The cartoons point out the oddity of many things humans do - but are any of them as odd as the reason the artist is now being hounded on social media?
"Unfollowing this anti-choice right-wing nut who thinks women are baby factories".
Abortion advocates (at least on twitter) are now so extreme that a cartoonist tweeting two years ago that he was glad his girlfriend wasn’t aborted is the most heinous crime they can imagine.
Nathan Pyle, a New York Times bestselling author, has become most well known in recent years for his "Strange Planet" comic strips, which feature cute aliens making random observations about life on Earth. The series’ Instagram page has nearly two million followers, and the cartoons have reached viral status.
Hated for being glad his girlfriend is alive
However, this week, his timeline has been flooded with angry messages from abortion supporters, and he has lost thousands of followers. His crime? On Monday, someone had unearthed a tweet from 2017 where he referenced the March for Life and said he was thankful his then-girlfriend was alive.
The tweet said: "When I think of the #MarchForLife, I first think of the life story of my girlfriend, Soojin. I am thankful she was given the gift of life." This captioned a screenshot of Soojin’s facebook status, where she spoke of her "unsurmountable gratefulness for the gift of my life" and thanked God for courageous mothers.
The background of the tweet is not made clear, and this seems to be the only comment Mr Pyle has ever publically made on abortion. This didn’t stop the online mob from instantly condemning him as raging sexist bigot seeking to control women’s bodies. "it’s a strange planet alright, when women aren’t encouraged to have control over their own body," said one twitter user, while someone on Instagram said "Unfollowing this anti-choice right-wing nut who thinks women are baby factories. Goodbye."
Cartoons "ruined" by tweet
News outlets have also joined the attack, with Nylon heading their article with "The Guy Who Makes Those Cute Alien Comics Has Really Bad Opinions On Abortion", and the Daily Dot going with "The internet’s favorite new comic strip ruined by old anti-abortion tweet".
Mr Pyle has declined to respond directly to attack, but tweeted that he and his wife "have private beliefs as they pertain to our Christian faith" but that they believe in the separation of Church and State and support the Democrat party.
Many fans responded commiserating for what he had been subjected to, but there were still many like this: "some ppl, including me, don’t want to support someone that believes in limiting the reproductive rights of women and the rights of women to their own bodily autonomy".
It appears we now live in a world where because an artist tweeted something vaguely pro-life two years ago, you can’t enjoy his funny cartoons. A strange planet indeed.
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