Editing 929: Speculation

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==
−
During a {{w|basketball}} game, the players discuss the nature of universal conformity. {{w|Facebook}} and the now-defunct {{w|Google+}} were competing {{w|social networks}}; at the time of this comic many people were switching to Plus over Facebook leading many to speculate that Facebook was in decline and that Plus would soon be the dominant social network. As of 2019, it seems that Facebook has successfully held its position as the Default Social Network™, while Google Plus was a colossal blunder for Google and was finally sunset for consumers in April 2019.
+
The conversation in the first three panels is fairly banal—it's a quick rumination on the nature of social networking platforms, and a brief reflection on their evolution. Whether or not everybody switches over to {{w|Google+}} or stays on {{w|Facebook}} is of no matter, as evidenced by the fact that {{w|AOL}} and {{w|IRC}} still both have devoted (if dwindling) followings.
−
The two players seem to have a disagreement over this. One player states that it would be ridiculous to expect everyone to move to Plus. The other player denies the notion that they have to, stating that he values his personal preference over conformity. He supports this idea by saying that his mother still uses {{w|AOL}} and other people continue using {{w|IRC}} and that if each time a new dominant social network emerged and everyone switched to it, neither of these things would stick around.
 
  
−
They are interrupted when they pass the ball to [[Black Hat]], who immediately shoots it with a crossbow bolt. Their arguments and rather intelligent discussion are derailed by the absurdity of Black Hat's reaction, which is both humorous and puts the issue in stark contrast.
+
And then, [[Black Hat]] shoots a crossbow bolt through the basketball. The implication is that he was invited to join the game by way of the ball being thrown his way. He has declined the invitation.
  
−
Black Hat neither joins in the discussion nor does he participate in the game. It seems that any offer to participate in either is met with a blunt and clear denial. He is simply not a conformist.
+
It's a symbolic gesture. When Black Hat says he's not the 'catch' type, what we're really meant to take away from the comic is that Black Hat will do what he wants to do, regardless of what his friends are doing. They're shooting hoops, he's on his phone. They're playing catch, he's got a crossbow.  
  
−
A possible explanation for the joke is that while tech geeks or Google enthusiasts might discuss whether the world will move from Facebook to Plus, a number of people might simply ignore the debate and "shoot" the discussion dead by just ignoring the existence of anything that isn't Facebook. Or even that of Facebook itself; Blackhat's attention appears to be on a phone, at least before and after having loosed the crossbow bolt, but there's no obvious clue here as to what he actually uses it for/with, at the time of this comic.
+
The point is that Black Hat doesn't care about universal acceptance. Black Hat cares about Black Hat. The fact that he's not the catch type symbolizes that while statisticians may portray social network-ers as a sort of hive mind that will gravitate towards one platform over another, at the end of the day that hive mind is made up of innumerable individuals, many of whom will share Black Hat's easily summarized world view: My way.
  
−
In the title text, Black Hat continues to provide an example of his tendency to play by his own rules. A clay pigeon is a clay disc that is thrown into the air and serves as a target on a {{w|skeet shooting}} range. Participants are expected to shoot the pigeons with a shotgun but Black Hat would rather capture the clay pigeons and shoot them from a very close range. (This is made even more humorous by the excellent crossbow skills he shows in the comic.) This practice eventually got him expelled from the shooting range. It is unclear whether Black Hat was good at shooting clay pigeons from farther away.
+
In the title text, we hear of another instance of him playing by his own rules at a skeet shooting range. A clay pigeon is a clay disc that is thrown into the air and serves as a target for a shotgun. The title text is a play on words, implying that the clay pigeons are the same as real pigeons, and Black Hat has captured them using a net and shot them from a very close range--completely unnecessary given that they are inanimate objects. It is especially surprising that Black Hat would bother to do this at all, especially since he has already proven himself to be an excellent shot.
  
 
==Transcript==
 
==Transcript==
−
:[Two Cueball-like guys are playing basketball. The right guy (Cueball) attempts to throw the basketball through the hoop, but it bounces off down to his friend. To the right Black Hat has his back to the other two while he is looking at his phone.]
+
:[Two people are playing basketball, and black hat guy is looking at a phone.]
−
:Friend: Do you seriously think ''everyone'' will move to Plus? It was hard enough getting them on Facebook.
+
:Cueball: Do you seriously think ''everyone'' will move to Plus? It was hard enough getting them on Facebook.
 +
:[Friend attempts to throw the basketball through the hoop, but it bounces off.]
  
−
:[The friend has caught the rebound and now passes the basketball back to Cueball. Black Hat is not shown.]
+
:Friend: Do they have to?
−
:Cueball: Do they have to?
+
:Friend: My mom still uses AOL—it doesn't mean my social life has to happen there.
−
:Cueball: My mom still uses AOL—it doesn't mean my social life has to happen there.
+
:[Cueball passes the basketball back to #2.]
  
−
:[Only Cueball is shown. He passes the basketball to the right towards the off-panel Black Hat.]
+
:Friend: Universal adoption isn't everything. I mean, IRC is still—
−
:Cueball: Universal adoption isn't everything. I mean, IRC is still—
+
:[Friend throws the basketball.]
  
−
:[Zoom in on the basketball as a crossbow bolt pierces the ball, forming a slight depression.]
+
:[An arrow pierces the ball.]
−
:''Thunk''
+
:''THUNK''
  
−
:[Cueball looks to Black Hat who has a crossbow in one hand, he is still looking at the phone in his other hand. The ball with the arrow lies between them.]
+
:[Black Hat has a one handed crossbow, and is still looking at a phone.]
−
:Cueball: You're not really the "catch" type, are you?
+
:Friend: You're not really the "catch" type, are you?
 
:Black Hat: I am not.
 
:Black Hat: I am not.
  
 
{{comic discussion}}
 
{{comic discussion}}
−
 
 
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
 
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
 
[[Category:Comics featuring Black Hat]]
 
[[Category:Comics featuring Black Hat]]
−
[[Category:Multiple Cueballs]]
 
 
[[Category:Social networking]]
 
[[Category:Social networking]]
−
[[Category:Google Plus]]
 
−
[[Category:Basketball]]
 
 
[[Category:Crossbows]]
 
[[Category:Crossbows]]
−
[[Category:Sport]] <!-- The other sport mentioned being skeet shooting -->
 

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/929:_Speculation"