February 26, MMXXI 45

[Z6IIAB]

Atm I also wonder how often the characters are mutually exclusive? Like there are probably people out in the world who have a bit of both the new redneck guy and the Qanon guys in them. Hm....

-Russly

isn't new redneck guy = qanon guy? it's like saying someone is half german and half french. just say they're white lol istg i understand you less and less lolololol

omg... you meant as in these unammed characters!!!:



jfc, the way you phrased it was so confusing to me for some reason lol. yeah, there's FOR SURE people in the world who embody BOTH of those type of guys, since they aren't really that differently, personality/ideals-wise.

[Z6IIAB]

Yeah it's a bit tough to explain the obviousness factor in "white guilt rays" from today's strip for example. Like that Woke TV would even allow that kind of absurdity maybe isn't even on Amber's radar. She's still there too though....

-Russly

I guess it means racists are unnafeccted by white guilt since they don't even think racism is wrong in the first place.

[lurker]

Yeah it's a bit tough to explain the obviousness factor in "white guilt rays" from today's strip for example. Like that Woke TV would even allow that kind of absurdity maybe isn't even on Amber's radar. She's still there too though....

-Russly

I guess it means racists are unaffected by white guilt since they don't even think racism is wrong in the first place.

I think the comic is also outlining how "white guilt" is considered by Woke TV as a weapon to attack white people. From the liberals' point of view, every white person should feel white guilt, but from the conservatives' point of view, white guilt is an invention to brainwash people into compliance.

[Z6IIAB]

Yeah it's a bit tough to explain the obviousness factor in "white guilt rays" from today's strip for example. Like that Woke TV would even allow that kind of absurdity maybe isn't even on Amber's radar. She's still there too though....

-Russly

I guess it means racists are unaffected by white guilt since they don't even think racism is wrong in the first place.

I think the comic is also outlining how "white guilt" is considered by Woke TV as a weapon to attack white people. From the liberals' point of view, every white person should feel white guilt, but from the conservatives' point of view, white guilt is an invention to brainwash people into compliance.

Absolutely. I'd like to add that, from what I've read about racism, feeling guilty is just a stepping stone to actually feeling empathetic towars people of color (either sad for them or angry on their behalf) and eventually starting to act towards dismantling white supremacy. But I guess some white people, mostly liberals, get stuck in the "feeling guilty" phase because they don't think white people can or should do anything to end racism... or they don't really want to face the fact that they're still racist despite being aware of it. Either way, they are being individualistic and just wanna get their asses out of the game, be like "oh i feel so guilty, is that proof enough i'm not one of the bad whites???". They just wanna stop feeling "so bad" about something they didn't *personally* invented. Like, white people, as individuals who are alive today obviously didn't invent racism, lol. But as a historical class, yeah, we created that mess and we should be held accountable, our ancestors aren't here anymore to respond for their crimes! Of course we are responsible for undoing it, of course we can and should do something to end it. It's white people's historical and cultural heritage, and it's horrible, we gotta end it. Even if racism doesn't affects us, obviously, it DOES get us privileges at the expense of POC's human rights and that is obviously unfair and absurd, of course we must and should do something about it. If you don't, you are part of the problem, and just feeling guilty ain't helpful either. White guilt might be a start to get white people to fight for equal rights, but on its on it's just a tool for the oppressor to feel sad about themselves, feel like they are the ones being victimized and do nothing to undo the hierarchy that put them on top of others at the expense of their rights.

[RikkiTikkiTavi]

Absolutely. I'd like to add that, from what I've read about racism, feeling guilty is just a stepping stone to actually feeling empathetic towars people of color (either sad for them or angry on their behalf) and eventually starting to act towards dismantling white supremacy. But I guess some white people, mostly liberals, get stuck in the "feeling guilty" phase because they don't think white people can or should do anything to end racism... or they don't really want to face the fact that they're still racist despite being aware of it. Either way, they are being individualistic and just wanna get their asses out of the game, be like "oh i feel so guilty, is that proof enough i'm not one of the bad whites???". They just wanna stop feeling "so bad" about something they didn't *personally* invented. Like, white people, as individuals who are alive today obviously didn't invent racism, lol. But as a historical class, yeah, we created that mess and we should be held accountable, our ancestors aren't here anymore to respond for their crimes! Of course we are responsible for undoing it, of course we can and should do something to end it. It's white people's historical and cultural heritage, and it's horrible, we gotta end it. Even if racism doesn't affects us, obviously, it DOES get us privileges at the expense of POC's human rights and that is obviously unfair and absurd, of course we must and should do something about it. If you don't, you are part of the problem, and just feeling guilty ain't helpful either. White guilt might be a start to get white people to fight for equal rights, but on its on it's just a tool for the oppressor to feel sad about themselves, feel like they are the ones being victimized and do nothing to undo the hierarchy that put them on top of others at the expense of their rights.

Well put. And we can just insert patriarchy or any other system of oppression into that thought process too. It is not enough just to feel guilty. Making things even means doing something to dismantle the system as it stands. Our 'feelings' are nice and all, but feelings are not action.

[Z6IIAB]

yeah! you can definetly think like that about patriarchy, 100%.

[Russly]

Absolutely. In fact it's been argued to me that we basically live with "all the pain and all the joy" of existence at the same time all the time. The "bad feeling" won't go away ever in some sense, this isn't work that would be complete in our lifetimes one would think. Given the infinite nature of our experience, we live day to day on a need-to-know basis, meaning... phrases like "I think about them every day" don't come from nowhere.

My bad on the reference!

-Russly

[forthefries]

Bit of an outsider when it comes to viewpoints on this forum I should mention. Picked up reading the comic a while ago and while I'm not a personal believer in the causes or ideological viewpoints that seem to be somewhat common place in more usual a fan of the comic I do enjoy the story and universe setting.

Also just because you don't buy into a particular thing is no reason not to consume a bit of media on it. Its interesting as a comic and sometimes the forums are worth a visit for the insight on how some people may think.

Anyway now that I've touched that explanation a tad, I think I'll comment just because I found this one interesting. It also shows a bit of why I've stuck around for the comic as time as marched on. I don't know how much of the authors personal viewpoint of the world enters the comic or even how close my own interpretation might hit (Not really much knowledge there) but this page seems to point out the what I personally think of as bad actors or cynical supporters of some of these movements. Honestly almost any popular movement. People and corporations that may have no interest in the actual ideology other than using as a means to push their own ends. Not that these ends are necessarily a fascist seeming society that is ruled by woke flavored propaganda, fiat, and force. \ Generally speaking ambitious people without any morals tend to not really care what they need to pretend or lie about to gain what they want or keep what they want. At least it seems plausible historically in some cases. Ending up with a strange corp-o/woke dictatorship type of thing seems like a rather extreme example of this and seems more of a story point than a direct statement but given the "system" hasn't been overthrown in the comic and the messaging/look has just been changed I think it speaking to the fact that movements or the messaging perhaps is a better way to put it can be hijacked becoming in the comics case the system merely from a different perspective rather than an improvement. New propaganda same D-man sorta thing.

Idk I find it an interesting thought and given I likely don't personally share too many viewpoints with the person making the comic possibly massively wrong ha. Keeps the comic interesting though so wrong or not I'm looking forward to how things develop story wise.

[Russly]

Yes the interesting part of this place is we do not exist in a silo. The multicultural aspect is here and we are at least halfway tolerant of extreme viewpoints what with the radical nature of this place and all. How ironic, huh?

It often seems like the comic has taken on a life of its own, yes. I mean, based on what went on in today's strip, there is quite clearly a 'they' the author refers to (and interestingly I vaguely recall some of those characters). Whatever remnants of the porn world I still pass by when cleaning up my own history... they all have that trend of confidence immediately followed by fallout. Like friends and such that I have, some get out of the porn world, and some... they think they know what they're doing, and fail.

What's good about some of the newest characters is they represent the realtime toppling of the system. D man always exists, and will always toast, but last year was in his hands, not this one. One would hope Tat will get to a point where the comic aligns with the reality of the situation some, sure, since it seems he will do what feels right. Examples being D Man getting out of the way, Slick taking care of his shadow self, Liberty helping Sam grow back up and such.

Chances are the comic itself got too interpretive. The author has had to think through what mistakes were made and what weren't. Amazingly, no matter how shameless he gets with radical viewpoints, the comic itself has developed too far and perhaps is even out of his own hands at that point? Or not. Either way, you're right, I agree that it makes for an interesting tale.

-Russly