An actual Chick tract was left on my door

[Ancalagon]

Two things-

The last time I saw a Jack Chick tract in the wild was ... oof ... I want to say 20 years ago? Maybe 15? I was walking to a MLB stadium, and someone was passing them out. Even then, it was kind of surprising.

That said, the other thing I want to say is this- these are easy to mock, and to parody. But ... they also caused a lot of damage. One thing I've become far too aware of is that things that I think are absolutely absurd, things that I think no rational person could believe, things that I think are such obvious lies no one could believe them (or could easily be checked by even a cursory google search) ... have an amazing power over people.

I'm more careful about what I think is amusing than I used to be.

memes are, sometimes, the modern Jack Chick pamphlet...

 

[Ralif Redhammer]

Is there anyone Jack Chick didn't hate?

Serious? Jack Chick despises Roman Catholics, he thinks that the pope is the literal devil. Those tracts were aimed at every single person in your town.

 

[FitzTheRuke]

I'd never even heard of a chick tract before now. However, as a Comic Book Guy, I appreciate their use of sequential art! Obviously, they never read Fredrick Wertham's Seduction of the Innocent and don't know that comics cause juvenile delinquency.

(Obviously, Wertham was a total quack).

 

[aramis erak]

Is there anyone Jack Chick didn't hate?

AFAICT, No. Nor approve of any any hobby other than reading the KJV and going to a non-liturgical protestant prayer meeting.

 

[Parmandur]

I also haven't seen them in ages. They used to show up all over the place - you'd see them by pay phones, at bus stops and stations, in communal areas on college campuses.

I remember back in the mid-90s, going to a local goth/alternative clothing shop. There was someone outside passing Chick Tracts to everyone going in. I mentioned it to the lady working and she chased him off right quick. Another time I was going into my dorm building and someone tried to hand me one. I told him "no thank you, I'm Jewish." He replied with "oh, I have a special one for you." That was when I learned about "Where's Rabbi Waxman?" Oh, does that one get my blood boiling.

Yeah, not to get too into it, but the attitude towards anyone of even a slightly different religious tradition...pretty upsetting, and actually damaging on a broader social level.

 

[Parmandur]

I've found this exact same tract, TWICE, in the same area of town, tied to the railing of an outdoor stairway with an elastic! One of which was this year.

It's the central tract to the whole collection, so that's not too odd.

 

[Parmandur]

I just came across my first one ever at Halloween. Someone handed it to my kids while trick-or-treating instead of candy.

This one has caused lots of particular damage: Chick is responsible for originating a lot of the silly ideas about Halloween that became common memes in the 70's-90's.

 

[Parmandur]

Is there anyone Jack Chick didn't hate?

Nope.

 

[Argyle King]

What do you think D&D would be like if the religious views of Chick had exerted more influence? ...had TSR viewed the product as being too offensive to Chick's branch of Christianity?

I'm aware that there actually were changes made to avoid more attention from the "Satanic Panic." So, I'm curious what the game would look like if the influence had been heavier than it already was and had TSR felt pressured to make bigger changes to the game.

 

[Parmandur]

What do you think D&D would be like if the religious views of Chick had exerted more influence? ...had TSR viewed the product as being too offensive to Chick's branch of Christianity?

I'm aware that there actually were changes made to avoid more attention from the "Satanic Panic." So, I'm curious what the game would look like if the influence had been heavier than it already was and had TSR felt pressured to make bigger changes to the game.

I mean, we know precisely, it's called AD&D 2E. That's not a counterfactual, it's what happened.