This musing started with scattered thoughts about Ed Piskor’s tragic death. If you don’t know, Ed was a cartoonist and ambassador for comics via his youtube channel: Cartoonist Kayfabe. A few weeks ago allegations of sexual misconduct were publically made against Ed. An internet feeding frenzy ensued. Ed’s family was doxed. It was all too much for a solitary man like Ed and he took his life after publishing a 5 page suicide note, denying the allegations, detailing his experience of the mob and why he felt he was out of options. In this note, Ed named specific individuals he believed responsible for fomenting hate and he framed his suicide as a murder. Overall in comicsdom the reaction has been shock or silence. Virtually no industry leaders have spoken of this. Comics newz sites have all but skirted the issue. And comics youtubers are now largely in business as usual mode. The individuals named by Ed as his murderers are allegedly joking about it on social media.
The whole thing is sickening. For me, it triggered a soul search. And I discuss that in this video (an excerpt form yesterday’s CALMstream). Ideally, I would like this to start a healthy and authentic discussion not about Ed, but about being on the internet, especially as artists.
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Should I be on the Internet?
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Should I be on the Internet?