2011-05-12
Explanation
This is a single-panel comic with a caption. A park ranger in a hat and uniform is addressing a group of hikers, giving them bear safety advice: "If a bear gets too close, put out your arms like this. The bear will think you'''re '''too clingy''' and will leave you alone. Forever." The caption below reads: "Ranger Dave was a bit less helpful after the breakup."
The humor comes from the ranger projecting his recent romantic breakup onto his bear safety instructions. Real bear safety advice does involve making yourself look bigger by raising your arms, but Ranger Dave has reframed this in terms of relationship dynamics -- specifically, the concept of being "too clingy" driving someone away. The word "Forever" at the end carries the bitter weight of someone who was dumped for being too needy, and he is now applying that personal trauma to human-bear interactions. The joke works on the contrast between the serious context (bear safety) and the petty emotional reasoning behind the advice.
The votey bonus panel shows a bear wearing a bow, looking away with arms crossed, saying: "Oh jeez. His arms are out. This is awkward..." This completes the anthropomorphization by showing the bear reacting exactly like an uncomfortable ex who is being confronted by a clingy former partner, confirming that in this comic'''s universe, the ranger'''s breakup advice actually does work on bears.