Monday, February 11, 2019

The Butler Eagle, a newspaper in Butler County, Pennsylvania, has dropped a cartoon strip, NON SEQUITUR, which it used to run on a regular basis. The alleged reason for discontinuing the cartoon is that it used the same kind of language about a politician currently in office, as Vice President Dick Cheney did in addressing Senator Patrick Leahy, in 2004, on the floor of the U.S. Senate. The same exact phrase.

If that newspaper did not run an editorial in 2004 rebuking Cheney for his lack of professional decorum, then the termination of “Non Sequitur” is nothing less than despicable hypocrisy. This would assume, of course, that the same individuals or corporation own the newspaper now, as operated it back then. If, as could well be the case, the Butler Eagle has been acquired by another larger chain of newspapers, then the same question holds: did that newspaper pain denounce Cheney back then?

One can bemoan the lack of public civility all day long, but the reality is that each side suspects the other of grousing in expletives, as a matter of casual conversation, with each one’s set of friends and acquaintances.

https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2010/04/dick-cheney-could-not-be-prouder-of-that-time-he-told-pat-leahy-to-go-fuck-himself-on-the-senate-floor

https://www.independent.co.uk/topic/non-sequitur

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/trump-cartoon-joke-butler-eagle-pennsylvania-newspaper-wiley-miller-non-sequitur-a8773366.html

Cheney (the topic of a film entitled VICE), was no stranger to Butler County, by the way. It is reported that he campaigned there on behalf of George W. Bush in the 2004 election.

For those who might wish to hear the same sentiment expressed in “Non Sequitur,” but done so in a far more thoughtful manner, I would recommend attending a lecture this afternoon at CSU Dominguez Hills:

An evening with Dr. Angela Y. Davis
Mon, February 11, 2019
4:00 PM – 6:00 PM PST
California State University, Dominguez Hills Gymnasium
1000 East Victoria Street
Carson, CA 90747
The event is free. Dr. Davis’s books will be available.