If We All Spat at Once They’d Drown

If We All Spat at Once They’d Drown: Drawings About Class by Sam Wallman (editor)
Published: 2016
Publisher: Pen Erases Paper
Length: 200 pages

This is a collection of comics and drawings from various illustrators and writers around the world, over sixty in total, that I picked up last year while in Melbourne. It was crowdfunded by Melbourne cartoonist Sam Wallman and focuses on issues of social class, general issues as well as some specific to Australia.

Class isn’t something that’s discussed very often in Canada, from what I’ve seen, at least not in the way it seems to be elsewhere. I’m not sure where Australia lands on this, but I tend to think of the UK when this topic is brought up, where that structure seems to have more of a day-to-day influence. The ideas of working class and middle class aren’t really thought of as much here. The term blue-collar worker will get thrown around, but it’s usually used as a badge of honour and doesn’t really imply that you’re stuck in a place where success and education are out of reach. That’s not to say we don’t have social economic divides, but it’s less a part of our individual identities here, I think. It’s possible I’m just talking out of my ass.

Canada and America (and I’m sure many other countries) have this idea of high social mobility, the American Dream they call it down south, that has some truth but is also quite exaggerated. It’s not always as possible as we’d like to believe, particularly in America with its healthcare issues, to climb out of poverty and make a fortune, but we do still have this belief that we could all be quite well-off some day. It’s one of the reasons that is sometimes tossed around for why so many people seem to vote against their best interests – they don’t mind the tax cuts for the rich because they imagine themselves being just as rich one day. There’s a crudely drawn illustration in this collection by Velika Thomev of a person squatting over someone lying on the ground, taking a shit on them and giving the reader a big smile with a thumbs up. What I like about it is the person on the ground has an equally large smile and is also giving a thumbs up. They think the situation is also working out for them.

I love the punk rock title for this, and there’s a fantastic variety in the art styles, some beautiful and some grotesque. I would have liked to actually learn a bit more from this, but I guess it’s mainly meant to provoke some thought and interest on the topic, and it does succeed there.