Great Britt-in’

It absolutely cracks me up how often people “walk right in to it” and don’t even know it.

People absolutely have the right to complain. Even those that don’t know how to conduct an argument (i.e., discussion) have the right to complain; as Exhibit A, I give you the commenters on the SJ-R.com message boards. It’s not the complaining that gets me, it’s the complete absence of intelligence in the complaining that gets to me. But there’s one certain complaint that really gets to me, and it occurs virtually every single day.

I’m talking about the people routinely bitching about and calling for the firing of the SJ-R’s top-notch editorial cartoonist, Chris Britt.

I’ve met Chris Britt on several occasions- which is to say I’ve played softball with him in the past- and I’ve seen him several times “out and about” in town. He’s a nice guy. Always seemed kind of quiet to me, but then, how well can you really get to know someone playing a dozen or so games of softball together? The point is that he has somehow garnered this “anti-fan” base of SJ-R readers calling for his head every time a new cartoon prints in the paper, and it is completely unjust.

Like I say, people are well within their rights to disagree with his cartoons and political views, and to complain about same. But holy shnikeys- some people want him fired, they act like they want his head on a steek, and the funniest- and yet, saddest- part about it all is that he’s got them all right where he wants them.

Let me tell you a little secret, Britt-Bashers out there: it’s his job to provoke thought, to incite debate, and to basically draw people’s attention to things going on in the city, state, country, and the world, through his cartoons. In a way, it’s his job to piss people off. And he’s good at it. Look, I admit I don’t often agree with his views and cartoons- hell, sometimes I don’t understand his views and cartoons- but the fact of the matter is that most all of his cartoons are simply brilliant. You don’t have to agree with them to be able to see that. Well, okay, you shouldn’t have to agree with them to be able to see that. You do have to have an open mind, however.

That’s okay, I’ll wait for that to sink in…

This one I loved because it was so far-fetched yet probably not all that far from the truth. Sure enough, people were bitching and whining about it. Today’s cartoon has drawn particularly hateful ire already. “How DARE he say anything disparaging about firefighters?!!” Brilliant. This one was one of my recent favorites.

Don’t you get it, people? By getting your knickers so twisted over his cartoons and writing in bitching about them-slash-him, you’re validating his work, not demonizing it. And you yay-hoos calling for him to be fired… would the SJ-R really fire a person that causes that much discussion? Hell no, they’re not going to fire him, nor should they. He’s doing exactly what they pay him to do, and he does it extremely well.

Like I say, I don’t often agree with his cartoons. Matter of fact, there have been some that I thought were at least moderately “over the line”, or in “bad taste”, or whatever. But again, just because I might have felt they were out of line doesn’t necessarily mean they were, and it certainly doesn’t mean he should be fired for it. But I commend him for being that good as to cause such a reaction. Probably the worst thing for him would be no reaction.

Mr. Britt, I acknowledge that you neither asked for nor need my defense, support, or endorsement. I just want you to know that there is someone out there that, while he may not always agree with some of your views, fully understands- AND appreciates- how damned good you are at what you do. Keep up the good work.

And to all you Britt-Bashers, go ahead and keep bitching about his work. Just don’t get mad when I let you know how ignorant you make yourselves look. Because you do. And remember this: maybe it’s not Britt’s cartoons. Maybe it’s just that you can’t handle the truth sometimes.