eff
Explanation
This comic imagines a simple technological intervention that could defuse online arguments.
A person is looking at their phone, which shows a hostile message: "Eff you, bro!" from "@rEffthguy." Below that message, the phone displays a prompt: "Instead of fighting with this person, would you like to donate a dollar to the cause you're claiming to defend?" with accept and reject buttons.
The comic proposes a brutally simple test of sincerity in online discourse: when someone is about to engage in an angry argument supposedly in defense of some cause, the platform intervenes and asks if they'd rather just donate a small amount to that cause instead. The implication is that most online arguments aren't really about advancing a cause — they're about the emotional satisfaction of fighting. If people genuinely cared about the issues they argue about online, putting up a dollar would be an easy choice. The fact that this prompt would likely stop most arguments cold reveals that the arguing itself is the point, not the cause being defended.
The comic distills a common observation about online behavior: people will spend hours in heated arguments about issues they won't spend a single dollar to support.