Off Topic: Jack Chick's "Lisa"

Chick Tracts. Those little comics that you find in laundry mats, and tucked away in bathrooms in college campuses. They tell stories of how evolution is a lie created by Satan, and how sitting in a basement pretending to be a wizard is a one way ticket to hell. In fact there are a lot of ways one can be sent to hell in Jack Chick's world. Here's a short list of them:

1. Being Catholic. This seems to be a big one. In fact I could compile another list of everything Chick blames the Catholic Church for. But that's for another post.

2. Being Mormon.

3. Being gay

4. Being a part of that group that wears those funny little hats

5. Celebrating Halloween.

6. Playing Dungeons and Dragons.

7. Being Muslim

8. Having sex out of wedlock (oh, yeah, AIDS? God's punishment, of course)

Essentially Chick's website is one stop shopping for "you're going to hell" type preaching. But there's one tract you won't find on his website. Lisa. It's a legitimate Chick tract, but let's just say it's message isn't easily welcomed. Despite Chick's attempts to erase it from history, it can easily be found with a simple google search.*

I would post it here, but Jack Chick Publications is know for zealously defending it's "intellectual property". So instead, I shall post links. Those will probably be taken down as well, but hey, "enjoy" them while they last!

Let's begin.

Pages 1-5:

Henry is a bad man. He doesn't have a job.  His poor, long suffering wife is forced to work as a waitress in some slimy dive.

His wife, as one might expect, isn't happy about the situation and tells him so. Henry's response?

"Get off my back Linda".

Henry stumbles off to get beer, picking up some porn along the way. He makes his way home to indulge and is soon joined by his pervert neighbor. As Henry and his neighbor indulge in the oh so heterosexual activity of watching porn together, the neighbor reveals some "juicy gossip". Apparently Henry is sexually molesting his daughter Lisa.

Fortunately for Henry, and unfortunately for Lisa, the neighbor is willing to keep a secret as long as he and Henry "share and share alike".


Feeling ill yet?

Panels 6-11

Two months later, Lisa is at the doctor's for a rash. But it isn't just a rash, it's herpes. And what's "worse" the doctor knows. 


Henry screams "SHE LIED" but the doctor isn't buying it. Henry then resorts to blaming his wife. Her lack of respect is what made him want to diddle his daughter and treat her like the neighborhood pedophile bike. The doctor doesn't contest this of course, because along with not accepting Jesus Christ as their personal savior, the other cause father/daughter incest is lack of proper respect from ol' wifey.

What follows is the typical Jack Chick styled "you're going to rot in the pit-fires of hell if you don't accept Jesus Christ, blah, blah, blah . . ." 

Panel's 12-17

Because of the good doctor's wise, Jesus loving' ways. Henry repents and accepts Jesus Christ as his personal savior. Of course the doctor tells him that he's still going to have to call the cops on him, because, you know he's got to render unto Caesar what is . . .

WRONG!

Henry is let go. Because that whole born again thing Henry will never have to worry about prison, and getting shanked in the rectum. His soul is clean (unless Lisa tells an adult who isn't insane, or some kind pharmacist becomes concerned about the fact he's dispensing Valtrex for a six year old).

So Henry merrily returns to his wife to spread the good news.

Panels 18 -23

Apperently she had her suspicions that he was raping her daughter.  Now, she has proof, so she'll be the one to call the cops on him. Now that he's a Christian, he can't lie, right?

Wrong!

They pray, and that makes everything better! In the final panel we finally see Lisa. Her mother tells her that her that "[her] daddy and [her mommy] will never hurt her again."

THE END

I'm pretty sure that anyone with a hint of common sense has already figured this out, but this tract is pretty, well, fucked up.

Sexual abuse wrecks lives, and I don't think "I love Jesus now, so daddy's sorry" would cut it. Plus Henry being saved doesn't get rid of Lisa's herpes.

The neighbor? He's still free to run around and wreck the lives of other children. Granted, snitching on him would probably get Henry in trouble as well . . .

Police: So your neighbor raped your daughter and gave her herpes.

Henry: Yes.

Police: Was there any time that he could have had access to your daughter, been alone with her?

Henry: Well . . . uh, you . . . see I was . . .I'm saved ok? Jesus in all his glory has changed me so I no longer do that to her . . .

Jail. Rectum. Shank.

Yes. These are fictional characters, but Jack T. Chick is suggesting this is ok. That if you rape your child, Jesus will make it all better. As I previously stated, that the tract is no longer available on the official site.  Is that because Chick realized how fucked up it is, or because enough people, even the ones who regularly dispense his tracts on street corners, called him on it?

Suffer the little children indeed.

*God Bless the internet, huh Jack?

NCBS Murder Ballads Project. 2. Stagger Lee pt 2

If you're not a fan of "foul" language you might want to skip today's post.

Sing a Song of Murder, has talked about the lore surrounding "Stagger Lee" before, but Nick Cave's version takes it to a different place entirely.  A forced homosexual act was probably not what the original writer of "Stagger Lee" probably had in mind.  I'm sure these lyrics never popped into his head either:

I'm a bad motherfucker don't ya know
And I'll craw over fifty good pussies 
Just to get to one fat boy's asshole

Love the Take That shirt.

From what I've read Cave took lyrical inspiration from The Life: The Lore and Folk Poetry of the Black Hustler.  I'm currently trying to search out a copy that won't cost me 59.99 (used).

I think that "Stagger Lee", like "Delia's Gone" might have taken some inspiration from gangster rap, which was huge at the time of Murder Ballads.  If you don't remember the glory days of Snoop Dogg, Tupac, and uh . . .others* it involved a little of this . . .

Some of this . . .

 

And a lot of this

A lot of violence,  a lot of "motherfucker/motherfucking/motherfuckers" and the phrase "suck my dick".


Of course Eazy-E wasn't really suggesting that Dr. Dre get down on his knees and unbutton his fly.*1 It was more of an expression of dominance; "I'm the alpha male. You're a woman compared to me."*2


Lyrically, and through Cave's spoken word performance, "Stagger Lee" seems to be poking fun at rap's hyper-masculinity.  When Cave's Stagger Lee says "suck my dick" he really means "suck my dick."  


I stated in the previous post that Stagger Lee is the quintessential American song.  So does a "foreigner" have any right to sing it?  There's something to be said for being outside looking in.  Conservatives ranted and raved about gangster rap, and yet violence is so much at the heart of America, and American music.   It seems that only Americans have yet to accept that.

* Sorry, I'm hopelessly white.

*1 I'm really white.

*2 Lilly White

Off-Topic: I Spit On Your Grave

The following image is NSFW.  Meaning it's Not Safe For Work.  The following image is also tacky, tasteless and downright immature.

So click at your own risk.

Get Your Gunn

Pseudo-morals work real well
On the talk shows for the weak
Selective judgements
And goodguy badges
Don't mean a fuck to me

- Marilyn Manson, Get Your Gunn

Okay everyone let's all take a nice deep breath, and prepare for the following article.  This article will mention, abortion.  By all means give your opinion, but please be civil.  

Oh and there's Marilyn Manson, but really, is anyone still shocked by him anymore?  

According to Marilyn Manson, Get Your Gunn was inspired by the 1993 murder of abortion provider Dr. David Gunn.(Link)  Gunn's killer Michael Griffin claimed he was acting on orders from God:

"For five hours that afternoon, Griffin stood outside The Ladies Center waiting for Gunn to leave. Griffin recalls: "I felt like I had another word from the Lord for him: that he was accused and convicted of murder and that his sentence was Genesis 9:6 'Whosoever sheds man's blood, by man his blood shall be shed.'" 

"Then, right before he got in his car, I said, 'David Gunn, are you going to kill children next week?' " Griffin claims that Gunn replied by saying, "Yeah. Probably."

Five days later, Griffin fired three .38caliber bullets into Gunn's back as the doctor got out of his car in the parking lot behind the offices of the city's other abortion clinic, Pensacola Women's Medical Services.  (Link)

I've pretty much been pro-choice since 6th grade.  I have this memory of being the only person who raised my hand in support of abortion during a current events discussion.  At age 15, this song pretty much represented everything I was angry about.  At this point in my life the lyrics seem a little bit, silly at times.  Still, listening to it takes me back to my dark little bedroom; writing bad poetry, jumping around, slamming doors etc.  Ah, memories.

There's also something in me that recognizes the song's rage.  The anger at the hypocrisy of it all.  On the day Dr. Tiller was murdered, I gave Get Your Gunn another listen.  Goddamn your righteous hand . . .

Used to Love Her

Random Guns N' Roses Talk 

I used to love GNR a lot.  I was thirteen, so think about your basic Justin Bieber fangirl and replace it with Axl Rose.  Then I discovered Bikini Kill and feminism.  I started wearing  combat boots, writing bad poetry and moved on.

Too bad.  Appitie for Destruction was a great album.  That being said, Axl Rose is an ass.  They could have made a lot of great albums, instead they made one great album, two sort of good albums, one dull covers album, and one bargin bin laughing stock.  

Talk Over

I hesitated before deciding to discuss the Guns' N Roses song, Used to Love Her.  Listening to it makes me feel guilty, the same way that liking the work that Tina Turner did with Ike more than her solo output makes me feel guilty.  While Axl Rose has never killed anyone, there's more than enough evidence out there that he has physically abused his partners.   

What makes this song any different than the other killing women type songs?  Besides the fact it's sung by a man who is an abuser?    The woman in Used to Love Her is disposable.

The women in Deila's Gone and 99 to Life are killed for withholding their very powerful affection.  The poor Knoxvile Girl is possibly killed for an unplanned pregnancy.  The woman in "Used to Love Her"? "She bitched so much, she drove [him] nuts." She became an annoyance, so the man simply killed her and buried her in his backyard.   And he's "happier this way".

The killers in Deila, Knoxvile and 99 pay for their crimes.  All suffer from remorse.  Haunted by ghosts and devils around their beds.   They all go to prison.  Axl Rose's killer is untouched by the law.

Yet the song, in my opinion is pretty damn funny.

I'd knew I'd miss her
so I had to keep her
she's buried right in my backyard

I still can't help but feel conflicted.  I give a lot of other songs a pass.  But not this one.  Is it fair?  Maybe not, but I'm sure that's human nature.

Another Look: Cop Killer

Haven't been feeling well this week, which has led to a lack of new posts.  So I thought I'd post this: Charlton Heston addresses The Cop Killer controversy.

Original "Cop Killer" post can be found here.

Cop Killer

I got my twelve gauge sawed off
I got my headlights turned off
I'm bout to bust some shots off
I'm bout to dust some cops off
- Body Count, Cop Killer


If you are old enough to remember the early 90's, chances are you recall that this little song  got a lot of attention. Not from radio stations, not ones that played music anyway. For moral conservatives, Cop Killer represented everything that was wrong with society.  For others it was a reaction to a corrupt police system.  Still other felt that, subject matter or not, Cop Killer was issue of free speech.


The song was eventually removed from the album.  But for myself, and a lot of my friends who grew up during that era, it still represents the rights of the artists vs social responsibility.

Cop Killer came out when a lot of minds were focused on the issue of police brutality.  Many people had witnessed footage of the beating of Rodney King.  About a month after the album was released, LA would erupt in violence in response to the acquittals of the officers involved.





So what is Cop Killer?  A "protest record"? (A Roc Exclusive: Ice T Speaks Out . .  .). Unlike "story songs", protest songs are a call to action.  And in once case "action" was taken.

While on patrol in July 1992, two Las Vegas police officers were ambushed and shot by four juvenile delinquents who boasted that Ice-T's Cop Killer gave them a sense of duty and purpose, to get even with "a f-king pig". The juveniles continued to sing its lyrics when apprehended.  (The Music of Murder)

So was Body Count telling people to go out and kill police officers, or was it simply a fantasy taken to extremes?