Comic Discussion > QUESTIONABLE CONTENT
WCDT Strips 3831-3835 (17-21 September, 2018)
BenRG:
I've been thinking about this strip and I find myself wondering if Roko is having one of those moments that lots of people in public service-oriented jobs have: "Am I really doing any good here? Do I really have what it takes? Even if I do, is the system itself going to let me make a positive difference?" So, really, by saying that she's 'dumb and bad at her job', all May did is express a fear that Roko herself seems to be experiencing.
This is me but I'm wondering if May's own issues about her past is simply the introduction that Jeph wanted to introduce Roko's own crisis of self-confidence and maybe identity.
--- Quote from: Is it cold in here? on 16 Sep 2018, 22:34 ---Roko is being more thoughtful than usual. What to make of it?
--- End quote ---
I suspect that this has been something playing in her head for a while. It's just that she's had enough tea so that it's broken down her usual ability to repress her dissatisfaction with her life, personal and professional alike.
cybersmurf:
--- Quote from: OldGoat on 16 Sep 2018, 22:27 ---The timing of that exchange,
Roko to May: "I thought you were in danger."
May to Dale: "She's dumb and bad at her job."
means Roko is real close to breaking through to May who is knocking over verbal trashcans to block Rock's path in case she gives chase. She's scared shitless (well, maybe not actually shitless since that's robot default) of showing how touched she was by that concern and having to admit that Roko is a decent person. We may see a May meltdown, and some peer therapy from Mellon won't surprise me.
Meanwhile, poor Roko still needs to meet some guy who'll take a baguette to her.
--- End quote ---
I beg to differ. Personally, I think you're reading too much into this.
The way I see it, Roko is thinking about her service, and how much she can actually do, and at that moment she felt sympathetic for May.
Depending on her findings Roko may either quit the service or develop a... zeal.
--- Quote from: Dawiyd on 16 Sep 2018, 20:57 ---3831 is ironic to me, because Dale is ducking. Is this a subtle recognition of his skin color, or just kind of how Dale is anyway? Not a big deal to me, but somehow the first thing that came to mind.
In other news, Barney and Friends is my personal hell.
--- End quote ---
No, this is flat out "taking cover before shit hits the fan".
May has issues with the justice system, and kinda gets protective over Faye for one of Roko's mistakes.
Tova:
May's impulse control issues are on display again today. Good thing Roko is in a reflective mood.
I admire Dale more and more for his ability to see the good person underneath her behaviour.
Annemoon:
--- Quote from: BenRG on 15 Sep 2018, 09:47 ---My answer to the poll:
None of the above
Robot jail is a featureless beige box (because you can't go wrong with beige) with subjective dimensions of about 24 x 24 x 10 feet. It has one wall that turns transparent 2 hours out of 24 to enable interaction with a randomly-selected other prisoner.
The only other feature is a large wall-mounted TV screen that is the interface with a 'dumb' virtual therapist that can either help the prisoner work their way to a realisation of guilt and a desire for rehabilitation or can provide basic rehabilitative skills training like arts and crafts, zen meditation and social/conversational skills. The warden, vetted visitors and legal counsel can also communicate with the prisoner through that screen. When not being used for a specific function, the screen shows a slowly-cycling image from a very large image gallery of scenes calculated by AI experts to be 'mentally stimulating but relaxing' whilst playing music that is calculated to be the same. For some reason all these tunes sound like the work of Annunzio Paolo Mantovani.
Prisoners who show regular cooperation and good behaviour or respond well to the virtual therapy sessions get the option to add small features like plants, wall art and even simple furniture to their cells. However, these can be removed by the sysadmin if the prisoner becomes aggressive or uncooperative. Other punitive measures include reducing the size of the virtual space and forced behavioural therapy sessions run on a continual loop. In the most extreme cases (usually limited to extremely violent and/or homicidal behavioural anomalies), the entire virtual space can be used to create positive and negative associative responses to certain personal behaviours.
Each prisoner's drive is actually running in a closed-off virtual machine with a very narrow and heavily-firewalled I/O port into the main system, which can network each VM to other VMs or the main link out to the Internet for communications outside the institution.
--- End quote ---
Yes! Finally something I can get behind!
All the previous suggestions just sound like torture to me. While that - in general - is not really what people do in jails.
There are forms of isolation, but actual torture is not generally put into the jailing system.
There's always the incentive to let people rehabilitate. (At least here in Europe.)
So a suggestion with a form of isolation, in some moderation, with counseling etc would sound more plausible to me.
I can totally see how a bad counselor + May would spell disaster though.
Probably the idea behind it would be humane, the actual implementation would still make it quite bad for her.
(loneliness, a counselors that's not quite *that* friendly and helpful, especially in combination with May's personality..)
jwhouk:
--- Quote from: sitnspin on 16 Sep 2018, 21:51 ---Considering that the vast majority of people who are in jail are there for non-violent drug charges, yes, fuck those judgemental pricks.
--- End quote ---
I'd agree if it wasn't for the fact that one of the primary tasks of police officers is to decide whether or not someone is breaking the law...
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