Ren & Stimpy: The Cartoon That Inspired the Anarchy of MisinformationSucks.com
By Michael Kelman Portney
When I started MisinformationSucks.com, I wasn’t consciously thinking of The Ren & Stimpy Show. But looking back, its influence is undeniable. Ren and Stimpy weren’t just a cartoon—they were a masterclass in anarchic, absurdist storytelling that tore up the rulebook and shoved a pie in its face. And that ethos is exactly what fuels this site.
For those unfamiliar, Ren & Stimpy was a show that thrived on chaos. It took societal norms, ground them into a paste, and smeared them across the screen in a way that was both grotesque and hilarious. Its genius was in how it exposed the absurdity of everyday life, magnifying its hypocrisies and unspoken truths until they were impossible to ignore. That same spirit lives on in the articles here, where I tackle culture, politics, and the human condition with a similarly irreverent, no-holds-barred approach.
The DNA of Ren and Stimpy runs through the way MisinformationSucks.com dismantles dominant narratives. The show never cared about being polite or palatable; it reveled in discomfort. Think of those grotesque close-ups—sweaty brows, decaying teeth, oozing pustules. They weren’t there to gross you out (well, not entirely). They were there to show you the world for what it really is: messy, imperfect, and unvarnished. The articles on this site do the same, whether I’m dissecting the failures of American politics or poking at the weird corners of culture. I lean into the ugly truths because that’s where the real story lives.
Ren and Stimpy also operated with a subversive “no-rules” philosophy. It didn’t just bend the conventions of animation; it shattered them. This site follows that same tradition, refusing to conform to what a blog “should” look like. I don’t do puff pieces. I don’t chase trends. I dissect, I provoke, and I bulldoze with clarity and wisdom. Ren and Stimpy taught me that you don’t have to play by the rules to make an impact—you just have to hit harder than anyone else.
And then there’s the humor. Ren and Stimpy were hilarious, but not in a comforting, laugh-track kind of way. Their comedy was unpredictable, dark, and often uncomfortable. That’s the same energy I channel into my writing. I don’t just want to make you laugh; I want to make you think, even if that means making you squirm a little. Whether I’m critiquing the absurdity of gatekeeping in online communities or framing Elon Musk as part of a “global coup,” the humor here mirrors the cartoon’s ability to unearth truth through the absurd.
At its core, Ren & Stimpy was about rejecting the sanitized and embracing the raw. That’s what MisinformationSucks.com is about, too. Life is messy, culture is flawed, and power structures are often absurd. But in the grotesque, in the absurd, and in the uncomfortable, there’s clarity. Ren and Stimpy showed me that. And now, I’m showing it to you.
Welcome to the madness.
-www.misinformationsucks.com management
