It’s Iimi! That Was… Unexpected

With Krysta in trouble, Kismetta going to Foothill for Arabic class, and Paula at a doctor’s appointment, Iimi is alone when Mike shows up looking to fight... or is it just to talk? Will it be the same old story? Or will people say, “That was… unexpected”

Post-Comic Notes:

We’re now seeing some results from when Mike sat in with the Socratic Club. If Mike seems less irritable than before, I don’t like caricatures. So, we’re seeing a little bit of what he’s like in a one-on-one discussion, getting hints from his past.

You may have noticed that the school exterior has a new model. That’s because I needed the ability to rotate and change angles. Besides, the stock Comipo art has a lower resolution than I need.

It’s Iimi! Better Call Paul

Iimi tries to find the proper balance between when to speak out and when to draw boundaries. While Fr. Gabe’s talk at Youth Group seems to offer solace, it will be tested when Najiyah asks questions aimed at “reverting” Kismetta to Islam. 

 

Will Iimi be able to defend Kismetta’s newfound beliefs while avoiding being overloaded?

 

Preliminary notes:

While not planned (I work about a month in advance in writing these comics), the Feast of the Conversion of St. Paul falls on January 25^th, so things lined up nicely for this comic.

 

Outside of a brief mention in Issue 107, I never really dealt with the Muslim objections to St. Paul. The reason was that the arguments used were so weak I assumed they were strawmen arguments. But further research showed that they are indeed seen as “refutations” of Christianity. 

 

The general assumption among Muslims in these arguments is that because our Scriptures do not say the same thing as the Quran, they must have been corrupted. Paul is a common suspect. The Council of Nicaea is another.

 

Since Kismetta is in the process of converting, it made sense to have Najiyah raise these points in hopes of “saving” Kismetta.

 

The Exhortation (Christus Vivit) that Fr. Gabe read can be found HERE.

Post-Comic Notes:

Dhu alshier al’azraq is Arabic and roughly translates as “blue-haired one.”

 

For those unfamiliar with the Pop culture reference, the title and the cover are a parody of the TV series, “Better Call Saul.”

It’s Iimi! Hobgoblins!

Ralph Waldo Emerson made a quote that gets paraphrased as “Consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds.” (The actual quote is “A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds, adored by little statesmen and philosophers and divines.”) Whenever someone points out that behavior is inconsistent, this gets dragged out as a strawman fallacy trying to claim that the person objecting is being small-minded. You may have seen a bumper sticker variant of this, saying “If you won’t change your mind, do you even have one?” 

 

But the real hobgoblins of “foolish consistency” is partisanship that assumes that whatever benefits me or harms my foes is good, and whatever disadvantages me or helps my foes is bad. That’s dangerous if left unchecked, and must always be opposed.