A Right to Be Hostile: The Boondocks Treasury

Rating:
Summary: The McGruder award for...
Review: ...most outrageous statement by a black public figure"
By Larry Elder

Aaron McGruder draws the sometimes-funny daily comic strip "The Boondocks." The strip centers around a black family that moved into a predominantly white neighborhood. In a recent strip, two young black characters considered renaming what they call the "Most Embarrassing Black People" award. One character suggested calling the award the "Larry Elder." My, my.

An idea clicked. How about an award for the "Dumbest, Most Vulgar, Most Offensive Things Uttered by Black Public Figures"? Maybe we could call the award the . . . "McGruder."

And the nominees are:

Jermaine Jackson -- for the defense of his brother, Michael, against charges of child molestation: "They're a bunch of racist rednecks out there who don't care about people." He also claimed that "this is nothing but a modern-day lynching."

Aaron McGruder -- at Emory University, for his relentless, almost pathological attacks on President George W. Bush: "It's like, you know, just because you grow up to being functionally illiterate to, you know, being able to string a couple of sentences together doesn't really make you JFK."

Charles Barron, New York City Council member -- expressing his resentment toward whites: "You know, some days I get so frustrated I just want to go up to the closest white person and say, 'You can't understand this, it's a black thing,' and then slap him, just for my mental health."

Aaron McGruder -- on television's "America's Black Forum," for his savage remarks about National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice: "I don't like Condoleezza Rice because of her politics. I don't like Condoleezza Rice because she's part of this oil cabal that's now in the White House. I don't like her because she's a murderer. You know, I'm not bound by the rules of a politician or journalist. So, you know, when I say, 'She's a murderer,' it's because she's a murderer, and that's all that's necessary for me to make those statements."

Deposed Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide for claiming that "white Americans, white military" caused his ouster from power and departure from Haiti: "During the night of the 28th of February 2004, there was a coup d'etat. One could say that it was a geopolitical kidnapping. I can clearly say that it was terrorism disguised as diplomacy."

Aaron McGruder -- at Emory University, for his, uh, "assessment" of Secretary of State Colin Powell: " . . . Let's just say, he's directly killed, not by hand, but he's been the guy who says, 'Those people over there, that whole ethnic group, they gotta go -- kill them.' And they just disappear . . . "

Democratic presidential candidate Rev. Al Sharpton -- on the news media's "dismissive" attitude about his presidential campaign: " . . . When you look at the lack of diversity from the editors and those in power, then you see them as automatically dismissive of anything that is not like them, which is white males. . . . I think we've seen some very blatant racial insensitivity in the coverage of this race so far."

Aaron McGruder on Americans: "Americans are not patriotic. Americans really don't care about freedom; they don't really care about liberty; they don't care about any of that. . . . Because if Americans really cared about any of that stuff, they would have been holding signs that said 'Sore Loser' the year before, when America was really attacked, when somebody took over the whole country who was never elected president."

California State Sen. Diane Watson, on Ward Connerly, an opponent of affirmative action: "He's married a white woman. He wants to be white. He wants a colorless society. He has no ethnic pride. He doesn't want to be black."

Aaron McGruder on Big Oil: "I like conspiracy theories. . . . Everyone in the Bush administration is affiliated with oil and, you know, these are the last of the big oil reserves on the planet, and they needed to get the Taliban out of the way so they could run these pipelines through Afghanistan."

Rep. Corrine Brown, D-Fla.: during a recent congressional hearing, for declaring the Bush policy toward Haiti "racist" and complaining that the hearing's administration officials were "a bunch of white men." When Assistant Secretary of State Roger Noriega, a Mexican-American, protested being called "white" and "racist," Brown snapped, "You all look alike to me."

Aaron McGruder on politics: "We've got to figure out a way to get the Nazis out of the White House. . . . One thing that you have to respect about the right wing is that they will steal, lie, cheat and murder to maintain power. They do it because that's how the game of international global politics is played. . . . But understand that this is not a nice game. It's ugly. . . . Al Gore won the election, and is not president because he was not willing to do what it took and Bush was."

Envelope, please. And the winner of this year's "McGruder" award -- for calling National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice a "murderer" -- Aaron McGruder!

Congratulations, A-Mc. You deserve it.

Rating:
Summary: Good Stuff
Review: This book and every book he has done is excellent.

Aaron McGruder..... Thank you for saying what we are thinking. This is a classic that will grace my library

No need to hate on a brother for saying what you all are too scared to say. Or even more so, you have a sore spot because he touched a raw nerve.

I will most probably buy everything that Mr. McGruder sells, because he speaks his mind and does a good job about it

Maximu respect for you.

Rating:
Summary: Those moronic reviews only prove how good this guy is
Review: In any field, it's always the brilliant and innovative that get the most vicious attacks. I've been following Aaron McGruder ever since I discovered him online a few years ago. Not being black, once in a while I have a culturally-deprived moment understanding what's going on in his strips. (Much like the grandfather.) But who cares. McGruder's a genius, probably the best well-known cartoonist operating today. He never fails in his ability to see the larger picture, and to clarify both the small and gigantic ironies of this nutso society we live in. And he's one of the few guys out there who makes me laugh out loud, frequently. I wish there were more like him.

Rating:
Summary: YAWN...more left-wing nonsense!
Review: McGruder once again has put out a collection of his inane left-wing garbage for his legion of adoring blame-America bootlickers to purchase. The most laughable aspect of their reverence to rhetoric is when they call it "progressive" and "new thought". PUH_LEASE. This racist trash is nothing more than the same warmed-over 60's liberalism that has been rejected time after time by American voters. Do youself a favor: save your money and don't but McGruder's book and avoid wasting the minute it takes to read it in the newspaper.

Rating:
Summary: McGruder is ugly!
Review: That alone is reason enough not to buy this book. Ha! Ha! That's satire. Furthermore, no Asian calls himself "oriental"! McGruder is a hypocrite and an idiot! And his comic book shows it. He wouldn't know what comedy is if it bit him in his skinny behind. The only thing funny about this book is McGruder's picture on the back. He just finished doing comics on "embarassing black people of the year" without putting himself in it.

Rating:
Summary: Chill, rightwing dudes, get a life.. McGRUDER ROCKZ
Review: I don't even know why the f*&# you idiots get on your stupid bully pulpit, what, to try to say My Brother McGruder (slappin chest w/ fist) is a punk?? My Bro wi' the Fro Aaron sez what isn't being said -- or what people are afraid to say. Oh yeah, I'm ASIAN, just to let you know. I hardly see any of the Asian parodying that some stupid gaijin think they see (if there was, I thought it was still in good taste). What I do see is the black parodying stuff, but then I can relate to the cynicism. I see enough of the parochial thinking that McGruder talks about, but in my own back yard. I see enough Asian Power pride ("and screw the other races, we're better") talk to make me puke. What, you didn't think there was such a thing as racism among Oriental people? What planet are you from??

I find myself rolling on the floor too many times, long after I've read this book from cover to cover. Because for once, someone is saying all the stuff that the rest of us are too weenie to talk about, in this oppressive regime we're under right now. Unlike other people with their over-inflated egos and sensibilities, I still have a sense of humor. Try living a hard life and often feeling helpless, and humor's all that you've got sometimes. Unlike most of the obnoxious loudmouths on radio or TV, who always want to say they're right and oh-by-the-way-pay-me, McGruder simply shows his message through one smart-ass kid & his posse; no ego or personality to contend with, just his alter ego, Huey. No extra baloney. In terms of humor, Aaron McGruder must have been British in a previous lifetime... what with the dry and ironic sense of humor that never fails to connect, looking at life the way it really is, beyond the hype and the jingo.

So for those of you just looking to bash a brother, GET A LIFE, go drool over Ann Coulter's handiwork or something, for all we care. For those of you who are genuinely interested in interesting, stimulating, and timely work that reflects the real mood of the disenfranchised, the minority, or the just-plain pissed-off, just sit back and relax... enjoy a book (or two! or three!) of The Boondocks, and realize that you, too, truly have a Right to Be Hostile! :-)

Rating:
Summary: Honestly...!
Review: How can anybody support a cartoonist that is sooo ugly. I'm not surprised he needed an ugly fat guy - Michael Moore - to support him! Birds of a feather flock together.

Rating:
Summary: BLATANT HYPOCRISY
Review: It may interest some of you that I have stumbled across some VERY INTERESTING INFORMATION. For you see, Aaron McGruder is not all that he seems. He is, in fact, more. The following information is what else he is.

Number #1: Michael Moore drives an SUV. This, combined with the fact that he flew on a private jet, and allowed corporate bodyguards to protect him, should be all you need to know. And he wrote the intro to the book. Need I say more? Or maybe that should be MOORE.

Number #2: Asian culture is not to be made fun of. The cover on which McGruder has drawn, there is a drawing of Huey, one of the strip's characters, and Riley, another one of the strip's characters, in ninja outfits, and this is displayed through this. Unlike what McGruder's metaphor claims, not all people from Japan that are Japanese are samurai. It is depressing that such an outspoken "liberal" will choose to make fun of a people this way. Perhaps he needs to review that fine document called a "Constitution" and reread its "First Amendment": The Freedom of the Speech.

Thirdly, McGruder is - believe it or not before you read the rest of this next sentence - receiving MONEY for this book. That's right, folks. You heard right. As a firm believer in communism and anti-capitalism, McGruder has broken the very rules he set out to write by getting paid for his work. Well, McGruder, you can talk about the Soviets all you want, but move to Russia first and become a real communist, because here in America we do what we say, not what we do. This is not the USSR. I bet McGruder is going to spend that money. I even bet that he even has already bought a lot of material goods with money he had previously - but doesn't anymore, because he used it to buy PRODUCTS. The house he lives in, the car he drives, the food he eats - all bought with money.

Do us a Favor, mister McGruder: follow my advice: if you're going to have a socialist character in your comic strip, which is Huey, then do not participate in capitalism. If you do this, you are not a socialist either and neither is Huey. It cheapens your strip and makes you seem like a sell-out for accepting more money instead of not.

I'd like to say in closing that this comic is highly offensive and should be in books, not on newspapers.

In conclusion, Aaron McGruder should stop drawing in manga because it offends Asians and their heritage and he should know that Michael Moore rode in a Limosine. Although I'd bet McGruder himself would ride in a Limosine himself if someone offered, because he is a socialist but does not believe in socialism because he participates in capitalism. Perhaps he should know that someone should tell him that this is not socialism but in fact, capitalism.

So, I do not recommend this book to samurai, communists, or Michael Moore. That is because of what I just said.

Rating:
Summary: Sean Hannity b!$*% slaps McGruder
Review: Well, sort of. You see, Aaron McGruder was too chicken to go on Hannity and Colmes to defend himself after calling Condi Rice a murderer! He was asked to go on and debate but he refused. You know why? Because he knows he's wrong.

This comic book is funny... sure. But, it isn't consistent like McGruder.

Rating:
Summary: Exercise your right, Black Man!!!
Review: This is a collection of Aaron's work over the past few years and if you have his first two collections, you will have a good bit of the same material contained in this one, but there are some surprises. The artwork is great. The commentary will have you crying laughing (speaking from personal experience) and will have you donning your shades and black beret in no time. I admire the no holes barred manner in which Aaron produces this strip. I mean, how many of us ONLY want to read about, born losers, hen-pecked husbands, Vikings, backwoods homesteads, military hijinks, and clumsy Great Danes?

Aaron McGruder is a genius. *raising fist* POWER TO THE PEOPLE!