This is in response to Adam Ritenauer’s response over a file sharing cartoon. Mr. Ritenauer comments on the “fallacy” of the cartoon, which is all well and good. However, I think Mr. Ritenauer forgot that he is writing in response to the fallacy of a cartoon.
As someone who has never drawn or written comics, I still know that a common form of humor is exaggeration. In this case, the cartoonist is exaggerating the music industry crack-down on file sharing. Being that this was a cartoon, I’m willing to bet that this depiction was intended to be humorous. I found Mr. Ritenauer’s response to be humorous as well — the fact that someone took a cartoon so seriously is just plain funny.
If Mr. Ritenauer is looking for accurate social portrayals in the media, he would do well to avoid any comics. I seriously doubt that anyone reading the BG News is now concerned that they may go to prison for file-sharing. I hope I do not have to see a response letter next week that informs your readers that cats, (such as Garfield) cannot eat an entire pan of lasagna or that dogs do not give business advice, such as dogbert in the Dilbert comics.
ERIC JORREY
GRADUATE STUDENT
