dear post-gazette:
I read with some dismay this past Sunday’s “Family Circus” comic. The strip features little Billy expounding upon the geographical origin of each of his articles of clothing, indicating many developing nations in southeast Asia and Latin America, then explaining that he — along with most of his “favorite things” — was made right here in the USA.
He then proudly displays the “MADE IN THE USA” logo on his shirt, which he pointed out earlier was made in the South Pacific somewhere, and posits that his wardrobe is a “meetin’ of the United Nations!”
It’s okay for Bil Keane to subscribe to a culturally imperialist attitude about the production of goods and to believe that clothes should be made elsewhere but our “favorite things” should come from right here in the United States — hey, it’s a free country. But I resent that he’s using the paper pulpit of my Sunday comics to express it. The comics are a place for good innocent fun, not for politics. I say, if it’s funny, keep it in the funny pages. If it’s just a platform for Bil Keane to force his ideology on us and our children on an otherwise sunny and syrup-drenched Sunday morning, perhaps you should consider moving “The Family Circus” to the editorial page, where it would better fit in.
It seems at this point that they’re not running this, so I figured I’d put it up here. It would’ve been funnier in black and white; I even got the phrase “it’s a free country” in there! Ah well.