Hugh MacLeod
Cartoons drawn on the back of business cards
November 6, 2009
[Backstory: About Hugh. E-mail Hugh. Twitter. Limited Edition Prints. Cartoon Archive. Newsletter. Book. Interview. Essential Reading: “Everything You Always Wanted To Know About ‘Cube Grenades’ But Were Afraid To Ask.”]
I'm a cartoonist.
I sell limited-edition prints.
I wrote a book.
I'm CEO of Stormhoek USA, which markets South African wine in the States.
I also draw private commissions.
Prints |
Opening | Current |
|---|---|---|
Bluetrain |
$900 | |
We Need to Talk |
$650 | |
Portfolio #2 |
$300 | |
NY NY |
$275 |
Something’s been bothering me about these lately. It seems to me that you wouldn’t dream of drawing a cartoon depicting a broad racial/ethnic/gender other un-PC stereotype, but you’re more than happy to traffic in stereotypes of “hipsters” and other groups that haven’t historically been discriminated against. (Top-of-mind examples: This one, and the Apple store cartoon a few days ago.)
You seem like a smart guy, but this incessant reiteration of stereotypes just strikes me as boring and cheap.
(It’s entirely possible that there’s something going on here that I’m missing. If that’s the case, please clue me in.)
Why do I get the feeling that a hipster was feeling defensive, and left a comment on my blog?
Who said he was a “hipster”? Just because he likes comic books and goatees– suddenly you’re stereotyping, yourself
Sorry for boring you, MM. I must try harder next time.
Part of Mr. MacLeod’s appeal as an artist and writer is that he goes after the ‘groups that haven’t been historically discriminated against’. I sort of think that going after the weak and shallow populace makes him un-PC given the huge number in that body politic.
whats the big deal?
Isn’t Hugh a refugee? Aren’t we all?
bring on the media stereotypes…the adwank, the design wank, some modern wank and even better the old shit!!!
Hell Yeah!!…there’s nothing like a good ole cheap, boring whinge either.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TQXJIi4oCGs
Apple users not being stereo typed and discriminated against? *blink blink* im pretty sure PC users have been making fun of them for decades now.
MM: If your idea of being “discriminated against” consists of someone implying that adopting certain hipster lifestyle elements make one look silly, then it’s obvious that you have never experienced (or even seen) actual discrimination.
What are you missing?
1. A few decades of maturity and real-life experience, it seems.
2. The part where YOU produce something creative that is better and more popular than what you see here, if you know so much about it.
3. The whole rest of the internet, if this part of it distresses you so much.
I did find it interesting and not a stereotype.
–Shreya
http://www.life-styl.com
Hugh lives near a small West Texas town — sounds like a life-style refuge to me!
Randy: Alpine, Texas, where hipster refugees flock to in droves
And a big congrats to MM for starting the silliest comment thread in the history of the planet…
Yep, even I spent a month there one night…
So, is the area of Alpine south of the tracks (south of Holland Ave) the new SoHo??
George:
“1. A few decades of maturity and real-life experience, it seems.”
I’m almost 40. I’m a lawyer in a large Southern city. In the past I’ve been an Internet journalist, English professor, short-order cook, and construction worker.
“2. The part where YOU produce something creative that is better and more popular than what you see here, if you know so much about it.”
I’m also an award-winning independent filmmaker. I didn’t claim that I could make better cartoons than these.
“3. The whole rest of the internet, if this part of it distresses you so much.”
Distresses me enough to take two minutes to post a comment?
I’ve been subscribed to this site’s RSS feed for a while, because I stumbled across it somehow and liked the cartoons. When I noticed a pattern I thought I’d offer some constructive criticism. Most of the responses, including Hugh’s, completely ignore the points I tried to make and go straight for ad hominem attacks.
Nice conversational skills, y’all. Adios.
got to dig george’s vituperation above…now, that’s a gas!
Hey MM,
Yes, this is where a blog (or online identity) comes in handy…
If people know your work and know you, then you can can contextualize your thoughts against what you have done… with skin in the game.
Posting an opinion as an anonymous person, however valid the intellectual reasons, makes your case weaker at best, makes you seem a troll at worst.
Like Jeff Jarvis says, “Identity Matters”.
People and their fragile egocentricism…
As an avid student of social psychology, I find the phenomenon of trolling interesting.
Everyone knows, on some level, that one generally gets the kind of response one invites. This is an obvious rule of life that even children instinctively grasp. Civility invites civility, and hostility invites hostility, and the same is true for everything in between.
But the troll, like MM here, expects others to treat him better than he treats them. He expects a completely different set of rules to be applied to others versus himself, an ethical scheme that is, in may ways, exactly inverted.
MM introduces himself with comments consisting of dismissive sarcasm (the Apple store post) and hostility (“boring,” “cheap” and characterizing social satire as an incipient form of racial bigotry, of all things). Then, when he gets the obvious response that such comments call for, he makes a fuss about how unfairly he is being treated, how he only offered “constructive criticism” and resents the personal nature of the antagonistic response. Suddenly, he only wants to talk about the subject matter, in an academic and constructive way, you see, and lectures us by telling us that getting personal is out of bounds.
And then, after having invited hostility and received hostility, and after acting surprised and offended that hostility should invite hostility (a social reality that even children understand), he offers the final parting shot that we (meaning me, in particular, I suppose), lack “conversation skills.” See? A neat inversion of the usual social rules.
In light of all of this, which is repeated a million times a day all over the internet, there is only one reasonable conclusion — people like MM are looking for a fight. They want it. They create it, if they have to. The get the response they invite, because they like to be yelled at. They have some psychological need for it. They prefer it to other modes of conversation. One can only assume that people like this feel anxious and lost when they find themselves being engaged with people in a less antagonistic way.
I think this phenomenon has something useful to teach us about marketing — how a well-=crafted marketing strategy can invite the desired consumer response, depending on the mindset and social expectations of the consumer group in question.
I thought the Apple store cartoon was funny, even though I’m an Apple user. George, I love your description of the “troll” as someone who “expects others to treat him better than he treats them.” That’s good. I’m going to try to remember that for future reference. I think MM’s original post was inspired by insecurity, however, not out of a desire to try to start a troll fight.
Can you say… “Marfa”?
a slice of cake would be nice at about this time.
P.S. Hugh’s mockery of “hipsters” is a major reason I like his comics. When I laugh at these jokes, I’m not laughing at “hipsters.” I’m laughing at myself.
I can see you (Hugh) opening a suggestion box and pulling out one lonely suggestion that reads “Please round out your stereotypes. Tnx.”
For the record I don’t see these as stereotypes. I just figured these are cartoon manifestations of people Hugh has dealt with, overheard, or even been at times. Am I wrong?
George: You’re reading a lot into a little. Honest criticism is not the same as trolling. I’ve posted positive comments on Hugh’s drawings in the past. I believe that an artist – of any kind – who takes his work seriously should welcome criticism.
Hugh: Fair enough. Here’s a blog I kept from May 2003 until October 2008, when I got tired of it: http://informationbureau.wordpress.com/
Note: A lot of the images and such are broken links; I had my own domain for a lot of that time, then migrated the posts over to free-parking Wordpress when I shut it down. Nonetheless, all 964 posts are there.
Geeezzzz–
These are CARTOONS for cryin out loud–
And I LIKE them.
I never even GOT the apple/mac thing–
these are cartoons about the human condition as it exists in certain creative males.
Opinions on napkins nearly– but it works for me.
Geo above is right on in his comments BTW. Dittos on all.
I am an emerging artist (from a sales backbround), mother of two sons (so I get the get the guy stuff however gross at times).
Just wanted to say, as a fan, Hugh, please do not Ignore Everybody but it may make sense to Ignore Some!
Consider to not even publish comments meant to bully as they not NOT with the program here!
They are the boring ones– Forgitabouttit–
I like the idea of “lifestyle refugee” though I’m not sure I really get it. I’d like to see more on this.