2012-02-19
Original: 2012-02-19 on Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal
Transcript
Panel 1:
Boy (red-haired, wearing a cowboy hat): MOM, CAN ME AND BOBBY PLAY "COWBOYS AND INDIANS?"
Panel 2:
Mom (brown hair, round glasses): NO, THAT'S OFFENSIVE. YOU CAN PLAY "ETHNIC GUILT AND INDIANS."
Panel 3:
The boy, still in his cowboy hat, looks confused/displeased and says nothing.
Panel 4:
Mom: THE GAME IS TO FEEL JUST BAD ENOUGH TO FEEL SHAME, BUT NOT BAD ENOUGH TO CHANGE ANYTHING SUBSTANTIVE.
Panel 5 (banner reads "LATER..."):
The boy in the cowboy hat kneels over another child who is lying on the ground (the "Indian," with a feather in their hair).
Boy: YOU DID NOT DIE IN VAIN. ONE DAY... MY DESCENDANTS WILL WRITE APOLOGETIC COLLEGE THESES ON YOUR LAND.
Votey:
Close-up of the child lying on the ground, eyes closed as if dead, with a feather in their hair.
Child: DAMMIT. YOU WIN.
Boy (red-haired, wearing a cowboy hat): MOM, CAN ME AND BOBBY PLAY "COWBOYS AND INDIANS?"
Panel 2:
Mom (brown hair, round glasses): NO, THAT'S OFFENSIVE. YOU CAN PLAY "ETHNIC GUILT AND INDIANS."
Panel 3:
The boy, still in his cowboy hat, looks confused/displeased and says nothing.
Panel 4:
Mom: THE GAME IS TO FEEL JUST BAD ENOUGH TO FEEL SHAME, BUT NOT BAD ENOUGH TO CHANGE ANYTHING SUBSTANTIVE.
Panel 5 (banner reads "LATER..."):
The boy in the cowboy hat kneels over another child who is lying on the ground (the "Indian," with a feather in their hair).
Boy: YOU DID NOT DIE IN VAIN. ONE DAY... MY DESCENDANTS WILL WRITE APOLOGETIC COLLEGE THESES ON YOUR LAND.
Votey:
Close-up of the child lying on the ground, eyes closed as if dead, with a feather in their hair.
Child: DAMMIT. YOU WIN.
Alt text
A four-panel SMBC comic plus an aftercomic. Panel 1: a red-haired boy in a cowboy hat asks, "Mom, can me and Bobby play 'Cowboys and Indians?'" Panel 2: his mother, with round glasses, replies, "No, that's offensive. You can play 'Ethnic Guilt and Indians.'" Panel 3: the boy looks confused. Panel 4: the mom explains, "The game is to feel just bad enough to feel shame, but not bad enough to change anything substantive." Panel 5, labeled "Later...": the boy in the cowboy hat kneels over another child lying on the ground wearing a feather, and solemnly says, "You did not die in vain. One day... my descendants will write apologetic college theses on your land." Aftercomic (votey): a close-up of the child on the ground, eyes closed as if dead, who says, "Dammit. You win." The joke skewers performative guilt that produces shame and academic hand-wringing rather than any actual change.
Transcribed by Claude Opus 4.8.