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December 22, 2007
Note To Carmen: Speak For Yourself, Little Girl
Carmen has a Facebook account? How can I look her up, by typing in her full name - Carmen A. Hypocrite?
Today's strip is just odd. Once again it's a case of Stantis thinking he has a good point to make, but then completely fumbling it. Let's just ignore the fact that Carmen is the sancatmonius one here (which is why her having a Facebook account is so hypocritical - wouldn't this whole strip have made more sense if Winslow was the one railing against technology? Oh wait - that wouldn't make sense either).
Carmen talks about how we Americans don't want strangers all up in our bizness. No disagreements from me - I think we can all agree that we don't want the government illegally spying on us, and then giving the telecom companies retroactive immunity for breaking the law to do it. But her next point is that since "we" have those cell phones that wrap around your ear, people are broadcasting "our" most intimate secrets. So she is all up in arms - if "we're" so open with "our" private lives, how can we beg for privacy?
Easy. Not all of us walk around talking on cell phones or posting our personal dirt online. It's called "choice." I choose not to talk about who I'm dating or who I'm lusting after or to post pics of myself drunk at parties. However, if the government decides to request a phone company to illegally monitor ALL of OUR calls and emails, that's not OUR choice at all. The government is intruding on my life, your life, everybody's lives - we're not all broadcasting those details. Why is that so hard for Stantis to understand? And why is he one of these jerks that needs to speak in absolutes that cover everybody, other than it's the only way he can make this point of his?
Yeah, there are quite a few morons out there who think they're in the privacy of their home when they walk around talking outloud on those stupid phones or blog about their dark secrets. They're usually the same dicks who talk during the movie. And surprisingly enough, I guess Carmen is one of those jerks. Of course that makes zero sense - she supposedly hates all forms of technology except flat screen plasma TVs - but that doesn't stop Stantis from trying to pose his oh-so-deep philosophical question.
Once again, this is why the strip needs a new character. What if that guy with the fungus had been there since Monday? It would have been oh so easy - we only see the left side of his face when he appears to be yelling at Carmen and Winslow about how he's being spied on and has no privacy. She says that we need to do it to protect us from the eeevil terrorists (which would be in keeping with her neo-con character), then the dweeb turns around and we see he's got one of those phones on his right ear and he says he's not talking to the stupid little girl but to his life partner Lindsey.
Oh, wait - that would have made Stantis' point in one, somewhat less painful strip instead of dragging it out for an entire week where half the panels were either black or the same seven cameras drawn around Carmen and Winslow over and over. Nevermind.
Comments
I just checked. There is a Scott Stantis on facebook, with no picture, no public profile, and just two friends.
Posted by: Annie at December 22, 2007 10:53 AM
Annie, maybe it's not the same Scott Stantis, because the cartoonist would never be hypocritical like Carmen and have his own Facebook, right? ...Right?
Posted by: Snowman at December 22, 2007 03:41 PM
