Editing 1761: Blame

Jump to: navigation, search

Warning: You are not logged in. Your IP address will be publicly visible if you make any edits. If you log in or create an account, your edits will be attributed to your username, along with other benefits.

The edit can be undone. Please check the comparison below to verify that this is what you want to do, and then save the changes below to finish undoing the edit.
Latest revision Your text
Line 8: Line 8:
  
 
==Explanation==
 
==Explanation==
Cueball is blaming his "friends on {{w|Facebook}}" for "bad things [that] are happening".
 
  
People often rant on {{w|social media}} sites (like Facebook) about various things which are blamed on certain people (or sometimes <small>usually</small> everyone), but the person doing the ranting never thinks that the problem might be with themselves.
+
{{incomplete|There needs to be more}}
  
While there could be possible reasons for bad events (for example if the bad event was nobody wishing him a happy birthday or someone posting compromising pictures), his friends would not be a likely source for bad events extending beyond a personal or local scope. Most people have a few hundred (or thousand) "friends" on Facebook, most of whom do not have enough influence to cause bad events on a national or global level.{{Citation needed}}
+
Cueball states that he feels sad and links it with his observation that bad things are happening. Sadness is a normal human reaction to perceived bad events. {{Citation needed}}(Other emotions that might be felt at such times include anger and guilt.)
 +
 +
He then reasons that it must be someone's fault. If the "bad things" in question are not natural calamities or accidents, it is usually logical to surmise that someone is responsible for them taking place.
  
The title text refers to people venting. The humorous assumption here is that one will feel better after doing so. While some amount of venting might help to relieve stress caused by bad events, alienating people you know by blaming them for bad events usually causes more stress in the long run.
+
After some thinking, he has an idea. Ideas are usually the result of thinking, although it might not always be conscious thinking like Cueball is doing.
  
==Transcript==
+
He then blames his friends on Facebook, an online website that helps people communicate with other people through their computers and handheld electronic devices. While they could be possible reason for bad events(for example if the bad event was nobody wishing him a happy birthday or someone posting compromising pictures)his friends would not be a likely source for bad events extending beyond a personal or local scope. Most people have a few hundred (or thousand) friends (or "friends") on Facebook, most of whom do not have enough influence to cause bad events on a national or global level.{{Citation needed}}
:[Cueball stands.]
+
 
:Cueball (thinking): I feel sad.
+
This is probably a reference to people ranting on social media sites (like Facebook) about various things which are blamed on certain people (or sometimes everyone), but the person doing the ranting never thinks that the problem might be with themselves.
:Cueball (thinking): Bad things are happening.
 
  
:[Cueball still stands.]
+
It probably also a reference to how an individual's Facebook news feed has probably been inundated by political posts due to the results of the 2016 election. In particular, many people, including news sources have pointed out that social media forms an echo chamber<ref>http://www.npr.org/sections/alltechconsidered/2016/07/24/486941582/the-reason-your-feed-became-an-echo-chamber-and-what-to-do-about-it</ref>, and some sources have claimed that this is responsible both for political polarization<ref>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rE3j_RHkqJc&t=2s</ref> and even for the recent victory of Donald Trump<ref>http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/donald-trump-president-social-media-echo-chamber-hypernormalisation-adam-curtis-protests-blame-a7409481.html</ref>.  Notably, Randall [[1756|publicly supported Trump's rival, Hillary Clinton in a recent comic]].  Therefore, blaming social media for the election can be read as blaming his friends for his presumed sadness over Clinton's loss in the election.
:Cueball (thinking): They must be someone's fault.
 
:Cueball (thinking): But whose?
 
  
:[Cueball makes several thinking poses before a light bulb appears over his head.]
+
===Title text===
  
:[Close-up of Cueball's head.]
+
The title text refers to people venting, usually in all caps and with exclamation points. Usually users do  this when they are mad. The (humorous) assumption here is that one will feel better after doing so. While some amount of venting might help to relieve immediate stress caused by bad events, alienating people you know by blaming them for bad events usually causes more stress in the long run.
:Cueball (thinking): ''My friends on Facebook.''
+
 
 +
==Transcript==
 +
:Cueball: I feel sad.
 +
:Bad things are happening.
 +
:They must be someone's fault.
 +
:But whose?
 +
:[A light bulb, indicating he has an idea]
 +
:My friends on Facebook.
  
 
{{comic discussion}}
 
{{comic discussion}}
 
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
 
[[Category:Multiple Cueballs]]
 
[[Category:Social networking]]
 

Please note that all contributions to explain xkcd may be edited, altered, or removed by other contributors. If you do not want your writing to be edited mercilessly, then do not submit it here.
You are also promising us that you wrote this yourself, or copied it from a public domain or similar free resource (see explain xkcd:Copyrights for details). Do not submit copyrighted work without permission!

To protect the wiki against automated edit spam, we kindly ask you to solve the following CAPTCHA:

Cancel | Editing help (opens in new window)