Editing 1370: President

{{comic
| number    = 1370
| date      = May 19, 2014
| title     = President
| image     = president.png
| titletext = Anyone who thinks we're all going to spend the 2032 elections poring over rambling blog posts by teenagers has never tried to read a rambling blog post by a teenager.
}}

==Explanation==
This strip shows a discussion between an adult and a teenager about an aspect of the future. [[Randall]] likes this setup, allowing to put in perspective the various "decay" predictions and shows his optimism.

Here, the subject is scandal. How will a generation that is documenting and leaving behind a permanent public record of its juvenile misadventures - immature and impolitic writings, photographs of inebriation at parties posted on Facebook, Twitter posts about breakups, etc. - produce successful future politicians? Won't future opposition researchers and reporters have enough embarrassing material to destroy any Millennial's public reputation? In previous generations, juveniles were freer to go through this phase of development without leaving behind a digital record, making it easier to sidestep or paper over rumors of youthful misbehavior. See, e.g., George W. Bush, who dismissed questions about his rumored use of drugs in his youth by saying only, "When I was young and irresponsible, I was young and irresponsible."

The child's answer, in addition to teasing the adult about her generation's coming obsolescence, is that the next generation will be fine because in the future no one will care. The title text amplifies this optimistic message, suggesting that old blog posts by former teenagers will just seem boring, not salacious. [[Randall]] offers no explanation for this upbeat spin, but it is a recurring topic and some have argued elsewhere that the potential power of Internet-chronicled youthful indiscretions will be defused because everyone will be in the same boat, making future voters (and, in another context, employers) more tolerant of such things.

The strip also contains an existential twist, as shown in the child's answer. It alludes to every generation's dismissal of the next, as actually being due to psychological insecurities. We may disguise our dismissals by attacking their faults & different lifestyles. But in truth, these dismissals are actually rooted in our innate fear of becoming obsolete, useless, surpassed, and lost in a bewildering world that has passed us by.

==Transcript==
:[Ponytail and Science Girl are walking together.]
:Ponytail: I can't imagine anyone who grew up on the Internet being able to run for President.

:[Closeup of Science Girl.]
:Science Girl: Why? Because it'd mark the handover of a world that no longer needs you to a generation you don't understand?

:[Ponytail and Science Girl have stopped walking and are facing each other.]
:Science Girl: ...Or because there would be embarrassing pictures of us as teenagers?

:[Closeup of Ponytail.]
:Ponytail: Um. The pictures one?
:Science Girl (off-screen): Pictures of teens! How will we even survive??

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics featuring Ponytail]]
[[Category:Internet]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Science Girl]]