What is Mouth magazine and
why is its name so... RUDE?
When MOUTH published its first issue in 1990, about a dozen dear readers suggested a change of name to VOICE. "You catch more flies with honey..." they said.
Flies? Who but a big old ugly toad wants to catch flies?
During the last ten years, it is fair to say, Mouth has lowered the level of discourse on the subject of the helping system. About time, too.
Mouth brings the conversation down to street level, where well-intentioned "special" programs wreak havoc in the lives of ordinary people. People talk about calling a spade a spade. We call Jack Kevorkian a serial killer. And when maggots outnumber nurses' aides at what others call a "care facility," we call it a hellhole. We say it out loud: if special education is so darned special, every kid in every school ought to have the benefit of it.
Some folks call the Mouth radical. We think simpleminded is a better ephithet. Remember the other George Bush, when he campaigned in a supermarket and discovered that remarkable new checkout scanning technology? The man hadn't been to the grocery store since he was knee-high to a political consultant. Do-gooders are exactly that much out of touch with the helping system that they themselves operate.
Ask the next do-gooder you meet: Have you checked yourself into a nursing home lately? Tried to board an "accessible" bus in a wheelchair? Filed an ADA complaint with the U.S. Department of Justice? Asked a charity for actual help?
The answer will be no. It's not in their job description to use the godforsaken things.
And so it is that do-gooders go on doing their good about us --- without us.
And along comes the Mouth, roaring up from street level to take their system by the throat. This rude little magazine demands answers from the people in charge, laughs at the lying answers, and occasionally bites down, hard, somewhere near the throbbing jugular.
If you think you might enjoy the sport of commoners, come on and get a Mouth of your own.
It won't be Mouth until your voice is heard.
The drawing above by B. Faw is from an article on the United Way from an issue we did on Charity. Although Mouth magazine is an official 501-(c)-3 non-profit with the IRS, you won't find its name on your United Way donor card. To see snippets from that Charity issue, click here.
To get a Mouth of your own, click here.
We made a poster of "Nothing About Me Without Me." It's in our Attitude Catalog store. So are some of the issues shown above. To browse in that store, click here.