Crook Article

[Tryg Helseth]

On Thu, 17 Feb 1994 10:13:56 -0500 (ES, HATHAWAY at stsci.edu wrote:

>  For 20 months he has baffled police - and captivated the German public with 
>fiendishly clever plots that involve blowing up department stores whenever his 
>demands for an $800,000 payoff are not met.  His inspiration - and perhaps 
>some of his schemes - appear to be drawn from Walt Disney comic books, 
>specificially those featuring Donald Duck's tightfisted trillionaire (sic) 
>uncle, Scrooge McDuck; hence the culprit's chosen nom de guere, "Dagobert," 
>the German name for the comic character."  

>  I suppose the knee-jerk reaction from the non-Duck folk would be 
>to expect an immediate condemnation from all Duck fans of this crook's 
>activities.

Remember when "Hacker" was used to describe someone who had intimate 
knowledge of computers and was a respected member of the computing 
community?  Then the media got a hold of the word and twisted it around to 
mean someone who breaks into computer systems and reaks havoc.  In other 
words, a criminal!

>From time to time I've seen alledged do-gooders get on an anti-comics campaign
in their mission to save our children from corruption.  I remember years ago
seeing Pat Robinson lead a discussion on his "700 Club" raking comics in 
general over the coals.  They were calling for comic books to be banned 
or, at least, not sold to minors.  They made an exception, of course, for 
"Christian" comics and went out of their way to priase titles like "Alveraz!"
(Now I've seen Alveraz, and I thought it was one of the most racist and violent 
comics I had seen...)

>  It is refreshing that the (reading) public can learn of the 
>international popularity of Scrooge and family.  It is unfortunate 
>the media needs violence to get their attention though.  

Just like the US media coverage of the winter olympics.  They are trying 
very hard to make the Tonya Harding/Nancy Kerrigan incident into a soap 
opera!  All the reporters seem to be following Tonya and Nancy around 
asking them what they will say to each other, etc.  Then, of course, we
are all embarrased by the few kooks who think it's cute to make long-
distant calls to Norway with death threats!    

As comic fans, we can breath a sigh of relief that so few people read; 
maybe the Washington Post article will not be noticed...

Tryg Helseth  <trygve at maroon.tc.umn.edu>   Minneapolis, MN, USA
          or  <tryg.helseth at tstation.mn.org>

"I wish they all could be Calisota Ducks!" -The Beach Drakes