This isn’t the comic I originally intended to post today. But it’s the one that resonated with the thoughts rattling around in my head lately, like a handful of dried beans in an empty soda can. I retired from – gave up on may be more accurate – current events and politics many years ago.
Politically, I’ve wandered the whole spectrum over the course of my life, though that’s a discussion for another day. I’m the kind of person who sees multiple angles and tends to overthink things, so I’m rarely comfortable with bold sweeping statements or immutable opinions. (Comics/joking aside.)
Swept up in the bitterness of the Bush years, as I started to struggle with depression more and more, I made a lot of hay with my political material in Lunch Break. I wish I could excise it now, but the Internet doesn’t work like that, so I made my peace. People don’t contact me to argue anymore.
The 2008 election coincided with the point at which I started to break, and began Dollar Late. Like many people, but particularly as an unhappy person looking for something to hold onto, I was very involved in supporting Obama. I debated, I gave money; I even served as a delegate. It was the last gasp before my light flickered out, and I lost the will to fight. I was so, so tired.
When Obama turned out to be a personal disappointment, and so many other people lost their fucking minds, I just couldn’t anymore. It was making me physically sick. Bitter politics contributed to ruining my relationship with my family. They tainted the last Christmas I had with my mother alive.
Who cares, right? I’m only an Internet cartoonist and a painter. One of the purposes of artists is to push boundaries, and part of me is shamed to have thrown in the towel so readily. It has been so long, I am not even sure what I believe or think anymore. But I can feel myself waking up, so there’s that.
I might flesh this out into a blog later. We’ll see.
No Such Thing as Escapism Anymore [ Permalink ]
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Tagged: comics, Jin Wicked, And of course it always hits like a ton of bricks, while you're doing something completely unrelated., Especially after what happened in the last week.
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