villainy-theory

A six-panel SMBC comic captioned "At the Institute for Statistical Villainy." Two cartoon supervillains argue: a green-clad goggled one and a red-suited one. The red villain reasons that since non-existence is ethically worse than death (you never get a chance at pleasure or enlightenment), preventing many births is just as evil as killing the already-born. Asked how to accomplish this, he suggests nuclear winter or birth control in the water supply, then triumphantly proposes the real scheme: "We improve TV and increase wealth while making childcare unaffordable! Bwahahaha!" The green villain frowns: "It just doesn't feel like proper villainy." In the final panel the red villain leans in close and says, "You wouldn't think that if you had triplets, bro." The joke: ordinary modern conditions that depress the birth rate are framed as a comically mundane form of mass villainy, and parenting exhaustion is the real evil. In the votey aftercomic, a red figure looms over a small green figure, insisting villainy should be recognized.