[2013-oct-20] This comic is distracting from this comic

Blame Quintushalls for this.

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Re: [2013-oct-20] This comic is distracting from this comic

Post by smiley_cow »

I don't think I understand what's wrong with liking something because of the diversity. I don't read SMBC as much anymore, but there's a few things I've watched/read because it was a diverse cast and that drew me to it. I'd rather see overrepresentation of people you rarely see represented then another cast of straight white men with maybe one or two token people who don't do much shoehorned in. Neither one would be reality anyways.
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Re: [2013-oct-20] This comic is distracting from this comic

Post by Salty »

Edminster wrote: Also for 2010 the number of new interracial marriages was 15% and part of a long trend upwards, so your 8% number is slightly disingenuous and perhaps it is you who is choosing to pretend the reality of our times isn't there.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/02/1 ... 81229.html

This says 8% in total. 15% more is not the same as the total, which is what I'm talking about. These comics allow you to feel as if the numbers are higher.
Last edited by Salty on Mon Oct 21, 2013 6:52 pm, edited 5 times in total.

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Re: [2013-oct-20] This comic is distracting from this comic

Post by Salty »

smiley_cow wrote:I don't think I understand what's wrong with liking something because of the diversity. I don't read SMBC as much anymore, but there's a few things I've watched/read because it was a diverse cast and that drew me to it. I'd rather see overrepresentation of people you rarely see represented then another cast of straight white men with maybe one or two token people who don't do much shoehorned in. Neither one would be reality anyways.
And this is my point, no matter what anyone else puts in my mouth...

You are viewing it because he drew gay people. If you admit that, fine.

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Re: [2013-oct-20] This comic is distracting from this comic

Post by Edminster »

Salty wrote:
Edminster wrote: Also for 2010 the number of new interracial marriages was 15% and part of a long trend upwards, so your 8% number is slightly disingenuous and perhaps it is you who is choosing to pretend the reality of our times isn't there.

Image
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/02/1 ... 81229.html

This says 8%.
It's citing the very study I linked before. The 8% figure is total marriages over the past several decades, whereas the 15% is the number of marriages performed in 2010 alone. Hence my statement that your number is disingenuous; it is intended to downplay just how much outmarriage is going on as the years go by.

As well, remember that barely a generation has gone to the grave since anti-miscegenation laws were fully repealed so there is going to be some lag as social mores adjust to the shock that perhaps maybe there is nothing wrong with marrying someone who doesn't look like you. Will you be citing figures in ten years time showing how homosexual marriages only comprise 2% of all marriages, therefore gay marriage never happens and should not be so grossly overportrayed in media?
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Re: [2013-oct-20] This comic is distracting from this comic

Post by GUTCHUCKER »

I watch smbc out of habit.
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littlebum2002

Re: [2013-oct-20] This comic is distracting from this comic

Post by littlebum2002 »

Most common studies say that somewhere around 5-10% of the population is homosexual. People will argue for days about this number, but let's just say 10% for the sake of argument.

So what you are saying is that if an artist has more than 10% of their characters be gay, then that artist is making their art "about homosexuality" whether they are trying to or not.

Correct?



Using this same logic, if an artist uses more than 90% heterosexual characters, aren't they making their strip "about heterosexuality"? Would that be distracting as well?

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Re: [2013-oct-20] This comic is distracting from this comic

Post by Lethal Interjection »

littlebum2002 wrote:Most common studies say that somewhere around 5-10% of the population is homosexual. People will argue for days about this number,
Challenge accepted!

I think it is more like 7.8%.

So there!

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Re: [2013-oct-20] This comic is distracting from this comic

Post by Salty »

littlebum2002 wrote:Most common studies say that somewhere around 5-10% of the population is homosexual. People will argue for days about this number, but let's just say 10% for the sake of argument.

So what you are saying is that if an artist has more than 10% of their characters be gay, then that artist is making their art "about homosexuality" whether they are trying to or not.

Correct?



Using this same logic, if an artist uses more than 90% heterosexual characters, aren't they making their strip "about heterosexuality"? Would that be distracting as well?
No. I am not saying it is good that society is this way. I am simply pointing this out:

Other internet comics that only use white characters or straight relationships are not viewed because "it represents straight white people." However, as many have already admitted, this comic, which does use these characters, is viewed and liked for that reason. It is a token that raises the status of his comics easily.

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Re: [2013-oct-20] This comic is distracting from this comic

Post by Salty »

Edminster wrote: Pictured: The Boyfriend and I along with two of my cousins.

Image
By showing the picture, are you implying I have something against homosexual or interracial people? If so, let me clarify:

I am against Zach using an obvious token to gain a niche readership who, as have already stated, choose to view his comics for this reason.

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Re: [2013-oct-20] This comic is distracting from this comic

Post by Salty »

Salty wrote:
Edminster wrote: Pictured: The Boyfriend and I along with two of my cousins.

Image
By showing the picture, are you implying I have something against homosexual or interracial couples? If so, let me clarify:

I am against Zach using an obvious token to gain a niche readership who, as have already stated, choose to view his comics for this reason.

littlebum2002

Re: [2013-oct-20] This comic is distracting from this comic

Post by littlebum2002 »

Oh, OK. So you are relying on anecdotal evidence. You have seen a lot of people on the forums praise the diversity in the comic, and rather than doing a scientific survey of some kind to determine if this view was actually common among readers, you simply took it upon yourself to assume it was.

I knew there was a major lapse in logic here, I just didn't realize what it was. See, I guess you didn't know: anecdotal evidence is not scientific evidence. Just because you have seen "a lot" of people on the forum praise the diversity of the comic, that does not mean it is actually a popular opinion.

There are only 1500 people on this forum, a very small minority of this strips readership. Even if you assume that those who post on the forum are representative of the entire readership of the step (even though this is not necessarily true), you would still have to find 750 people who have started this opinion to say it is an opinion of the majority.

So have you? Have you verified that 750 different individuals have all said they read the strip because of its diversity? Or have you seen maybe 20 people express this opinion, and simply assumed everyone else agreed with it?

I'll bet my life savings is the latter.

So there is no motive, no plot to be diverse to keep readers. There are only a handful of people who read this strip simply for its diversity, and one guy who assumed they represent a larger population then they actually do.

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Re: [2013-oct-20] This comic is distracting from this comic

Post by Liriodendron_fagotti »

Yes NaCly, I'm sure we all read this comic just so we can feel good about ourselves because it normalizes non-white-heterosexual people, look at us go.*



*This is called sarcasm.
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Re: [2013-oct-20] This comic is distracting from this comic

Post by Astrogirl »

Salty wrote:http://www.smbc-comics.com/?id=3150#comic

Alright Zach, you made your point. You are okay with gay people. You are representing them in media. Congratulations. You can make a comic that diverges from that topic for a day - we won't be offended. (Unless, the only real substance is the social statement itself, and taking that away would make your comics boring)

EDIT: My conclusions is this: Since these comics are no longer funny, they have to be thought provoking. But since they are not really thought provoking either, (outside of some idiosentric jokes about obscure physics references), Zach is simply using his characters as tokens. Making his comics with gay/interracial characters is liberal and thus smart. This attracts a readership in an effortless way.
FOAD.
Edminster wrote:Pictured: The Boyfriend and I along with two of my cousins.

Image
Ed! What are you doing?! You are proportionally overrepresenting both gay couples AND biracial couples in just one photo! (Also, you are killing us with cuteness.)
Microaggression? Microaggression!

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Re: [2013-oct-20] This comic is distracting from this comic

Post by DonRetrasado »

Salty wrote:That is a very slipper slope. Zach doesn't talk about a lot of groups. I think he left out little people in his past many comics. Is he part of the problem of hatred towards little people?
I think SMBC and SMBCForums have been very clear about their prejudice against "little people" (or, as we call them, gnomies), and I'm beginning to suspect you're a "little person" sympathizer since you keep pressing their underrepresentation. Or, maybe you're a gnomie yourself, in which case you are definitely not welcome here.
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Re: [2013-oct-20] This comic is distracting from this comic

Post by Sahan »

Fuck off, gnomie.
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