2012-08-07
Explanation
This comic is a graph showing "Esteem for Humanity While Reading an Article on Positive Race Relations" plotted against "Depth in Article." The curve starts low at the headline, then gradually rises through the first half of the article and climbs steeply through the second half, reaching a peak at the last paragraph. The implication is that reading about positive developments in race relations makes you feel increasingly good about humanity.
Then the curve plummets catastrophically at the point labeled "Comments." The joke is that while the article itself may be uplifting and optimistic, the comments section beneath it is invariably filled with racist, hateful, or ignorant remarks that completely destroy whatever faith in humanity the article had built up. This is a widely recognized phenomenon of internet culture: comment sections, especially on articles about sensitive topics like race, tend to bring out the worst in people.
The votey panel reinforces this observation with a Venn diagram showing two circles: "People Who Read an Article" and "People Who Comment on It" with very little overlap. This suggests that most commenters do not actually read the article before posting their reactions, which further explains why the comments are so terrible -- they are often knee-jerk responses to the headline rather than thoughtful engagement with the content.