Why do all the cartoonists keep making fun of me?
Category: Humor
Posted on: February 20, 2008 12:06 PM, by PZ Myers
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PZ Myers is a biologist and associate professor at the University of Minnesota, Morris.
…and this is a pharyngula stage embryo.
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(Complete listing)First, I must confess that over the past few years I have been gravely disappointed with the white moderate. I have almost reached the regrettable conclusion that the Negro's great stumbling block in his stride toward freedom is not the White Citizen's Counciler or the Ku Klux Klanner, but the white moderate, who is more devoted to "order" than to justice; who prefers a negative peace which is the absence of tension to a positive peace which is the presence of justice; who constantly says: "I agree with you in the goal you seek, but I cannot agree with your methods of direct action"; who paternalistically believes he can set the timetable for another man's freedom; who lives by a mythical concept of time and who constantly advises the Negro to wait for a "more convenient season." Shallow understanding from people of good will is more frustrating than absolute misunderstanding from people of ill will.
Martin Luther King, Jr., Letter From Birmingham Jail
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Comments
The simple fact that the Internet exists means that at any given moment someone , in fact , be wrong. It's up to us (read: you, PZ) to make sure we know the truth.
Posted by: Junkjungle | February 20, 2008 12:14 PM
You have a duty to destroy the wrong of the interwebs, no matter what a stupid stickfigure comic insinuates!
Posted by: Michelle | February 20, 2008 12:16 PM
PZ, don't be paranoid about it.
It's probably just because you're easy to draw.
Posted by: Gridman | February 20, 2008 12:32 PM
Brother Prof. Myers-
We have many things in common, you and I. We are not that much different.
-RPTH
Award Winning Interblogger
etc and so forth
Posted by: Hipple, Rev. Paul T. | February 20, 2008 12:33 PM
Not enough tentacles to be PeeZed.
I think it is Truth Machine.
Posted by: Anon | February 20, 2008 12:37 PM
That's hilarious. I know the feeling full well, although I have succeeded in squelching it, for the most part, the last few years.
Posted by: Jack Krebs | February 20, 2008 12:38 PM
The alt text is sometimes better than the punchlines on that comic. In this case it was 'What do you want me to do, LEAVE? Then they'd just keep being wrong!'
Don't ever leave us, PZ. Can you imagine how wrong people would be _then_?
Posted by: Asteranx | February 20, 2008 12:45 PM
Second Cousin Rev. Paul T.-
That was rich.
Once a friend who directs an astronomical observatory received a job application from an astrologer.
Posted by: decius | February 20, 2008 12:46 PM
It's not about you. You're wrong.
God, I'm sleepy...
Posted by: Phoenician in a time of Romans | February 20, 2008 12:52 PM
Treason! That Phoenician is taking words out of my mouth! And besides, I think Carthage should be destroyed.
Posted by: David Marjanović, OM | February 20, 2008 1:11 PM
Hell, I hang out in a usenet xian group so I have to pick and choose which wrongs I try and right. It is so hard there being only one of me ;-) though fortunately I am not the only one trying to fight the good fight in there. Best is when the xian inmates bitch about the 'invasion' of atheists (all 3 of us).
Then there are all the wonderfully glib and totally empty of meaning statements like "god is outside the universe" and "god sustains the universe" or the recent "god is eternal, has always been and thus needs no explanation"
Posted by: Peter Ashby | February 20, 2008 1:11 PM
@7: I'm of the opinion that the alt text generally IS the punchline.
Posted by: Token | February 20, 2008 1:13 PM
I must admit, when I saw this yesterday I thought immediately of Pharyngula - but I owe you all a debt of gratitude! The comment threads are proof that not all human beings are vapid, hateful, self-deluded/absorbed, (insert-religious-text-here)-thumping, sexually repressed assholes who feel insecure unless the entire world endorses their particular brand of spiritual flagellation/masturbation. So, thanks!
Posted by: Wisaakah | February 20, 2008 1:15 PM
That's what I love about the internet. In my real life, so many groups which bring up any topic which touches on religion seem to see debate, disagreement, and even honest discussion as hostile intrusions on what must now become a Sharing and Caring Mutual Support Group. "I don't think the earth is 10,000 years old myself, but how wonderful for you that you do, and that you keep strong in your own belief, if that is what is true for you -- I so admire that."
Without the internet I slowly die the death of a thousand cuts.
Posted by: Sastra | February 20, 2008 1:26 PM
That's so funny! It nails my internet personality to a t.
Posted by: alchemist | February 20, 2008 1:32 PM
Heh, classic xkcd. Been showing up everywhere, because it's so freakin' true.
Wronger than the wrongest man in Wrongland, on the wrongest day of the year.
MO
Posted by: Overstroming | February 20, 2008 1:47 PM
xkcd is so many kinds of awsome. We definitely need this one on a tee shirt.
Posted by: tikistitch | February 20, 2008 1:55 PM
Pee Zed should be happy his Trophy Wife is so concerned with the trvth she spends all her tyme correcting ijiots on Teh Internets rather than, ah, sleeping.
Posted by: blf | February 20, 2008 2:02 PM
No tentacles, no beard, and neglecting a trophy wife(TM), can't be PZ. However, if a hot Architeuthis video was on the monitor. . .
Posted by: mothra | February 20, 2008 2:04 PM
Oh my God! Wear?
Posted by: AnthonyK | February 20, 2008 2:07 PM
Eh, old news: bloggers have been like this for at least seventy years.
Posted by: Blake Stacey | February 20, 2008 2:42 PM
Huh. That's the sixth time I've seen that image today: I saw the original comic, I posted it twice on various sites, I saw it twice in different threads on the same webforum, and now here.
Randall Munroe is obviously following me.
Posted by: Despard | February 20, 2008 2:53 PM
I was on the XKCD forums last night and I read the thread for Monday's "How it Works" comic and I was just dumbfounded. Usually there's just a lot of programming in-jokes and congeniality, but for some reason all the bigoted evo-psych wankers decided to come out and spew their just-so stories for why women are just plain genetically inferior. Ick.
Posted by: stogoe | February 20, 2008 3:02 PM
And then comes the next comic, "3 days later", where we see the same picture and hear:
"Are you still having that same conversation, talking to those same people?"
"Yes, it's the same thread. And, No, new trolls showed up to take the place of the original trolls."
Posted by: Michael X | February 20, 2008 4:08 PM
At least until he loses interest.
http://ars.userfriendly.org/cartoons/?id=20080208
Posted by: linnen | February 20, 2008 4:40 PM
#23- Much as I love XKCD, the forums there are a strange and scary place. I avoid them.
Posted by: Carlie | February 20, 2008 5:11 PM
Too funny. My husband taped this one securely to my monitor so I'd know it was meant for me. . .
Never went to the forums. Probably shouldn't. I spend too much time in front of the computer already.
Posted by: Alison | February 20, 2008 5:25 PM
Yeah, this pretty much sums up my interest with the internet. I don't necessarily have to argue, but i like reading about people who are wrong, mostly in politics, but religion is also an unavoidably delicious subject.
Posted by: inkadu | February 20, 2008 6:07 PM
#23, #26
You should have seen the forums when "The Data So Far" came out. It was horrible.
Posted by: Kelly Clowers | February 20, 2008 6:16 PM
I used to be like that. Now I tend not to argue with people, but instead I find myself seeking out horrible wrong internet people's postings to read for entertainment.
I'll find some loony's complaint of blasphemy in an IMDB movie review, and read all of their reviews.
If you ever start to feel like you are overestimating the average human's intelligence, there's a two-word cure for it: youtube comments.
Posted by: Craig | February 20, 2008 6:17 PM
That's you? I thought it was me...
Posted by: Caveat | February 20, 2008 6:30 PM
OTOH, Toronto just had a six-alarm fire in which no one was killed nor hurt. News commentators, bystanders and such said that it was amazing, surprising, fortunate, thanked the fire-fighters and other emergency workers, and no one said it was a niracle. The mayor said that the thoughts of Torontonians were with the people who lost their homes or businesses -- not their prayers.
Posted by: Monado, FCD | February 20, 2008 6:54 PM
In your life it's limited to groups which bring up any topic which touches on religion?
Lucky bastard.
Posted by: Azkyroth | February 20, 2008 7:11 PM
Well I suggest a jihad against these evil cartoonists who defame our beloved prophet, Pee Zed (peas be upon him), and who may or may not resemble the caricature depicted.
Posted by: KiwiInOz | February 20, 2008 7:18 PM
Can I just say that I have the exact opposite reaction to this cartoon? The Internet is about the only place I know where I can reliably run into people who are right about anything.
Posted by: HP | February 20, 2008 7:40 PM
ZOMG!! That's a miracle all its own!
Posted by: inkadu | February 20, 2008 8:01 PM
What I'd like to see is a convincing explanation for the psychology behind this cultural assumption many people seem to share that anything involving "the internet" is automatically trivial.
Posted by: Azkyroth | February 20, 2008 8:07 PM
That panel is so very true. Can't count how many times I've wasted a Saturday morning ripping someone else a new one on a forum for being stupid.
Posted by: BlueIndependent | February 20, 2008 8:14 PM
Well, at least you're sponge worthy. :)
Posted by: Moses | February 20, 2008 9:47 PM
Oddly enough, today's Dilbert was especially just for me - I have the cartoon referenced in that strip taped to my desk...
Posted by: Owen | February 20, 2008 9:50 PM
Haha win.
Posted by: Geral | February 20, 2008 10:02 PM
At least PZ's dealing with people being wrong about science. I stay up late trying to correct people's misconceptions about "Death of Superman" storyline.
Posted by: SKFK | February 20, 2008 10:09 PM
I note with glee that this comes just before the whale evolution post... and the guy *disabled* comments.
I know he'll never listen to anything. I know he'll remain willfully ignorant of anything which might challenge his comfortable views. The urge to try to explain anyway remains.
I can no longer allow myself to read any online discussion which includes ".999..." because it will make my head asplode. Who'll tell them they're wrong then?!
Posted by: Samwise | February 20, 2008 10:36 PM
Fertile ground.
Posted by: Alan Kellogg | February 20, 2008 11:10 PM
=LOL= Several years ago when DSL really started hitting the big time, a friend of mine had it installed. Not long after that, his wife was heard to say that the internet is the best form of birth control ever invented.
Posted by: themadlolscientist | February 21, 2008 1:36 AM
Yeah, this describes an insidious compulsive behavior that can be quite hard to overcome. You can't always correct people who are mistaken,
evenespecially if they're insufferably confident about something ridiculous.Occasionally doing it is good (you want to get good information out there). While obsessively doing so may not be bad for everyone else (unless you are the one who's wrong of course ;p ), it's generally unhealthy for the person doing it.
Posted by: Escuerd | February 21, 2008 6:40 AM
The best way to get information from people on the internet is not to ask a question. It's to post an error ;)
Posted by: Dave | February 21, 2008 9:20 AM
This cartoon reminds me of a joke I heard comic Mike MacDonald tell. He was talking about being lost in the forest and how someone had once advised him he should never go hiking without a cell phone. His tag to this was imagining himself calling for help and trying to describe where he was (like that was going to help somebody find him).
Then he related that on one occasion when he had told that joke an audience member had approached him after his set to explain that actually search & rescue people could triangulate on a cell phone signal and locate someone who was lost, etc, etc. He described this person pushing his way through backstage muttering, "Excuse me, excuse me. I have vital information for the comedian."
I just couldn't help thinking I know people like that (and I might be one of them).
Posted by: Blondin | February 21, 2008 9:53 AM
It's not paranoia. We are all taunting you in some way.
Cephalopod torture
Posted by: Tom | February 21, 2008 6:23 PM
This is hilarious. When you are trained as a scientist, that urge to uncover and refute errors is almost irresistible at times. It reminds me of the old insight that an effective way to improve your citation rate is to publish something that is controversial and wrong now and then...
Posted by: ganv | February 22, 2008 11:07 AM
Somebody has been spying on me!
Posted by: BaldApe | February 22, 2008 12:35 PM