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==Explanation==
 
==Explanation==
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Things are not good, and are going to be bad soon. The only way for things to not be bad is for someone to do something about it. [[Megan]] and [[Cueball]] are presenting these things to [[White Hat]], evidently hoping to encourage him to do something about things, but he instead chooses to wait for things to become bad, to which Megan replies that the conversation itself indicates they have become bad.
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{{incomplete| Made by a CULTURE PRETENDING BAD THINGS ARE GOOD. Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
  
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Megan's final remark — "Based on this conversation, it already has [become bad]" — is an instance of [[:Category:Recursion|recursion]], and suggests that the unnamed subject of the graph may be something whose worsening is demonstrated by the way the discussion of the graph has gone.  The subject of the graph could, therefore, be the phenomenon of people not acting on things that are worsening until they actually become bad, as White Hat proposes to do.  Alternatively, if the group of people who could stop the Bad Thing is either small, or made up of people who will predictably act like White Hat, the fact that White Hat has refused to act itself means that ''will'' become bad, which is bad.
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This comic is about the need to act on problems, and the need to communicate them in ways that people can act on them.  This problem underlies many issues in modern life, and anybody can help it{{Citation needed}}, by thinking, talking, helping, or asking others to help.  If you can think of anything to do, say, make, or start, to help this, like say a small wiki for organizing discussion and viewpoints around issues that interested people could contribute to, please start something and link your work here to help others act as well.{{Citation needed}}  It is arguable whether thinking or talking about a problem helps at all if no one acts upon it; Similarly, action without sufficiently informed thinking can make things worse. Therefore both analysis ''and'' action may be required, to effect positive change.
  
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At the time this comic came out, the outbreak of {{w|COVID-19}} was on the rise and about to be declared a pandemic, with widespread perception the US federal government had failed to act before the outbreak became a crisis.  The first of the COVID-19 comics, [[2275: Coronavirus Name]], explicitly showed people not dealing with one problem while they concentrate on another (though in that case they were dealing with COVID-19 while neglecting an invading giant spider).
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Things are not good, and are going to be bad soon.  The only way for things to not be bad is for someone to do something about it. [[Megan]] and [[Cueball]] are presenting these things to [[White Hat]], presumably hoping to encourage him to do something about things, but he instead chooses to wait for things to become bad, to which Megan replies that this is exactly the bad thing she and Cueball were hoping to prevent.
  
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The recursive subject of the graph could also be the deterioration of data analysis into such abstract terms that it no longer depends on the content of the topic supposedly being analyzed.  Or, Megan's final remark could be an ironic commentary on the situation without actually referring to the topic of the graph.  The ambiguity of Megan's remark may be the point of the humor, as it compounds the absurd ambiguity of the entire discussion.
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What things?  Any number of things, because, as the title text remarks, this is true of "like half of" any things examined by society.  While a literal 50% of ''all'' things may not be getting bad (or good), in a more general sense all line graphs would trend (at least slightly) either up or down.  This binary 'either good or bad' finding may lead one to conclude that "like half" of all graphs show something getting bad (or else good).
  
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If the graph isn't about the recursive topic of the discussion, what might it be about?  At the moment of release, an obvious possible thing on its way to becoming bad was the number of cases of infection in the COVID-19 pandemic.  There were a [[:Category:COVID-19|series of comics]] about COVID-19, including the three comics immediately before and the four immediately after this one. The graph shows a steadily rising line, but with a slight zigzag in it, which ''could'' be an intentional similarity to the {{w|Keeling Curve}}.
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The three comics preceding this one have been about COVID-19 ("the '''co'''rona'''vi'''rus '''d'''isease discovered in 20'''19'''"), so "things" could refer to cases of infections. The graph in the first panel shows a steadily rising line, but whith slight zigzags in it, which may be an intentional similarity to the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keeling_Curve Keeling Curve]. Like [[2275]], this comic seems a comment on the numerous world catastrophes that get sidelined until the very last moment, such as invading giant spiders, water quality, road systems, rising extremism and wars between groups with similar needs, lack of responsible oversight in majorly impactful international decisions, corruption and lack of trust for those with power, or climate change and related extinction of most species and cultures. Given Megan & Cueball's reaction to White-Hat's failure to act, this "sidelining" or failure to take action may very likely be the subject of their graph.
  
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The graph could also be about most anything else, because, as the title text remarks, it applies to "like half of" any things considered.  While it's hard to say whether precisely 50% of all things are getting bad (or good), in a more general sense all line graphs would trend at least slightly either up or down.  This binary 'either good or bad' finding may lead one to conclude that "like half" of all graphs show something getting bad (or else good).  If not everyone agrees on what is "good" or "bad" on some issue, that same issue might even be viewed as going either from good to bad or from bad to good, providing two different graphs for each such issue with 50% of them broadly matching the comic.
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In short, the graph ''may'' indicate that our responses to information are going from good to bad.
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To whatever extent this comic is related to COVID-19 — which it does not after all explicitly mention, but, at least, COVID-19 exemplifies the problem of waiting to act until things reach a crisis — it would be the fourth comic in a row in a [[:Category:COVID-19|series of comics]] related to the {{w|COVID-19 pandemic}}.
 
  
 
==Transcript==
 
==Transcript==
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{{incomplete transcript|Do NOT delete this tag too soon.}}
 
:[Megan and Cueball are showing a graph on a projected screen.  The graph is labeled "Things", with "Time" advancing to the right on the ''x''-axis.  The level of "Things" has been rising over time to a point labeled "Now".  The current level of "Things" is above a level labeled "Good", and about as far below a level labeled "Bad".  Megan is pointing to the line of "Things" with a pointer stick, while Cueball is pointing up to the "Bad" level with a pointer stick.]
 
:[Megan and Cueball are showing a graph on a projected screen.  The graph is labeled "Things", with "Time" advancing to the right on the ''x''-axis.  The level of "Things" has been rising over time to a point labeled "Now".  The current level of "Things" is above a level labeled "Good", and about as far below a level labeled "Bad".  Megan is pointing to the line of "Things" with a pointer stick, while Cueball is pointing up to the "Bad" level with a pointer stick.]
  
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[[Category:Comics featuring White Hat]]
 
[[Category:Comics featuring White Hat]]
 
[[Category:Charts]]
 
[[Category:Charts]]
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[[Category:Recursion]]
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[[Category:SARS-CoV-2]]
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[[Category:COVID-19]]
 

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