It's the Day's Day of Days! Because what have I done?
You know, as we enter the second day of this... series, it seems like a good time to discuss the development of Muir's racism in the strip, in a bit of writing I've been preparing for some time now. There was never a magical time when DbD wasn't racist, but there was a time when its racism wasn't the noxious fever dream of white supremacy it's become. Early DbD racism was largely delivered through the instrument of Imaginary Black Man Damon explaining how liberals were the real racists, and how blacks should act like him to get ahead, and also not complain about racism. Sam and Zed were pretty much there to provide reheated office humor--when they interacted in the political side, they usually gave pseudo-centrist points in a weak effort to make it appear that Muir was impartial, while generally pushing a conservative agenda.
Now, there's a lot of interesting things you could say about Damon's role in this, and I'll probably say them in the future, but right now we're focusing on how Muir's in-strip racism has developed. Because what happened here was Zed and Sam gradually taking over the strip, with Zed transforming from schleppy aging office worker to dangerous badass sniper, and Sam going through a lesser--but still significant--change as well. And as that happened the strip moved from simply passively celebrating 'whiteness' to asserting its superiority in ever blunter, and louder terms. Black characters who weren't Damon shifted from simple dupes of the evil Democrats to active, malevolent threats, presented in the most racist way possible, usurping the position that Arabic Muslims had held in the strip's racist universe, with a clear inspiration being the black man who dared to be elected President. (Twice.) Damon still served his original function every now and then, but by and large, he shifted into becoming a supporting character, alongside punching bag/love interest Jan for that matter. Meanwhile, Muir's preoccupation with Hispanic immigrants morphed into an almost constant fear, springing up again and again.
But Muir's definition of whiteness had a further transmutation in its future. While there was always a part of Muir that tended to celebrate assholishness, he also enjoyed a pretense of reasonableness and intellectualism. Following the cast's mostly moving to Zed's father's ranch (or as I like to call it 'the compound'), Muir began more and more to celebrate--well, being a redneck as the epitome of whiteness, something that got worse after Trump got elected. Muir might love to go on and on about how white men were the ones who kept civilization running, but he feels that the highest form of that civilization are the people who hang truck-nuts on their bumpers. Of course, Sam also gets to pretend to be Asian, in Muir's eternal effort to Not Racist--but as depicted, she's white. Zed and Sam are a white couple, with white kids, and they "defend" what Muir insists is "white culture"--being sexist, racist, boorish asshats who scream and attack everyone who differs from them. Whites who are different from this "ideal" are weak, effete, hypocritical and "real racists". They lack the "honesty" of the volk--despite the fact that Muir spouts untruth on a basis that borders on the pathological.
It's not that Muir used to be better, in essence--it's that he used to try and cover-up his obnoxiousness with a veneer of attempted politeness. That's gone. In its place rises a contempt for anyone different and a worship for crude power. The belief that being a jerk means you're superior.
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