norms
Original: norms on Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal
Transcript
Panel 1:
Son: Dad, does it bother you how fast social norms are changing?
Dad: Nah.
Panel 2:
Dad: They were changing fast the entire time you were growing up. A lot of stuff you see as settled and boring was once a big fight with an uncertain outcome.
Panel 3:
Dad: You just didn't perceive it that way because you were focused on cartoons and comic books, and you wouldn't have cared about the public argument even if you could've understood it.
Panel 4:
Dad: Now that you're older, you imagine the peace you felt during that time is indicative of how the broader culture actually was, which inevitably leads you to feel things are especially chaotic and bad now.
Panel 5:
Son: Ah.
Panel 6:
Son: Okay, but what about the new Star Wars movies?
Dad: They are different and they are worse.
Votey:
Dad: Also, superhero movies were better when they sucked!
Son: Dad, does it bother you how fast social norms are changing?
Dad: Nah.
Panel 2:
Dad: They were changing fast the entire time you were growing up. A lot of stuff you see as settled and boring was once a big fight with an uncertain outcome.
Panel 3:
Dad: You just didn't perceive it that way because you were focused on cartoons and comic books, and you wouldn't have cared about the public argument even if you could've understood it.
Panel 4:
Dad: Now that you're older, you imagine the peace you felt during that time is indicative of how the broader culture actually was, which inevitably leads you to feel things are especially chaotic and bad now.
Panel 5:
Son: Ah.
Panel 6:
Son: Okay, but what about the new Star Wars movies?
Dad: They are different and they are worse.
Votey:
Dad: Also, superhero movies were better when they sucked!
Alt text
A six-panel comic showing a younger man talking with his older, bald, white-bearded father, who holds a cup. In panel 1 the son asks, "Dad, does it bother you how fast social norms are changing?" and the dad replies, "Nah." Over the next three panels (which zoom in on the dad's face) he explains that norms were changing fast the whole time the son was growing up, that the son just didn't notice because he was focused on cartoons and comic books, and that now, as an adult, he mistakes the calm he felt back then for how the broader culture actually was, which makes the present feel especially chaotic and bad. The son says only, "Ah." In the final panel, two small figures stand at a distance and the son asks, "Okay, but what about the new Star Wars movies?" The dad answers, "They are different and they are worse," abandoning his measured perspective for an opinion. The votey (aftercomic) shows the dad's silhouette declaring, "Also, superhero movies were better when they sucked!"
Transcribed by Claude Opus 4.8.