Harvey Kurtzman lecturing Les Turner, Mel Graff and Morris Weiss on the merits of R. Crumb's underground comix. Glazed looks and gapped mouths…"


There are also good anecdotes about Will Eisner, Jack Davis and C.C. Beck. All short and punchy and "to the point".


Fax from Michael B.:


"I've been trying to find the words…


"Reading Gary Groth's most recent entry on your Blog and Mail left me a little nauseated. The man clearly has no sense of perspective. He claims to have stronger grasp on reality than you, and yet here is a mere publisher treating one of the seminal artists of our day like a common piece of dirt. THAT, my friend, is RISIBLE. He has no sense of his place, or an entirely bloated sense of his place."


Well, with all due respect Michael, I think Gary Groth has an entirely accurate sense of place relative to Dave Sim. How long has his posting been up, as you say, treating me like a common piece of dirt? A couple of weeks now at least. Has anyone besides you attempted to defend me? I'm not on the Internet so I can't say for certain, but let's take the entire Cerebus Yahoo Newsgroup membership of, what, several hundred people? I think the message is clear: they all believe that Dave Sim should be treated like a common piece of dirt and that Gary Groth should be deferred to when he does so.


"If I may ask, why even bother to concern yourself with Gary Groth, Jeff Smith, etc.?"


Well, because I'm being attacked. If you're being attacked you have to defend yourself and stand up for what you think is right. Most particularly when you're completely alone in doing so and no one will rise to your defence no matter what calumny and vilification is directed your way.


"These people couldn't hope to walk in your dust (or maybe that's all they can hope for), in terms of how history will view you. You're one of the greats. I may be alone in thinking this…"


Well, yes, so far you are if we're going to go by the evidence before us on this go-round. Michael Zulli called and left a message when I was defending myself against Jeff Smith – and pointing out that he was the one who claimed to have threatened me with physical violence for not sharing his opinions -- and that was it. Did any of the Yahoos come to my defence? No, of course not. Thirteen years this has been going on and except for an isolated voice here or there – yours this time – I think the evidence is clear: Dave Sim is considered to be a common piece of dirt and everyone in the comic-book field considers that to be just peachy.


"…and my thoughts may mean very little to you…"


Oh, no. Your thoughts mean a great deal to me. Are you kidding? Thirteen years later on and you're the only one who will speak up on my behalf? Your thoughts mean a great deal to me. Wouldn't my support mean a lot to you if you found yourself in the same situation?


"…but I can't understand why these people would concern you."


Again, because I'm being attacked. The reason that things like Marxist-feminism can achieve absolute control over all debate in our society is because I'm the only one in our context who will stand up and say, No, I think you're wrong, I think you're misguided and I think you're leading our society in a very foolish direction no matter how often or how severely I'm attacked and no matter how much you can intimidate everyone else. If no one speaks out against Marxist-feminism then there is no hope of turning back in a more sensible direction. If a consensus emerges that the only people who oppose Marxist-feminism are rightwing talk radio nuts and Dave Sim – which is what is perceived if no one speaks out against Marxist-feminism except rightwing talk radio nuts and Dave Sim – then the Marxist-feminists infer that everyone agrees with them and that the Fifteen Impossible Things to Believe Before Breakfast aren't, in fact, impossible but are sensible. Which they're not if you are advancing the thesis that the genders are equal and interchangeable. If the genders were equal and interchangeable, none of the Fifteen Impossible Things would be necessary.


"If you ARE going to pay this much attention to these people, if you're going to fine tune your focus to every detail of every action they've taken, why not do it in the context of a lawsuit? In my view Gary, those he employs and various people in the industry are guilty of career-damaging libel and slander against you, plain and simple. You could say – `hey, there's your answer, that IS my concern with these people.' But what good does a war of words do? Prove your case in a court of law. Do you really think you can debate and/or complain your way above them? The only way to deal with them in writing or conversation is to dip down to their own level, as evidenced by your recent conversation with Gary. I think your assessment – that your career was severely undermined, resulting in a dramatic reduction of orders – can be effectively proven. The thing is, the kind of character attacks, sniggering, bias and deflating commentary that Gary et al are known for will not hold water in any court. Anyone in your life who has actually spent time with you on a professional level has said that you're an outstanding human being. That you ARE an outstanding human being is, to some of us, clearly evident. So all that Fantagraphics Bias crap goes out the window, and we look at the numbers, we look at what's on paper, we look at your character, and we see that a single, self-published author has been bullied and mocked and sabotaged by an entire industry…for expressing himself in the context of the longest sustained narrative in the history of the human race. (Pause to take that in…) You could argue that The Law is flawed from the inside out and you will stand no chance to win because you are alone in your grasp on reality, but I think you stand a chance to win whether or not the courtroom is overrun with Marxists, feminists, or what have you, simply because the evidence is so clear. I'm not suggesting you do it for honor. Do it to get back all the money you lost. You'll have to get a superb, proven Lawyer who knows how to prepare (on all levels) for a case – who can match your own capacity to prepare for success – that's essential. All the defense would really have to bank on is their mistaken impression that you're insane, and once you effectively get that little line of B.S. out of the way? Then you crush them with the facts.


"Best to you, Michael B."


Tomorrow – Dave Sim replies





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REPLIES POSTED ON THE CEREBUS YAHOO! GROUP
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