Editing 2064: I'm a Car

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==
 +
{{incomplete|Created by A PROUD CAR. Please edit the explanation below and only mention here why it isn't complete. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
  
−
This comic was released eleven days before the {{w|United States midterm election|United States midterm elections}} on {{w|United States elections, 2018|Tuesday, November 6, 2018}} and even the [[Design_of_xkcd.com#Header|header text]] at the top of the xkcd page had changed a few days before by showing a link to [https://www.vote.org/ vote.org] to help US citizens to register and finding their polling places.
+
This comic shows a car with a {{w|bumper sticker}}, which is generally a thin rectangle piece of plastic with a message on one side and adhesive on the other side in order to stick to a car. This allows the owner of the car to display a message they want to present to whoever is driving behind them or in their vicinity.  Bumper stickers are usually used to express a viewpoint, whether personal or political, held by the owner or driver of the car.  This comic makes literal the ones that include or allude to the personal pronoun "I" and its variations, i.e. {{w|Grammatical_person|first person singular}} statements. Of course the intent is that "I" is referring to the person who put the bumper sticker on the car, but as the sticker is attached to the car the more literal interpretation is that "I" is referring to the car.  So the humor is derived by the notion that the car itself is making these statements.
  
−
This comic shows a car with a {{w|bumper sticker}}.  Bumpers stickers display a short message the owner of the car want to show to other drivers or pedestrians.  They are usually used to express a viewpoint, whether personal or political, held by the owner or driver of the car.  This comic makes literal the ones that include or allude to the personal pronoun "I" and its variations, i.e. {{w|Grammatical person|first person singular}} statements.  Of course the intent is that "I" is referring to the person who put the bumper sticker on the car, but as the sticker is attached to the car the more literal interpretation is that "I" is referring to the car. So the humor is derived by the notion that the car itself is making these statements. (On an even more meta level, the comic could be interpreted as saying that the person who wrote the words in the comic, i.e. [[Randall]], is saying that he is a car.)
+
The bumper sticker on the car in the comic is a variation of a sticker used to both encourage people to vote, as well as express their political part preference: "I'm a ___, and I vote" (where the blank is traditionally filled in with Democrat or Republican or some other party). However here it is attributed to an automobile which is not capable of voting. Alternatively, the comic could be referring to the growing intelligence of self-driving cars, such that one day they might have the intellect to vote. See ‘Sally’ by Isaac Asimov.
  
−
The bumper sticker on the car in the comic is a variation of a sticker used to both encourage people to vote, as well as express their political position: "I'm a ___, and I vote" (where the blank is traditionally filled in with "Union Worker", "Catholic", "Senior Citizen", "Gun Owner" or some other demographic or organizational membership). However here it is attributed to an automobile which is not [https://resources.lawinfo.com/civil-rights/right-to-vote/what-are-the-requirements-to-be-eligible-to-v.html capable of voting].
+
The title text seems to be another [https://www.positivepromotions.com/proud-parent-of-an-honor-student-bumper-sticker-personalization-available/p/os-3360/ typical message] on a bumper sticker, saying that the driver is a "Proud Parent Of An Honor Student". However, this sticker is a bit longer, since it continues to state that "the person driving me is proud, too". Thus once again it is the car who is the proud parent. And thus maybe it is a car that is the honor student?
  
−
The comic could be an indirect reference to the growing "intelligence" of {{w|self-driving cars}}, such that one day they might have the intellect to communicate, vote, and engage in other self-motivated activities. See ‘{{w|Sally (short story)|Sally}}’ by {{w|Isaac Asimov}}. It may also relate to security concerns around increasing use of electronic voting mechanisms - the joke being that the car is able to abuse the interfaces to such systems either to vote on behalf of its owner or as its own entity. Though voting might not be one's biggest concern if their "intelligent" car got dragged into a bot net...
+
Of course this comic is also another way to try to get people to register for voting, as the [[Design_of_xkcd.com#Header|header text]] at the top of the xkcd page has recently changed to "Check your registration and find your polling place at [https://www.vote.org/ vote.org]."  This is because the {{w|United States midterm election}} will be held on {{w|United States elections, 2018|Tuesday, November 6, 2018}}, 11 days after the release of this comic. Randall has an interest in getting as many as possible to register, see [[1756: I'm With Her]], since he most likely thinks that it is important to use the right to vote.
−
 
 
−
The title text seems to be another [https://www.positivepromotions.com/proud-parent-of-an-honor-student-bumper-sticker-personalization-available/p/os-3360/ typical message] on a bumper sticker, saying that the driver is a "Proud Parent Of An Honor Student". However, this sticker is a bit longer, since it continues to state that "the person driving me is proud, too". Thus once again it is the car who is the proud parent. And thus maybe it is a car that is the honor student?  Another thought is that this may be a reference to the 1965-66 TV sitcom {{w|My Mother The Car}}.
 
  
 
==Transcript==
 
==Transcript==
Line 25: Line 24:
  
 
==Trivia==
 
==Trivia==
−
*This is the third comic displaying a bumper sticker, after the comics [[80: My Other Car]] and [[1033: Formal Logic]] that came out in 2006 and 2012 respectively.
+
This is the third comic displaying a bumper sticker, after the comics [[80: My Other Car]] and [[1033: Formal Logic]] that came out in 2006 and 2012 respectively.
−
*Bumper stickers also are mentioned as a future milestone for self-driving cars in [[1925: Self-Driving Car Milestones]].
+
 
−
*Randall used to sell bumper stickers with the word "OPINIONS!" on them at the [https://store.xkcd.com/products/opinions-bumper-sticker xkcd-store] before it was shut down.
+
Bumper stickers also are mentioned as a future milestone for self-driving cars in [[1925: Self-Driving Car Milestones]].
  
 
{{comic discussion}}
 
{{comic discussion}}
  
 
[[Category:Politics]]
 
[[Category:Politics]]
−
[[Category:Elections]]
 
−
[[Category:Self-driving cars]]
 

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)

Templates used on this page:

Retrieved from "https://www.explainxkcd.com/wiki/index.php/2064:_I%27m_a_Car"