Annotated 30-4
The monologue comes full circle and focuses its from-the-trenches perspective. And, well, I have little else to say about it. I’ve been busy finishing Act II, Scene IV and Scene V of Shakespeare’s Trump. So hey, want to help me write the ending?
On November 3, as I have done several times before, I will be helping people in my area of Manassas as a pollworker. If you haven’t voted already, don’t skip. The 2016 election was decided by surprisingly small margins in areas the losing side had mostly regarded as “sure things.”
I know some of you are probably worried about violence or COVID. Be assured those worries have informed our preparations, and that we value our community and its safety. And if that’s not enough, be mindful that a better world requires occasional acts of courage.
Cynicism has been a favorite tool of politicians I despise for far too long now, so with all due respect, it’s not something I care to see in the comments today. I realize some of this may sound ironic from the co-author of a comic that ultimately resolves with a very un-peaceful transfer of power, but for all Gastonia spoke to Phil’s and my anxieties about American life, there’s one thing it didn’t have that America does: elected leaders. Make that difference mean something.
Thank you for your service, T! This is an especially terrifying election year, and it’s good to know that one of my favorite authors is dutiful enough to his country to help ensure fairness and safety to the voring constituency.
That being said, I was quite fond of this monologue: Goblaurence, as one of the mightiest thinkers in Arkerra, gets few opportunities to showcase his philosophy. As a grouchy sort, his dialogue with others is often dismissive and seldom thoughtful. But this time alone got me, the reader, to see a unique ideology from one of the World’s Champions.
The VORING constituency? Oh my! Already a pretty unsafe constituency.
This was probably one of most favorite chapter intro of the comic.
Ah yes, I remember 4 years ago, I was planning on having a little fun on election night, posting jokes comparing the various political candidates to Guilded Age characters. (“Q: How is Taro Iwatani different from Trump? A: Taro actually has military experience.”) Once the results of the election became clear, it just didn’t seem funny anymore. (Hope this doesn’t come across as cynical. I don’t consider myself cynical, just truly disheartened!)
Nah, I get it. I think a lot of us writers struggled with that “Is anything even FUNNY now?” question. I think a lot about the phrase “emotion recollected in tranquility” from the Transcendental days: the last set of election results didn’t leave us a lot of tranquility to go around.
Now that I think of it, it was an entirely different webcomic whose characters I was going to use for my jokes. But at least one of my jokes transfers over pretty well (see above).
“Certainty of death. Small chance of success. What are we waiting for?”
Thanks for helping the folks of Manassas. Small world, I’m in Burke! I loved reading the original publication, and I’m really enjoying the re-release with annotations. Who knew you were just up 66!
T: “Here’s my satirical play script cynically lampooning public figures I don’t like.”
Also T: “I don’t want to see any political cynicism in the comments today.”
Hypocrisy aside, I appreciate everything else you’ve said, including the importance of voting; and your work as a pollworker. I also enjoyed most of this comic since way back when it was coming out, including this 4-page sequence. As a writer, I can understand some of the reluctance to pull back from the main cast and show several pages (over a week) away from them. Some comics (web or otherwise) don’t do that well and it can frustrate readers, but I think ultimately this worked, in part because of Goblaurances rambling narrative serving to draw in from the big picture back to the main cast. And the sequence of the “tragedy of war” shows why it matters what the characters are doing in the first place above and beyond their personal survival.
I can see that.
Regarding those first two lines: fair criticism, but I define cynicism a bit more narrowly… or maybe “broadly.” Regarding certain people, places, and things with narrowed eyes doesn’t strike me as cynicism; regarding humanity in general and the prospect of anything ever getting better that way does. If you believe in the importance of voting, just to pick the most relevant example, then you’re not subscribing to the kind of cynicism that gets under my skin.
I voted days ago. As a person of conscience (at least, in the ways that tend to matter these days), it’s taking all my restraint not to do more.
Like, digging myself an escape tunnel. That’s crossed my mind.I’m pulling for everyone, and especially given that the outcome surely won’t resolve by the evening of the election. That’s not cynicism talking, so much as realism, I think. Your mileage may vary.
There’s been something weird going on with the website, I think…
I have been trying to access it for weeks, but always met with an agonizingly slow load time, as the page never finished loading, also the comment section wasn’t completing load, so I couldn’t comment about it either.
Weirdest thing is how I inadvertently fixed it: I went to T’s page, and followed a link from his list of 15 accomplishments, and noticed that the linked page loaded fine.
Clicked on the “Latest” and now that works as well, despite not working just 15 minutes ago.
Anyway if site traffic is “suddenly” down (it started about a month ago, iirc), you might want to check if something was added which might cause page loading to stall.
There hasn’t been much change to traffic overall, but I have gotten a few reports of this and have asked the Hiveworks crew to keep their eyes open. Mysteries of the tech world.
I have the same problem on my desktop. I can only view/comment from my phone. I figured it was just me since it’s just that one device.
Firefox on Windows, if it helps
Firefox on Windows, haven’t encountered this yet. Maybe it’s the ads? Seems like my first suspicion these days is the adds. Not sure what that says about me.
Yeah, I guess also traffic wouldn’t change much since people would still be trying to load the page – until they give up, I guess.
Anyway, still seems to be ongoing (Chrome on Win10), and the fix by using the link from your page still works, so maybe something weird with either cookies or google stuff?
At some point I will try with DuckDuckGo, see if that works differently.
I got strong TF2 vibes from this one. “I’m an engineer. I solve practical problems.”