#DrawDesmondSwayne

An ugly cartoon for an ugly man at the centre of an ugly story.

I have mixed feelings about this cartoon. I put it on Twitter and immediately deleted it. Am I perpetuating a terribly racist trope?

I don’t think so. I think I’m simply shaming the man. There’s something so predictable about a man complaining about having to wear a mask yet refusing to apologise for adopting blackface. But it’s something noticeable about so many stories we read these days. The very worst people seem to share the very worse ideas, outlooks, and beliefs…

Still not sure if this cartoon goes too far. To me, it’s acceptable. I’m reflecting real life, even if the result feels ugly… Yet I still don’t know.

Hmmm…

2 thoughts on “#DrawDesmondSwayne”

  1. Do somebody go off about if on Twitter? I think its fine. I’m not actually sure how it could be racist, but I tend to be a bit of a well….dunce in such matters.

    1. Ah, thank god and thank you! No. There was no comment but a long silence in which my guilt quickly got the worst of me and I chickened out. I can also be a bit blind to how humour can offend (as evidenced, perhaps, by my use of the word blind) but everything is on such a hair-trigger these days.

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Why Dunciad.com?

It’s a cool domain name and it was available. Yes, I know. Available. Crazy, isn’t it?

Really?

Yes. It also helps that it’s also my favourite satire written by Alexander Pope, one of the most metrically pure English poets who also knew his way around a crude insult or two. If you’ve not read it, you should give it a try.

So this is satire, right?

Can’t deny it. There will be some. But it’s also an experiment in writing and drawing, giving work away for free in order to see how many people are willing to support a writer doing his thing. It’s the weird stuff that I wouldn’t get published elsewhere in this word of diminishing demands and cookie-cutter tastes.