Comic Discussion > QUESTIONABLE CONTENT
WCDT 2887-2891 (2-6 February 2015)
TheEvilDog:
--- Quote from: hedgie on 06 Feb 2015, 10:56 ---We are guests here. I would kick you someone of my residence if they were talking like that, after being given a metric fuckton of warnings, and it wouldn't be "thought policing". Jeph and by proxy, the mods have every right to do the same.
--- End quote ---
Hedgie, that alone deserved a like!
AprilArcus:
Jeph stated unambiguously that Dale was African American in QA Dump #14
Cyril:
--- Quote from: aphanisis81 on 06 Feb 2015, 09:37 ---WRT the AI discrimination, that seems simply non-comparable to me. AI Rights aren't a real thing and Jeph has never really hinted that they're meant as an allegory for real-world struggles. And even within the comic's diegesis, AI is essentially a manmade phenomenon (mostly courtesy of Hannerdad), a non-organic arrangement of sophisticated circuitry, whereas race, ethnicity, sexuality, gender identity et al. are engrained human traits.
I don't necessarily think all minority or typically-discriminated-again/non-privileged groups have to experience bigotry in-comic in order for the comic to be believable - I agree with the person who pointed out the thin line between social realism and tokenism - but if those AI incidents are the only counterexamples to Technetium's observation, then I think Technetium is on solid ground.
--- End quote ---
Depiction of bigotry doesn't need to have a specific real-world allegory or need to be a stand in for a particular flavor of RL behavior in order for it to show a general awareness. Where it's not thematically appropriate, even a rare mention does the job of showing that things aren't perfect out there - and I would put some of the aforementioned conversations between Claire and Clinton (and others) into that category of 'awareness without focus.' Generally speaking, QC is absolutely a 'better' world than the one we live in, without any desire or need to justify why that's the case. It's simply enough to show a mildly fantastic setting (as certain conversations allude, the entire world might not be that much better, only this little slice of it) without significant biases that are close to ubiquitous RL (and without the defensive structures that arise in the face of those biases) and posit that hey, everything is still pretty wonderful.
It's a pretty common argument that the best way for a creator of fiction (writer/director/artist/whatever) to 'improve' social conditions is to create art that acts as if these problems weren't problems and instead be inclusive (feature these types of people) and accepting (don't feature them in a way that draws undue attention to how they are 'different'). The goal, of course, being to normalize and add a positive spin to the way interactions are depicted between various sorts of people; the exact converse of certain types of cultural biases being reinforced by media depictions. This is in contrast to the argument that one should depict the conflict. QC takes one angle and it's one I like quite a lot.
In the same sense, some of the topics that aren't welcomed around here would potentially also show up in the QC setting without any judgement and only innocent curiosity as motivators. In theory, the questions - aside from some of the general shyness that surrounds much broader concepts like 'why we wear clothes' - could be asked (by appropriately nosy characters) and answered (or not) without a judgmental attachment. To some extent, that's what is being expected in every thread when someone brings up how Pintsize or (insert character prone to blurting things out here) might handle the situation if/when it arises. At some point we start to reach a level of fantasy that is a bit scenario-breaking, though. While QC is an attractively better world, it's still designed to be recognizable. Completely erasing every ingrained taboo/norm relating to privacy could easily stretch that verisimilitude to the breaking point.
HeavyP:
--- Quote from: Orkboy on 06 Feb 2015, 10:27 ---That's why I often use the term "Benevolent Comic Overlord." Also because I think it's hilarious.
--- End quote ---
I prefer "Jephzibah" - I don't even remember where it came from. "Our Glorious Trollmaster" is also a good one.
eschaton:
--- Quote from: AprilArcus on 06 Feb 2015, 11:05 ---Jeph stated unambiguously that Dale was African American in QA Dump #14
--- End quote ---
Okay. I don't read the QA dumps unless I'm linked to them, so thanks. He doesn't "read" as black to me because of the hair texture. But it could be straightened, or he could just have "good" hair naturally I suppose.
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