2012-02-22
Explanation
This comic shows a parent reading a bedtime story to a child -- the classic fable of Harun al-Rashid, the Abbasid caliph who searched for a happy man and found one who was so poor he did not even own a shirt. The traditional moral is that happiness does not depend on material wealth. However, the child interrupts with increasingly sharp critical questions: what happened to the shirtless man (who probably died young from poverty), and how do we even know this story if Harun gave up worldly things (he must have gone back to tell someone).
The child then delivers a pointed critique, calling the story "just reinforcing the status quo ante about wealth" and citing economic research showing a correlation between income and happiness. The parent, exasperated by the child's precocious deconstruction, declares "You are not the Overman! You are not the Overman, and my mother will no longer be your mouthpiece!" -- referencing Nietzsche's concept of the Ubermensch. The final panel reveals the child has assigned the parent a reading list. The humor comes from the child's comically advanced critical thinking applied to a simple bedtime story, turning a cozy moment into an ideological confrontation.