the-status-quo
Explanation
The Joke
A meeting of the "Anti Status Quo Society" is called to order to discuss their lack of progress. Immediately, everything devolves into meta-arguments about process. A member objects that it is not really a discussion since only the chairman has authority to speak first. Another member claims to have been elected by majority, and someone quips "So was Hitler." A motion to get on with today's business is derailed when a member objects to the term "business" because corporations cause social ill, and another insists they should not talk about corporations "like they're people."
When someone proposes forming a committee to discuss why they never get to today's business, another member declares that committees are elitist. One person announces they are forming a splinter group -- a "True Anti Status Quo Society" -- where discussion is always welcome. Someone asks whether splitting into factions helps their cause, and two members simultaneously refuse to engage further. Finally, a motion is made to begin tomorrow's discussion about why nothing was accomplished today, which is itself objected to because "time is a capitalist construct."
The Humor
The comic is a pointed satire of activist and leftist organizing culture, where groups that are ostensibly dedicated to challenging the status quo become so bogged down in procedural objections, ideological purity tests, and internal disagreements that they never accomplish anything. Every attempt to move forward is blocked by someone finding the very language or structure of the discussion to be problematic. The irony is that the group perfectly maintains the status quo precisely by trying to oppose it, as their anti-establishment principles prevent them from establishing any functional process. The Godwin's Law invocation ("So was Hitler"), the objection to the word "business," the complaint about committees being elitist, and the declaration that time is a capitalist construct are all recognizable exaggerations of real intra-left debates. The comic suggests that a society that objects to all forms of structure and authority will inevitably be unable to take any collective action.
References
The comic satirizes several real phenomena in activist culture. "So was Hitler" references Godwin's Law, the internet adage that as any discussion grows longer, the probability of a comparison to Hitler approaches one. The "corporations are not people" line references the Citizens United v. FEC Supreme Court decision and the subsequent activist movement against corporate personhood. Splitting into factions is a longstanding satirical observation about left-wing movements, famously depicted in Monty Python's "Life of Brian" with the People's Front of Judea and the Judean People's Front. This was a bonus comic promoting the Weinersmith book "Soonish."