Editing 875: 2009 Called

{{comic
| number    = 875
| date      = March 21, 2011
| title     = 2009 Called
| image     = 2009 called.png
| titletext = 2017 called, but I couldn't understand what they were saying over all the screams.
}}

==Explanation==
The comic deconstructs a {{w|snowclone}} or common idiom - "X called, they want their Y back." In a common version, the "X" in this phrase is a year, or era, and "Y" is something that was common in that time, but is now unfashionable, or outright ridiculous.

Here, [[Megan]] notices a Three-Wolf Moon T-shirt that [[Cueball]] apparently owns. The {{w|Three Wolf Moon|Three-Wolf Moon}} is a shirt of three wolves howling at the moon that reached meme status when several people posted ironic reviews ascribing supernatural powers to it on {{w|Amazon}} around late 2008. Like many memes, it became popular for a short period, but rapidly became outdated. 

Presumably, Megan is trying to say "2009 called, they want their shirt back", mocking Cueball for still owning something so outdated. Before she can finish, though, Cueball appears to take her literally, and responds as if she'd actually received a call from the year 2009. If she'd actually had the opportunity to communicate across time, that would be a golden opportunity to warn the people of the past about events that had not yet occurred. Specifically, he asks if she'd warned the people of the past about {{w|2010 Haiti earthquake|the February 2010 earthquake in Haiti}} and {{w|2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami|the March 2011 earthquake and tsunami in Japan}}, and admonishes her when she admits she didn't. Both of these were events in which huge amounts of human suffering and death likely could have been prevented with foreknowledge. 

The comic was posted shortly after the latter disaster, so it is reasonable to assume that it was created as a specific response to what had occurred. It's not entirely clear whether Cueball is preempting Megan's attempt to mock him, or whether he actually thinks the past called. 

The title text continues the snowclone by implying a terrible future awaits in 2017. Likewise, non-apocalyptic events, such as political protests, can generate "yelling and screaming". Given the public's general inclination to focus on the negative the prediction of a "bad future" may have worked with any date.

2017 has occurred, and the world hasn't exploded.{{Citation needed}} In hindsight, 2020 would work better for the joke. [insert hindsight is 2020 joke here]

However, 2017 was actually one of the world's most devastating years in terms of natural disasters, for starters, there were Hurricane Harvey, Irma, and Maria: all particularly devastating, for that particular corner of the world. In addition, the election of Donald Trump was upsetting for many people, especially people who did not agree with his controversial beliefs.

Both the comic and title text are also an example of the "You can't fight fate" trope, previously explored in [[1063: Kill Hitler]].  The anonymous caller from 2017, may have been trying to warn Randal about the election of Donald Trump, but because of the ambient noise of the protest (or whatever), the warning was drowned out.  Likewise, the only message 2009 is, ostensibly, able to communicate to Megan is a joke about Cueball's dated sense of style.  Thus, despite the best possible intentions of those looking to communicate across time, their actions ultimately had no effect.

==Transcript==
:[Cueball is at computer. Megan is standing behind him, looking at clothes on the floor.]
:Megan: Is this a three wolf moon shirt?
:Megan: Dude, 2009 called, and they-
:Cueball: ''OH MY GOD!''
:Cueball: ''DID YOU WARN THEM?''
:Cueball: ''ABOUT HAITI AND JAPAN?''
:Megan: What? No, I-
:Cueball: You ''ASSHOLE!''

==Trivia==
* In 2013, the webcomic "Bearato Comics" ran [https://nedroid.com/?601 a comic strip] with a joke very similar to the joke in this XKCD comic. After the creator was notified by XKCD fans that he had used a joke already done on XKCD just two years earlier in his comic, the [https://nedroid.com/?602 next comic strip] on "Beartato Comics" then parodied the incident.
See also:
*[[102: Back to the Future]]
*[[1072: Seventies]]

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Megan]]