News Reporter
David Engstrom ‘09’s debut political comic whipped up a maelstrom of campus controversy over its stereotyping of Koreans. Lines like “Holy fried rice” and “Nuke Yuhler Test Site” angered many Choate students giving the short comic strip notoriety throughout campus.
As proclaimed in the editor’s note, The Right Side, the Republican magazine that published the comic, is “a forum for spreading, analyzing, and celebrating conservative politics.” The Right Side is published two to three times a term. The political comic section however is a new addition.
Editor-in-Chief, Kate Walton ’07, decided that adding a political comic would add a “venue to express opinions”, better the magazine, and recruit potential members to the Choate Young Republicans, the club that prints the magazine. After first announcing the idea, Kate Walton was approached by Engstrom, who had been looking for a way to publish his comics.
Many students were glad to express their opinions about the comic to The News. Some people were shocked and upset about the comic.
“It’s so overtly stereotypical that it’s not funny,” said Evangeline Hines ’09.
Others were not as critical, but still noticed the stereotyping.
Andrew Rivera ’09 noted that the comic was “racist, but has a disclaimer”.
Still others, including Christopher Holt ’10, thought that the comic was funny. He said, “I do think that it’s stereotypical, but it’s still funny.”
One Korean Choate student was not so outraged at the incident.
“I don’t really care, it’s really not that racist,” said David Kang ’10. He did mention, though, that a Korean saying “Holy Fried Rice” was very unlikely.
Kate Walton ’07, Editor-in-Chief of The Right Side, said that the publication has received some backlash concerning the comic, but also claims that this was expected; she had been prepared.
The comic was made to make people think, and its purpose was served. Walton said that Engstrom met with her before the comic was printed and said that it might be offensive. This backlash has not affected the life of the comic.
Kate Walton has confirmed that a political comic will be published in the next issue as well, saying that the people who had negative comments about the comic just didn’t agree with the comic’s politics.
Her personal opinion on the comic was that it was pretty funny and she agrees with the point of the article, but not with any stereotyping. Her final words to all naysayers are that those who reacted badly missed the point of the comic.
