2013-06-07
Explanation
This comic plays on the idea that using certain slurs or outdated language is a telltale sign that someone is from the past. A person with brown hair angrily insists that they are not "a mysterious traveler from the uncivilized past," but the other character (in a yellow shirt) smugly replies that they have picked up on "subtle linguistic cues" to their "temporal home" and says "Nice try, time voyager!" The caption below reads: "This is the appropriate response to the use of the word faggot." The joke is that anyone who uses certain bigoted slurs must be a time traveler from a less enlightened era, because no modern, civilized person would use such language.
The humor works by reframing bigotry as anachronism -- rather than getting angry at someone for using a slur, you simply conclude they must be a visitor from the past who has not yet learned modern social norms. It is a comedic way of suggesting that such language is so outdated it can only belong to another century.
The votey (bonus panel) shows the character from the main comic contentedly saying, "I feel so much better now that I think everyone I hate is a time traveler." This extends the joke by showing the psychological comfort of this reframing: instead of being upset by bigots, you can simply pity them as confused temporal visitors.