this post was submitted on 21 Aug 2024
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Everett True Comics

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A place to appreciate the twentieth century comic character Everett True of "The Outbursts of Everett True." Feel free to check out the sticky.

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Everett takes a stand against age discrimination in housing (1907?) (lemmy.world)
submitted 2 months ago by macarthur_park@lemmy.world to c/truecomics@midwest.social
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Get up out of that so I can take one more punch at you!

Sadly, Everett would need to wait for the Fair Housing Act of 1968 for this landlord’s behavior to be federally illegal. It’s unclear what state Mr. True lives in (besides anger, obviously).

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[–] Rolando@lemmy.world 22 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) (2 children)

Well, according to that Wikipedia page, people who used the term "race suicide" believed that "desirable" people were having too few kids and "undesirable" people were having too many kids.

So Interpretation A of this cartoon is the following:

  1. the Landlord believes in the "race suicide" concept, and believes that Everett is an "undesirable" person who has too many kids. The Landlord is insincere when he says that Everett is "estimable" and a "desirable tenant".
  2. Everett scorns the "race suicide" concept, and argues for his kids' right to exist.

And Interpretation B is:

  1. the Landlord ~~sincerely thinks Everett is "estimable" and a "desirable" tenant, but~~ just doesn't want his kids to live there for some reason
  2. Everett believes in the "race suicide" concept, and is telling the Landlord that without his kids, "race suicide" would occur.

I'm leaning slightly towards Interpretation A ~~because I think the Landlord is being insincere~~, but I could be convinced otherwise.

Edit: on second thought, I don't think Interpretation B Point 1 relies on the Landlord believing Everett is "estimable" and a "desirable" tenant, only on the undesireability of the kids living there.

[–] johannesvanderwhales@lemmy.world 21 points 2 months ago (1 children)

"Too bad my children had to be born" definitely suggests interpretation A.

[–] verity_kindle@sh.itjust.works 9 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Thank you. Everett is the one standing up for renter's rights. It's illegal in the US to discriminate against potential renters because they have kids, or don't have kids.

[–] Catoblepas@lemmy.blahaj.zone 5 points 2 months ago

This comic is from the early 1900s, when they didn’t have those protections. The Federal Fair Housing Act wasn’t passed until the 60s, and it wasn’t expanded to include families with children until the 80s.

It’s possible he is defending renter’s rights here, but it’s important to remember that prior to WWII eugenics was considered a progressive cause, and it was championed by other progressive groups at the time as well, like feminist groups. The idea was that you could reduce suffering by not causing people with undesirable traits (mostly disabilities) to be born to begin with. If True was a eugenicist, it wouldn’t be out of place in the historical context of things.

[–] criitz@reddthat.com 2 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago) (1 children)

People who believed in race suicide used it as a justification to have more white kids, not get rid of white kids. Your point A1 doesn't make sense unless they are different races, but they both look white to me. So it's gotta be B.

[–] Rolando@lemmy.world 3 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Hmmm good point. But I think the eugenics of the time was also based on class, ethnicity, and personal characteristics:

In the United States, "unfit" races have historically included minorities such as immigrants and African Americans, people with mental and physical disabilities, people in poverty, institutionalized people, and/or people convicted of crimes. Eugenics sought to eliminate these people, such that their "undesirable traits and behaviors" would be effectively weeded out of the human population over time.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Race_suicide

Note the 1903 illustration on that page "Concerning Race Suicide". Everybody seems to be of European descent, but the wealthier people on one side have no children but the people on the other side -- who seem to be coded as lower-class recent immigrants -- have many chidren. I think that is being presented as a bad thing, though everybody seems to be happy and well-fed (if a bit crowded).

[–] criitz@reddthat.com 3 points 2 months ago

Touché. I don't read the "you'd make a desirable tenant, but..." as insincere, so I tend to view it as the landlord saying he likes Everett fine but doesn't want Everett's children around.