Althouse: But my neighbor sucks.

March 31, 2024

But my neighbor sucks.

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39 comments:

Humperdink said...: The cartoon sure misses the point. Unfunny.; 3/31/24, 4:47 PM
RideSpaceMountain said...: "Nice, my neighbor is so hot"

Whoever put that in there is OK in my book. Call me.; 3/31/24, 5:01 PM
Eva Marie said...: An admonition for Christian Biden to love his neighbor Trump. I like it.; 3/31/24, 5:14 PM
MadisonMan said...: My neighbors do not suck. They are great neighbors!; 3/31/24, 5:26 PM
Iman said...: They elevated Robert Mapplethorpe to star status.

In their world. Not mine.; 3/31/24, 5:28 PM
Mason G said...: Looks like what you would expect from a cartoonist attempting to make fun of something he doesn't understand.; 3/31/24, 5:42 PM
Lloyd W. Robertson said...: Cardinal Cody of Chicago, a somewhat controversial figure who may have been satirized in novels, wrote some words shortly before his death:“I have forgiven my enemies …. I can turn away because I am a Christian, a bishop, a person. I do so. But God will not so forgive. God’s is another way—he stands before my former enemies insisting forever with good will that they change. If they change, it will be because God has given something to them that they do not now have—a gift, a grace—to renew themselves by turning from a delusion toward truth.”

There is surely some comfort in thinking that God will not forgive the bastards.; 3/31/24, 5:48 PM
Joanne Jacobs said...: I love the cartoon!

I like my neighbors, but . . .; 3/31/24, 6:24 PM
Wa St Blogger said...: The cartoon sure misses the point. Unfunny.

I take it differently. I think the point is that everyone else misses the point. That is what the crowd represents.

Loving people in the abstract is easy. It is easy to love those with whom you have sympathy. It is hard to love those who are not aligned with you. Rarely can anyone di that well, The conservative Christians don't and the liberal doo-gooders don't. Each hate those who oppose their world view. The message was radical 4000 years ago. It was radical 2000 years ago, it is radical now.

In the spirit of Easter, the Gospel message is that God loved those who opposed Him. All of them. Even the ones who hung His son on a cross. Good thing for us. He tell us to do have the same kind of love for those whom we hate. But we fail. Good thing for us that this does not disqualify us for heaven. Otherwise Jesus dying on the cross would have been meaningless.

So, next time you jump on a Christian for being a hypocrite, just remember, that God accepts them despite that failing.; 3/31/24, 6:43 PM
Ampersand said...: The cartoon perfectly captures the real world response to the ethical challenges of reciprocity. Funny.; 3/31/24, 6:58 PM
Assistant Village Idiot said...: Yeah...but I think I've seen a lot of variations on this. It is ironic to criticise a cartoon as being two-dimensional - that is the point - but it is just oversimplified Jesus, oversimplified critics.; 3/31/24, 6:59 PM
Jaq said...: Althouse plays the "If you're explaining, you're losing" card.; 3/31/24, 7:02 PM
NorthOfTheOneOhOne said...: Aren't those Valentine's Day candies? Our "moral and intellectual betters" should stop with the chastising and take a knee.; 3/31/24, 7:18 PM
Ann Althouse said...: “ I take it differently. I think the point is that everyone else misses the point. That is what the crowd represents.”

I agree and am surprised to see it misunderstood.; 3/31/24, 8:01 PM
Narr said...: As Mencken said (or near enough), "The person who inflicts her ideas on the world must expect to be misunderstood."; 3/31/24, 8:06 PM
Luke Lea said...: Nobody said it was going to be easy.; 3/31/24, 8:13 PM
tim maguire said...: Blogger Ann Althouse said...I agree and am surprised to see it misunderstood.

Very Alinskyite—make your opposition live up to its own rule book.

People who don’t understand Christianity think they’re in a position to criticize Christians for supposedly not doing something they would never even consider doing themselves. It’s the standard liberal “get out of hypocrisy free” card. These people can’t comprehend the very Christian direction to hate the sin, but love the sinner.; 3/31/24, 8:53 PM
Joe Smith said...: Very funny...; 3/31/24, 10:02 PM
Wince said...: They are Sweethearts, but they answer like a bunch of Sweathogs.

Mr. Kotter was Jewish, and so was J.C.

Mr. Woodman replaced principal Lazarus.

Mrs. Epstein was the hot neighbor.

“Up your nose with a rubber hose.”; 4/1/24, 2:08 AM
wendybar said...: They don't know how to make a funny meme because of their lies....They need to open their eyes and see how much hate they are causing.; 4/1/24, 3:46 AM
Humperdink said...: Unfunny? Why you ask? If your perspective is: "I am will love my neighbor, but he still sucks", that is not forgiving or loving, it's condescending. Reminds me of an elite patting me on the head with that all knowing smile. Jesus forgives without condition as far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us (Psalm 103). He doesn't remember you still "suck".; 4/1/24, 5:57 AM
Mike (MJB Wolf) said...: Boy nothing illustrates how misunderstood Jesus was in His time like that green one up front. I truly wonder if that was the artist’s intention.; 4/1/24, 6:00 AM
Kakistocracy said...: If only Jesus had left very specific instructions on what Christians should do if slapped in the face.; 4/1/24, 6:02 AM
Mike (MJB Wolf) said...: I wonder if people who casually call people Bible thumpers and refer to flyover country as Jesusland will understand the biting humor of this cartoon. It seems most of the reactions here missed the point. Which as Althouse points out, is the point. Jesus is and was misunderstood by so many. Reminds me of The Far Side and the subtle sophistication Larson would slip into his work occasionally.

Excellent offering, Althouse!; 4/1/24, 6:12 AM
Christopher B said...: Rich said...
If only Jesus had left very specific instructions on what Christians should do if slapped in the face.

We've known you jerk off to the image of Christians being loaded into cattle cars for a long time.; 4/1/24, 7:41 AM
Enigma said...: Now add some hearts with the real-life ideologies that followed and drifted away from "love your neighbor", such as:

* Medieval Catholics: "Kill them all, God will know his own."

* Islam: Christianity retuned for warlords.

* The Christian missionaries who installed missions worldwide and invented the missionary position.; 4/1/24, 8:10 AM
Matt said...: Side note: the cartoonist is the guitarist for the band Jukebox the Ghost. They make good music. I first heard about them from their annual Halloqueen concert wherein they dress up like Queen and perform said band's music. Recommended original songs by the band are "Fred Astaire" and "Jumpstarted".; 4/1/24, 8:23 AM
Tina Trent said...: It seems like the time to quote something pithy from Chesterton.; 4/1/24, 8:42 AM
lonejustice said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 4/1/24, 8:49 AM
Mike (MJB Wolf) said...: Matt said in part, "Jukebox the Ghost...Halloqueen, wherein they dress up like Queen and perform said band's music."

Impressive. Anyone who can cartoon like Gary Larson (IMO) and play like Brian May is a pretty talented person. Awesome.; 4/1/24, 10:07 AM
Robert Cook said...: "The cartoon sure misses the point. Unfunny."

The cartoon hits the point dead center. Funny? Unfunny? Doesn't matter: it's the bitter truth.; 4/1/24, 11:50 AM
Robert Cook said...: "An admonition for Christian Biden to love his neighbor Trump. I like it."

And for bitter Trumpers to love all their fellow humans, despite political association, race, sexual and gender dispositions, etc.; 4/1/24, 11:54 AM
Robert Cook said...: "People who don’t understand Christianity think they’re in a position to criticize Christians for supposedly not doing something they would never even consider doing themselves. It’s the standard liberal 'get out of hypocrisy free' card. These people can’t comprehend the very Christian direction to hate the sin, but love the sinner."

But the haters are hating the sinners.; 4/1/24, 11:59 AM
Robert Cook said...: "* Medieval Catholics: 'Kill them all, God will know his own.'"

A violation and repudiation of Jesus's teachings. The Medieval Catholics who agreed with or abided by this axiom would be denied by Jesus and barred from Heaven.; 4/1/24, 12:03 PM
Robert Cook said...: "Jesus is and was misunderstood by so many."

Yes, not least among self-professed "Christians."; 4/1/24, 12:06 PM
mikee said...: Read this in Dana Carvey's Church Lady voice, please:

Robert Cook assumes to know the mind of God. Well, isn't that special? You know who else thinks like that? Somebody who presumed to be the equal or even superior to the Creator? You know who that was? Was it... SATAN?!; 4/1/24, 1:30 PM
Joe Bar said...: A thoughtful and poignant cartoon.; 4/1/24, 4:03 PM
Jim at said...: If only Jesus had left very specific instructions on what Christians should do if slapped in the face.

What about those of us who aren't Christian? What are we supposed to do? Just continue to take it?; 4/1/24, 4:39 PM
Mike (MJB Wolf) said...: Incorrect again Cookie. There are many who understand Jesus less than the average Christian. But those who know better have the responsibility to act on that knowledge unlike the unbelievers. That’s in the Bible too, Robert.; 4/1/24, 5:59 PM