Talk:1435: Presidential Alert

Explain xkcd: It's 'cause you're dumb.
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Do you think this has to do with the Floss joke on Reddit at all? Kllrshrk (talk) 04:11, 17 October 2014 (UTC) Kllrshrk

I don't know about floss joke on reddit, tell me more 103.31.5.112 04:32, 17 October 2014 (UTC)
http://www.reddit.com/r/OutOfTheLoop/comments/2j6pxs/whats_the_joke_with_then_floss/ Cheeselover724 (talk) 04:38, 17 October 2014 (UTC)
Randall knows reddit; this is most likely a reference.Cheeselover724 (talk) 04:34, 17 October 2014 (UTC)
I was thinking that it had something to do with the broadcast he did yesterday (Thursday Oct 16) on the subject of Ebola -- where he really said nothing, other than pamper a bit to the Fox News people, promising an Ebola-czar if he felt it would help Spongebog (talk) 08:01, 17 October 2014 (UTC)

I'm going to suggest that the hover text is based on a faked misunderstanding of First Amendment law... the President, as part of the government, can't suggest a preference for one religion over others, including when he's talking to his own children. 199.27.128.119 (talk) (please sign your comments with ~~~~)

Disagree: Mentioning "God" does not signal any preference of any particular religion -- there is (at least one) god in them all, albeit in religions with more than one god they have individual names where in religions with only one god they may not have a name at all Spongebog (talk) 08:01, 17 October 2014 (UTC)
First off, I said it was a FAKED misunderstanding. Second, no, not all religions have a god in them, capitalized or not. 199.27.128.119 (talk) (please sign your comments with ~~~~)
There are arguments regarding talking about your capital-G God ((one) proper name of the generic christian god) as opposed to talking about your small-g god (who might have a specific name, whether Jehova, Allah, Osiris, Odin, Quetzovercoatl or, indeed, God). But that's for etymologists to discuss, probably. Or entomologists, when they're fed up talking about whether Bugs are bugs and are trying to relax by not talking shop. HTH, HAND. 141.101.99.118 10:19, 17 October 2014 (UTC)

I read the comic a bit differently: supposing the President accidentally pressed "The Button" (started nuclear war), he would appear on television to tell the country about the impending catastrophe. However, once on TV he can't bring himself to tell everyone that he started a nuclear war by mistake, so he opts for something rather lame and exits -- it will all be over soon anyway.141.101.104.191 07:53, 17 October 2014 (UTC)

Feeling a bit down today? --RenniePet (talk) 08:05, 17 October 2014 (UTC)
I had the exact same idea - that he meant to tell them: "you're all gonna die soon" or something similar but decided not to and was desperately trying to find something else to say. 108.162.254.98 18:33, 17 October 2014 (UTC)

Where does the "President Cueball" come from? I assumed it was Obama. --RenniePet (talk) 08:07, 17 October 2014 (UTC)

Also the fact that the title text is definitely about Obama implies that the comic features Obama. --RenniePet (talk) 12:03, 17 October 2014 (UTC)

The alt-text seems like an unnecessary swipe at President Obama. 108.162.216.80 09:03, 17 October 2014 (UTC)

Everything that occurs here is necessary. Robert (talk) 09:35, 17 October 2014 (UTC)

An phone app called Pushbullet recently began pushing xkcds to my phone, and Dashclock places the titles of pushes to my lock screen. Where I'm going with this, if you haven't guessed, is that I found my phone in my bed after 3 AM and blearily woke it to be greeted with a red lock screen reading Presidential Alert

A big thank-you to everyone to made my 4 AM wakefulness possible. – Robert (talk) 09:35, 17 October 2014 (UTC)

Anybody else old enough to remember this Spitting Image/Genesis video (http://youtu.be/1pkVLqSaahk)? Seebert (talk) 14:09, 17 October 2014 (UTC)

Regarding the title text, I don't think the joke is that the president would confuse "good night" and "God bless America." It is very common for the United States President to conclude evening speeches with something like "Good night. May God bless you, and may God bless the United States of America." For a similar example, see http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xqMzidfyxrI (which I just found as a random example). S (talk) 22:25, 17 October 2014 (UTC)