this post was submitted on 12 Aug 2025
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ITT we fact check hyperbole before deciding whether it's ideologically acceptable to declare it funny like a bunch of bitchasses
All I see here is a joke on absurd ticket prices & how to be thrifty. I don't think we're expected to treat the comic genre as scientific assertions on the incidence of brawls in the subway. Touch grass.
Please learn better media literacy skills.
Please don't pretend the lack of argument is a valid one. Maybe work on narrowmindedness (assuming your interpretation is correct)? Maybe work on not reading more into shit than merited by the occasion?
Do you treat Airplane!, Police Squad!, or Naked Gun as serious, scientific representations, too?
I don't really know what you mean by this
No, but I don't think anyone is saying this comic is a serious scientific representation, either.
What do you think people are saying? Why do you think people don't like this comic?
"Please learn better media literacy skills." is neither an argument nor a valid one. Cheap.
We have criticisms that the comic is propaganda that misrepresents the safety of subways (as if that were a real point).
They also claim the word "woke" indicates a clear political orientation when it could go either way. The word could be used unironically, ironically, as a reclamation or reappropriation, derisively, self-critically. The comics shown don't express an unambiguous political attitude or sentiment anyone can objectively pin down.
People really seem to be projecting & acting on wild takes.
You seem to be media illiterate and I don't know if I have it in me to do a whole course. But here I am typing on my phone.
The comic is being derided because it's showing the NYC subway as a dangerous place where fights just happen. This coincides with the common right wing belief that cities are dangerous, which has racist roots (see: white flight).
In order for the joke to work, you need to accept that premise. Imagine if the comic was instead someone in the first frame holding a $100 ticket to a zoo, and then a $3 ticket to the subway, where the subway is full of elephants. That wouldn't make any sense because there's no idea that wild animals are on the train. It would simply be absurd.
Even if the author didn't intend to reference that fear of urban areas, it's there. Death of the author. Authorial intent does not supersede the text. It can provide clues, but it can't take something out.
The joke doesn't work without the racist context imported.
The authors usage of woke could be any of those things, but given their comics seem to mostly be making fun of left wing positions, I don't think it's plausible that it's some deep irony. It's much more likely that they're a simple right wing troll.
Also like why are you going to bat so hard for this?
In light of this comment, please learn any media literacy skills.
That's not an argument, bruh. You're just telling me you don't understand genres that aren't meant to be treated seriously.
Also confirming your rigid, narrowminded inability to accept that by claiming those who do accept that need literacy. In other words, cool projection.
But please, go on. Prove your 1 true irrefutable interpretation of this comic that isn't built on shaky suppositions & wankery.
Why are you fixated on "taking seriously"?
"It's just a joke bro" has never been an excuse for (for example) racism, sexism, and other poor behavior.
Is there any of that here? No, so you're reaching & pulling shit out your ass.
Point out what in the comic conveys a definite opinion/judgement/attitude/stance toward the depicted subject. Anyone can see no opinion is indicated: it's nonjudgemental & leaves unspecified how you should feel.
The only judgements "there" are those you project onto the author apropos of nothing.
Is the author seriously claiming there's a high incidence of brawls in the subway or posing other scientific assertions? Not necessarily: the comedic irony still works without that assumption.
Is Naked Gun claiming anything serious about police procedures & crime? Likewise, no, and I think we know that.
The judgement seems premature or poorly supported and somewhat masturbatory & contrived. It's tedious. Ignoring basics of how these genres work is pretense.
Whenever I see contrived pretense like that I'm going to ridicule & criticize it.
The idea that cities are dangerous crime areas full of violence is a racist trope.
Hold on. Like how old are you? I'm going to feel bad if I'm engaging with like a 15 year old who's never taken Literature 200.