For the record, proper treatment of (entirely relevant) topic of temporal paradox in the comics format is incredibly difficult. This piece, for instance, might have been an animated affair in which the DT in each panel accumulated an incessant collection of minor wounds, synchronized in each of the three panels, until his mortal frame surpassed its tolerance for injury and he was killed by both the first and last blow of the boomerang simultaneously, rendering it unlikely that his best friend would jovially toss the device of his destruction into the dimensional rift. Then the whole comic, perhaps even the web site surrounding it, would have folded in on itself succumbing to oblivion under the weight of so many conundrums. Or perhaps the comic should fall into a routine of splitting into two comics between panels one and two, and then each of those splitting themselves, until your eye is traversing so many alternate, yet largely identical timelines that your brain folds in on itself succumbing to oblivion et cetera.
I’m just sayin’, don’t fuck with time. It hates you as is.
I am often most disturbed by smaller things, which is probably going to cause me long term emotional damage as I remain inexorably tied to an internet culture which seems to increasingly abhor big things in general. The object of my reflection today is this: a report that in lieu of the crisis concerning the integrity of nuclear reactors in Japan, broadcasters in several countries are editing out Simpsons episodes that poke fun at the dangers of nuclear energy. This is absurd to me. When your evening sitcom drops a joke that forces you consider the plight of millions on the other side of the world, and perhaps even to muse on the jocularity with which those concerns were treated before an immediate disaster brought it to the forefront of public consciousness, this is your art culture functioning exceptionally well.
You might not be laughing at the joke anymore, but that doesn’t mean it’s broken, that means it’s time to think about it. You are disturbed all of a sudden by a gag you’ve been chuckling at for years for a reason and that is worth exploring. The Simpsons has a long history of satirizing nuclear power, one might even argue the show as a whole entertains it as a core theme. The livelihood of the chief protagonist of the series is a result of fictionally lax safety standards at the local plant. There is a message there, people. That it has been a part of your life for the last two decades is a serious statement on the way our society is arranged.
As is the sudden, noticeable absence of this theme once it becomes too relevant to air.
Ja.