Explain SMBC — the wiki for Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal

politics

2016-03-14 View on smbc-comics.com → 1 revision
politics
Votey panel for politics
This explanation is incomplete or may contain errors. It was generated by AI and has not yet been reviewed by a human editor.

Explanation

The Joke

The comic presents three tiers of political viewpoints. "Viewpoints I understand": a man reasonably explains that politicians are often self-interested seekers of power, and you can understand their actions through that lens. "Viewpoints I don't understand": someone excitedly claims we are all slaves to the secret Illuminati. "Viewpoints I really don't understand": someone acknowledges we are all slaves to the secret Illuminati but adds that TV is pretty good, so... eh.

The Humor

The first viewpoint is a standard cynical but rational take on politics. The second is a conspiracy theory — irrational, but at least it has the internal consistency of being alarmed by the situation. The third tier is the truly baffling one: someone who fully believes in a grand conspiracy enslaving humanity but is too comfortable and entertained to care. The joke is that complete apathy in the face of one's own stated beliefs is more incomprehensible than the conspiracy theory itself. It satirizes how people can hold extreme views about the world being fundamentally broken yet remain perfectly content with the status quo because of creature comforts like television.

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