2013-04-20
Explanation
This comic features two women in a relationship who get trapped in a logical paradox. One says, "I think you're the best, baby," and the other replies, "I think YOU're the best." This triggers a chain of increasingly frantic logical reasoning: "Well, we can't BOTH be the best." "In which case, one of us must be wrong. But if that person is wrong, she CAN'T be the best!" The first woman then spirals: "So if I'm right and you're the best, then you're wrong about me being the best, in which case you're not the best, in which case I'm wrong and AAH! AAAH! AAAAH!"
Her partner calls 911, saying, "My wife is being so literal that she's caught in a logical paradox." When the operator advises her to relax all her muscles and breathe, the wife screams, "THAT'S IMPOSSIBLE!" -- because relaxing all muscles would include her diaphragm, making breathing impossible (or because she is too worked up to comply, taking the instruction overly literally once again).
The comic is a fun exploration of what happens when you treat a casual romantic compliment as a strict logical proposition. The paradox is structurally similar to classic self-referential paradoxes like the liar's paradox. The votey panel shows someone saying, "Your cartoonishly neurotic behavior frightens me. Goodbye forever," serving as a deadpan reaction to the over-the-top logical meltdown.