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May 08, 2007
Fun With Studies
Winslow prepares to go supernova...
Like most people, when I read yesterday's Prickly City I didn't think much about it - Stantis saw some obscure study on Americans abusing stimulants and slapped together something to waste the day. It could have easily been "Americans drink too much coffee" or "Americans eat too much sugar" - Stantis would have done the same gag.
That goes for today as well - Winslow's head pops and Carmen tells him to lay off the stimulants. Sorry, this was funny the first dozen times I've seen it in other strips and cartoons.
But I got to thinking: what report is Stantis talking about? I didn't hear about any study about stimulant abuse making huge news in the media. So I pulled up the googles and typed in "Americans stimulants 2007" and the only article that seemed remotely related to what Stantis is bitching about is this study released by RTI International.
Of course it turns out that the stimulants in question aren't so much the traditional stimulants that get people jacked up like Stantis wants us to believe, instead it's a study based on data gathered in 2002 dealing with stimulants used to treat ADHD in children.
Since when does Winslow have ADHD, or know a child that suffers from it so he can steal his meds? Oh, that's right, he doesn't.
Stantis apparently read a headline or someone told him about this study saying we Americans (everyone, dontcha know) abuses stimulants. He just happened to leave out that little part that it's actually a specific kind of stimulant dealing primarily with children, but I guess that would keep him from recycling the same gags he would use for any kind of substance that makes Winslow jittery. In two weeks: Winslow abuses Cocaine! But it's not powder cocaine, it's that energy drink they just yanked off the shelves that's called Cocaine. Stantis can just re-run these last two strips, take out "stimulants" and put in "Cocaine," and his work is done.
Such is life at Prickly City. Once again Scott Stantis takes something completely out of context, like kids being too fat from watching TV or all little girls being whores because of dolls, makes a few lame jokes he stole from other better comic strips, and passes it off as social commentary. Maybe next time you can tackle the study that says conservative comic strip artists only get to keep their jobs because they're conservative comic strip artists. What, you haven't heard of that one before? I just conducted it - you were the subject - and you're all the proof I need to confirm my findings. And those findings are you suck worse than anything else on the funny pages, Stantis. By a mile.
Comments
Stantis lives in some poor, boondocky place, right? And what's the growing small business in small, boondocky places? Methamphetamine!
Yes, red-state America is all about clean-cut family values, like drug dealing, paying off cops, and exposing children to dangerous chemicals. So once again, I have to ask: is Winslow the liberal or the conservative here?
Posted by: Annie at May 8, 2007 03:42 PM
Not even a good joke in the first place, and it feels like a complete rerun of yesterday. Booo, Stantis!
Although it would be cool if Stantis used this as a way to introduce a new character -- a kid who as ADHD and whose meds are stolen and abused by Winslow (damn coyote). That would just be plain wrong, not to mention stupid.
But we all know Stantis won't do that -- he didn't actually read the article about the stimulant abuse -- he just saw the words "stimulants" and "abuse" and said to himself, "A-ha! A week's worth of strips, right there! Plus it'll be extra-cool, because I'll make Winslow just go around quivering and having his head pop for a couple days and no one will know what's going on!"
The editors will reply, "Um, okay, you're our only conservative strip so I guess that's fine."
Stantis: "Nice."
Posted by: Chris at May 8, 2007 07:20 PM
The vague "stimulants" wording is just stupid. Like there is no difference between Coke(tm) and coke. It's one thing if Winslow just drank a Big Gulp, and something completely different if he just snorted a line of cocaine.
And what supposedly happened when his head popped? Did the effects miraculously wear off? Why did he end up with Popeye forearms?
Posted by: John at May 8, 2007 10:54 PM
