546 : Goverment Burt out
Sorry for the delay on this comic. I had a computer issue halfway threw making it and had to wait for the stores to open for a replacement part.
Now as for the seeming inept custom agent. I am NOT trying to make a shot at US foreign policy or Homeland Security. Nor am I trying to make fun of the brave men and women who patrol the borders or work at the international ports. I state this disclaimer, mainly because they all have guns and I don’t want to be shot next time I cross the border into the United States.
The reason there is an inept security personal at the airport will come back to haunt us in future storylines. Why is he inept? Well, I’m claiming ‘burn-out’. He’s been worked so hard keeping the American homeland safe, that he’s lost all his marbles and his supervisors have not yet noticed. Why? Maybe because they are burning out too. Why are they burning out? BECAUSE they work too dam hard.
Ya… so… uh…
You all have no idea how much I’m resisting the urge to rant about US customs, free-trade and border crossings. So I’m going to stop here and let you all just enjoy the comic.
I think this is one of those strips that simply shouldn’t have been made. The obvious first impression is that Americans are idiots, which is very offensive. Regardless of your explanation, or how it ties into the comic’s overly complex storyline, I feel this strip crosses the line from good humor into inappropriate mocking and should be removed.
Now I don’t know anyone who works at the US borders, but I have several friends who are – for want of a better term – bureaucratic clerks. They are intelligent people performing part of an often complicated service that is important and far from unnecessary.
By no means do I think all bureaucracy is useful, but it does serve its purpose.
As for your post, it sounds very much like you’re just covering your own butt after making an offensive joke that shouldn’t have been made in the first place. If you want to make a statement about border crossing issues, then do it.
Thank you for fixing the comic, but why did you feel the need to edit my previous comment? There was nothing even remotely offensive about what was removed. This is dangerously close to the censorship I warned about when you started “filtering” trolls and spam.
I only edited out the section of the comment that referred to the part of the comic that was edited. With the hopes that few people would realized it the comic was edited and hence not know about it and not want to see it. But since you felt compelled to make a comment JUST about the ‘edit’, now everyone will wonder what they missed.
If I was censoring I would have just removed or blocked the whole comment. So thank you for testing me and making everyone wonder what they missed.
u need 2 chill out its just a “COMIC” none of it is “REAL” so just CHILL OUT ALREADY
If that was your intent, then after you fixed the comic, you should have made a note in your post (and maybe apologized for the offense), and then completely removed the comment in question.
I understand that this is your website, and you ultimately decide what appears here. I broke none of your rules, yet you censored my words to save yourself some embarrassment.
In your own words: “I’ve always want to encourage free discussion where no one has to be concerned with feeling hurt or harassed nor have to defend the rights of others.”
How is it free discussion if you’re changing what other people write? By removing a portion of my statement, you’ve changed the very nature of the comment, insulted me, and damaged my credibility by removing any reference and making it seem I was complaining about absolutely nothing.
Dude, ZERO said it first. Chill Out.
Did you actually see the first version of this comic? It featured the Customs Agent stamping his own face with his passport stamp and shouting “Duh!” from behind a partial image of the US flag. Add to that CD’s own post full of sweeping generalizations and inappropriate humor (He doesn’t want to get shot, so he’s not really making a “Stupid Americans” joke.) and that he’d like to – but won’t – rant about border crossing issues and this particular strip becomes a political commentary sans the wit.
As to my being censored, CD removed a simple phrasing from my first comment regarding my bureaucratic clerk friends not stamping themselves in the face at the end of the day, just to remove reference to his grossly offensive mistake.
Dude, drop it. I did and your still raging.
I was uneasy when I posted it. I needed an inept border-guard for a future storyline to work yet having a silly face didn’t seem to be enough. I took out the offensive stamping bit hoping a silly face would do it. I tried to make it so only the few who seen it would have known and yet your still raging. 80% of the characters in the comic are American, only 2 who aren’t are Bay and Crystal. Your telling me I’ve insulted all Americans by showing one inept border-guard seen stamping his face in only one panel?
I’m starting to wish I didn’t change the comic just to have avoided this whole rage you have going on.
Are you one of those people who HAS to have the last word in any conversation/argument?
Personally I think that sounds pretty fun, but hey what do I know? Posting on this site is a priviledge and not a right. You know what, if this was my website I would do what the heck I wanted with it cos it would be mine.
But it isn’t it is CD’s.
So I sayeth unto CD, rock on dude! Do what the hell you want, when the hell you want! If the haters want to hate then let them hate. I love the comic regardless of grammer or anything else, I see the grammer but, hey, who gives a monkey’s, right?
The one thing I always wonder is why people who don’t like things continue to watch, read, listen, etc to the thing they don’t like? If it offends you surely you stop going back to it? But as I said, what do I know? 😀
I kind of want to see the original now.
Me too.
CD, you changed MY words. I can forgive all the other crap about this comic and posting, but by changing what I said you encroached on my right to express myself. That’s the most offensive part to all this, and you never even attempted to apologize for wronging me as you did.
I’m not one of those people who hate the comic and post obscenities constantly seeking attention. In fact, until this most recent one, I’ve actually enjoyed reading it and even donated in the past. Sadly, with all the trolls and haters around lately, everyone who has a different opinion is disregarded as irrelevant.
I have no problem letting you have the last word, but make it a good one…something akin to “I’m sorry.”
THAT’S why you’ve been raging and posting multiple posts accusing me of anti-Americanism, sweeping generalizations and inappropriate humor?
You wanted an apology about an omitted line on your first post?
“I’m apologetic that you felt wronged by my having a line omitted from your first post.”
Now hopefully we can stop with the whole raging bit and continue on without continued accusations.
That’s not an apology, or if it is, you’re trying to apologize for how I felt, not what you did.
Try again, and at least try to fake sincerity.
Dude he apologized. Leave it alone already.
CD, can you post the original somewhere so we can see it?
At this point, I think you should just be grateful that CD hasn’t started just deleting all of your comments. I can understand that you are mad about your comment being altered, but sometimes it’s better to just let it go instead of seeking reconciliation for what was done. As for the matter of insulting content towards Americans, there is a simple and logical explanation for that. It’s a comic. Comics have been used to express points and make fun of things for centuries. If one little thing upset you just because you have friends in a similar line of work to what is being made fun of, maybe you should just stop reading the comic all together to avoid anything else you might find insulting. If you’re not going to just go away, then I suggest shutting up, letting it go, and stop trying to cause trouble in the comments section whether you intended to or not.
Why even bother going to America anyway. I think of it as three options. Europe. Europe. And Europe. Anywhere else is screwed in the next 10 or so years anyway. US = Inflamation if anything else. Czech Repub. is supposed to have the best economy right now last I heard.
Oh, yeah – like Europe’s economy is doing all that well?
Dream on.
(I assume you meant “inflation” and not “inflammation”; so far as i know, the US does not hae a pernicious rash.)
Yes I did. It was midnight for me when I typed it. An dhave you seen the new penny. Almost no copper in it! I din’t say Europe was perfect but the economy drops been going on for what 5 years now. Either way I don’t want to start an argument.
You’re behind the curve – the US penny has been zinc alloy with a bronze wash since 1983…
Hmmm. Perhaps Bay’s passport still says “Brad”?
not ALL Americans have guns (okay, the military might, but that’s different). I mean, some of us have knives instead. 🙂
I have a knife but it’s not like I keep it on me. Still there are a lot of people with guns and thanks to the US Gov a lot of people who shouldn’t have guns have them.
I say put the Original comic back up. There are inept people in every field of work. Just because you have one character who’s inept how is it saying they all are.
As for the Bosses not firing the guy…he’s probably Union and they can’t touch him cause he’s been working there so long.
No – he’s probably not union – one of the purposes of the so-called “Patriot Act” was to bust the unions in any and all government “security”-related jobs.
Well the world of the comics is diffent. Who’s to say the the Security people can’t still be Union?
Inept character or not; I still find the whole thing funny, including the fact someone decided to make a pointless issue about the whole thing. Great job on the storyline CD…^_^
Dammit … I never saw the version of the comic that everyone is stalking about, and now I want to know what it was like !