https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/api.php?action=feedcontributions&feedformat=atom&user=MultiplyByZer0explain xkcd - User contributions [en]2026-05-22T00:06:46ZUser contributionsMediaWiki 1.30.0https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php?title=706:_Freedom&diff=72502706: Freedom2014-07-30T03:01:00Z<p>MultiplyByZer0: Added missing line</p>
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<div>{{comic<br />
| number = 706<br />
| date = February 24, 2010<br />
| title = Freedom<br />
| image = freedom.png<br />
| titletext = Sometimes I'm terrified to realize how many options other people have.<br />
}}<br />
<br />
==Explanation==<br />
[[Randall]] comments on the absence of physical enforcement for social norms. [[Cueball]] goes through a list of possible things he could do that only his conscience and learned social morals prevent him from doing, before promptly receiving a punch to the face justified with his own reasoning.<br />
<br />
The title text is a restatement of the first line of the comment, but reversed to show Cueball's newfound realization that the same freedoms apply to other people, to his physical detriment.<br />
<br />
This is also an ironic reference to {{w|Zechariah Chafee}}'s oft-quoted line, "Your right to swing your arms ends just where the other man's nose begins."<br />
<br />
==Transcript==<br />
:Cueball: Sometimes I'm shocked to realize how many options I have.<br />
:Friend: Oh?<br />
<br />
:[Cueball shakes his fist.]<br />
:Cueball: Like, at any moment in any conversation, I could just punch the person I was talking to, and all these potentially life-changing events would unfold.<br />
<br />
:Cueball: It's only my mental rules that stop me from punching you, or stripping naked, or getting on a plane to Fiji. Sure, rules have reasons. But shouldn't you exercise that freedom at least once before you die?<br />
:Friend: Hmm.<br />
<br />
:''WHAM''<br />
<br />
:[Cueball is knocked down on the ground, dazed and bruised.]<br />
:Cueball: Okay, I should have seen that coming.<br />
:Friend: But you ''couldn't''! That's the beauty!<br />
<br />
{{comic discussion}}<br />
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]<br />
[[Category:Philosophy]]</div>MultiplyByZer0