2014-05-19

XKCD Is Terrible - #1370 - PRESIDENT


I don't even need to explain why this isn't funny, but I will anyway, since ten words does not a blog post make.

This isn't funny because it isn't trying to be. It's trying to make a political point and get what xkcdexplained termed "agreement chuckles"; the small, hallow laughter you get from political cartoons smacking down strawmen of the opposing viewpoint. Y'know, exactly what this comic is?

It's such a blatant straw(wo)man, too. A lot of people who fear for the future because of the Internet point to the rule34, the 4chan, the BDSM porn, etc, saying that growing up with those things as part of one's environment would lead to problems in adulthood. I don't personally agree with that argument, since parental controls are a thing, but that is a legitimate argument against Internet culture. Another argument is that with all the "like"s, "+1"s, etc, the Internet encourages people to be attention seeking. And you know what? I don't have a counter argument for that yet. Every time I see the little 1 appear that symbolizes a comment on this blog, I smile. Someone is talking about something I wrote. Look at how awesome I am, I got linked to by both the xkcd sucks -es.

That is not what is portrayed here. This is a gross misrepresentation of the argument. Instead of "Children could see shock sites!/Everyone just wants attention!", we have "Old people are willfully ignorant!/Teenagers could have embarrassing photos online!". Of course the adult is going to pick the second one, and of course the kid is able to counter that. It's one of the weakest arguments that could be made on the subject.

I suspect I've missed some problems with this comic in the haze of stupidity, but in all honesty, this comic doesn't even deserve a thorough deconstruction. Its a preaching-to-the-choir, hugbox-inviting (hey people who like Internet webcomics about Internet memes, did you know the Internet is good?) comic that misses any actual argument in favor of congratulating itself on being so smart, and it reads like a passive aggressive comment about an argument that Randy lost.

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