Jack Chick is dead

[Alex K. Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Alex K.]

https://www.facebook.com/chicktracts...7595360455058/

Yay?

[Smegma Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Smegma]

2016 is the year that seems to be killing all the icons. From HG Lewis to Jack Chick.
I've collected Chick tracts for years and years. The older ones (like Dark Dungeons) are usually the most fun, but it's amazing he's gone on for so long. 92 years old.

I miss Dr. Gene Scott too. The world is changing so fast. One day kids won't even know what televangelism is. They won't experience getting an insane tract (instead of candy) for Halloween from the neighborhood Ned Flanders.

I admired guys like Jack Chick... kind of like professional wrestling heels in a "good guy" persona. (Regardless if they were hamming it up or believed it 100%). I still crack a smile listening to old Bob Larson interviews with Boyd Rice or whatever in the 80s. All that makes me really nostalgic.

[Mark Tolch Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Mark Tolch]

Good riddance.

[Ian Jane Administrator Find all posts View Profile Close Ian Jane]

I loved Chick's stuff but I have an affinity for oddball fire and brimstone stuff.

There are still street preacher types that hand out the Chick Tracts every day in the Times Square subway station. Hopefully that never changes.

[Mark Tolch Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Mark Tolch]

It's not just fire and brimstone stuff, bottom line is that this guy was a hate-monger who spread his bullshit through comics. Is that amusing because he claimed that the devil indoctrinated kids through avenues that would appeal to them? Sure it is. But, like Fred Phelps, the world is a better place without him.

[Mark Tolch Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Mark Tolch]

Lest that sound dickish or critical of you, Ian, it wasn't meant to be. I just think the guy was a scumbag who went past novelty and into harmful.

[Ian Jane Administrator Find all posts View Profile Close Ian Jane]

It's all good. I don't think what he did was right or anything, I just found it all kind of amusing. I just like screwy comics is all.

I also have a soft spot for Spire Christian Comics, my grandmother would always buy those for me as a kid. They were much softer though. No hate mongering and what not, at least not that I remember. They were a kinder, gentler way to convert kids than the Chick stuff. I still have the Johnny Cash issue somewhere in my collection.

[Mark C. Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Mark C.]

I have some of these, maybe a dozen or so. I always found them in the street, tossed away, but I saved some.

[Randy G Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Randy G]

I've got a pretty substanial collection that I ordered years ago from a black metal distributor. Love them.

[Ian Jane Administrator Find all posts View Profile Close Ian Jane]

Lest that sound dickish or critical of you, Ian, it wasn't meant to be. I just think the guy was a scumbag who went past novelty and into harmful.

You'll probably get a kick out of this.

https://thenib.com/jack-chick-goes-t...source=twitter

[Mark Tolch Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Mark Tolch]

I love that!

[Smegma Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Smegma]

[Please don't take this personal Mark, this is meant in a 'general society today' type of way.]

I grew up in the deep south in the 80's. The 'satanic panic' and being force to watch documentaries in school like "Hell's Bells: The Dangers of Rock 'N Roll"* are things I remember very well. Sure, back then, I thought these guys were douches and shook my head.

But now I wonder what the 'real world consequences' of these religious characters has actually been? I mean objectively, the REAL impact they've caused. I'll be honest with you: I don't know anyone who was permanently screwed up by any of this propaganda. On the other hand, I've probably easily seen more than a half-dozen friends buried due to drugs. (I'm also guessing this situation isn't unique to just me). If we wanted to be *truly objective* - I suppose it would only be fair to hate anything promoting drug use with multiple times the intensity we oppose religious kooks? Of course we don't though? (and I'm not saying we should.)

What I am saying is: I think the actual negative impact caused by guys like Jack Chick is honestly completely overblown. Today, it's so easy for everyone to collectively jump on the pile and "hate the haters" etc... Somehow it has even become almost expected of us?

Here's a parallel example: Saying "fuck the police" (to a cop's face) in 1980 at a Black Flag concert took a lot of guts and probably earned you a free wood shampoo (that garnered little sympathy outside your inner circle of punk friends). Today, (through online social media, etc.) almost everyone seems expected to pile on hating the police. Conversely, just about anyone who defends them today will almost definitely get the 'e-stink-eye'.

Is the hate deserved? Well, I don't think so. I feel bad for police today, honestly. To me, the hate directed towards them is extremely disproportionate.

I guess I have similar 'sympathy' for (relatively harmless) religious wackos...



* honestly, still worth a few chuckles if you haven't seen it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AKIQ...ACF5DBF9B4F088

[Mark Tolch Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Mark Tolch]

No offense taken, and I'm certainly not trying to say that his comics have caused any "real-world" negativity. I have a severe intolerance for people who use religion as an argument to discriminate. I don't know why, it might have something to do with the hypocrisy on the religious side of my family and all the bullshit that they spew on a regular basis, I dunno. And i've certainly never been the poster boy for tolerance and understanding. But putting religion behind it instantly enrages me.

[Smegma Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Smegma]

I can understand that. It's weird though. It seems 'intolerance' of almost any... 'extreme viewpoint' has reached an all-time high in the past decade or so? It makes me a little sad (in a 'slippery slope' kind of way). I can see the dominoes falling before my eyes.

Mostly, I've been disappointed by how these attitudes have been used to effectively spread 'censorship'. It hasn't been uncommon for some band like Death in June, Whitehouse*, Boyd Rice, The Mentors, etc... to be refused venues to perform in cities because some group of people 'won't tolerate their hate' (or whatever). This now extends to the digital world too, where you have online marketplaces (like discogs) that refuse to allow transactions between buyers and sellers for 'controversial' albums by bands like Skrewdriver.

Ultimately, I feel that if I'm going to defend one extreme, then I have an obligation to defend all other sides as well... even religious assholes.

[* yes, I realize they have been broken up for a long time, but they were honestly getting death threats at one time over potentially performing in places in San Francisco. I don't remember this kind of shit in 80's / early 90's. This 'intolerance of intolerance' has gotten quite... scary?]

P.S. Admittedly, it does seem a little weird to lump Jack Chick and Boyd Rice in the same kind of group, but I see a lot of similarities in the situations, regardless of each of their personal agendas.

[Mark Tolch Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Mark Tolch]

Hey, I'm not saying that anyone should be censored. Ever, at all. By all means, he can (or could) make all of the comics he wanted, and say what he wanted. I was just saying, up there, good riddance. You can say whatever you want, it doesn't mean that people have to like or respect it.