"SINCERITY? ONCE YOU CAN FAKE THAT, YOU'VE GOT IT MADE..."

John Freemsn

Recently, on JOHN FREEMAN's FACEBOOK page,
he made the following comment:

This was in reference to my throwaway remark about some-

one having "a face you'd never get tired of punching".  As any-

one with an ounce of sense knows, this is a hunorous expression in-

tended to convey that someone has an irritating quality about their

demeanour, and is a convenient way of dismissing them as an

impertinent, provocative little gobsh*te.

Note how, in just one short paragraph, he endeavours to por-

tray me as aggressive ("threat of physical violence"), obsessional

("berating current creators and their work"), dishonest ("frequent

rewrites of his blog posts"), and actually warns his followers about

my 'Babe of the Day' feature, as 'though I'm a perverted purveyor

of pornography deserving of an 'alert'.

Mr. Freeman contacted me and, in my response to him, I

conveyed my displeasure about the way he had maligned my

character.  Mr. Freeman eventually pulled his post and then apolo-

gised for his remarks, but I believe I'm entitled to wonder if it was

merely for the purpose of protecting himself from the possibility of

legal redress.  Especially as he has permitted to stand a comment

(from someone he has previously endorsed) which echoes the

very sentiments he apologized for.

Also, for one who seemingly prides himself on what he calls

(in an email to me) "proper journalistic behaviour", here are

examples which indicate how he fails to live up to his aspirations.

In the above screengrab, he states that"he (me) tries to justify" the

"face" comment.  Inaccurate.  I simply pointed out that his interpreta-

tion of my remark and its intent was mistaken, which is not quite the

same thing.  He also says I'd "complained" that he never links to

any of my posts.  Again, not so.  I merely observed the fact as

a seeming indication of a bias against me.

Finally, it's worth noting that no one ever said I "deserved

cancer" - the actual quote was that "cancer was too good" for

me.  In other words, I deserved something worse - if such an ill-

ness actually exists.  Such a disconcerting inability to grasp and

report what was actually said hardly inspires any confidence

in me as to his journalistic competence, if I'm honest.

It gives me no pleasure to do this post.  Mr. Freeman was a

MARVEL U.K. editor who supplied me with some occasional

lettering work back in my freelance days, and there were never

any problems between us.  However, when someone maligns me, I

respond with neither fear nor favour, and I believe I have cause to

wonder about the sincerity of his apology in light of him allowing the

presence of a comment which repeats the very "crimes" he himself

has previously accused me of - in direct reply to his "apology"

too.  The phrase "having his cake and eating it" springs to

mind.  If I'm suspicious, is it any wonder?

Were Mr. Freeman to remove the offending comment on

his FB page, it would go some way in assuaging my doubt on

the matter.  However, he has steadfastly refused to do so.

You can draw your own conclusions as to why.

Posted in: Cartoons