2012-11-17
Explanation
This comic features a human office worker named Stan who is introduced to Occagus, a green alien from the more advanced planet Zorglax. The alien explains that his world''s leaders heard about poor Earthlings and that he is spending time in America doing pro bono work to help out -- specifically, he is willing to do Stan''s job for free. Stan asks what happens to him, and Occagus cheerfully explains that you cannot expect them to pay more than needed for labor, but that society will enjoy the economic benefits. When Stan protests that this will put everyone out of work, the alien apologizes and says he is just trying to help people by working for free. Asked how long he will keep this up, the alien says he is doing it out of kindness but also wants a "life experience" -- he wants to know what it is like to live a simple, old-fashioned existence. In the final panel, Stan says he will have to live off rice until he finds a job, and the alien gushes "That is so charming."
The comic is a satirical allegory about unpaid internships and the gig economy. The alien perfectly mirrors the logic used to justify unpaid labor: the work is done "for free" out of supposed kindness, the individual worker is told they cannot expect payment when someone else will do it for nothing, and the person doing the free labor treats the hardship they cause as a quaint cultural experience. By casting the exploiter as a wealthy alien from a more advanced civilization who views human poverty as "charming," the comic highlights the class dynamics at play when privileged people take unpaid positions for "experience," inadvertently undermining the wages of those who actually need the income.
The votey panel shows the alien eagerly asking "Can I watch?" -- presumably wanting to observe Stan''s poverty and struggle as entertainment, further driving home the comic''s critique of how economic displacement is romanticized by those who do not suffer its consequences.