The Old Hack

The Moderator: We are getting very close to certain political hot buttons here. Please note that I would prefer these to remain untouched so I request that you be careful of this when discussing this topic.

http://www.egscomics.com/index.php?id=2483

Yeah, this is a Friday the 13th comic all right. http://www.egscomics.com/index.php?id=2485

This is possibly the best NP strip I have seen for quite a while. Susan being able to even temporarily overcome her inhibitions for some reason fills me with contentment.

Yes, but I don't seem to have Dan's imagination. For some reason I am stuck with just my own.

Plus quite a few things it can't. Those are the ones I am really worried about.

Eh, don't worry too much about it. I have it filed in the category of past glories. I am certainly not disputing that. I am the worst time traveller I know.

You need to have some manner of realistic claim or the title will not mean anything. I, for example, am an actual Time Lord. I am the undisputed ruler of October 13, 1982.

It is a much milder offshoot of the more serious Youngblood's Disease. If the characters in your comic contract Youngblood's, it will totally destroy their irises and pupils, leaving only a white nothingness that makes it appear as if the sclera is obscuring everything. The main effects seem to be that your characters look really stupid and they also start to snarl all the time. (This may be somewhat understandable. If my vision got screwed over like that, it would probably put me in a bad mood, too.) Furthermore, because they lose the visual ability to keep track of their belongings, the characters start to wear massive amounts of pouches on their clothes so they can keep everything they think is important near at all times. If it is left untreated, it will soon spread uncontrollably to every character in the comic. Worse yet, it makes the victims act completely irrationally as if there were no coherence or meaningful consequences to their actions. It is not uncommon for advanced cases to begin to carry improbably heavy weaponry and sociopathically kill anyone or anything that in even the slightest way impedes their illogical course of action. Approach sufferers with caution. If you observe this begin to happen to anyone in your circle of friends or family, do not wait. Contact a professional penciler or inker immediately while there is still time. Don't let Youngblood's spread to more victims.

That... that has the potential to turn into a "Little old lady that swallowed a fly" type scenario real fast.

The Moderator: Let us not. We are getting a wee bit close to RL politics here and they do not belong in the story comics threads, please.

I suspect not. I rather think she would strongly disapprove of the way these girls were taught. Even so, it would be mandated by the State that they join. Just as with the Hitlerjugend, there was no easy way around. Still, exactly Susan and Nanase are the sort of people to make any organisation rue compulsory enlistment.

No they bollocking wouldn't. I don't see any version of Nanase or Susan tamely joining an organisation dedicated to turn them into good little obedient homemakers. At least, not planning to leave it intact.

It is possible to influence someone without being manipulative. Sheer raw force of personality often works fine. Absent a steadying influence like Elliot, a more aggressive and vengeful one might well take its place.

So is mine. Though I have to admit, that first panel sounded a lot like the snide comments I sometimes hear aimed at sex ed classes that don't do a good job. "Dude, the magic health classes at your school sucked."

Mine as well. The goo failed initially because Elliot destroyed it, not Tedd. It seems plausible.

Hm! Not good, but fortunate timing. I hope it is not anything too bad!

Maybe your computer was dreaming about some legal weed?

The irony is that it is a revived nationalism akin to Nazism that is one of the largest threats European democracies face, that and foreign sabotage attempts of our elections. Here in Denmark we have one small advantage: direct interference with our voting is very hard as we still use paper ballots. It has benefits, being a minuscule country with only a small population.

I disagree. I am equally concerned about both. It is the side we lower our guard against that we will be taken down from. The price of freedom is constant vigilance.

I do not really think it did. It is merely that sometimes a Hitler reference is exactly what it is, as you say. I agree. Unfortunately if there is one thing Nazis are very good at, it is using Nazi tactics.

Godwin's Law referred to a political climate in which comparisons with Nazis happened frequently and unjustly. As XKCD (again) hinted, the law becomes absurd when the comparison is actually logical and fairly applicable. In this time and day, it is perhaps not far from the truth to say that Godwin's Law has largely been repealed. Or at least rolled back. In short, if it moves like a duck, quacks like a duck and wears swastika armbands on its wings...

I should stress that I did not wish it to be, which was why I said 'resolve' rather than holding it up as a warning example. As someone who happens to be on the Nazi target list along with my family and my wife (she is not Jewish, she was born with spina bifida due to her father being poisoned with Agent Orange in Vietnam) I am well aware of the fact that when it comes to Nazis, I tend to err on the side of intolerance. If there is a way to prevent the Nazis from attempting a repeat of their former rather doubtful glories without challenging the First Amendment I am all for it. I merely hope it will be found in time.

Maybe it made the fire alarm hungry and this is the only way it can beg for food.

Unfortunately aforesaid sympathy does exist and the Nazis do not hesitate to make use of it. As to the political argument I shall not engage in it here, merely recall to mind Popper's paradox and hope it may somehow be resolved without the destruction of said freedom of speech.