condemned
Original: condemned on Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal
Transcript
Panel 1 (Person A, off-panel/speaking): There's this George Santayana quote: "Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it."
Person B: Yeah!
Panel 2 (Person A): But if you actually read the quote, you only have to look at the previous sentence to realize that it doesn't mean what everyone thinks it means.
Panel 3 (Person A): "...When experience is not retained, as among savages, infancy is perpetual. Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it."
Panel 4 (Person B): Huh. So it's actually a point about 'savages' without historical records.
Panel 5 (Person A): Right. It's not about people today who don't read enough.
Panel 6 (Person B): But that means...
Person A: People who don't know the past or that quote are condemned to repeat it incorrectly.
Panel 7 (Person A): Though, in fairness, its history has no bearing on whether the shortened quote is valid.
Panel 8 (Person B): I don't want to understand the world. I just want to be right.
Votey: A woman with curly hair looks down with a tired, deadpan expression. Speech bubble: Are you writing this down?
Person B: Yeah!
Panel 2 (Person A): But if you actually read the quote, you only have to look at the previous sentence to realize that it doesn't mean what everyone thinks it means.
Panel 3 (Person A): "...When experience is not retained, as among savages, infancy is perpetual. Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it."
Panel 4 (Person B): Huh. So it's actually a point about 'savages' without historical records.
Panel 5 (Person A): Right. It's not about people today who don't read enough.
Panel 6 (Person B): But that means...
Person A: People who don't know the past or that quote are condemned to repeat it incorrectly.
Panel 7 (Person A): Though, in fairness, its history has no bearing on whether the shortened quote is valid.
Panel 8 (Person B): I don't want to understand the world. I just want to be right.
Votey: A woman with curly hair looks down with a tired, deadpan expression. Speech bubble: Are you writing this down?
Alt text
An eight-panel SMBC comic between two friends. Person A explains that the famous George Santayana quote, 'Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it,' is widely misunderstood. Reading the preceding sentence ('When experience is not retained, as among savages, infancy is perpetual') shows it was actually about peoples without written historical records, not about modern people who don't read history enough. Person B realizes this, and Person A jokes that people who don't know the real quote are 'condemned to repeat it incorrectly.' Person A then admits that the quote's origin has no bearing on whether the shortened version is valid. Person B concludes flatly: 'I don't want to understand the world. I just want to be right.' Votey: a close-up of a curly-haired woman wearing a tired, deadpan expression, asking, 'Are you writing this down?'
Transcribed by Claude Opus 4.8.