westphalian
Original: westphalian on Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal
Transcript
Panel 1:
Child: Mom, rooms in this house all possess Westphalian sovereignty, right?
Mother (seated in a chair): What?
Panel 2:
Child: Meaning that, just as I don't question what happens in you and Dad's bedroom, you too adhere to the principle of non-intervention in MY bedroom, regardless of evolving social norms.
Panel 3:
Mother (off-panel, angry): What did you do to your little sister?!
Panel 4:
Child (defiant, arms out): That is an internal matter!
Little sister (off-panel): Mama! Help! The duct tape burns!
Votey:
Little sister (shouting, with a parent's shoulder in the foreground): This is anarchy! Anarchy!
Child: Mom, rooms in this house all possess Westphalian sovereignty, right?
Mother (seated in a chair): What?
Panel 2:
Child: Meaning that, just as I don't question what happens in you and Dad's bedroom, you too adhere to the principle of non-intervention in MY bedroom, regardless of evolving social norms.
Panel 3:
Mother (off-panel, angry): What did you do to your little sister?!
Panel 4:
Child (defiant, arms out): That is an internal matter!
Little sister (off-panel): Mama! Help! The duct tape burns!
Votey:
Little sister (shouting, with a parent's shoulder in the foreground): This is anarchy! Anarchy!
Alt text
A four-panel SMBC comic. Panel 1: A small child stands in a doorway and asks their mother, who is sitting in an armchair, "Mom, rooms in this house all possess Westphalian sovereignty, right?" The mother replies, "What?" Panel 2: A close-up of the child shrugging, continuing: "Meaning that, just as I don't question what happens in you and Dad's bedroom, you too adhere to the principle of non-intervention in MY bedroom, regardless of evolving social norms." Panel 3: A close-up of the mother's furious face as she demands, "What did you do to your little sister?!" Panel 4: The child stands defiantly with arms spread, declaring "That is an internal matter!" while an off-panel sibling cries out, "Mama! Help! The duct tape burns!" The joke applies international-relations sovereignty doctrine to a kid trying to dodge accountability for tormenting their sibling. Votey: The little sister, mouth wide open and shouting next to a parent's looming shoulder, yells "This is anarchy! Anarchy!"
Transcribed by Claude Opus 4.8.