@BrickFlipped@killherbunni I feel like you might be projecting because I called you out for using smug buzzwords and that upset you a little.
Great reply here, really deboonked me
You just called the last panel “text, not subtext,” then immediately gave your own subtext for it: the comic is only saying he’s “misguided, not evil,” and the author’s disagreement isn’t judgment.
If the actual goal was to humanize the looksmaxxer through care, the comic wouldn’t end by centering the mother’s grief over the old version. The judgment is baked into that framing. The change is presented as a maternal loss.
Redefining “non-judgmental” to mean “didn’t explicitly insult the kid with words” is pedantic and dodges what’s actually drawn.
The subtext is the last panel: the mom sadly staring at the old photo while the son is right there on the call. That’s the judgment. The change is framed as a loss worth mourning. Calling it ‘non-judgmental’ because it doesn’t call the kid names is the real refusal to read what’s actually drawn.
The theme being looksmaxxing doesn’t erase the panels. The comic doesn’t show any ‘cultural poison’ or ‘miserable right-winger’ backstory, it ends on mom’s sad nostalgia for the old photo. That’s the message that lands, not your added nuance.
This same exact comic could be made by a right winger, depicting a trans person instead of a looksmaxxer, and the mother would garner sympathy in the exact same way from people who think being trans is evil.
The leftist ‘media literacy’ buzzword reminds me a bit of the right’s ‘can a man be a woman?’ that they spam under every leftist post. Totally meaningless but it makes them feel smug and smarter than whoever they’re arguing with. You’re not a special snowflake who understands media better than everyone else bro.
These semantics don’t change the punchline. The comic ends on the mom’s sad nostalgia for her ‘real’ nerdy son and his old photo. Ascension = loss, and it’s framed as tragic. Average reader doesn’t walk away thinking ‘nuanced humanization of right-wing looksmaxxers,” they see ‘mom is disappointed because her boy changed his body.’ Same ‘think of your mother / old pictures’ rhetoric gets called transphobic when flipped, yet here it’s fine because the target is the ‘wrong’ subculture.
I think you’re confusing your very hyper specific interpretation of the comic as the end all be all interpretation when that’s not really clear - the comic doesn’t make any distinction to call the guy a ‘miserable right-winger’ but you project that onto him and call other people wrong when they don’t do the same.
@himbopresident This is not a perfect example because Dominicans have far more cultural ties to the MLB than Americans do to European soccer, but the point still stands
People root for recognizable, popular, and good teams when they don’t have any geographic or cultural ties to a league. Truly mind blowing sociological discovery.
Not sure where you drew the conclusion this is an American phenomenon. Ask 10,000 Dominicans their opinion on the Yankees and Dodgers, then do the same for the Twins and Brewers.
The “if” makes your take read as if it is is coming from a place of wanting to get back at men/society in some way instead of you actually holding that principle as something that needs to be followed to better society.
In your heart of hearts, do girls and daughters need protection from promiscuity and sexual stuff? If so that’s fine, but I don’t see why you’re saying “if,” just own your take. And if not you obviously have some sort of biased perspective.
@sephir01h@d0bzee@Rx410 You are a woman. Why are you dismissing male experiences? When a male tells you that he liked boobs when he was 8 and therefore finds the shirt funny, you shut up, listen, and take notes sweetie