2011-09-09
Explanation
This comic presents a dystopian narrative about a society where "psychological engineering" leads the government to ban sadness in the name of productivity. The story follows a logical progression of absurd consequences: people who feel sad become criminals, an underground market develops for illicit emotional experiences (like paying someone to make you sad), and specific emotions are classified as "gateway feelings" leading to worse ones, mirroring real-world drug war rhetoric.
As jails become overcrowded with sad people, the government pivots to a voucher system where citizens working in miserable jobs like telemarketing and DMV clerking receive "malaise credits" -- essentially rationed sadness. The initial reaction is excitement, and people eagerly collect vouchers to "get completely sadfaced." But eventually things return to a new normal that is slightly worse: when someone receives genuinely bad news (a breakup), they have to pause to check their account balance before they are allowed to feel the appropriate emotion. The comic satirizes government overreach into personal emotional life and the commodification of human experience, drawing parallels to drug prohibition and the absurdity of trying to legislate away fundamental aspects of the human condition.