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context-3

2022-07-10 View on smbc-comics.com → 1 revision
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context-3
Votey panel for context-3
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Explanation

This comic satirizes the common rhetorical defense of "taken out of context" and how it can be weaponized to deflect legitimate criticism.

In the first panel, a reporter confronts a politician: "Sir, how do you respond to critics who have cited several times you said we should take all minority groups and put them in a ghetto?" The politician responds with the classic deflection: "Ma'am, that quote is taken out of context." The reporter reacts with surprise.

The reporter pushes back: "I mean, you're saying it today at a rally, a questioner asked have you had a change of heart on ghettos, and you said yesterday the first part was a different type of... strictly technical sense, not..." The politician cuts her off: "You can't do that. You can't just say words I said. You're supposed to present them in a different context that changes the meaning of your statement."

In the final panel, the reporter says "You can't stop me, I've found a rhetorical loophole" while the politician screams "NOOOOOOO" in horror, grinning maniacally.

The joke is a pointed political satire: the politician's defense of "out of context" is revealed to be entirely hollow. He doesn't actually have a different context that exonerates him — he simply expects the media to present his words in a more favorable framing. The reporter's "rhetorical loophole" is simply quoting him accurately and completely, which the comic treats as a devastating superpower against a politician who relies on the "out of context" shield.

View History (1) Original Comic