2013-09-03
Explanation
This comic features a conversation between what appears to be a mother and her two daughters, one brunette and one redhead. The brunette daughter accuses the mother of playing favorites, pointing out that the mother gives the favorite daughter twice as much attention to genetics and nutrition. The mother denies playing favorites, but then turns to the favored redheaded daughter and apologizes that she had to wear the same outfit, promising to take just the two of them out for ice cream later.
The joke escalates when the mother tells the redheaded daughter she will receive half of her calorie allotment today, framing parental favoritism in absurdly clinical and quantitative terms. The brunette threatens to tell their father, setting up the votey panel. In the votey, the daughter runs to dad saying "Dad! Mom said--" and the father cuts her off with "Don'''t care. r=0.0" -- using the statistical notation for a correlation coefficient of zero, meaning he sees absolutely no relationship between himself and this complaint (or perhaps the child).
The comic satirizes parental favoritism by making it absurdly overt and measurable. The use of scientific language (genetics, nutrition, calorie allotment, correlation coefficients) to describe what is fundamentally an emotional family dynamic is classic SMBC humor, blending domestic comedy with nerdy references.