commentary
Explanation
This comic satirizes the slippery slope arguments commonly used in TV news commentary. A news commentator states that "all TV news commentary should begin by stating underlying assumptions," then proceeds to ask the audience to "imagine an idea placed at the top of a frictionless slope." He draws a diagram on a chalkboard showing a ball rolling down a slope with no friction (labeled with the physics notation for zero friction).
The humor works on two levels. First, it references the physics concept of a "frictionless surface," a simplification used in introductory physics problems that ignores real-world resistance. Second, it directly puns on the "slippery slope" logical fallacy, in which a commentator argues that one event will inevitably lead to a chain of increasingly extreme consequences. By having the commentator literally draw a frictionless slope, the comic suggests that pundits' slippery slope arguments only work if you assume away all the real-world friction -- the practical obstacles, compromises, and counter-forces -- that would actually prevent the predicted chain of events.