Conventional Wisdom

(Historical Notes: Alright, out of the previous several YEARS worth of comics, this is probably the one that I most wish I still had the original SmackJeeves commentary for.  Looking at this comic now, I think I MIGHT one hundred percent disagree with Past Me on the topic at hand… but without the added context of author’s comments, I’m not certain I know precisely what Past Me meant.  After all, I still think all the Teds out there who act like this at cons are completely awful, but I think it’s for very different reasons than what Past Me thought the problem was.  Maybe.

If Past Me is just trying to give a generic “everybody be more positive about things” message, then Past Me is an idiot who needs to grow up.  Most things about the anime industry and fandom (and everything else in general) actually IS crap, and deserves to be called what it is.  There’s certain limits to acceptable behavior set by basic human decency, obviously, but that doesn’t stop garbage from being garbage and deserving to be described as such.  I’ve been around too many “let’s all just be nicer” pundits who turned out to be total dumpster fires who just used that psychobabble to undermine their critics and guilt others into letting them have their way, so this desperate last gasp of optimism really rings false to me… IF that’s actually what it is.

But again, I still think Ted’s behavior is socially unacceptable, regardless of whether I agree or disagree with any of his rambling.  Look, expressing your opinions is fine in the proper setting; like, say, your own website.  You might totally disagree with the preceding paragraph and think I’m just letting old grudges warp me into a bitter, nasty old crank, but it’s still MY site on which to do so.  You clicked on a link to get here and see this, you opted in. You consented to hear whatever I feel like saying, even if it’s something you don’t agree with.  That is NOT what’s occurring in this comic.  What Ted is doing is more like if you were just walking down the street, and out of nowhere I pulled my car up in front of you, jumped out the window, and shoved a poster board with this commentary in your face.  Those Kids never agreed to be a part of this conversation, it was just thrust upon them.

And make no mistake, I see this happen a LOT at conventions.  So many people take for granted that just because they’re at the same event as you, they can just slide up and start baring their soul like they’ve known you for years.  It’s not just me, ask around.  SO many people have stories of that one blank-eyed guy who just waddled over and started… talking… like, not even TO them, but just kind of announcing his thoughts to the room while standing uncomfortably close.

And here’s the thing: that crap had already been happening to me for YEARS before I wrote this comic, and I already knew I hated it.  So is it possible that’s what this comic was originally about, but then I got scared I’d be called out for being too mean and changed the punchline in a desperate attempt to earn positivity points?  It’s hard to say without more context.  Heck, even the shirt is hard for me to interpret now, since I’m not sure how many layers of irony are at work in selling something like that.  And yes, the shirt is still for sale.  I don’t care what it means so much as I want to make money off it.