Harley Quinn #9

Thank God for the Selfie! Now people can take pictures of the only thing that really matters to them!

I've never done a "Why I Need Feminsism!" post, so why don't we do that now?! It might not be a good idea because the main reason I need feminism is because my reasons for needing feminism will probably piss off feminists. Mostly because I'm a smart ass shit stirring asshole and love to poke hornet nests for my own amusement. But isn't that what feminism is all about? Being allowed to be yourself? I don't mean being allowed to be yourself if you're a rapey, murdery, child molesting, dog fucker. I just mean being allowed to have your own beliefs and ideals and goals and facetious sense of humor, even if a joke is occasionally at the expense of someone other than a white heterosexual male. That's feminism! Everybody being treated just like white, heterosexual males are treated in our society, right? Something like that! Feminism definitely isn't forcing everybody to be something they're not just so other people don't wind up with hurt feelings. I'm horrible at expressing ideas because I constantly have to keep knocking down those ideas so as not to sound too serious, especially if a dick joke presents itself. I should probably work on making more vagina jokes too because, you know, feminism! Anyway, how about I let John Steinbeck speak for me with one of my favorite quotes (from East of Eden) about feminism and why I need it:

And this I believe: that the free, exploring mind of the individual human is the most valuable thing in the world. And this I would fight for: the freedom of the mind to take any direction it wishes, undirected. And this I must fight against: any idea, religion, or government which limits or destroys the individual. This is what I am and what I am about. I can understand why a system built on a pattern must try to destroy the free mind, for this is one thing which can by inspection destroy such a system. Surely I can understand this, and I hate it and I will fight against it to preserve the one thing that separates us from the uncreative beasts. If the glory can be killed, we are lost.

I especially like the part about the freedom of the mind to take any direction it wishes, undirected, because have you read some of my rambling, incoherent thoughts on things?

All of that is to say, "Thank God for the Selfie!" It's a perfect representation for the celebration of the individual. We all fit into certain categories based on a whole host of labels generated by our society and our times. We're bombarded with messages about who we must be if we're seen as a member of those groups. This causes people to grow up with the idea that they have certain issues that affect them, whether they're actually there or not. Even as a white, heterosexual male, you're bombarded with very specific messages about who you're supposed to be. I don't mention that to say, "Oh, poor white males too!" I mention it because everybody needs feminism to fight against the patriarchal ideals of who we should be simply because we can tick certain superficial boxes on a census form. But the Selfie brings it all back to what's truly important. We're all individuals which means we're all different which means the most important category we all fit into is a category of one: your individual self. The Selfie is a reminder to celebrate you! I don't take Selfies because I don't have a camera phone because I simply use a burner phone for work purposes. These commentaries on comic books are my Selfies. And possibly my dick pics you didn't ask for.

The issue begins with Harley getting ready to join in on a burlesque show. Tony does remember how Harley turns everything violent, right?

Now I'm wondering if I have nerd rage in my birdcage.

But what does the individual owe to society, and how do we live a life free from oppression and the oppressing of other people? I believe it begins by living according to your own beliefs and values. It's one thing to express lofty ideals and another entirely to live by them. But when we live our lives according to our ethics rather than living according to our desires while paying lip service to our beliefs, we inherently improve the living conditions of ourselves and those around us. When we live by our desires, we only improve our own lives. I don't mean to suggest that we don't support our own desires! What else is life for? But when our desires come into conflict with our ethics, that's when we must make the hard choices. It reminds me of these lines from the Indigo Girls' "Deconstruction of Love":

We're sculpted from youth,
but the chipping away makes me weary.
And as for the truth,
It seems like we just pick a theory.
It's the one that justifies
Our daily lives
And backs us with quiver and arrow.

Most people rationalize their bad behavior because it's easier to come up with an argument that supports allowing you to live like an asshole than it is to not be an asshole and give up some things that you desire because acquiring them might come at the expense of other people. That reminds me of these lyrics from The Ditty Bops "Walk or Ride":

I'm feeling quite confused
By the people who refuse to see
A simple way of life that won't make you the loser.

Harley ruins the Burlesque because she was given these stage directions: "Make believe she's your ex-boyfriend."

It's obviously easier said than done, living by the thing you feel is right. Especially in these economic times when the worker has lost all power and job creators suddenly believe they are God's gift to the people and that everybody should be thankful just to be getting a regular, minimum wage paycheck from a part-time job with no benefits. People find themselves in situations all the time where they're simply struggling to survive and living by your ideals will simply mean starving or losing your family or becoming homeless. Although once you find yourself homeless, it's always nice to be able to pick a self-righteous theory that justifies your homelessness because you didn't buy into the system, man! So you always have the ability to lord your ability to live your ideology over those drones going to work every day simply to pay for the mortgage on their house. So that's a plus!

But living by your beliefs is the best way to change the system. Not participating in systems you don't believe in is the only real activism there is. It's all well and good to protest how you're drowning in your student loans after you've already received the benefit of the schooling you thought you needed and now don't want to pay for because the price was exorbitantly high. Don't think about how you had a choice of schools and you could have gone to that state school that was three-quarters of the tuition because you really wanted to be a graduate of Gonna Need A Lot Of Student Loans University. I agree that college prices are insane! But because I believe that (and I even believed that back when they weren't so high when I was in college in the early to mid nineties), and because I knew I wasn't going to college so that I'd be able to get a high paying job afterward (I majored in Reading Books!), I chose a school that was affordable (two schools, actually: Portland State and, later, San Jose State). Or maybe I'm just rationalizing my choices to make it look like I had some forethought about any of it and wasn't just ping-ponging around lost in my late teens and early twenties! Who am I to judge when I'm, like everybody else, just acting like those Indigo Girls' lyrics! It's enjoyable to be holier than thou when you can't afford anything else!

Um, anyroad, Harley starts another riot at the Burlesque Show and is then arrested. Or, um, kidnapped?

I hope he tells us his opinions on Harley's new suit!

By living your life in a way that focuses on the need for a steady influx of cash (that includes a simple life in which you needed to have all three or more of those goddamned children), you become a slave to the capitalist system. Corporations and job creators want people to be in constant debt so that they're forced to take any shitty job offered to them. They love people with dreams of owning a home and having a family with two plus kids! That keeps the system rolling along! It also helps maintain a base of people that vote against their own best wishes. Because if you can convince working class people that they're the only ones working hard to make ends meet and other people are choosing to leech off of their effort, you can convince those people to vote against programs that would make their life better.

Now to prove that he actually loves her, he must turn her into an object by cutting off her arms and legs!

See? This is what I'm talking about! Ed's lust for Harley Quinn has turned him into an inhuman monster that hurts others simply to fulfill his own desires. Although he also might be a sociopath that doesn't believe anybody is actually a real person and so anything he does to them is equivalent to kicking a piece of furniture. I suppose if your ethics are pretty shitty then living by your ethics doesn't do anything for the rest of us! I think I'm all turned around on this living by your ethics crap! Maybe the only way to truly live a righteous and noble life is to find a religion and completely and wholeheartedly believe all of the dogma that comes with it! Sure, you're supporting an institution that constantly oppresses and interferes with the lives of others but that wouldn't be your fault! You're not doing those things the missionaries are doing to natives in other countries! I mean, unless you're that missionary! And you're not the one telling homosexuals that they're evil, vile sinners. That's God doing that! Or the priests that misinterpreted The Bible and turned it into the dogma that you now feel you have to follow. But forget all that noise! It's just background static to your new life of charity and good works because some priests have told you that a book basically written by God has told them how to live a good and worthy life! That sounds like the life for me!

Or I could go into the military and just follow orders! Fuck all this ridiculous nonsense where I try to figure out a responsible way of living and taking care of myself without putting other people out. I just need somebody to tell me what's right without the opportunity to question that person or else I'll be punished! And if I have to go overseas and kill brown people, I'm sure it's for a good reason. Even if it isn't for a good reason, I'm not the one to make that decision anymore! I'd have divested myself of that responsibility which means I can't be held accountable for any oppression that might come from the end of my gun! Now that sounds like the life for me!

Anypath, Harley convinces Ed to get some psychiatric help from Dr. Francine Stein. If he survives a year under her care (probably digging up graves, amirite?), she'll go out on a date with him. He has to pick up the check though. But since nobody has died on-panel yet, Harley goes down into Ed's basement to fuck with some comic book nerds that once said her butt wasn't all it was cracked up to be.

Now listen here, Harley! Home is exactly where people should be acting like filthy perverts!

Finally, Harley and Sy Borg head down to Skate Club to do some Skating. Third rule of Skate Club is if it's your first time, you have to skate. Unless that's the second rule. Although I think the second rule is the same as the first rule for some reason. The skating looks dangerous but I won't know for sure until next month. I mean, next Wednesday? When did this comic book become bi-monthly? Probably when Poison Ivy entered the picture! Brozingo!

Harley Quinn #9 Rating: +1 Ranking. This comic book is fun and generally looks good and Harley is allowed to kill people. That last one is the best part because I'm not allowed to kill people so I need a method to live the thrill of killing people vicariously. Oh wait! I've rethought the whole living by my ethics thing! So now if I desire to kill people, I can, right? What am I asking you for? I don't need your permission! I just need a willing participant and a Craigslist ad!