ARTIST'S INTRODUCTION FROM JEFF SWENSON

Originally these cartoons were published online under my gag cartoon series Frenetic Wanderings but I have recently decided to separate them out and put them under a new series called "Freethunk" where I will be more opinionated and more provacative then my usual gags.

There are a couple of reasons for this but I will narrow them down to two:

1. The religious majority in the United States and to some extent worldwide does not appreciate having their beliefs poked fun at or critiqued, regardless of how damning the irony is. And unfortunately, as a cartoonist, this is not good for business. Satire always has to walk that fine line of actually being satire and being marketable. Good satire targets anything and everything but if you offend your paying customers--guess what? You're back to flipping burgers. Ideally the goal of this site is to change this impediment to religious satire, or at least be part of the solution. If a new market can be made for atheists, agnostics and deists to produce their art without apology, then a major financial obstacle will be removed. This is not to say that it is impossible for freethinking artists and humorists to get work. They're working everywhere, from animation to cartooning to music to filmmaking. What is often impossible is to convince someone to financially back projects with an atheistic or agnostic stance because the bottomline is at stake.
ONE OTHER NOTE is that humor uses generalizations and stereotypes to often make a joke. This can be misunderstood or misinterpreted as hate, especially in the sensitive times we are now dealing with concerning terrorism. A good example is Islam and suicide bombers. It is true that not all Muslims are suicide bombers but it is true that all suicide bombers are Muslim. So a joke about Islam and Suicide bombing may look like a blanket condemnation of the entire religion, which it is not. The same goes for pro-life Christians who shoot abortionists or engage in illegal activities. Their foundation is Christianity whether other Christians agree with their actions or not. If you make a joke about Christianity and Pro-lifers, many Christians will see themselves being lumped in with fanatics, which again is not the intended result. Humor is a tricky animal and one that I maintain is based in tragedy and the exposure of the darker side of humanity. Why else does a late-night talkshow host crack jokes about priests molesting innocent children and his audience, consisting of good citizens, laughs?

2. Freethinkers, as a whole, are more well-read than mainstream readers. I'm not necessarily saying that freethinkers are smarter but if I draw a gag concerning the "rapture" I'm betting the average freethinker is not going to have problems knowing what the rapture is or if I make a joke about creationism versus evolution I think the average freethinker will understand the context. As religious as the USA is, it seems that the majority of church-goers are not always well informed about their religion or even religious debate. Religion here is sort of a weird pop culture filled with rock music, movies, topical books on Satanic scares, emotionalism in the pews, speaking in tongues, motivational seminars, youth conferences, and topical Bible studies mixing social debates with politics. Actual study of the Bible to understand its historical signifigance, its theology andl the possible problems with various translations--rare. Actual study of Church history, its subjugation of science and social progress, and the twisted biographies of well known leaders who have affected Christian thought like Martin Luther and John Calvin--forget about it.
I MUST ALSO NOTE the problem with freethinkers being more well-read and better educated than most people is that sometimes arrogance rears its ugly head and an elitist nature emerges. I've talked about this issue a bit elsewhere on this site. An elitist nature is one where it begins to define what is proper and what is not and often borders on religiosity and sometimes a subtle form of censorship. One reason there isn't a race to create a freethinking pop culture is because those freethought foundations and individuals with the money don't want to appear lowbrow to their colleagues or don't want to appear intolerant and crude to religous groups. What they don't realize is lowbrow material can be a gateway to freethinking or a blocking mechanism to religious indoctrination. The kid who isn't going to read Carl Sagan may see a gag cartoon of mine inspired by a Carl Sagan idea and stop him from swallowing everything his youth pastor feeds him. And honestly sometimes more can be said with one lowbrow joke than an entire lecture. Since I'm in a lowbrow profession I don't mind being looked at as crude. I'm certainly not an anti-intellectual, far from it. I'm amazed by by great thinkers, scientists and philosophers. It's just that when they segregate themselves and their concepts and ideas by refusing to allow other avenues of expression that may seem silly to them, I wonder if they "get it". Most likely they will complain about how stupid the masses are because their new stuffy TVseries failed to garner any attention (maybe they can get it on PBS if they're lucky). To combat religious and superstitious pop culture you need an opposing pop culture. Because ultimately this is not about education, it's a pop culture war. I wish everyone could be turned on to logical thinking with a bit of education--it just isn't that easy.

So to summarize, I became tired of including gag cartoons in my regular series that either people were offended by or just didn't get and thus the entire series was dismissed on the basis of one cartoon. People would e-mail me to ask what the "rapture" was or ask why do I hate Christians and Muslims? First of all, if you don't know what something is all you have to do is type it into a search engine and find out. Second of all, I don't hate anyone--humor is subjective and very hard to pin down as to why something is funny. I may be guilty of bad taste, stereotypical humor, and generalizations but I do not hate individuals who practice a particular religion.

I finally realized that I should narrow down such cartoons to a target audience. Our media has diversified so much now and has found target audiences for almost everyone--why not freethinkers or potential freethinkers? Why not a series of gag cartoons that attacks, critiques, and visualizes the silliness they are aware of on a day-to-day basis? It's time has come and hopefully it will inspire competition.

Some of these toons were originally posted under Frenetic Wanderings and will be recognized by those who kept up with that series. But for the most part this series is unapologetic freethinking humor.

Sincerely

Jeff Swenson