2012-05-04
Explanation
This comic satirizes the argument that video games cause violence and should be censored. A senator-like figure declares to a female interviewer that there are limits to free speech, that video games cause violence because playing them produces heightened aggression, and therefore they should be censored. When the interviewer asks how he found this out, he responds that he read several news articles about it.
She then asks the key question: "And did the article make you mad?" He replies "Of course. Furious. Why?" She simply says "No reason." The final panel shows a news headline: "Senator Implies Anti-Video Game Articles Should Be Censored." The irony is devastating: the senator wants to censor video games because consuming them causes aggression, but he has just admitted that reading news articles also made him furious -- meaning by his own logic, news articles that provoke anger should also be censored. The comic exposes the logical inconsistency of singling out video games as uniquely dangerous media when any form of media can provoke emotional responses, including aggression.
The votey panel shows a bearded figure (likely meant to represent a philosopher or Jesus-like figure) stating: "The point is that discrete empirical observations are not sufficient to determine social policy" -- a more academic way of saying that just because a single study shows short-term aggression increases doesn'''t mean it justifies sweeping censorship policies.