Editing 1028: Communication

{{comic
| number    = 1028
| date      = March 12, 2012
| title     = Communication
| image     = communication.png
| titletext = Anyone who says that they're great at communicating but 'people are bad at listening' is confused about how communication works.
}}

==Explanation==
This comic is divided into two parts, the first two rows of panels and then the third one.

The first part demonstrates a failed attempt at communication:

*[[White Hat]] notices a dangerous hole, and thinks he should warn people about it.
**The symbol of the triangle with the exclamation mark in it (⚠) is widely used on {{w|warning signs}} and it means "{{w|Warning_sign#General_caution|General caution}}".
*White Hat encounters [[Hairy]] and tries to warn him about the hole, but all Hairy perceives is White Hat being dramatic without understanding the warning.
*Hairy continues to only think of what he can see, and now this is the fact that White Hat is leaving. As White Hat leaves he is thinking about Hairy's lack of understanding and about his silence. 
*White Hat encounters [[Megan]] and is now so annoyed about Hairy that he rather talks about his lack of communication than about the dangerous hole. Megan on the other hand tries to tell White Hat about another dangerous hole if he continues to walk along.
*White Hat and Megan pass each other. White Hat now thinks about both the silent Hairy and the talking Megan who both failed to understand him. Megan is just frustrated by the outcome of her encounter and thinks about White Hat talking.
*Megan then meets Hairy while they are both still thinking about White Hat
*They now share their common experience of seeing White Hat. Finally Hairy talks.
*They both continue towards the first hole, unaware of it, talking about White Hat. (Hairy is drawn without hair both here and in the next panel - see [[#Trivia|Trivia]] below.)
*Megan and Hairy fall into the first hole since it wasn't properly communicated to them.
*White Hat falls into the second hole since it wasn't properly communicated to him.

The holes in the sidewalk are fairly deep, about one person deep; unaware and careless people don't notice them when they come upon them, which makes them symbolic of any problem or danger one can encounter in life, and could avoid if properly warned or careful.

The second part demonstrates a much more successful attempt at communication:

*[[Beret Guy]] notices a dangerous hole, and thinks he should warn people about it.
*He even runs out of the picture to warn people (as can be interpreted by the fact that he has reached further in the next panel than White Hat).
*Beret Guy finds [[Cueball]], and tells him to come along. Cueball only sees Beret Guy stretching out his hand.
*Beret Guy takes Cueball's hand and leads him towards the hole. Cueball doesn't understand why (as shown by the question marks in his thought bubble surrounding his thought of Beret Guy), but follows Beret Guy anyway.
*Beret Guy leads Cueball to the hole and points it out for him.
*Finally both Beret Guy and Cueball leave the hole thinking about the danger of it. Beret Guy has managed to properly warn Cueball about the hole.

It is very typical for the character Beret Guy to succeed, especially with something difficult, where White Hat fails.

The title text references the requirement that "communication" is a two-sided process, and just because you think you have made your point clear this does not mean that you have "communicated" the information to them: if they failed to understand, then it may as well mean that ''you'' failed to communicate, and not necessarily that ''they'' are bad at listening. And if you always encounter this situation, then it is you who are confused about how communication works. See also [[1984: Misinterpretation]].

==Transcript==
:[White Hat looks down at a large gap in the walkway; a thought bubble with a warning symbol and an image of the gap appears above his head.]

:[White Hat walks to the right, away from the gap, and encounters Hairy, to which he speaks (in iconographic speech bubble form) while pointing toward the gap, attempting to inform him about the gap. A thought bubble appears above Hairy's head with an image of White Hat pointing.]

:[White Hat continues, waving his arms, still talking about the gap. Hairy's thought bubble continues to contain images of White Hat, now gesturing frantically.]

:[Hairy shrugs in a nonplussed manner, and White Hat leaves off the right side of the frame. Both have thought bubbles displaying the other's reaction.]

:[White Hat continues to the right and comes across Megan. He tells her about the reaction of Hairy (still all in iconographic form); she simultaneously tries to tell him about a gap and gestures off to the right of the frame.]

:[White Hat and Megan both leave the frame. Megan exits left thinking of White Hat's reactions; White Hat exits to the right while thinking about both Hairy and Megan's reactions.]

:[Megan (still thinking about White Hat) encounters Hairy (who is also still thinking about White Hat).]

:[Megan and Hairy talk about White Hat.]

:[Megan and Hairy (now without his hair) continue talking about White Hat as they exit the frame to the left.]

:[A commotion is heard from the left.]
:Explosion to the left: !!! ** !!

:[Megan and Hairy (still without his hair) have fallen into the gap in the walkway. A commotion is then also heard from the right.]
:Explosion to the right: !!! ** *

:[White Hat has fallen into another gap.]

:[Beret Guy looks down at a large gap in the walkway; a thought bubble with a warning symbol and an image of the gap appears above his head.]

:[Beret Guy runs off the frame to the right.]

:[Beret Guy meets Cueball and reaches out to him. He tells him (still in iconographic form) that Cueball should take Beret Guy's hand. Cueball has a thought bubble of Beret Guy with his arm stretched out.]

:[Beret Guy takes Cueball's hand and leads him along to the left. Cueball's thought bubble has two question marks around Beret Guy.]
:Cueball: ? ?

:[Beret Guy leads Cueball to the gap and points it out to him.]

:[Beret Guy and Cueball walk away from the gap to the right, now both thinking about the gap with a warning symbol above it.]

==Trivia==
[[Randall]] made a mistake in this comic: Hairy seems to "lose" his hair in the last two frames where he is together with Megan (#9 and #11), but it's still the same person. The Cueball that appears in the last four frames represents another person. This is clearly evidenced by Randall's [http://xkcd.com/1028/info.0.json transcript of the comic].

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Comics featuring White Hat]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Hairy]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Beret Guy]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Social interactions]]