2012-08-01
Explanation
This comic is a single-panel joke featuring a character who resembles Carl Sagan -- the famous astronomer and science communicator known for his sense of wonder and poetic descriptions of the cosmos -- but twisted into a menacing "evil" version. Where the real Sagan would say something awe-inspiring like "we are all made of star-stuff," Evil Carl Sagan aggressively tells a small child: "There is carbon in your body that was shat out of Hitler'''s ass." The caption below reads "Nobody liked Evil Carl Sagan."
The joke works by taking Sagan'''s trademark technique of making people feel connected to the universe through the recycling of atoms and applying it in the most unpleasant way possible. It is technically true that carbon atoms cycle through all living things and the environment, so atoms that once existed in any historical figure'''s body could theoretically end up in yours. But while Sagan would frame this as beautiful and humbling, Evil Carl Sagan frames it as disgusting and confrontational, choosing the worst possible example (Hitler) and the crudest possible biological process.
The votey panel continues the Evil Sagan theme by parodying another famous Sagan quote. The original quote is "If you wish to make an apple pie from scratch, you must first invent the universe." Evil Sagan'''s version: "To get dysentery, you must first create the universe" -- replacing the wholesome apple pie with a horrible disease while maintaining the same grandiose cosmic framing.