I don't know the history of Oklahoma, so I assume that at one point it was a part of Texas, but at it's current time it is Oklahoma and arguing over it's name is trivial. There is no disagreement over what Oklahoma should be referred to. The punch line, then, is the other guy saying "You mean Occupied North Texas?" That's absurd. So, the center character decides to circumvent argument by changing the Check-In location to a less debatable area - Oklahoma is pretty well known as Oklahoma.
The other characters are starting an argument over what name to use when referring to 32.0 N 35.5 E. As Stephen said, it's more to say that arguing over names is stupid (in particular when all names involved point to one and only one area, so everyone knows what the point is). And delete "damn it, frank." Bonus: you can get rid of that shitty alt-text the comic has now!Ĭarl, while most posts I've read by you are very accurate in determining A) The point of the comic and B) Why the point of the comic is stupid, I think you missed (A) on this one. The line about "north texas" is not 100% worthless though, but putting it afterwards saps energy from the real punchline. I think he just wanted to do a throwaway gag about how people get mad over the mideast, and hey! what's up with that?įrom a technical standpoint, the punchline of this comic is really "I've redirected the flight." because that is the outrageous and disproportionate response to the argument. I don't, of course, think there is such a point. More basically, what is the point he is trying to make? I don't see any reason why one is meaningfully like the other. Is Randall trying to draw a parallel between the two locations? If so, I'd like to know why. And that even then a guy named frank hates oklahoma. So what point does this comic make? None - just that there is a debate and that someone wants to redirect a shuttle because of it. They're points you could make straightforwardly, but it's not as powerful. The Onion is funny because (among other reasons) it points out how most media is obsessed with trivialities. The Daily is funny because it points out when people are being hypocrites. Satire is a way of making a point about the issue at hand. OH WAIT yes I do, it's because the author used to be a NASA employee and wants to make sure we all know it! (i understand that some of you will argue: he isn't trying to brag to us about his former job! he never mentions it anywhere on here! to you people I say: read the goddamn alt text).Īnyway, good satire is a wonderful thing, but the point is to take a situation is society, in this case the israeli/palestinian conflict, and say something about it. What I don't get is why this comic chose to portray that debate - which, like all serious debate, is ripe for comedy - in the form of NASA employees, because that makes no sense. And the fact that lots of people disagree, and strongly, about what should happen with it. While we all know that xkcd is not a political comic and doesn't like to talk about politics in its installments, we also know that this rule is frequently broken because, hey, Randall is out of other ideas! And you can only hit "random" on wikipedia so many times before you are just repeating articles you've already seen.Īnyway, this comic is of course calling attention to the mideast peace talks going on in Washington right now, given that one of the biggest discussions in the talks is over the future of the land in the West Bank and the people in it. Also, our second post-punchline-dialog comic in a row (unless you think "Dammit Frank" is a hilarious punchline. Oddly, our second space-exploration comic in a row.
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