CBLDF Presents Liberty!

We live in an age where people are shouting about freedoms everywhere. And it's great to be able to live in a country where we are so free, but one thing we often forget is that other people are also free to disagree with us. Just as we are free to shout our beliefs and opinions from the rooftops, we have to allow others to do the same, no matter how wrong we feel they are. Freedom is hard won and difficult to foster. But it's beautiful just the same.

One of the most discussed freedoms (especially now) is freedom of speech and press. I've only recently gotten interested in comics/graphic novels, so the history of the genre is lost on me. I'm not surprised though to learn that comics have suffered the same strong-arm tactics that face controversial novels. It just seems sillier. To arrest people for selling comics that have boobies drawn in it seems truly a waste of law enforcement's time. That's one of the scenarios addressed in this collection of comics, with one chapter showing two comic artists walking down a street discussing police arresting artists and comic book store owners while citizens are getting assaulted & robbed in the background.

The CBLDF is the Comic Book Legal Defense Fund for those of you who, like me, are unaware that such an organization is necessary. You think maybe it might have been important a few decades ago, but one of the articles on their website was posted just on October 30, 2017, about a Native American video game designer who is having their funding threatened because it casts the oil pipeline in a bad light. Novels, both traditional print and graphic, are still being challenged across the country. For some authors/artists, that may not be a problem, especially if they are being carried by a major publishing house, but for independent authors or smaller houses, a challenge or lawsuit could sink them, effectively silencing their voice, just because someone doesn’t like what they have to say. And it doesn’t have to be vulgarity; Diary of Anne Frank was challenged because it was too depressing.

It shouldn’t matter about funding. If the state only funded projects that 100% agreed with its agenda, there would be no progress. There would be no civil rights, women wouldn’t be able to vote, hell, we’d still be a part of Britain. But that means we have to have Robert Mapplethorpe, Andres Serrano’s Piss Christ, Lolita, Heavy Metal, and other things that some people may find distasteful. 

Of course, that doesn't mean we're free to do whatever we want whenever we want. There are times we come together in compromise to enact laws that promote the general welfare. I should be free to drive however fast I want on the freeway; after all my taxes help pay for the construction, maintenance, and upkeep of those roads. But we set limits because studies show we are more likely to have accidents at higher speeds. Our rights are limited by the rights of others. I think that's what gun advocates don't get. Sure, the Constitution gives us the right to own guns and responsible gun owners, like responsible drivers, aren't the problem. The problem is that everyone thinks they're responsible, when clearly someone out there isn't, otherwise we wouldn't have tragedies daily involving guns & cars. So if we're smart enough to understand the need to limit or speed, why are we not smart enough to accept limitations on gun ownership? 

Ok, so I've rambled a bit here. But, honestly, it does fit with the comic. The various authors/artists - which included Garth Ennis, Robert Kirkman, and Neil Gaiman - cover a variety of topics affecting freedom of speech and press. The art varies from elegant pen & ink drawings to contemporary comic art that, for me at least, can sometimes be a bit confusing, since it doesn't seem to follow a linear pattern.

And I learned something, which is always a bonus. I've never heard of the Treaty of Tripoli. Our 2nd President, John Adams, made s treaty with the Barbary Pirates. In it, we stated that "the United States of America is not in any sense founded on the Christian religion." There have, of course, been many instances where our friendship has been tested since then, but for someone who constantly heats how the US was founded on Christian ideals, this is a revelation.

And of course, the only place I've ever heard about it is a comic book focusing on freedom.