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heretic

2023-09-02 View on smbc-comics.com → 1 revision
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heretic
Votey panel for heretic
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Explanation

This comic follows a figure in a noir-style setting who narrates how he has been kicked out of every organized religion and social movement for his "strange beliefs." He has been called a monster, a fool, a liar -- "disgusting, wicked." The reader is set up to expect some shocking or extreme belief system.

In the punchline panel, the man reveals his actual belief: "Humans are trustworthy, kind, and pretty great most of the time." The crowd immediately calls for him to be burned as a heretic.

The joke is that genuine optimism about human nature is treated as the most radical and unacceptable belief of all. Every ideology -- religious, political, or social -- seems to agree on at least one thing: people are fundamentally flawed. The comic satirizes the pervasive cynicism across the ideological spectrum, suggesting that the one truly heretical position in modern discourse is simple, earnest faith in humanity's goodness.

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