radical
Original: radical on Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal
Transcript
Panel 1 (top): A black, abstract/scribbled shape sits on a snowy white landscape with a thin horizon line.
Voice (off-panel / narration): "I FEEL LIKE SO FIT THAT I NEED MORE STRIDENT POLITICAL ACTION. OTHERWISE I'M NOT FIGHTING AGAINST ENTRENCHED POWER."
Panel 2 (bottom left): A woman with light/blonde hair sits talking to a woman with dark hair.
Blonde woman: "BUT, TO BE HONEST, MY LIFE IS PRETTY GOOD. I HAVE A FAMILY AND CORPORATE RETIREMENT PLAN. I AM LITERALLY INVESTED IN THE STATUS QUO."
Dark-haired woman: "I GUESS WHAT I REALLY WANT IS A BELIEF SYSTEM THAT'S PRECISELY RADICAL ENOUGH TO UPSET AUTHORITY FIGURES BUT NOT RADICAL ENOUGH TO PRODUCE ANY CHANGE TO MY LIFE AS IT IS IMPLEMENTED."
Panel 3 (bottom right): The dark-haired woman leans back, hand on her head.
Blonde woman: "HAS IT EVER OCCURRED TO YOU THAT YOU ARE THE ENTRENCHED POWER NOW?"
Dark-haired woman: "BUT I SHARED ALL THOSE FACEBOOK PETITIONS!"
Votey: A close-up of a face (an angry/distressed cartoon character) looking up.
Voice (speech balloon above): "WAS THAT FOR NOTHING?!"
Voice (off-panel / narration): "I FEEL LIKE SO FIT THAT I NEED MORE STRIDENT POLITICAL ACTION. OTHERWISE I'M NOT FIGHTING AGAINST ENTRENCHED POWER."
Panel 2 (bottom left): A woman with light/blonde hair sits talking to a woman with dark hair.
Blonde woman: "BUT, TO BE HONEST, MY LIFE IS PRETTY GOOD. I HAVE A FAMILY AND CORPORATE RETIREMENT PLAN. I AM LITERALLY INVESTED IN THE STATUS QUO."
Dark-haired woman: "I GUESS WHAT I REALLY WANT IS A BELIEF SYSTEM THAT'S PRECISELY RADICAL ENOUGH TO UPSET AUTHORITY FIGURES BUT NOT RADICAL ENOUGH TO PRODUCE ANY CHANGE TO MY LIFE AS IT IS IMPLEMENTED."
Panel 3 (bottom right): The dark-haired woman leans back, hand on her head.
Blonde woman: "HAS IT EVER OCCURRED TO YOU THAT YOU ARE THE ENTRENCHED POWER NOW?"
Dark-haired woman: "BUT I SHARED ALL THOSE FACEBOOK PETITIONS!"
Votey: A close-up of a face (an angry/distressed cartoon character) looking up.
Voice (speech balloon above): "WAS THAT FOR NOTHING?!"
Alt text
A four-panel webcomic. The top panel shows a small black scribble on a vast snowy white plain beneath a thin horizon, while an unseen voice declares: "I feel like I need more strident political action, otherwise I'm not fighting against entrenched power." The lower panels show two seated women in conversation. A blonde woman admits her life is good: she has a family and a corporate retirement plan, so she is literally invested in the status quo. The dark-haired woman says what she really wants is a belief system precisely radical enough to upset authority figures but not radical enough to produce any actual change to her life. The blonde woman asks whether it has occurred to her that she IS the entrenched power now. The dark-haired woman, dismayed, protests: "But I shared all those Facebook petitions!" The joke skewers performative, comfortable activism. Votey (bonus panel): an extreme close-up of an anguished face crying out "Was that for nothing?!"
Transcribed by Claude Opus 4.8.