2012-06-13

A single panel against a dark red background shows two cartoon green aliens with elongated heads. One alien holds a red book and reads aloud from it, with a speech bubble: "And then the other one starts talking about justice like it's an objective physical law." The second alien is doubled over with one hand on its head, helplessly laughing: "Hahaha hahahaha hahaha!" A caption beneath the panel reads: "The Zorblaxians believed the Socratic Dialogues were comedies." The joke is that to these aliens, Plato's earnest philosophical dialogues read as absurd standup comedy. Votey (bonus panel): a grinning bearded man with curly hair and an open robe, drawn in loose black-and-white sketch style, sits at a table and flings out a hand as if delivering a punchline, declaring: "Socrates joke!"