Locke and Demosthenes
by Mike
Image Text: Dear Peter Wiggin: This letter is to inform you that you have received enough upvotes on your reddit comments to become president of the world. Please be at the UN tomorrow at 8:00 sharp.
This comic references the Orson Scott Card novel Ender's Game. [SPOILER] In it, Ender's higher-than-average intelligence siblings, Valentine Wiggin and Peter Wiggin decide to make a move for power on earth by posting contrasting opinions of the Formic War on their version of the internet. They used the pseudonyms Locke and Demosthenes respectively and eventually coerced the trust of the entire planet by playing their posts against each other. This lead to Peter gaining control of the free world.
[EXTRA SPOILER] Peter is a borderline sociopath and kills that squirrel.
January 8th, 2010
In the book Valentine and Peter each gain notoriety by playing their positions against one another – causing many people across the world to take notice, take sides, and essentially provide them with the political power to gain control.
But, the truly funny point the author of xkcd is trying to make is that if anyone actually this, both blogs would be completely lost among all the other nonsense on the internet and completely ignored – thus, the 0 or 1 comment on each post.
October 27th, 2010
I cannot, in good conscience, leave this article with only a single post.
July 8th, 2011
he points out the isignificance and meaninglessness (to once again freak out nerdgirl)that political posts have in the age of showbusiness. if noone takes a faceplant by minuite 3, people lose interest and move along…