2012-01-01
Explanation
This comic contrasts the public and private reasons someone might oppose brain scanning technology. The top panel, labeled "Why I say brain scanning should never be legal," shows a man making an eloquent, principled argument: "It would be a final invigilation of the only remaining private refuge granted us by nature!" This is the kind of high-minded philosophical objection one might voice in a debate or op-ed -- defending the sanctity of inner thought.
The bottom panel, labeled "Why I think brain scanning should never be legal," reveals the man''s actual, far less noble concern. In a thought bubble, he admits: "I don''t know a single person I haven''t imagined killing or seeing naked." The humor lies in the gap between the lofty reasoning people present publicly and the embarrassing truth lurking in their private thoughts. Everyone has intrusive or inappropriate thoughts they would never want exposed, and brain scanning would lay those bare.
The votey panel extends the joke with a person wearing a brain-scanning helmet saying "Sorry Grandma," implying that even one''s grandmother is not exempt from the kind of disturbing mental imagery the main comic describes. It drives home the universality of embarrassing private thoughts and adds a cringe-worthy familial twist to the punchline.