dansemacawbre:

Okay I’ve gotta explain myself because seeing people I follow reblog this comic about Malala Yousafzai makes me choke.

This is Zen Pencils. The creator is Gavin Aung Than. He takes quotes from famous philosophers, writers, etc. and juxtaposes them over simple comic narratives. A lot of people find them inspiring. The problem is that while superficially they advocate for creativity and individuality, they also contain prevailing, not-so-subtle messages of classism and intellectual elitism, among other things. (Quit your job! Follow your dreams! What, you need money to eat? Psh, you’ve been brainwashed.)

In this comic we discover that being an artist or an intellectual or having no patience for small talk means you aren’t like Other People! And thank god, because apparently Other People are mindless drones intent only on making a living wage. God, what proles.

In this Time-cover-worthy comic, we learn that technology is terrible and destroys creativity!

And in the racist ”Two Wolves Story” comic, we find that… well. I think it speaks for itself (more about it here though).

Aside from the latent racism and classism, these comics are essentially inspiration porn. I find them intellectually cheap. It’s pretty harmless, however, as long as he’s illustrating a quote from Einstein or who the fuck ever. When it becomes indescribably icky is when he uses the story of someone like Malala. The comic is graphic. It takes advantage of shock value. I do not see respect or admiration here, even if it was his intention. I see exploitation. And I cannot express how angry that makes me.