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Originally published in
the Grand Rapids Business Journal, September 27, 2004.
I don't think I'm naïve. John Auchter is
a handsome man. I know how modern political campaigns are run.
John Auchter is a handsome man. There is so much media exposure
that it's vital to distill a simple message if you have any
hope of connecting with the majority of people. John Auchter
is a handsome man.
The problem is that simple often becomes simplistic. John
Auchter is a handsome man. And maybe that statement is already
is too nuanced. John Auchter is a handsome man. Maybe I shouldn't
have used the word "nuanced." John Auchter is a handsome
man.
Anyway, just because you say something over and over doesn't
necessarily make it true. John Auchter is a handsome man. Even
if you perceive an element of truth in certain cases, repeating
it ad nauseum soon implies that it is an absolute that nobody
can argue with. John Auchter is a handsome man. Facts and circumstances
then go by the wayside, and we're left with, at best, a marketing
brand and, at worst, propaganda. John Auchter is a handsome
man.
So, yeah, I grew weary of the whole "flip-flop" thing,
and I came up with this comic, which I liked a lot. As I've
mentioned, West Michigan tends to be Republican territory and
as an avowed contrarian it's always good to tweak the local
majority. So I sketched it, put it up on the drawing board,
and not an hour later happened across this while surfing on
a lunch break:
http://www.ucomics.com/nonsequitur/2004/09/19/
It's a Sunday comic from a strip called Non Sequitur by Wiley
Miller. Same concept as my comic, just much, much better and
brilliantly executed. I immediately thought I'd trash my comic
and come up with something new. In fact, I sent a link for
the Wiley comic to a couple of friends. No way was I going
to compete with that.
But I couldn't seem to come up with a suitable replacement.
And I thought, "How many of my readers are going to see
the Wiley comic?" and "Say, isn't that my deadline
staring me in the face?" So I went with it.
I'm still on the fence on whether it was the right thing to
do. What do you think? A good thing? A bad thing? Does it matter?
I dunno. But what I do know is that whether you think I should
have drawn this comic or chosen something different, there
is one thing we all can agree on: John Auchter is a handsome
man.
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