Be Aware
Throughout my improbably-long career, I’ve enjoyed doing cartoons that take more than a glance to understand. We’ve discussed the brain’s “default mode network” (DMN) here on this blog before but as a quick refresher, it’s the part of your brain that glances at things and tells you what they are so you don’t have to identify every object, sound, or sensation every second of your waking life. But sometimes—much more often than we realize—it gets it wrong and convinces you of things that aren’t true. For example, you may wander through your living room on your way to the kitchen and see your spouse sitting in front of the TV out of the corner of your eye. Once in the kitchen, you look out the window and see your spouse in the yard. You return to the living room and find that it was a pile of clothes to be donated to the Salvation Army that you mistook for your spouse. (Yes, the pile of clothes you no longer have use for may be an apt metaphor for your spouse, but that’s not your DMN’s fault.)
In the dog cartoon above, many people’s DMN will tell them the sign says “Beware of Dog,” because that’s what it is used to seeing in this context. But in this case, it is not saying that, and that’s the joke. In that sense, this cartoon is about being fully aware, not just our usual partial awareness where we’re actually assuming most of what we perceive.
The title panel above that with the cat and mouse is a little bit similar in the sense that you have to look closely at the mouse to see that it, too, is taking a selfie. Your DMN might have ignored that.
Now that we’ve got that out of the way, I’d like to change the topic to something else to be aware of; that of my qualifications for giving medical advice. I have none.
I mention this because I’ve gotten some mail from readers about the humorous essay I posted a couple of weeks ago about my colonoscopy experience. I got two kinds of mail that were notable: 1) folks telling me that it is dangerous to disparage a lifesaving medical procedure that is exponentially less bothersome than the diseases it detects (which I thought was ridiculous because, really, who would take medical advice from a cartoonist?) and 2) folks telling me that they had a relative who was using my blog post as an excuse for not getting a colonoscopy. (Doh!)
To the first folks, I’d like to say that I agree wholeheartedly that the diseases are worse than the procedure. No doubt! But I wrote that column purely for the sake of humor and did not believe that anyone would take it seriously enough to use it to avoid medical treatment. And to the second folks I’d like to say, tell your family member that they should never take medical advice from a cartoonist. This is no more appropriate than expecting your gastroenterologist to make you laugh. We have very different job skills.
In fact, I’ll say it directly to the folks who are resisting it: If you’ve got any reason whatsoever to believe you may have something going on—symptoms of your own or blood relatives who’ve had something that runs in families—you’re taking an unnecessary risk by avoiding a visit to a gastroenterologist. Really, it’s not as bad as I pretended it was for the sake of humor.
Not long ago, I watched a family member (by marriage) battle colon cancer with all the usual state-of-the-art treatments and surgeries and it was definitely worse than a colonoscopy. By a lot! Eventually, it killed him but he’d likely still be alive had it been detected earlier.
In the end (pun intended!) it’s your body and your life so I’m not going to tell you what to do, but you should be aware of the tradeoff. I hate visiting doctors and doing medical stuff as much as we liberals supposedly hate Christmas, but I still choose the inconvenience of a few medical tests every now and then to the 24/7 battle that a serious disease demands. And whatever you decide, please don’t let your final words be, “I never should have read that goddam cartoonist’s blog.”
But since you’re here now, we might as well look at the Bizarro cartoons the amazing Wayno coughed up this week…
I saw some paisley clouds once but it might have been the mushrooms.
“…and on hang-down bass, Tom Roberts!”
Unbeknownst to most of you, this is a cartoon rendering of Wayno’s band, The Red Beans & Rice Combo.
My favorite thing about this cartoon is that we got a comment from a guy congratulating Wayno on the getting the anatomy of the ant correct, unlike most cartoons, and another from a guy criticizing the horribly incorrect anatomy of the ant.
Anyone recognize the logo font of the AA battery? Wayno tells us all about it in his blog post this week and he also features a pretty priceless photo of himself in college. He may have been majoring in rocket science but his minor was in “cool”.
I really love this gag and I particularly like the podium emblem here.
Clearly marked money bags are a good way to keep them from being accidently thrown out with the garbage.
That concludes our cartoon community college course for today. Thanks for sticking around to pick up your diploma. If you enjoy what we do and that we don’t hit you with ads and clickbait, maybe consider visiting the links below to help us keep it that way.
Until next time, dance like no one’s looking but be sure to close the drapes first.
BIZARRO SHOP Fun and cheap!
… Bizarro TIP JAR One-time or repeating. Your choice!
…Signed, numbered, limited edition prints and original Bizarro panels