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Topic: Was Barks a conservative?

(65 messages)
Cacou
Quote from user: MorequackDid Barks say birth control or abortion? The two are not the same. Birth control generally refers to contraception/sterilization and is not for the most part a political hot button. Abortion is another matter altogether and is very controversial and politically polarizing in the U.S.
The former just as I wrote. Answers are shown in Barks' own distinctive handwritten style.
Gerd Syllwasschy
Quote from user: GeoXThere's also a critique of the book by Geoffrey Blum in one or another of Gladstone's CBL in Color volumes that's worth checking out.
It's in The Carl Barks Library of Uncle Scrooge Adventures in Color #24, to be precise.
GeoX
Thank you!
Morequack
Quote from user: cacouQuote from user: MorequackDid Barks say birth control or abortion? The two are not the same. Birth control generally refers to contraception/sterilization and is not for the most part a political hot button. Abortion is another matter altogether and is very controversial and politically polarizing in the U.S.
The former just as I wrote. Answers are shown in Barks' own distinctive handwritten style.

Interesting. What was the year when Barks wrote this? I would like to research the political climate of that date and learn more of the context of his abortion reform statement and what he might have meant. Thanks!
Cacou
@Morequack that was 1994.
Morequack
Quote from user: cacouQ: Which reform do you admire the most? A: Birth control

(not sure what such opinions would mean in the US though, I understand birth control is an important matter there. Anyway it was certainly a very big change in developed countries in the 70s)

Well, not sure to what "birth control reform" Barks is referring, as there has not been to my knowledge any such significant "reform" in the U.S. since the 1920s. I think he's probably talking about the 1973 Supreme Court??s Roe v Wade decision--and the several like decisions thereafter---to legalize ABORTION in the U.S. If this is the case, then yes, that is much more of a liberal position than a conservative one. But again, ABORTION is much different than BIRTH CONTROL.
MustangRockstar
I often despise the whole liberal/conservative label.
A New York business person could be a fiscally conservative, free market Republican. An Ohio house wife could be a religious, social conservative Republican. An 18 year old Army recruit down in Texas could be more of a protectionist with little of the previously mentioned beliefs and not much else in common with those holding said beliefs. However, he/she too could also be a Republican.
Politics has taken on a religious like standing in the U.S. as a way for a lot of people to easily determine where their associates should be categorized. It's easier to put people into a nice and tidy box, rather than have to look at the various issues/topics on a case by case basis.
With that rant out of the way, meant solely as my point of view and not directed at anyone, I think we also have to remember that Barks is a storyteller and a humorist. Much like Mark Twain before him, his works balance both the best and worst aspects of our culture with a bit of a wink, and a lot of satire to share.
The depth of his work lends itself to comprehensive study, but also comes with a warning label that over-analysis is both possible and, given enough time, inevitable. The richness of character displayed in Barks masterpieces is precisely why they remain timeless. The characters, even those who are seemingly one-deimensional, have an extra layer that makes their triumphs and follies entertaining and memorable. Few artists have that ability. Even less can consistently tap into that ability. Yet for a select few like Barks, they not only perfect it, they make it timeless.
Cacou
Maybe Barks was simply talking about contraception? which I think we can argue was indeed an immense change in societies... of course it happened before the 90s but Barks was possibly referring to something that happened way before he answered the quiz.
GeoX
Birth control and contraception are the same thing, unless words mean different things than I'm used to. Unless you're specifically referring to the pill.
Matilda
I think Cacou was proposing that Barks meant that birth control (the pill, probably) itself was the reform he had in mind, not any particular legislative or policy reform related to birth control.
Cacou
Thank you Matilda I really feel handicaped sometimes when I write in English.
Morequack
Quote from user: cacouMaybe Barks was simply talking about contraception? which I think we can argue was indeed an immense change in societies... of course it happened before the 90s but Barks was possibly referring to something that happened way before he answered the quiz.
Yeah, who knows... contraception is not so much a hot button issue today to most Americans as it may have been in earlier decades.

cacou, your English seems 100% to me.
Morequack
Quote from user: MustangRockstarA New York business person could be a fiscally conservative, free market Republican. An Ohio house wife could be a religious, social conservative Republican. An 18 year old Army recruit down in Texas could be more of a protectionist with little of the previously mentioned beliefs and not much else in common with those holding said beliefs. However, he/she too could also be a Republican.

Politics has taken on a religious like standing in the U.S. as a way for a lot of people to easily determine where their associates should be categorized. It's easier to put people into a nice and tidy box, rather than have to look at the various issues/topics on a case by case basis.

Yes, this is true. Generalizations run rampant. However, there is a philosophy that each of the two major parties in the U.S. represent or defend. These fundamentally opposing ideals are largely socioeconomic in nature and NOT religious. In any election there are many ballot issues that will straddle and borrow from each philosophy??until one comes to a choice for U.S. President and then, no more fooling around: the decision really boils down to a party choice because generally this is the arena in which a President can expect to conduct his term in office.
GeoX
Quote from user: cacouThank you Matilda I really feel handicaped sometimes when I write in English.
Ne t'inquiète pas - ton niveau d'anglais est bien meilleur que mon français. :P
Coolwater
Quote from user: MorequackQuote from user: MustangRockstarA New York business person could be a fiscally conservative, free market Republican. An Ohio house wife could be a religious, social conservative Republican. An 18 year old Army recruit down in Texas could be more of a protectionist with little of the previously mentioned beliefs and not much else in common with those holding said beliefs. However, he/she too could also be a Republican.

Politics has taken on a religious like standing in the U.S. as a way for a lot of people to easily determine where their associates should be categorized. It's easier to put people into a nice and tidy box, rather than have to look at the various issues/topics on a case by case basis.

Yes, this is true. Generalizations run rampant. However, there is a philosophy that each of the two major parties in the U.S. represent or defend. These fundamentally opposing ideals are largely socioeconomic in nature and NOT religious. In any election there are many ballot issues that will straddle and borrow from each philosophy??until one comes to a choice for U.S. President and then, no more fooling around: the decision really boils down to a party choice because generally this is the arena in which a President can expect to conduct his term in office.

Speaking of Barks' general conservatism in social, cultural and economic things on the one side and religion on the other side it is perhaps worth mentioning that religion is something that didn't seem to play even a minor role for Barks. In his letters as well as in all the secondary literature on him I never realised anything such as religious beliefs the man would have held, and he also did not base his ideas on politics and culture on that. It is really something that seemed to be completely absent in his thinking and his whole life. Thomas Andrae, in his monography on Barks, simply calls him an "atheist".

In Europe the stereotype is rather that a right-wing, conservative, Republican American is per se strongly religious.
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