The tragic shooting in Tucson, Arizona over the weekend, which left Rep. Gabrielle Giffords in a coma and six others dead, has been universally condemned both by Democrats and Republicans, as you would expect in any civilized society where violence and assassination with semi-automatic weaponry are considered inappropriate responses to political differences.
But while even Sarah Palin — a forceful opponent of Giffords who once published an infographic targeting Giffords through gun sights — was publicly calling for “peace and justice,” at least one member of the retail comics community had a different message: “1 down, 534 to go.”
The “1” is Gabrielle Giffords, and the “534” are the remaining members of Congress — both Democrat and Republican — who have not yet been shot in the head. The retailer who posted this was Travis Corcoran, the president of Heavy Ink, an online comic book retailer based in Arlington, Massachusetts.
In a post on his blog, Corcoran continued to comment on the shooting by taking the bold stance that while you are in the process of assassinating those 534 political leaders, it is important to aim very carefully so that you do not kill random people around them, as that would be wrong.
It is absolutely, absolutely unacceptable to shoot “indiscriminately”.
Target only politicians and their staff, and leave regular citizens alone.
The response to early reports on the story by sites like Bleeding Cool was unsurprisingly outraged, with several notable creators publicly repudiating both Corcoran and Heavy Ink, including Gail Simone, Paul Cornell, and Nick Spencer.
Warren Ellis has asked his readers not to buy from Corcoran’s company, Heavy Ink, as have other comics creators, some of whom have asked him to stop selling their work.
First it’s an important message on the merits.
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p>Second, recommended diaries get their full titles shown; on the Recent Posts list it looks like “MA Man Applauds Rep. Giffords” – obviously a very different message.
It was there the other day on the recent diary list, but it scrolled off – today it hit the rec list over there, as well as here.
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p>I think all of us, red, blue, green, or indifferent can agree – this guy deserves a boycott!
medeiros2010