[Comic title: Charity; alt text: "I usually respond to someone else doing something good by figuring out a reason that they're not really as good as they seem. But I've been realizing lately that there's an easier way to handle these situations, and it involves zero internet arguments."]
In the previous post, I touched on the fact that Randall appears to have some deep psychological hangups with regard to altruism and his own cynicism. Indeed, much of the idiocy of yesterday's comic, as today's comic (specifically the alt text) proves, came mostly from the fact that Randy is unwilling to accept that people are altruistic. Or even remotely well-meaning. As he says in today's alt text, he tries to think of a way that, when someone does something good, they aren't actually being good. This is severely disordered behavior. Randall is actively looking for ways to think less of people around him. And people accuse me of being too harsh when I say that he is a disingenuous asshole who tries to make people not-him look bad in order to make himself appear smarter.
Randy's disordered interpersonal interactions aside, I'm not seeing a joke here. The format is basically Randy justifying his misanthropy.
Panel 1 has Generic Guy #1 saying "I'm going to buy a ten dollar game, and then donate ten dollars to charity!" This is completely normal behavior for a human who likes entertainment but also likes charitable causes.
Panel 2 has Megan Of The Milky Nipples, Who Can Do No Wrong, making a false dichotomy: "if you really cared, you'd just donate all your money to charity. It is impossible to simultaneously care about a cause and want to play video games, so state your true loyalties, you dishonest fiend."
Panel 3 has Generic Guy #1 telling Generic Guy #2 that he's just buying two video games. He has made his choice: that choice is video games. He has followed the dictates of Megan Of The Milky Nipples (who, incidentally, is completely naked in this comic) and found himself lacking, but at least now he can play two games!
This isn't funny. If it weren't for the alt text, it would be one of those comics one quickly dismisses as boring and ultimately forgettable. But with the alt text, it takes on these really ugly notes of cynical misanthropy. I don't have much else to say but: you need help, Randy. You don't have to live this way.
Holy Christ this was fast.
ReplyDeletePS first.
What do you think of the fact that the comic is a link to a malaria charity? Did he create this comic specifically for them? (a potential reason for how forced and disjointed it is) or did he think of the joke, and try to find a charity so that he wouldn't come off as totally skeptical and awful?
ReplyDeleteWhatever it is, this comic was incredibly boring and bland.
didn't notice that. I imagine it's the latter. if it was the former he probably would have made it more obvious.
ReplyDeleteWell. Google "Malaria Charity" and hit "I'm feeling lucky." That site look familiar?
ReplyDeleteI read it as "being a smug, holier-than-thou prick is a great way to stop people from doing nice things."
ReplyDeleteThen I read the alt text and I'm not quite sure how to read this.
I'm pretty sure the point of the comic is to criticize the girl's behavior as being counterproductive since it leads to generic guy #1 giving less money to charity than he otherwise would have. This does not make the comic funny, but it at least makes it coherent.
ReplyDeletemaybe. but then in the alt text Randy says that he does this, too. Randy isn't well known for self-criticizing.
ReplyDeleteMy God. This comic actually proves that Randall severely needs help.
ReplyDeletehttp://img857.imageshack.us/img857/3411/scientistrandall.png
ReplyDeleteOh, also, video games cost at least twenty, even when they're second hand.
ReplyDeleteOkay, jusst added this comic as an example on the TVTropes False Dichotomy page. Next up: posting the wick on the xkcd page.
ReplyDeleteCaptcha: Gogrante. My name is Mike, not… Grante.
Mike, that just adds poignancy -- he is buying EXTREMELY CRAPPY video games instead of medicine for kids.
ReplyDeletePanel 3 semi-colon... does that just look WRONG to anyone else? I think it needs to be a dash or a full period.
Also of note: for some reason every character here seems to be doing a pelvic thrust, or is that posture standard in XKCD? I don't want to look at past XKCDs to find out =\
Semicolon's OK; period's better.
ReplyDelete(a dash wouldn't fit)
ReplyDeleteAlso, okay, they're crappy, but you'd still be extremely hard-pressed to find console games in boxes for ten bucks. N64 games are exactly ten, but you'd need Wii points, not actual boxes.
This is how you slice and dice an XKCD comic. The little Megan touches were fine, since they didn't totally take over the entirety of the critique.
ReplyDeleteThanks!
When I first read this comic, I liked it because I thought it was criticizing people like Megan who berate those who give to charity. Then I read the alt text and was like...What? So I guess Randy is promoting this asinine behavior, not criticizing it? Yeah, he needs help.
ReplyDeleteBut I also don't understand the alt text. He says that he responds to people doing good by trying to figure out why they're not really good. But then he says that lately he's "found an easier way to handle these situations." What is this "better way" he's found? To make a lame comic about it? Is there something I'm just missing here?
DDT
ReplyDeletemalaria eradicated
Do I get a cookie?
Yeah, I don't get the alt text at all, it seems totally at odds with the comic and what the hell is his "easier way"? Maybe it's to keep his damn mouth shut and his condescending opinions to himself, but I somehow doubt it.
ReplyDeleteAlso, Megan's argument is fucking stupid, by that logic anyone who gives less than 100% of their income to charity is "not as good as they seem". So if the alt-text means Randall agrees with Megan, sheesh, what a tool.
Anyway, damn, this place has been on a roll lately. Nice work guys!
I am here to apologize for xkcd.
ReplyDeleteOn behalf of Randall and xkcd's entire fanbase, we're sorry.
…the above post actually makes this slightly more okay. Thank you so much.
ReplyDeleteAlso, I think Randall is somehow trying to get his army of cuddlefish to eradicate malaria. Just a thought.
ReplyDelete@Mike
ReplyDeleteThink online distribution. The PS3 port of "Final Fantasy VIII" costs the same as "Scott Pilgrim vs. The World: The Game". That is, $9.99. Smartphone games usually get even cheaper, with Apple's appstore showcasing only $0.99 games in its Top 10 list.
So, this comic. Randall lost one good opportunity for ranting shamelessly and yet coming out as the less smug side of the conversation. Instead he replies self-righteousness with misanthropy. Way to go, Randall, way to go.
Or it could just be a joke about nerds being obsessed by games. But that'd be stupid, since it's pretty much every gaming webcomic ever made.
Then he uses a semicolon there. Nope, a goddamn comma or period isn't good enough for Randall. He MUST be an insufferable grammar prick. Lovely.
And yes, isn't this place nice lately? I guess as long as I keep expecting Rob to slump back into his horribleness he'll keep contradicting me an actually writing well or something.
So there you go: I bet Monday will be horrible again. Either way, I win.
I still wrote a review. Mine's different because it has cool links.
ReplyDeletehttp://capnsblag.blogspot.com/
And when Rob inevitably gets bored of writing actual, insightful reviews again, I shall still be here. Probably.
@Kitten
ReplyDeletePeople have tried before you. There was xkcdsux redux, which ended in a desperate attempt at getting attention through massive trolling.
Xkcd explained is dead.
Really, the only blogue which seems able to survive in the long run is xkcdsucks.
I am now officially just posting in order to get a funny captcha… let's see.
ReplyDeleteCaptcha: awyea. It seems the Randomized String Gods have smiled upon me.
Indeed, this is a truncated transcript of a tape of Robdall masturbating to a photo of Megan's lactating nipples.
@xa: Look up apologist; you've got it backwards.
ReplyDeleteanon@12:23: you can have a cookie when you actually use it, rather than just talking. Sheesh.
You asperging, boy? It's a joke ie. it's not meant to be taken seriously.
ReplyDelete@Rochambeau
ReplyDeleteI know. I still think I'll outlast Rob's current streak of actual reviews by quite a long way.
And I started by trolling to get attention, so that's out of the way now.
Captcha: Mutbar. Where attractive single dogs meet up to chat.
You can't say "attractive" without "active"!
ReplyDeleteCaptcha: Dalish. The demonym of Lederland; by their native language, it's "Dalsk". Called "Dalia" by other countries.
Do you think Randall ever actually had sex with Megan, leading to him constantly wishing he could do it again, or did he never have sex with Megan and now wishes he had taken the tiny window of opportunity in which Megan took pity on him but had not yet tagged him as a creep?
ReplyDeletePlease discuss this at length. My genitals are fully poised to take advantage of whatever you say.
Negative slope!
ReplyDeletehttp://heavyconsulting.net/bestxkcd/chart.php
Now with up to 100% or more graphs!
No, seriously, I desperately need to get off and the only way this can be achieved is by my watching other people discuss Randall's relationship with Megan.
ReplyDeleteYou know, I suddenly realized I don't get what he's doing here on any level. I mean, is he trying to say that refusing to give to charity to spite some self-righteous prick is a reasonable reaction? Is he siding with Megan, and saying that people who do give to charity are really self-centered assholes? No interpretation makes any sense in light of how normal people would act in this sort of situation, so I'm kind of stumped.
ReplyDeleteI had the exact same reaction to the alt text you did, Rob. Just kind of surprised and revolted by the incredibly well enforced self-importance and hideously skewed view of the world he revealed. THANKFULLY, you are on top of this stuff.
ReplyDeleteThe first thing that jumped out at me about this comic was the semi-colon and how unnecessary it is and how much of an ass it makes Randall look like, but Raven and Pro Mo beat me to it.
ReplyDeleteAlso, what's with the awkward wording here? If a friend said to you, "I'm going to buy this $10 game I want!" wouldn't you be more interested in what game it was than how much it costs? And then why would you immediately force into the subject that you're donating to charity?
I know you needed a setup for your preachy retort, Randall, but you really need to spend more than 8 seconds thinking of dialogue to shove into the first panel.
Reboot does a Redux countdown: 25
ReplyDeleteI chuckled at the comic when I first read it since I thought it was pretty funny how counterproductive milk buttons was-- then I read the review here and agree with everything. I still think it's somewhat funny of a comic but everything Rob said is spot on. And damn does that alt text reek of a 'holier than thou' attitude.
ReplyDeleteCapn, I am shocked and hurt you think I will give in after a mere 25 arbitrary time units.
ReplyDeleteI expect and demand an apology.
Reducks went from 800 to 830. I am simply giving you the same courtesy.
ReplyDeleteThere are 22 pages of xkcdexplained but I have no idea when they started, because at one point they went backwards through strips, because they definitely weren't around in 2006.
Also, there were apparently 3 people doing it, so you'll have to divide the number of strips they did by 3 (72 1/3). So after you out live reducks I'll count down by xkcdplained and then count down by Carl posts, but I don't expect you to last that long ;) .
In all actuality I'll probably only do this as long as that not anonymous guy (or something) kept a score for Rob.
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteSo this captcha walks into a bar and orders a drink, but the bar tender just looks at him with obvious dumbfoundedness. The captcha says, "I asked for a drink! Can't you understand me?" "No," he cries, "I'm a chatbot!"
ReplyDelete(Yes, I'm going for the middle square)
@ Ravenzomg and Mike
ReplyDeleteSemicolons should only be use to join two related thoughts that each independently meet the definition of a sentence. The reason it looks wrong in the comic is because it is.
@ ProfessionalMole
I wouldn't think anything of Randy using a semicolon if it were the appropriate punctuation. Sometimes it's "more correct" than a period. It's only insufferable because he forced it in for no apparent reason.
The reason is apparent: he's trying to look smart.
ReplyDelete@capnoremac
ReplyDeleteNice lateral thinking, but no.
Also, SCREW JIMMY ANDERSON AND HIS SHITTY BOWLING.
Not that anyone here will care or understand.
Captcha: Disterst. I am so disterst rite noew i can bearly speel.
@Anon 7:56
ReplyDeleteLet's put it this way: semicolons look neat in purely written language, because they have a distinct function. When writing dialogue, though, anything that's not a period, comma, exclamation mark, question mark or ellipsis just "sounds" not fitting. Dialogue flows. When you need to make an atypical pause or anything, you can always format it differently and separate the bubbles to create pause.
That said, I have little to no idea what the actual function of a semicolon is. Yes, I can look on Wikipedia, but I probably won't really learn it because I rarely use it. Five minutes later, I'll only remember it's something between a comma and a period.
Now, I had something else to say about this comic... oh yes. Randall apparently doesn't believe in altruism.
First of all, I'll just renounce to any "Andrew Ryandall"(or "Ayn Randall") jokes, or else I'll get too sidetracked to make any sense.
Now, what does this alt-text tell us? That Randall is a dick, that's what! He can't accept that other people are good, so he appeals to the argument that nothing we do is actually altruistic. Which technically is true. Even feeling good about yourself or looking good in the eyes of others is a reward, but you know what, Randall? At least these people are doing the world a service.
I wonder if by "easier way to handle these situations" he means "shut the heck up and accept that some people actually want to do some good". Or "just shut the fuck up because no one wants to hear you being a prick".
I know this sounds incredibly close to that one flawed response to criticism, but here goes: instead of being a sad sack, go do something good yourself.
Your mom was pretty lateral last night.
ReplyDeleteShit comic, worse xkcdsucks review.
ReplyDeletePut some effort in, Rob.
Makes me long for the days of Carl, a talented writer.
STFU, 9:22. Nobody gives a shit what your opinion is or what you long for.
ReplyDeleteobvious troll is fail
ReplyDeleteI'm on to your game, capnoremac.
ReplyDelete"obvious troll is fail "
ReplyDeleteYou mean me or the other anon?
It doesn't matter we're all the same person anyway.
ReplyDeleteStop trying to win at Bingo!
ReplyDeleteThis place IS like 4chan, straight into the cancer it goes.
oh wait ...
I think Randall is *developing* Autism as a consequence of long-term contact with his fanbase.
ReplyDeleteCompare this: http://xkcd.com/36/
To today's comic.
It's serious guys.
Does anyone else feel like Randy's heart just isn't in it anymore? That he just doesn't care but continues on just out of habit and for lack of a good stopping point?
ReplyDeleteI'm thinking maybe he'll get to comic #999 or #1000 and then stop. Maybe? Is that too much to hope for?
Has anyone seen the latest blog post? Randy is such a tool.
ReplyDeleteBut the comments discussion is interesting… I'm trying harder and harder not to get sucked into the black hole of cuddlefishery.
ReplyDelete(Also: you may remember me as Leahcim Ydegezs. It was only backwards to protect from sweepers, and once Google Account recognition stopped working, I've found "Mike" much more succinct to type. And, wow, I thought succinct only had two Cs.)
ReplyDeleteIt would appear that Kate Beaton has discovered Fargo.
ReplyDeleteQuestion for everyone who's been in prison: After you get raped, what happens to the semen in your anus? Does it just stay in there for a while or do you push it out?
ReplyDeleteIt comes out next time you take a dump. It's gross to watch.
ReplyDelete"Hi, I'm the XKCDSucks Pseudo-intellectual! I'm willing to ignore as much of a comic's content as possible to pretend that it's incoherent!"
ReplyDeleteHonestly, you don't get it? It's a $10 donation to buy nets to prevent malaria. The characters in the comic are using a nirvana fallacy to excuse themselves from making a donation. Funny? No. Clever? Meh. Coherent? Absolutely.
you're all stupid and I hate, hate, hate you.
No; they're not, Sarge. Did you read all of the words or just some of them? One character is criticising the idea of spending any money at all on trite recreation when it could be directed towards important causes, which makes the other character realise he doesn't really give a damn about important causes so he decides to direct all of his money towards trite recreation. They're not both conspiring to evade charity; Megan is supposed to be making a serious argument. And, as the argument is put into Megan's mouth, one can't help but suspect that it's Randall's actual opinion. Megan is the personification of perfection, after all.
ReplyDeleteSo there's nothing wrong with people having resevations about a serious argument that is totally illogical. Of course you can always do more; it doesn't matter how much you do. You could slice your own throat to reduce overpopulation and leave your life savings to charity if you wanted. Spending your life worrying about it is basically the same thing as realising that there are people leading crappy lives and there's nothing you can do to solve it in one fell swoop; there's nothing to gain from feeling guilty about it; it's better to just strike a balance and get on with your life. We;re going to be saying this until there;s a new comic to deconstruct; there;s nothing you can do about it.
@Mike seriously? I live where brand new games cost over $100 of the local currency but you can definitely get brand new repackaged classic games for $10 here. Is this "at least $20" thing an unexplored consequence of American game stores making most of their money from trade-ins? Maybe! Maybe you're wrong. It would be interesting to learn.
ReplyDelete"I imagine this is probably due to incompetence rather than intentional deception[...]" -">Source
ReplyDeleteRandall, I don't think you understand how ridiculous Google actually is =\ . We're talking about the company that took 360-degree pictures of all major/residential USA/CAN streets, and then gave it to everyone without membership fees. I just cannot imagine Google doing this "incompetently", and would actually support malice over incompetence.
Captcha: genco.
actual source for that one under "Trochee Chart" because now I don't trust the copy/paste functions.
ReplyDeleteRandal won't donate to Japan.
ReplyDeleteCaptcha: Draft <<<<<<<<<< Holy shit an actual word!
Randall could so program a better search engine if he wasn't busy writing a comic that I could do much better if I wasn't busy complaining about it.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.google.com/support/webmasters/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=70920
ReplyDeleteAccording to that link, the discrepancy in the number of results is due to duplicate hits. If you go through the pages of search results, it'll collapse them all down. They don't do that straight away because they're going for speed over an accurate count of hits.
I would therefore say it was neither incompetent or malicious, and in fact completely reasonable. Also, Google hire supergeniuses that are better than Randall at everything imaginable, and he should stop complaining about the fact he can't do his shitty Google analyses properly without clicking through a few pages.
It's interesting to look at the past four comics and note that one is a jab at libertarians and two contain jabs at charity. I think there's a very good possibility that Randall has recently been in an internet argument touching on these topics, nobody listened to his very good arguments (how he must have burned to tear off his pseudonym and reveal himself as the supergenius writer of XKCD!), and he's so heated about it that he continues to let off steam through his comic.
ReplyDeleteOi Rob! Or anyone, actually.
ReplyDeleteWhat's SGR?
"Coherent? Absolutely. "
ReplyDeletewho the fuck said it was incoherent?
"What's SGR? "
ReplyDeletescarygoround.com
The charity link comes across as really awkward and inconsistent, especially given the alt-text, which is certainly creepy, if not downright antisocial. Why would you try to downplay when someone donates to charity by making juvenile observations? "Oh, you're donating
ReplyDelete$10, but it could be a larger amount, like all your money, haha!" That's what an antisocial teenager would say.
The anonymous posters around here got more uninteresting and less prolific a few days after Carl gave up on webcomics.me. I find this suspicious.
ReplyDeleteI actually agree with the sentiment expressed in the comic. You either care about the starving and dying children in third world countries and donate everything, or you care about your little luxuries, games, computer, snacks, anything not essential to your health really, more than their lives. And there's nothing wrong with that.
ReplyDeleteStill doesn't make the comic funny.
Not true, A Roman Candle, for the same reason that I can enjoy video games without ploughing 100% of my spare time and money into them.
ReplyDeleteGOOMH Randall I'm sick of phonies too!
ReplyDeleteYes, A Roman Candle. It is impossible to care about more than one thing ever in your appointed span of life.
ReplyDeleteRandall, you are such a idiot, Just download both games through Piratebay and give all the $20 to charity.
ReplyDeleteI'm very surprised there aren't more people pointing out that Megan is committing a logical fallacy in this comic. She seems to be suggesting that you cannot care about something unless you devote all of your resources to it. This is a fallacy because she doesn't acknowledge the spectrum created by complete selflessness and not donating at all.
ReplyDeleteResource allocation is a subject that is very important to programming. If Randal has such an empty understanding of it, I think we have learned a little more about his career. There are programmers that don't actually know how to program, we call them monkeys. Their purpose is generally to take code written by more competent people that doesn't compile or function for some reason, then randomly change it and see what happens. This drastically reduces the opportunity cost of trial-and-error because any moron can make random changes, but this gives the more skilled programmer time to do more actual work.
Already pointed out in first few comments… why dwell on it? False dichotomy is a type of logical fallacy, innit.
ReplyDeleteI'm totally in favor of ----'s comment; it makes us professional programmers feel more awesomesauce while simultaneously being highly disrespectful to Randall.
ReplyDeleteComic 871: Strong Anti-Social Tendencies?
ReplyDeleteI think you actually mean 'Strong Asocial Tendencies'
Though the definitions of 'asocial' and 'anti-social' seem to be converging these days.
Anti-Social Tendencies? I'm more of a fan of Suicidal Tendencies.
ReplyDeleteALL I WANTED WAS A PEPSI!
It probably is true that the $175 I just spent* on a new video card was enough to save, like, half of a life somewhere, but then my old video card was so shitty it was difficult to do anything large in zbrush, which made it difficult to get better at what I want to do for a living, which would've resulted in me being less productive to society and also making less money in the future which I could then donate to starving people.
ReplyDeleteAlso maybe I will work with my programmer friend and make the best indie game ever and then I will have helped enrich hundreds of thousands of lives or something.
*actually I didn't because I only have like $37 and no job right now.
Why is it that you Yankees spell the words 'programmer' and 'programming' with two 'M's yet spell the word 'program' (s/b programme) with one?
ReplyDeleteAre y'all stupid cunts, or what?
Innit?
You are not really British. Nobody speaks like that. Stop, because you are annoying.
ReplyDeleteThank you.
Thankfully I am not British - those hideously inbred island cunts are the worst!
ReplyDeleteIn fact English is my fourth language - after Spanish and French. I will not reveal my Mother Tongue as I suspect y'all will laugh and call me names.
I think we already do that.
ReplyDeleteY'all don't laugh and deride very well!
ReplyDeleteEven Rob, as he spews forth his intellectual saboted ejecta, laughs not nor calls me anything of consequence. I am the most deserving of all cunts across which he has come recently. That is not to say he actually has the prostatic strength needed to cast ejecta 'across' my person. It's more like the feeble gurgling deposition of three thick stripes on my withers - like Zorro!
Innit?
'Withers'?
ReplyDeleteAre you claiming to be a quadruped now?
Que?
ReplyDeleteWhat about the Zorro joke? That was fecking funny as shite!
Quadruped? Sometimes I'll even use ginger paste to keep my tail up. That's a joke for the folks 'round here who are in the Horsey Set.
Or anyone who has read Nightwatch.
ReplyDeleteI regard the idea of Rob dribbling his seed over your back less a joke and more a story idea the Marquis de Sade rejected for being a little too extreme.
Captcha: Eyemangs. What someone would develop if they witnessed the above scene.
"Yes, A Roman Candle. It is impossible to care about more than one thing ever in your appointed span of life."
ReplyDeleteIf you pay for a video game instead of using that money to save a starving child, you value the game more than that child's life. That simple. You value your entertainment more than that child's life. And that's perfectly normal; human beings can only empathize with so many others, and it becomes particularly difficult for the human mind to 'properly' empathize with someone it cannot see in person, speak to personally, etc.
Que?
ReplyDeleteLike Zorro! Three stripes! Shaped like a 'Z'! Fucking get it yet ya cunt!
That is pronoumced 'zed', as you well know.
As far as the Marquis is concerned had he known that the negative Log of the Hydrogen Ion concentration of Rob's spermatazoa was '3' he would have approved. Rob's caustic (12) wit and acerbic (3) seed - a true conundrum.
A Roman Candle said:
ReplyDelete"....human beings can only empathize with so many others...."
The scaler is thus:
One American cop is equal to two British Bobbies is equal to 5 French Firemen is equal to 10 Mexican mothers is equal to 500 Bangladeshi typhoon victims is equal to...et cetera.
Clearly Randall is just speaking out against communism. Anything else: misreading the comic.
ReplyDeleteNo, A Roman Candle, you are simply deciding to maintain a certain quality of life for yourself at the same time as contributing to the quality of life for others on a broader scale. It's not the same thing as thinking a particular recreational item is a better thing than a life. Applying a 1:1 ratio between monetary expenditure and value is an unhelpful simplification.
ReplyDeletenot only unhelpful, but also misleading! I've spent large sums of money on things I don't particularly care about, and on some things I do care about I've spent pretty much no money at all.
ReplyDeletedo I value, say, my netbook more than I value any of the various causes I support because I haven't spent more money on them than I did on my netbook? nope! and the bands I've spent the most money on in my life aren't always the bands I like most. movies I've paid the most money to see aren't the ones I like the most. and so on.
another good example are products people don't actually use. take exercise equipment, for instance. people are famous for buying treadmills and then just using them as expensive coat racks. these cost hundreds, if not thousands, of dollars--certainly more than they're likely to spend on food and entertainment in the same period. which one do you think they really value more?
it's also quite possible to value something and not spend money on it at all. there are a number of reasons for this, though I imagine most of them ultimately come down to a lack of self-efficacy. that is, the reason you don't donate is that you don't feel that it will actually contribute, or you don't feel that the contribution it will bring about is worth the investment. think about canvassers, for instance. most of the money you'd give them ends up going to the organization--a sizable chunk to pay for more canvassers, a good chunk to the paychecks of the administration.
does this mean you don't value the cause they're talking about? or does it mean you think your money won't really do much for the cause?
obviously it's the former, because money is the only way to measure how much someone values something, and it's a direct one-to-one dollar-to-Carefactor(tm) ratio.
Come on now, Rob. You can't misinterpret every comic. Megan is supposed to be the antagonist in this comic.
ReplyDeletethen why is the protagonist being a douche, and the antagonist doing a thing Randy says he actively tries to do when he sees someone doing good?
ReplyDeleteuse your cuddlefish brain for once.
You did misinterpret the comic though. If Megan was supposed to be naked the other stickman wouldn't have been saying anything at all. His face would have been buried in her chest as he tried to extract the sweet nectar from within.
ReplyDeleteah, but this isn't Randy faithfully reproducing his own behavior. he's portraying his fantasy life: a world where MEgan is totally naked but he's all cool about it and is just like "hey, milk-babe, I'm going to buy these video games, hurhur"
ReplyDeleteHey Rob!
ReplyDeleteIt's not what's inside, but what you do that defines you...
"Grass grows, birds fly, sun shines, and bruda, I hurt people."
ReplyDeleteMy god Rob, you've lost your touch. You didn't even MENTION the fact that this is clearly a veiled attempted by Randy to encourage his fans to buy shit from his store.
ReplyDelete"Sure, you spend 15 Dollars in my store" I can hear him saying. "But if you REALLY loved me like you say you do, you'd stop buying video games and spend ALL your money in my store!"
CAPTCHA: Fanta. Think I might go buy some now, I'm thirsty.
I was too busy reeling from the hideous misanthropy. sorry.
ReplyDeleteWelll... Okay, I forgive you. How could I stay mad at you?
ReplyDelete"A Roman Candle", are you stupid? Thick? Obtuse? Imbecile? In other words, a complete idiot?
ReplyDeleteBecause that implies you're a horrible person since you're not devoting all of your time and resources to save starving children in Africa. What do you think you are doing enjoying an internet connection and commenting on a stupid anti-xkcd blog when there are dying kids around the world?! GO SAVE THEM! SHOW YOU CARE!
@Mole
ReplyDeleteBe fair. Roman Candle never said that people were horrible persons for doing that. He stated it quite clearly when he wrote: "And there's nothing wrong with that."
Now, as much as I like his reasoning, which has the mathematical coldness of the dismal science, I think it is fallacious.
It is true that revealed preferences matters, and that you never state more truly what you like than when making a consumption decision. But what do you do when you give to charity? There are (at least) two ways of seeing it. One might say that you buy the utility that giving to charity brings you (feeling good.) One might also say that giving is truly selfless: in that case, you simply give up your money and the utility this money could have brought you.
There is also a problem of framing: Roman Candle makes as if the decision was between saving a child and playing videogames. It is not. I think that when confronted with the choice of saving a particular child, even a complete stranger, and playing videogames, we would all decide to save the child. In your example, the choice is between playing videogames and giving money to a charity that will do stuff that will help saving children's life.
yeah, it's a common fallacy in amateur philosophers. people assume that humans actually think, ever
ReplyDeleteJesus christ 872's first panel is such a fucking clusterfuck of a mess I thought the dude was talking to himself the entire story while Megan was listening. Fuck, I didn't even realize milk buttons was in the bed in the second panel due to the huge amount of fucking text and shit. What a piece of shit.
ReplyDeleteI got all of the nerd references in 872, therefore it's infallible as a beacon of nerd humour.
ReplyDeleteI'm sorry but this is just the facts people.
Also: the title text actually contains a joke based on a nerd reference, which is such an exotic luxury it will make you squeal with delight as though you were at a picture show.
ReplyDeleteWhat is the deal with the first panel of the new xkcd? Holy awful.
ReplyDeletei think randy is on a drug
ReplyDeleteWebCite of 872.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.webcitation.org/5xAZOH1OY
thanks! I tried a couple times but kept getting errors. glad to know Randy hasn't done something to prevent WebCite from working.
ReplyDeletelol wouldnt it be funny if old fairy tales were mashed up with complex mathematics! lol hilarity.
ReplyDelete...
when do i start laughing?
I do feel like an idiot now.
ReplyDeleteAnd no, I will not actively visit xkcd to see what the heck is it about now. Rob, do your job faster! I'm sure you can type between gluttonous bites off your infinite doughnut stash!
Randall fixed the first panel of 872, but fortunately I saved it for posterity! http://i.imgur.com/V3QdZ.png KNOW YOUR SHAME RANDALL! CHECK YOUR COMICS BEFORE THEY ARE UPLOADED!
ReplyDeleteThe new comic is crap, with no joke, obviously, but the alt text is pretty funny if your a smart brilliant physicist like me! Why couldn't he make the alt text the joke?! why does he suck so much??!!
ReplyDeleteI feel as though Randall lurks xkcdsucks and only changed his comic when we pointed out how fucking godawful the first panel was. What a tool.
ReplyDelete872:
ReplyDeleteComic is meh.
Alt-text joke is surprisingly good (read: manages to work at all).
Get your priorities straight, Randy.
872 is a funny IDEA but, as per usual, fails in the execution. Sad, sad, sad. Mouseover text wasn't bad though.
ReplyDelete"...one of those people who falls asleep while reading but keeps talking."
ReplyDeleteDo these people exist? Have you met one before? Are you one yourself? Is it okay to invent medical conditions because you need a setup for a nerdy joke?
"...Imbecile? In other words, a complete idiot?"
ReplyDeleteAn imbecile is not the same as an idiot. An imbecile is smarter.
Anyone remember the XKCD school?
ReplyDeleteThe one that Randy very pointedly did not, in fact, donate anything to?
ReplyDelete