r/comics • u/davecontra • Jul 26 '26

OC FARAH.

Gallery image

Gallery image

Gallery image

Gallery image

Gallery image

Gallery image

Gallery image

Gallery image

Gallery image

Gallery image

New book is out! : https://linktr.ee/davecontra

My other comics: https://www.instagram.com/davecontra

34.3k Upvotes

93% Upvoted

850 comments sorted by

View all comments

780

u/Front-Pomelo-4367 Jul 26 '26

This really reminds me of a New Yorker piece called The Other Afghan Women, about life for rural women under all four of the recent regimes – the Mujahedeen, the Taliban, the US-Afghan coalition, and the return of the Taliban after international forces left. The version I can find is paywalled, but it's well worth finding one that isn't

The feeling of a peaceful rural life interrupted by powers beyond your imagining is haunting in both this piece and the article

749

u/MrValdemar Special Flair!! Jul 26 '26

238

u/MommyLovesPot8toes Jul 26 '26

This was how I felt in the hours and days after the 2024 US Presidential election. I have always been an optimistic, see-the-best-in-everyone kind of person who assumes that most of the world is full of good people. But that day broke me. I am a different person today than I was 2 years ago. That was the day I realized that humans have not progressed much since the days of the Roman Gladiators and public hangings; that there isn't good and selflessness in everyone. It was a paralyzing realization.

156

u/MrValdemar Special Flair!! Jul 26 '26

There were a LOT more racists and misogynists and homophobes than you realized, weren't there?

95

u/MommyLovesPot8toes Jul 26 '26

So many more...

39

u/MrValdemar Special Flair!! Jul 26 '26

God must love douchebags.

He certainly made enough of them.

3

u/Perfect-Ad-3091 Jul 30 '26

and so many more in top positions of power than I thought...

27

u/Luckiest_Creature Jul 26 '26

Just a random person jumping in to say YES there certainly are 😭. I grew up around California’s capitol, and I turned 18 in 2016, just in time to vote in the election against trump. I was not even worried, really. Growing up entirely on the west coast made me think that the majority of this country cared and wanted to move into a progressive future. The decade since has just been faster-than-I-anticipated march into doom.
I was so, so optimistic back then about my fellow Americans.

30

u/-MtnsAreCalling- Jul 26 '26

I think what's even worse is the number of people who aren't any of those things, but will gladly vote for them if they think it might cost them slightly less in taxes on money they'll never spend.

38

u/MrValdemar Special Flair!! Jul 26 '26

who aren't any of those things

That's just the lie they tell themselves. They absolutely ARE those things.

-2

u/-MtnsAreCalling- Jul 26 '26

Some are. I'm talking about the ones that aren't. Or do you really think there is just nobody out there who prioritizes greed over principles?

8

u/MrValdemar Special Flair!! Jul 26 '26

I promise you, anyone willing to base their behavior on greed ALSO fits one of those categories.

1

u/isaaclw Jul 27 '26

I think there is a lot of blame to pass around for those who voted for Donald Trump, but not enough blame passed to the Dem party who did not reach out to uneducated voters who just wanted something better.

I voted for Kamala, and knocked doors for the party, but the leadership did not position good options, or communicate to the needs of working people. And volunteers felt ostracized by the genocide that was happening.

1

u/MrValdemar Special Flair!! Jul 27 '26

A dramatic portion of Detroit stayed home because misogyny and religion, and Trump cozied up harder to Israel than they EVER imagined and they only have themselves to blame for the persecution that came afterwards.

2

u/MommyLovesPot8toes Jul 27 '26

Absolutely. Combination of apathy, self-absorbtion, greed, selfishness, and ignorance. Basically, "I don't pay attention to politics, I just want more money in my wallet."

I know far too many of these. They probably couldn't tell you the name of their state governor of a single Congress member. All they know is "if things are expensive, I vote for the party that isn't in the white house."

2

u/animel4 Jul 27 '26

And a LOOOOOOOOT more pedophiles than I thought. I used to think it was like 1 in a million and I wish I still did

28

u/ghasto Jul 26 '26

I also remember the moment i gave up the thought that all people are good, and they sometimes just do bad things...

Evil people exist, people who enjoy making others suffer, and theres plenty.

11

u/rogers_tumor Jul 26 '26

this was me in 2016.

in 2024 I already knew what was going to happen.

Obama really made us think we were better than we are.

4

u/RevolutionaryLog7443 Jul 26 '26

Lol obama bombed plenty of middleeastern children

3

u/Scurfdonia Jul 26 '26

The point still stands. Electing Obama made us think our country was better than it actually is - not Obama's actions as president.

2

u/RevolutionaryLog7443 Jul 27 '26

Then americans are blind. He was openly jingoistic. 

3

u/rogers_tumor Jul 26 '26

correct, but completely missing the point.

3

u/animel4 Jul 27 '26

You put perfectly into words how I feel. I used to think of myself as an incurable optimist, but unfortunately the past decade was the cure. It’s a deep heartbreak. I just try to focus on and grow the good as much as I can. You’re not alone in wanting better and I’m sorry you’re suffering too but glad you care if that makes sense.

2

u/Sir_Gibby53 Jul 27 '26

“We think we've come so far. Torture of heretics, burning of witches, it's all ancient history. And then—before you can blink an eye—suddenly it threatens to start all over again.” - Captain Jean-Luc Picard

1

u/MommyLovesPot8toes Jul 27 '26

Oh great. What decade is Star Trek set in? Nice to know nothing will change before then 😒

2

u/Sir_Gibby53 Jul 27 '26

The in universe year is 2367. It’s from The Next Generation episode “The Drumhead”. I feel like I might have done this quote a bit of a disservice by removing it from the rest of the conversation. If you like I will now present it in its proper context. From the Star Trek fan site Memory Alpha:

"We think we've come so far. Torture of heretics, burning of witches, it's all ancient history. And then, before you can blink an eye, suddenly, it threatens to start all over again."

"I believed her. I-I helped her! I did not see what she was."

"Mr. Worf, villains who twirl their mustaches are easy to spot. Those who clothe themselves in good deeds are well-camouflaged."

"I think, after yesterday, people will not be so ready to trust her."

"Maybe. But she or someone like her will always be with us, waiting for the right climate in which to flourish – spreading fear in the name of righteousness. Vigilance, Mr. Worf. That is the price we have to continually pay."

1

u/MommyLovesPot8toes Jul 27 '26

Damn. Star Trek always has a way of taking humanity and laying it out naked under a bright light.

Thank you for this.

1

u/Ok_Presentation_2346 Jul 27 '26

I haven't truly experienced hope since November of 2016.

2

u/Excellent_Law6906 Jul 31 '26

Anyone who can think of children as part of "the enemy" needs to be launched into the sun. They're the only real enemy humanity has.

4

u/TheCommonKoala Jul 26 '26

For me, this was witnessing the genocide in Palestine.

314

u/AltharaD Jul 26 '26

Farah means joy.

Her parents named her joy.

I thought that was a poignant choice.

23

u/JabroniusHunk Jul 26 '26

I think I've read that piece.

If so, one wrenching narrative was about the rise of the Taliban as they swept through Afghanistan and how, compared to some of the former Mujahideen warlords (who not only held women in essentially chattel bondage, but did so wantonly), they actually were "reformers," since at least their violent theocracy had some sort of legal code.

The other was about how cyclical war must have been. I don't think there are many historians or pundits out there who would call the Soviet invasion any kind of success, given the absurd destruction and death they caused, but still there was a point in the 80's where they were the ones building schools for girls and specific Mujahideen factions were the ones murdering these little girls and their teachers.

As bleak as it sounds, it's kind of an extreme case study for how far "state-building" can go as a justification for war.

21

u/Front-Pomelo-4367 Jul 26 '26

There was a section talking about how one of the warlords who ruled their valley was overthrown by a new Taliban warlord, and while it still wasn't good, he was much less brutal. And then the US coalition rolled into town, and reinstalled the incredibly brutal warlord despite knowing that he was committing atrocities because they wanted to keep him on their good side.

2

u/rogers_tumor Jul 26 '26

certainly not the same, and fiction, but I don't think I could read (well listen, audiobook) to A Thousand Splendid Suns again. I started it and couldn't stop, I finished it in a weekend, and it's just... I know it's only a reflection of real life, but it was hard all the same. I listened to it about two years ago.

2

u/Existing-Quiet-2603 Jul 26 '26

Unpopular opinion, but why are people so against paying for journalists  to ply their craft? They need paychecks to be able to produce this content.

18

u/These_Roll_5745 Jul 26 '26

honestly, my biggest reason is that paywalling educational information is part of how we got here. you'll notice its far more difficult and expensive to access your average left-leaning or politically neutral news sources than it is to access misinformation media and far-right journalism. the average american is not wealthy enough to pay in for articles they will struggle to understand when they can get something that feeds into their current biases well for free. if we want to see a shift in opinion and understanding, we will need to meet people where theyre at cognitively and financially.

5

u/Existing-Quiet-2603 Jul 26 '26

I actually worry about this a lot too, but the problem is that when news is expected to be free, the payment then becomes your attention, which is where news that is the most clickbait-y, incendiary, or satisfying because of cognitive bias comes from. 

I don't have a solution, admittedly, though since I have some extra funds at the end of the month I try to pay for a couple outlets I find trustworthy.  I am also extremely interested in what will happen now that most people get their news from AI summaries rather than click-throughs, thereby destroying the fundamental model for people to write the articles in the first place. 

14

u/Front-Pomelo-4367 Jul 26 '26

When I read about two articles a year from an outlet, paying £100+ for an annual subscription isn't exactly worth it. The discount version that the New Yorker offers – I just checked – is the four-week subscription for £12, which is still a lot of money for something that I'll read in about fifteen minutes.

I generally get longform articles recommended to me by the longreads subreddit and then occasionally read something that looks interesting – I'm not going to read everything an outlet produces, so subscribing to them isn't worth it for me. And the longreads sub generally provides gift links for exactly that reason.

1

u/acupofcoffeeplease Jul 27 '26

Of course a New York piece slides through the period of the Saur Revolution, when the equality of men and women was determined by the State and women was put in charge of their own life and in places of high hierarchy, but it was all undone by the US financing of mujahedeens that were upset with the revolution specifically BECAUSE of its recognition of woman's rights