Topic: [CLOSED] Paying creative writer for drug prohibition parody (Read 1388 times)

I'm going to have runcible and kuba work on this together, so I'm not accepting any more submissions right now. Thanks.

Just to clarify, I'm not looking for a story, but a fictional account of the history and escalation of the prohibition of cartoons, as a parallel to the history and escalation of the modern prohibition of drugs.

For instance, cannabis originally was legal, but you were required to pay tax and put a tax stamp on any containers. However, authorities never or rarely actually gave tax stamps, so all cannabis was essentially illegal due to the evasion of taxes. Then along came Harry Anslinger and some others who used lies and racist arguments to scare people away from cannabis and into accepting outright prohibition. Then came Nixon who pushed the idea of a War on Drugs, and with that came the escalating militarization of police. In response, criminals too escalated their militarization, and the drug cartels of Mexico are a direct result of that initiative.

The thing is, almost all of the problems with drugs (other than the direct physical and mental problems associated with use or abuse of some) arise from their criminalization. We would be seeing the exact same problems arise if the moral crusade had been against cartoons instead of drugs. This is what I want to present to people in a convincing manner.

Elewton's ideas are along the lines of what I was thinking we would see in such a scenario.

I like it! People selling tiny cartoons on glass and holding them up to the sun or bright lights to see them.  Money being burned when it's found to have had cartoons drawn on it.  Ancient cave paintings being destroyed, but some religions getting an exemption.  Parents being taught to look for signs that their children might start drawing cartoons and how best to punish them.  Cartoon pushers introducing readers to more and more cartoons.  Cartoon smugglers bribing customs.  People trying to swallow handfulls of cartoons.  Condoms bursting in people GI tracts.

There's a lot of fun to be had with this idea.

I'm open to either way. I think it's a good idea.

Ok, we can do this one of two ways. I can pick one person to create this based on a short (one page or less) sample, or anyone who's interested can collaborate and I can split the money based on the amount of work I (subjectively) think went into each piece. I'm not sure which would be better.

I can also do this. I'm a funny mofo and I do a LOT of illegal cartoons in my spare time. I can't get it to you until tomorrow though.

I can do it. I will send you first page in about 3 hours, so you will check if my text suits your needs.

I had an idea this morning, but I don't have the skills to implement it. What I would like is a detailed history of the prohibition of cartoons, made to parallel the rise of drug prohibition in the United States, and eventually culminating in the War on Cartoons. It should be written in a serious tone, such as this Wikipedia article. I think the comedic nature of this endeavor should naturally come out given the subject matter. I don't mind if you take some text directly from relevant wiki articles and change them to fit, but it should not be a complete copy-paste-find-replace job.

Something I'm especially interested in is how the consumption of cartoons becomes violent when it is prohibited.

I'm willing to pay 25 BTC for this, but I'm also open to negotiation.

edit... One thing I would love to see is some of the rhetoric used against cannabis use in the early days, especially that of Harry Anslinger, modified to take a strong stand against the consumption of cartoons.