Latest news with #FrankMcKinneyHubbard
Epoch Times
05-08-2025
- Entertainment
- Epoch Times
‘Abe Martin' Cartoons Offered a Daily Dose of Country Philosophy
If the Indianapolis News cartoonist and humorist Frank McKinney Hubbard (1868–1930) were alive today, he would probably be a social media influencer or an invited guest on Fox News's 'Gutfeld!' Hubbard's pen name was Kin Hubbard, and for those readers unfamiliar with the wisecracking Midwesterner, his primary claim to fame was creating a cartoon of a country bumpkin philosopher named Abe Martin whose homespun opinions were read by millions in more than 300 newspapers. The Indianapolis News was his parent newspaper, and his drawings and observations were so popular that the newspaper published him daily until 1980, 50 years after his death.
The Hindu
14-06-2025
- Politics
- The Hindu
Triggering a stimulating conversation
It's intriguing how some topics easily trigger (and sustain) a spirited conversation better and longer than others do. Often social conversations founder and fizzle out at parties and get-togethers for want of a suitable subject. Many a conversation loses its focus and turns desultory due to digressions. However, when the topic centres on a current or controversial issue, it usually clicks as a conversation starter. Topicality does matter. As a sure-fire conversation launcher, there's perhaps nothing like the unpredictable weather plaguing us — a popular staple that everyone likes to dissect verbally and freely. And, of course, global warming and its resultant climate change, along with their disastrous consequences, have gifted us a topic to talk (and worry about) all the time now. 'Don't knock the weather,' remarked American humourist Frank McKinney Hubbard insightfully. 'Nine-tenths of the people couldn't start a conversation if it didn't change once in a while.' In India, cricket is, of course, a hot topic of conversation that seldom flags. To ignite a lively discussion at a get-together, all one has to do is to comment on a prominent cricketer's poor form and sit back — to be bombarded with a detailed 'discourse' that would put our most eminent cricket commentators and pundits in the shade, figuratively speaking. Then there's nothing like national politics to kick-start an animated conversation among strangers in a train compartment and get some revealing feedback; the number of people eager to voice an opinion, unsought, surprises one as much as their vehemence. Some prefer sensational social gossip about well-known personalities — the juicier the better! And, of course, the ongoing India-Pakistan conflict (with its nuclear undertones and threats) often fuels a heated discussion. When the subject is of popular and compelling interest, people are inexorably drawn into it. Ideally, a conversation should be an uplifting and mutually satisfying experience for all involved; it should leave one edified and relaxed rather than worked up, having aired one's views. More importantly, it should serve as a platform for the tolerant and free exchange of opinions, dissenting though these may be. Bulldozing others' views should be avoided. No doubt it will be difficult to reach a consensus on any issue, but acrimony should be eschewed in the interests of companionship and bonhomie. Some, of course, will inevitably contribute heat rather than light to a discussion! The essence of a good participatory conversation (or discussion for that matter) lies in giving others' point of view a patient hearing and due consideration without dogmatically harping on one's own, no matter how cogent it may be. A good guideline is that timeless maxim: it's better to debate a question without settling it than to settle a question without debating it. Good conversationalists are popular anywhere but, alas, they're a fast disappearing species, hard to find these days. As American writer Ralph Waldo Emerson opined, 'Conversation is an art in which a man has all mankind for competitors.' And, of course, only the most articulate and knowledgeable succeed. gnettomunnar@
