Peter Lairds Political commentary..

[Shredder]

I know he'll probably never see this, but, here goes anyway...

I have no problem with him putting his political comments in HIS book.  It's HIS book, he can do as he wishes.  If you don't care for politics, skip over it.  Myself, I don't, but I'll read it anyway just to see what's on his mind.

What I DO hate about these political type people is how if someone doesn't agree with them, they automatically call them a descriptive term.  Take this excerpt from TMNT #28...

'I'm still annoyed by the letters column, not because of its use for political commentary, but more for it's excessive use as political commentary.'

Nothing wrong here.  Just making an opinion of his.  
Then comes Peters response..

'I think you have a pretty low threshold for this kind of thing if you think my political commentary is "excessive".  I'd describe it as incidental or occasional -- certainly not "excessive"!  OF course, Right Wingers these days seem to see ANY Criticism -- no matter how minor -- of King George and his band of cronies as excessive.  Sad, really..'

Now, I typed it exactly.  Peter does have a point in one thing... his political talk isn't every issue, wich would make it excessive.     But automatically calling the guy a political term, 'Right winger' in this case, just seemed to be an un called for move on his part.  

There's probably a word for people like me who don't care for politics either.... but that's one reason why I don't really see the need for political parties, since it just adds more predjudices and hatreds, and probably causes more arguments.  Keep things the way they are now, but without the parties.  5 People are chosen out of 150 to be the next president through a pre-election.  People will vote on who they want through an official website, or newspaper.  Those 5 face off against each other, and the best man for the job, in the eyes of the public, wins...

Simplistic, sure... but ah well...

Opinions?


P

[Absaraka]

As the resident "Right Winger", I've GOT to speak up on this.

[Ann Coulter impression]
Look, if Laird wants to be a hardcore trendylefty, that's his Constitutional right.  And honestly, since he's from Massachusetts, the commonwealth whose more conservative US Senator is Chappaquiddick Teddy, I would have expected nothing less.
[/Ann Coulter impression]

Look, I watch TMNT to GET AWAY from politics.  TMNT is my ESCAPE from the DC Beltway.  If I wanted diatribes on current events, right OR left, I'd head to the current-events periodicals rack at Borders, NOT my local comic store.

This is why I do not like it when they start getting into storylines like "Sons of the Silent Age", or "1492" in the Archie series.  I do not need politics in my escapism, thank you very much.  It would be out of place to talk Turtles on Face the Nation or Meet the Press; it's just as out of place to drag politics into TMNT.

Laird needs to remember that he's an entertainer, and not a politician.  I mean, I know he looks a little like a clean-shaven version of Michael Moore, but he doesn't need to act like one.

Raka

[Michaelangelo]

I don't mind it in TMNT every now and than, just because I always enjoy the fact that the Turtles are on the same planet as us, and what goes on affects them as well.  I mean can you picture the price of gas in the year 2105  

And I don't mind it on the letter page, people have the right to speak their minds.  And there's a lot of entertainers who mix it with the real world as well.

If ya see something that doesn't entertain ya about it, you don't have to read that or pick that up.

[Raphael]

Personally, I could care less about political discussions (even more so, political discussions for a country other than the one I live in *G*). I'm on another message board where they discuss (as such) politics a lot and there's more childish name calling and proclamations of "We're boycotting so-and-so" (over and over and over) that I've just gotten to the point where I tend to ignore the discussions. Having said that, though, "right winger" is far more polite than the crap some of these people have spouted off.

I do the same thing for the political stuff in Peter's column. Most of the time, I skip over it. I don't think it's creeped into the comic so much though...I've yet to see a turtle slamming GWB (and you just KNOW Peter would love to do it...heck, I wouldn't mind seeing it...hee) or making fun of Clinton, or what have you. Personally, I didn't find that the Archie titles were all that political, even the issues mentioned.

That's the fun of politics...to each his own.

[Leonardo]

I tend to skim right over it. Sometimes I admit to rolling my eyes.
 

People wonder why we still have wars?
I mean, lets face it. People who have tried to spread a message of peace and tolerance, compassion and understanding, through religion or otherwise lived and died how long ago? Or the modern who people keep trying?
And we still have hate and war and power/money hungry fiends abusing others--aaaand we have people who treat politics like a modern religion and they get hooked into a certain platform or side, and preach about the Us and Them and You Must See The Light and Convert to Our Way Because We're All Goin' To H....
I agree I don't buy a TMNT comic to read a buncha political spew.
And even though yeah, Peter and the others are entitled to do it their way, it bothers me at some level to see them using a comic book to preach their views. Maybe its the way its done that bothers me? Because there are ways to spread a message to do one's part to help the world that don't come across as a Preach or Rant....

[Buslady]

Politics Suck.

[AristaNiara]

It's interesting to read about political stuff but not always.  Times, it always tends to get messy and puts fans against each other which I think is one of the things that TMNT has going for it, political issues is not always a problem, it's often something here and something there.  Besides, TMNT is supposed to be fun for the audience, not something the audience is supposed to get frusterated with because this character doesn't see things this way.  Yeah, that's my personal opinion...

[Aignatius]

Judging by what he writes, it seems to me Peter doesn't realize at times that in the process of ranting he's using the same narrow minded rhetoric he rants against. But since it's his "castle,"  there, he is king.
Maybe if he wanted to venture past his drawbridge and moat, he might be willing to admit that there's really two political parties involved here, narrow minded bigots, who decide they hate someone and can't put their finger on why said person can't do anything right, and those who really try to see things from varying perspectives, and don't let journalists do their thinking for them. I've seen examples on both sides of the political spectrum.

Has Peter been to cabinet meetings? Does he know any more than anyone else what is going on out there? Has he served in Afghanistan and Iraq? Or is he, like most of the public, dependent on the press for his information? There's a difference between fact and belief. He's entitled to his beliefs, as long as he doesn't confuse them with the facts.
We don't know all the facts, and so we draw our own conclusions.
I read his rants for mild amusement, but it doesn't keep me from stating my own opinions about his opinions. Without apology.
I still buy his books.
However, if I want more effective social/religious/ethics commentary injected into my fiction reading, I'll read Terry Pratchett.

[Aignatius]

It's interesting to read about political stuff but not always.  Times, it always tends to get messy and puts fans against each other which I think is one of the things that TMNT has going for it, political issues is not always a problem, it's often something here and something there.  Besides, TMNT is supposed to be fun for the audience, not something the audience is supposed to get frusterated with because this character doesn't see things this way.  Yeah, that's my personal opinion...

Forgot about that aspect... and what others have said along those lines. The downside of making such political statements, does set some fans at each others throats. Which is unfortunate. People who want to get involved in politics, have done so already. Those who don't, well, putting such raw political statement into the back of a comic isn't going to be very effective in getting them interested. Not sure what Peter's reasons are, I probably missed something he said way back when about why he's doing this. Other than just a verbal flailing about.
One thing that I don't want to get stuck in is thinking that because someone doesn't agree with my point of view, doesn't make them a lesser being.

I mean, I'd *like* to think I'm right, but uhm... ;P

[Absaraka]

And actually, politics DO creep into the stories.  The episode for "Silent Age" came across as a not-very-subtle anti-nuclear message.  "1492" was an issue-length piece of noble-savage Columbus-bashing, which was all the rage back in 1992.  And Leo's bio in the Archie sourcebook specifically mentions that he hates guns--and if that's not taking a political stance, I don't know what is.

And while I do agree that a few current events to ground the series shouldn't be entirely out of play, I'd appreciate it IMMENSELY if, once every blue moon, we'd get some red-state opinions from the good guys.  Or have I missed some examples of those?  (And where were they?)

Raka

[Michaelangelo]

The Turtles have mentioned many times that they hate guns, though I never ever saw that as a politics, I saw that as who they are.   I mean they're ninjas, they fight with honor with their ninja weapons.  They would look down upon guns, just from the way they were brought up.  Raphael has stated as well that he hates Guns in the comic "Body Counts" his line is "I hate guns but they even the odds against the loosers".

People's personal view of if they like or hate guns should not be seen as politics that's taking it too serious.   That's the way people are brought up, and it makes total sense with the TMNT to not be big gun fans.  Though they don't cut guns out of the series, and they do have the Turtles use guns when need be.  So they may hate guns, but that doesn't mean they don't take them into action.

And the anti-nuclear case is just about helping the world, that the planet is in danger by those things.  It wasn't about politics though opening people to the idea that those things could be bad for the planet, it's not going to stop anyone from using or checking into it for themselves, though it's just a story about things that could be a problem.   If you watch the Simpsons they pick all the time on nuclear stuff, with Homer's job at the plant, and the three eyed fish that showed up a lot.   Though not once did I ever feel oh this is towards this or that politic stance in the world.

I'm not a person into politics so I can not say if they had any hints towards this or that side of the parties.  Though I can say that when I'm watching the stories, I haven't seen them do anything that I didn't agree with or feel was out of character.  If people started to throw politics into the story without it matching the characters, than I would have a problem with it.

[Aignatius]

Actually, in a conversation way back in the stone age, Peter (in a commentary on the Bodycount series) had said that the TMNT, being ninja, will use whatever weapon they have on hand, along the lines of, "take advantage of the environment, be it traditional weapons, guns, or blasters".
In more than one story, Don has used a gun or a blaster to settle a problem that needed immediate attention, to put it lightly. So yes, they have made statements that they hate guns, but they will use them if necessary.

[Leonardo]

Hating guns is not political in and of itself.
Liking guns it not political in and of itself.
If you want to tie that into a whole political platform about government's regulation or deregulation of guns as part of it, then it's political. Or if you want to push for or against laws about guns, etc.

But just to decide for personal reasons that you hate guns? Not political.

Just wanted to say that, while there are times I feel Peter in particular, or someone at Mirage is pushing the book into their political stance, there are plenty of times where the only politics I see in the comic is on Peter's Rant section.