2012-07-02
Explanation
This comic explores the concept of a "just war" through a thought experiment. Two soldiers from opposing sides of a conflict have killed each other simultaneously and arrive in the afterlife, where a figure (presumably God or an arbiter) asks which one was on the "just side" of the war. Both soldiers launch into elaborate geopolitical justifications for their respective sides, using increasingly dense and jargon-filled arguments about market-oriented economies, naval positioning, hegemony, and the Washington Consensus. The arguments devolve into childish retorts ("You take that back!" / "Never!" and "So's your mom!"), showing that even in death, neither can objectively prove moral superiority.
The final panel shows one of the soldiers asking God directly, "Is there such a thing as a just war?" God responds, "A what war?" -- implying either that God has no concept of a "just" war (suggesting all wars are unjust) or that God is so detached from human affairs that the very concept is meaningless. The comic satirizes how both sides of any military conflict construct elaborate rational frameworks to justify their actions, but from a sufficiently detached perspective, these justifications are indistinguishable from each other. The reference to the Washington Consensus (a set of neoliberal economic policies) grounds the satire in real-world geopolitics, suggesting that modern wars are often fought over economic ideology rather than clear moral imperatives.