Dan Lacey, Painter Of Pancakes

Thursday, April 20, 2006

A Sincere Proposal

I've given quite a bit of thought to some of the comments left recently on this site from the 'goons' at Something Awful. Therefore, I am making the following proposal-

I am willing, if I get a positive and encouraging response, to make faithmouse equally representative of a liberal perspective. I will even let my haloscan commenters decide amongst themselves what these first cartoons should be. This proposal includes creating an entirely new cast of characters, or changing pre-existing characters to help express an alternative point of view-the parallel world which exists opposite faithmouse.

I'm going to step back for an entire week and see what people have to say. I encourage anyone who reads this to re-post it on the various forums which regularly comment on the cartoon, especially those who regard faithmouse as some sort of fascist travesty. To make it easier for people to comment, I've disabled the haloscan moderation. Because I've disabled the moderation, I've pulled my 'child-safe' disclaimer at the top of this site. It may never return.

Again, this is a sincere proposal, one which I've given quite a bit of thought to. My admittedly selfish motivation as to why I hope I'll be overwhelmingly challenged to make good on the offer is that I've always viewed faithmouse as art. Representing both sides of an issue could lead to some engaging and challenging cartoons. I trust that God would guide such a challenge into something which could produce good by way of a bit more communication across what is becoming an even more deeply entrenched cultural divide.

The only thing I refuse to do is this-I won't remove the overall focus on Christian faith as the ongoing theme of the cartoon. If faithmouse attempts to honestly represent a liberal worldview, I can only do so from the persective of what are known as the Christian Progressives. We may continue to disagree over the purpose and nature of Christ, but Christ stays, regardless.

I'm not sure exactly how I'll come to a decision. One thing I suppose I can do is tally up the votes. I'll take a simple 'yes' comment as one in favor of change, and a 'no' as a suggestion to leave things as they are. One well worded apologetic can of course sway a thousand votes, so please expound at length if so inspired. In the meantime, I'll use the time away to complete some much delayed memorial portraits, which I'll continue to post on the blog below this comment.

I have enough faith in my point of view to cross the divide. Do you?

Now, it's your turn....

Posted by Dan Lacey @ 9:45 PM