Unilateral Declaration of Human Rights
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January 27th, 2010

Unilateral Declaration of Human Rights

65 Abominable Comments!

  1. CJbear

    dude, this sounds like my manager…

  2. Joshua

    Is this what will happen to the animals of the forest?

  3. Kobble

    Pshh! People are always complaining. Really annoys a dictator, doesn’t it?

    Funny strip. I like the ruling presence in the last couple – he’s rather hilarious, possibly evil or not ^_^

  4. as363

    The images of all the animals – and the birds – are showing the opposite of the human speech . The look of the chicken in the foreground the most foreboding of all . Helps me root for them – and Charles when he makes an appearance.

  5. Tigerlady

    lmao wonderful strip, Karl! I think the king’s ideas are a bit… off… I also love each animal representation for each right.

  6. rhys

    lovely work as always… i agree with tigerlady- the animal representations are perfect. :)

  7. joxbonx

    i’m starting to like this dictator. pretty excited to see what happens next

  8. Ms. Rika

    Ha! Piggies for disease… got swine flu on the brain?

  9. Adam Casalino

    once again, karl, you prove yourself a fantastic and powerful communicator.

  10. K

    First time commenter here, just wanted to say I love your comic, have shared it with people frequently, and find a lot of inspiration in it.

    Thanks for giving us such a great story to read and gawk at :)

  11. rico.

    Getting heavy sir, I love it,it’s one of my favorite pages so far!

  12. Twilite

    I have this feeling that I’m going to love to hate this ruler. =)

  13. Kar

    I usually love your work but this week it feels a little heavy-handed. I half expect to see a sticker – sponsored by PETA.

  14. Cesare

    attaboy Karl!

  15. Snowpea

    “You can’t do that,” Greenyham protested weakly ….
    “Can I not?” said Vetinari. “I am a tyrant. It’s what we do.”
    (Terri Pratchett)

  16. Stephanie

    I think Kar’s response is a fine example of how talking about animal rights makes people feel guilty and uncomfortable.
    I love the quiet, subtle way you’ve brought them into the conversation in these panels. I don’t feel like it’s heavy handed at all. Cheers.

  17. Dr Ennui

    Funny, “eating quite well” with the masses willingly consuming whatever gets dumped in the trough. Remarkably well done.

  18. Argent Stonecutter

    OK, who showed him the CIA playbook?

  19. Robin William Scott

    Wow, yeah, that’s a very very smart strip. And I entirely agree with the foreboding look in the panel with the chickens.

    Very good.
    Karl, I love what you give us here, thank you for all your time and effort and the obvious love, care and attention that goes into every pencil stroke.

  20. Adriano1977

    Jelp, I can’t stop chuckling… And I am at work!!! LOL

  21. Toothpick

    I am disappointed, this comic got preachy. I rather read about Charles Christopher or Moonbear’s stories instead of digs like this.

  22. Luis Escorial

    Just awesome.

  23. Kar

    For me, it’s not a matter of feeling guilty. The number of panels with the king’s comments juxtaposed over the contradictory images of a number of different types animals strikes me as overemphasis.

    When you can focus on one issue or have one animal personify the cruelty that’s more effective for me. Like when Charles runs across the steel jaw trap or the cruelty felt by the circus animals.

    That’s an embedded plea by the way about the bears, I really want to know more about that storyline!

  24. noah

    dude, you are slowly transforming from artist to messiah. Amazing strip. As usual.

  25. Kar

    I meant specifically those circus bears. The ones about the mama bear and her cub or watching the female on the high wire were gut-wrenching for me. I just wanted to tear those muzzles off their mouths.

  26. chris

    Long time reader first time commentor. Love the work karl and love where this may be going. i disagree that the strip is getting preachy the kings speech is just shown from the view of the animals, like the story so far, and is how charles will see this city when he arrives. Again love the work and hope theres many a strip to come :)

  27. Mike Hell

    Wednesdays don’t come fast enough.

    Thank you for the wonderful work.

  28. Kit

    I have to disagree that the strip is becoming preachy. It takes place in a fantasy world in which animals are sentient, and is told from the point of view of those animals. Is Watership Down, or any other story told from the point of view of an animal that comes into contact with humans now preachy? It would be odd if the animals didn’t consider hunting for fur to be murder, or domestication to be slavery.

  29. nef

    I love this comic and I love this week’s strip. It is beautifully done and may perhaps change something in the world we live in, if enough people start to care.

  30. Gannon

    Honestly, I interpreted this less as how the animals are treated than how Americans are treated by presidents. Guess it works both ways.

  31. bethany

    I particularly enjoy the choice of wording used as examples of what ‘excellent’ shape the kingdom is in…i.e. there is a ‘bit less’ disease and that ‘most’ are not tortured or degraded. I found it a stronger political statement than one of animal rights.

  32. Richard Bartrop

    I think it applies just as well to pretty much every country on Earth.

  33. Julie

    How sad… Makes you feel really uncomfortable.

  34. i-hate-socks

    i think this strip is great commentary on the state of the world and rights, human rights, not animal rights. well, animal rights too. but the connection to HR is so clear.
    i agree with Kit and others. the strip isn’t preachy.
    this strip is part of a larger story arc, which is slowly being unravelled every wednesday. slowly being the operative word. slow is good, because then karl illustrates the beauty of this world through the funny and heartwarming stories, as the ‘plot’ takes shape in and around the forest. this is how stuff happens in our human world too.

    this strip is really amazing.

  35. Random

    Woah… really deep. I’m still thinking about it. If the animals represent the humans in this king’s kingdom, I fear the worst for the people.

  36. james

    what a bunch of ungrateful subjects

  37. Joe D.

    I’m going to have to echo the statements of your amazing use of architecture. Without having a face to put to the ruler, the architecture BECOMES his physical appearance, adding to his persona immensely. Well-done, sir.

  38. Kassandra

    I know this is a canadian comic, but with President Obama’s state of the union tonight, I wonder if there is any connection, especially considering our past with waterboarding… I don’t think it really has any connection to Obama’s policies or governing but the timing of the strip makes you wonder.

  39. Lyon

    Forsythe’s been bugging you to go vegan again, hasn’t he?

  40. Razor

    I see what you did there! =)

    “not held in servitude or slavery all that long…” pffft. His Spoiled Highness needs to take a look at ALL of his subjects. Not just the ones with two feet. =P

  41. ayanna

    is this part of the wild imaginings of a tyrannical duckling??

  42. Caohaoim

    How did you get an early copy of the State of the Union address?

  43. False

    I am having some serious Animal Farm flashbacks. In the best possible way :)

  44. RAWLS

    haha… there’s a bit less disease.

  45. Sean da Doc

    The opening panel and closing mirror each other, with each panel focusing on a different animal, the speech an ironic caption for each image (each image “ironising” the text). This strip is heading towards political allegory, and yet it retains an open-ended quality. Great stuff. Thanks for your work.

  46. Dirk K

    Getting a bit political, eh?

  47. EricShift

    Is it just me or does this suddenly sound like John Cleese’s voice?

  48. ADHadh

    I don’t think I like that “humans are evil, animals are good” attitude that much, but this page is golden.
    Also, if I remember correctly, the lion spirit seemed a bit misguided himself.

  49. Rob T

    If you read the Kings words things aren’t that great for the humans either.

  50. Tree

    I so want the king to be a duckling! ;)

  51. oomu

    I love all of that comics

    and of course, that topic is a clear logical evolution of the whole comic from start

    (the whole circus treatment, the whole hunt trap stuff, how animals are portrayed as free and intelligent in the forest and so on)

    and things can change in time, more layers of story to be revealed.

  52. Matt

    For some reason, I’m imagining the king to look like a midget human version of Charles Christopher; it’d be a nice juxtaposition between the childlike ruler and the child of the world.

    By the way: This story is unravelling slowly, but I read it, for the first time, in one afternoon, and it GREATLY added to my appreciation of each nuggety strip; wish such an experience could be repeated…

  53. Ra

    great work, Karl

  54. Argent Stonecutter

    I imagine him looking like the ruler in “The Meek”.

  55. Aerliss

    EricShift: You just made the king ten times funnier for me.

    I don’t understand how this is preachy. It’s powerful, not preachy. If Karl were preaching at us about animal rights there would be an obvious “factory farming is evil” line in there (note the king never mentions executions). This does not appear. All I’m seeing is a talented writer and artist saying; “maybe it’s time we thought about where our dinner comes from.”

    You want a piece of preachy literature about animal rights and human cruelty? Read Richard Adams’ animal works; “Watership Down” and “The Plague Dogs.” Or how about “Bambi, A Life in the Woods” (the original book, not the Disney film) by Felix Salten.

  56. Tuhalu

    Nice one this week.

    I saw no preaching. Just an author using the tools he has to tell the story. Since Karl does not drawn people in this comic, he has to use images of animals to ironically express how wrong the King’s viewpoint is.

    I’m also amused by how little notice the animals are taking of the King’s speech. One of the pigs seems to hear something, but the rest of the animals just ignore the King and go on with their business.

  57. Froggy

    This is that spoiled prince again, isn’t he?

    I vote that the ducklings take over and call him a despot. ALL IN FAVOR?

    *quack*

  58. VladsDescendent

    Ah, politicking.

    New reader, just finished reading the archives. I really wasn’t expecting to like this comic as much as I did. You do a stellar job in pulling out the laughter, awws, and sad sighs. Looking forward to continuing to read the story and sidelines as they grow.

  59. Daddy-O

    Is this strip implying that the freedom that human have is illusory at best? Or is it attempting to equate animal rights with human rights? Forgive me, but it is not clear to me. …I do think human freedoms are a bit illusory. We really only enjoy our freedoms within the parameters that “they” allow us, but really that is the very nature of human society, isn’t it? As much as I would love to drive 75 mph after a snifter full, the laws demand that I keep it 55 and only when I’m sober. So, really, freedom has it’s limits within any society. …As for equating animal rights with human rights, this is confused nonsense. There are those who would equate animals with human, but let us not forget… cruelty is a huge part of nature. The weak die to the strong, the sick are left to die, the young of a dethroned leader will be killed, and often times devoured, by the newly throned leader, and lest we all forget… many animals eat their own poop. …Humans, on the other hand create for they joy of it, they cultivate, they are capable of extremely altruistic acts, and they sacrifice… often times themselves. …The differences between humans and all other species are enormous… even the very concept of rights is strictly a human trait.

    Well, all that to say, I am not sure which way this strip is leaning. In any case… very well done. Beautiful work. I love your use of black. Very strong.

  60. Taemon

    Not that I condone factory farming in any way, but let us not pretend that wild animals are nice to each other. Most animals outside die a horrible death. So yeah, humans are mean. And so are other animals. Surprise!

  61. Kaiser

    Only, Daddy-O, we humans really effed up the natural order. OUR weak and sick do NOT die nearly as often as they SHOULD. To think ourselves, we humans, as some great society of super-beings is arrogant and will probably lead to our downfall. We tend to screw stuff up wherever we go while the animals blend and coexist in a perfect harmony with nature. From my point of view, I’d think it would be degrading to the animals to be equated with a human.

    As far as your view point on whether or not animals have rights… well you’re entitled to that, but it angers me. Every SINGLE animal i have EVER come in contact with has always had their own special personality. I’ve raised many litters of kittens and each one had its own little mind behind it, its own soul. They dream and think and play and have fun just like humans. They feel pain just like us, they suffer as we do. So where do you get the idea that animals don’t have rights? Just because we have some fancy thumbs and they do not?

  62. John K

    Now THERE’S a state of the union!

  63. MM

    Wow, what a great comic! I think the animals’ juxtaposition with the kings speech is meant not only to point out their captivity, but also to draw a parallel between how the human subjects in this city are treated. (Free . . . “as long as they don’t travel outside the city walls.” Not held in slavery or servitude . . . “for that long.”)

  64. Daddy-O

    Kaiser,

    “…we humans really effed up the natural order. OUR weak and sick do NOT die nearly as often as they SHOULD.”
    — And who decides that? In the wild predators kill the weak, the sick, and the old. (Or the elements.) Should we leave ours to predators? Or do we kill them ourselves? Will you do that to your loved ones, or just other people’s loved ones? My view is that human life is intrinsically valuable. A sick person is of no less worth than a healthy one, and both have an equal right to live.

    “To think ourselves, we humans, as some great society of super-beings is arrogant and will probably lead to our downfall. We tend to screw stuff up wherever we go while the animals blend and coexist in a perfect harmony with nature. From my point of view, I’d think it would be degrading to the animals to be equated with a human.”
    — We are not “super” beings, we simply are what we are, but there s no denying that we are DIFFERENT from all other species on this planet. Look around yourself right this moment, and ask what animal lives in a way that comes even close to us? What species is as inventive? What species is as creative? What species is as capable to of doing the GREATEST goods- such as traveling half way around the world to help those suffering in Haiti- as well as the greatest evils- such as raping and murdering those who are suffering in Haiti.
    — Animals do not co-exist consciously. The simply exist. They are unaware of ecosystems, and preservation. They kill and consume according to their needs, and without mercy. In fact, mercy does not exist in nature. As I said before, a male lion will kill the young of his defeated rival, and often consume them, in order to ensure that his seed continues. The same is true with chimps, and gorillas. …There are those humans who kill animals for sport, there are those who do so for necessity, and there are those who do not at all.
    — You cannot broad brush humanity so easily.

    “As far as your view point on whether or not animals have rights… well you’re entitled to that, but it angers me. Every SINGLE animal i have EVER come in contact with has always had their own special personality. I’ve raised many litters of kittens and each one had its own little mind behind it, its own soul. They dream and think and play and have fun just like humans. They feel pain just like us, they suffer as we do.”
    — A little anthropomorphizing here, don’t you think? I never said that SOME animals have their own personalities, of course they do. I was a dog owner. Yes, they have personalities… though I have yet to see the personalities of my kid’s two hermit crabs. Or do they not count?
    — But, the simple fact is that you CAN NOT know that animals “dream and think and play and have fun just like humans”. That is IMPOSSIBLE to know as we have no access to their minds… or have you spoken to your cats about their dreams and ambitions?

    “So where do you get the idea that animals don’t have rights? Just because we have some fancy thumbs and they do not?”
    — Re-read my post. I NEVER said that.
    — In fact, I DO believe animals have rights. I certainly do. I believe that very strongly. I also believe animals have worth. Definitely. …But I DO NOT believe animal rights are equal to humans rights, because I do not consider them of equal worth to humans.
    — If you and my daughter’s three guinea pigs were in a burning building, and I could only save one, I would save you… as much as my girls love their pigs. Or if it were between you and a dog, or a tiger, or a water shrew… I would choose you.
    — Because I believe you are worth it.

  65. hclark

    *guilty*
    Terrific statement and art

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