On making light of terrible things

Today is the one-year anniversary of the shootings at Virginia Tech. I found this out while I was sitting in the campus police station right before I was shown a doodle of a guy I had drawn shooting some people. I had the presence of mind to not only caption it "SCHOOL SHOOTING!", but include the URL to my web comic. Shit got deep.

I was rather confused at first, wondering if I was in any kind of trouble. Then my mind actually kicked on, and I realized that freedom of speech rocked. I wasn't putting anyone in harm with my doodles or comics, so I had full reign to draw whatever I wanted. The cop (who was totally awesome) talked with me a bit to ascertain that I was not a threat to anyone and told me I'd probably be asked to talk with some other people in the future. Wonderful.

The whole event got me thinking. If people are so uptight, so afraid of the world, that they freak the fuck out over a napkin drawing, there is clearly more wrong than a possible school shooting. I talk with people. The smarter ones laugh. The dumb ones tell me that I shouldn't make jokes. And there's the problem.

Think about it. Murder, school shootings, terrorism, 9/11, rape, racism, sexism—there are so many terrible things in the world. Any discussion on the subjects are dreary, dismal affairs, each party trying to throw more sympathy on the fire than the other, no one actually discussing the matter at hand. I believe that you can (and should) be able to take anything in the world and mock it. When people stop to think about a work that scares them or offends them, they get hung up on the fact that they are offended. They can't get past it.

Take a subject, mock it, belittle it, tear it apart and see what it really is. Stupid hate. Misplaced emotion. A difference in opinion. Regardless of the source, as long as anyone is pent up worrying about making themselves seem more compassionate, or worrying about the hurt and pain a subject causes, there can never be free, flowing discussion. Everyone will be forced to dance around the closed minds.

It's simple. Everything is fair game for humor. Everything should be made light of. Being able to laugh in the face of horror is a beautiful thing, and don't freak out if a drawing doesn't suit your fancy. Also, I promise not to shoot anyone.