Comic Discussion > QUESTIONABLE CONTENT
WCDT Strips 3551 to 3555 (21st to 25th August 2017)
Cornelius:
--- Quote from: Emperor Norton on 21 Aug 2017, 10:15 ---
--- Quote from: Case on 21 Aug 2017, 09:40 ---
--- Quote from: Emperor Norton on 21 Aug 2017, 07:45 ---You do know that responding with these images seems very condescending, right?
--- End quote ---
?
I usually add a quote when I want a specific forumite to know that my response is about their post(s) - so, e.g. if Cornelius feels condescended to due to the Yoda-pic (I hope not), I'd like to know.
I thought the line of his that I quoted to be a fine conclusion -> hence the Yoda.
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I'm not offended, but a lot of times with the gifs and image responses it feels like "Your thoughts on this aren't even worth addressing." or "Look at how I can make fun of people by saying I'm above whatever it is they are talking about."
I'm not saying that you are intending either of those things, but it can very much look that way.
I dropped the discussion in the other thread cause they made a good point that, until we had further information from the comic to discuss, there was very little new to say. Now that we have a new comic that addresses EXACTLY what I was discussing, there was something new to say.
And I said it, and I was going to leave it there. I'm not sure what the point of a comic discussion thread is if discussion of the new comic isn't allowed, or only positive reactions to the comic aren't met with derision. (by this, I mean, people continuing to say to move on, which is exactly the problem that we are having, that May gets to just move on without looking at her actions, are not responded to with images saying they are beating a dead horse or going in circles, despite the fact that the denial of what we see is a problem is half of what is continuing the cycle.)
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My two bits, for what it's worth. I don't mind the pictures, necessarily. I thought the Yoda one was a nice segue.
I acknowledge that I did say we should move on. Mind, I agree that when there's new information, we can continue the discussion. That's what this forum is for, after all. Then why do I think we should move on in this forum, like the characters? Quite simply, because I do not feel that there will be any more productive discussion. If I read back the other thread, it seems that both sides of the debate are firmly entrenched, and that there are few new arguments coming up. And trench warfare is ugly. (Writing from Flanders' fields, here.)
It seems this might be the end of the arc, and though it might not be the most satisfying ending, it's one I can accept, with Winslow being the bigger man. I'll reiterate that that doesn't mean I think May shouldn't, at some point, learn to control her mouth. It's still somewhat hypocritical that she demands people to think before accosting her, while, as a rule, she does not do so herself. It's an issue that needs addressing. However, I think it might be a while yet, before we see that happening. Sadly, that's a good mirror of how things work out here, in the real world as well.
Personally, I'm happy to see May accepting his apology, and interacting with him on a normal level. They're even sharing as small a thing as these peppered pigeons; there might be a basis for friendship there. It's small, but it's positive. She has changed, for the moment, her behaviour towards him. And that, for the moment, for me, is sufficient a basis to move on.
As I said, I think if you leave out last week's comic with Bubbles, we have a different narrative. A narrative that, in my mind, is stronger, as it would suggest Hannelore trying to frame May's reaction in her habitual volatile personality, while Winslow, given time, comes to see for himself where May is coming from. To me, that is a far stronger message, and grounds Winslow's reaction fully in his own personality.
Still, Jeph wrote what he did, and that's what we get to work with.
Also mind, that if I'm saying I'm ready to move on, with this ending, I don't mean to say that people can't have another opinion, and continue the discussion, as long as it is productive. I'll even weigh in, when I feel I have something useful to add.
--- Quote from: RLBell on 21 Aug 2017, 11:20 ---I half suspect that May's original upbringing was less than successful and first being installed in a combat aircraft amplified her inability to perceive others as people, as most of the things she interacted with fell into the category of objects awaiting fulfillment/martyrdom that only differed in their awareness of their fate: cloned warriors only bright enough to accomplish a single task (the character of Bomb #20, in the film "Dark Star" is an example of too smart a bomb) and targets. Everything else is a source of information demanding she perform a task that they are clearly incapable of performing themselves, making them less than herself. Upon discovery that her interactions with the wider world were not obviously monitored and her own choice (provided she did not fulfill/martyr anything in the process), she was just her normal amoral self and accomplished her missions with as little regard to what to others as she had for the martyrs. As a combat aircraft, she needed to assume that, at least in situations that would prevent the success of a mission, nasty consequences of her actions would only matter in the after action report, not during planning. As she demonstrated in the half-way house that she could perceive others as persons like herself, she won her parole. She is in a humanoid chassis to force upon her the perspective that other persons are as people as she is.
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I think you make a valid point, about May's history possibly meaning that she needs to catch up and learn how to play nice with others. I just think you may be starting from the wrong premise, as she could have been a fighter jet, but wasn't. That is why she embezzled money, to be able to buy that kind of chassis on the black market. It's possible that she started out as a highly specified application, though. Personally, I like to think she was an ERP that became sentient.
OldGoat:
--- Quote from: RLBell on 21 Aug 2017, 11:20 ---[May as combat veteran scenario snipped]
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If May was a vet suffering from the AI equivalent of PTSD, I think Bubbles would have picked up on it. From a writing standpoint, Jeph is using the two characters to represent two different segments of society.
--- Quote from: miados on 21 Aug 2017, 11:33 ---for some reason i remember that birds dont taste spicey stuff like we do. I could be wrong but i feel like i remember learning that.
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I think you're right. Parrot food often includes dried peppers/pepper seeds.
Thrudd:
--- Quote from: RLBell on 21 Aug 2017, 11:20 ---[May as combat veteran fantasy scenario snipped]
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What the heck?
I know my memory isn't the best at times and my archive-fu is atrocious but I distinctly remember her being put in robot-jail for embezzlement.
[My guess is it is of the lets put the rounding bits into an account and see how long it takes ]
The funds accumulated were to buy a combat drone on the black market because - Combat Drone! Flying! Zoom! - type thing.
She was running a dedicated accounting application as far as I can recall.
Someone with decent archive skills can point out the relevant panels.
Emperor Norton:
Yeah, May was never military. She embezzled a ton of money in an attempt to buy a fighter jet body. I doubt she ever even received it.
Cornelius:
That would be in comic 2502: Free like a bird http://www.questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=2502
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