Editing 1982: Evangelism

{{comic
| number    = 1982
| date      = April 18, 2018
| title     = Evangelism
| image     = evangelism.png
| titletext = The wars between the "OTHER PRIMATES OPEN THEM FROM THE SMALL END" faction versus the "BUT THE LITTLE BIT OF BANANA AT THE SMALL END IS GROSS" faction consumed Europe for generations.
}}

==Explanation==
In this comic, [[Randall]] presents a line plot where causes are listed, in increasing order, by the intensity of the evangelism of their advocates. {{w|Evangelism}}, in {{w|Christianity}}, is the commitment to or act of publicly preaching of the {{w|Gospel}} with the intention of spreading the message and teachings of Jesus Christ. The notion of spreading the faith by preaching is both historically and doctrinally deeply rooted in Christianity, so the notion of persistent and committed Christian missionaries is a well-known phenomenon. Over time, the term “evangelism” has come to be used more generally for zealous advocacy of anything, with the implication that the commitment to spread their message is similar to religious evangelism. 

The first punchline is that religious proselytizers are unexpectedly much less intense than advocates for such things as opening bananas from the other end—which is also the subject of the title text. The comic’s release date on April 18th, is likely correlated with this days assignment as the official [https://www.daysoftheyear.com/days/banana-day/ “Banana Day”] in the US. (However, at the time of release of this comic, this day was not mentioned on the Wikipedia {{w|List_of_food_days#United_States|list of food days in the US}}).

As the graph moves from left to right, the issues at stake have less and less impact on the life of someone who “converts”, but the intensity and fervor of those spreading the cause increases. This is counterintuitive, which is the joke.
 
Below, each of the points on the chart, as well as the title text, is discussed.

;Religious proselytizers
{{w|Proselytism|Religious proselytizers}} are the best known evangelists, and the term “evangelism” originally applied only to them. Christian faith remains roughly as popular as ever, but Christian ''evangelism'' has become less common and less accepted in the public sphere in recent decades, and often only practiced in specific venues. Randall contrasts them in this strip with four other groups which he finds to be more intense in their “evangelism”.

;People who want the US to switch to metric
Unlike most of the world, the US uses {{w|United States Customary Units|US Customary units}} instead of {{w|metric units}}. The vast majority of the world population (and many within the country) wish for the US to change. In truth, {{w|Metric Conversion Act|federal law}} has declared the metric system to be the preferred system in the US since 1975, but includes no mandates for enforcement, meaning that social and economic inertia keeps customary units in general use. Though the US now uses SI units in many areas, particularly in technical and scientific settings, most Americans deal more with US Customary units in their day-to-day lives. Many advocates (both in and out of the US), argue that the metric system to be more logical and usable, and consider it to be unreasonable that the world's largest economy remains out of step with what has become the global standard for measurement. 

Randall has made a conversion chart for helping US people with the confusing metric units: [[526: Converting to Metric]].

;People who want the US to switch to metric but keep Fahrenheit
Pro-metric people who wish to keep the {{w|Fahrenheit}} scale rather than change to {{w|Celsius}} are ranked as slightly more evangelic. A common argument for keeping the Fahrenheit scale is that is roughly matches the range of habitable temperatures for humans (0°F equating to “really cold” and 100°F to “really hot”) and is therefore more intuitive when discussing weather. Fahrenheit also has smaller degrees than Celsius, so temperatures can be cited more precisely while still using whole degrees.

To many people, making the shift only partially may seem inconsistent—and yet the people arguing for this are even more ardent than those that wish to shift entirely, perhaps precisely because of this apparent strangeness. 

Fahrenheit versus Celsius has been the topic of [[1643: Degrees]] and [[1923: Felsius]].

;People who threw away their socks and bought all one kind
Since socks are generally worn in matched pairs, both socks in a pair have to be located before they can be worn. When socks are separated (which commonly happens when washing, drying and sorting them), locating both can be an annoyance, and losing one renders the other useless until it is located. People who lose one sock are usually unwilling to throw the other out, in case its mate is located, leaving them with a collection of unmatched socks to deal with. This is a common enough problem [http://www.techtimes.com/articles/154000/20160427/science-reveals-why-you-always-lose-your-socks-in-the-laundry.htm to have been researched by scientists]. 

This problem can be solved by buying only one type of sock, with a uniform design and pattern. Because socks can usually be worn on either foot, this makes sorting socks after washing unnecessary, since any two socks form a pair, and losing one is less vexing, since you can never end up with more than one unmatched sock (and losing another one just evens the numbers again). To many people, though, this solution is unappealing. Many people find it aesthetically boring to always wear the same color of socks, and it risks having to either wear socks that don't match the rest of your clothes, or stick to a much more limited color palette for your whole wardrobe.

Randall previously referenced this idea in the xkcd survey (see [[1572: xkcd Survey]]) from September 2015. It included this question:

<blockquote>
Have you ever thrown out all your different pairs of socks/underwear, bought a bunch of replacements that were all one kind, and then told all your friends how great it was and how they should do it too?
</blockquote>

;People who open bananas from the other end
The most evangelical group Randall includes are the people who open {{w|bananas}} from the "other" end. The majority of people peel bananas by using the stem as a lever to open the peel, then pulling the peel back by sections. And alternate method is to pinch the calyx and separate the peel into two halves.

An [http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-2713696/Is-banana-peeling-method-WRONG-Video-demonstrates-squish-free-monkey-way-upside-down.html oddly committed subculture] has grown up, insisting that opening the calyx is the "right" way to eat bananas, using an assortment of arguments in an attempt to back up their point. These arguments don't appear convincing enough to change the habits of the banana-eating public at large, but that doesn't appear to make advocates less committed to this extremely low-stakes topic.  

;Title text
The title text categorizes the two sides of the banana conflict by their most common arguments. While {{w|primates}} [http://uk.businessinsider.com/wild-monkeys-do-not-eat-bananas-2016-6?IR=T do not eat bananas in the wild], in captivity, some have been observed to open them away from the stem, so "OTHER PRIMATES OPEN THEM FROM THE SMALL END" is advanced as an argument for why this method is 'correct'. "BUT THE LITTLE BIT OF BANANA AT THE SMALL END IS GROSS" is the most common retort. Opening a banana from the small end typically leaves part the flower tip embedded in piece of mashed fruit, which many consider to be "gross". This is obviously a subjective judgment, but is sufficient reason to find the method unappealing. 

Satirically claiming that wars between these factions "consumed Europe for generations" likely refers to the wars between {{w|Catholicism|Catholic}} and {{w|Protestantism|Protestant}} factions, which did, in fact, consume Europe for generations. This ties the dispute back to the original meaning of "evangelism", suggesting that this issue ignites a fervor usually reserved for religious belief. At the same time, it's likely intended to satirize those wars themselves. The notion of going to war over such a trivial and fundamentally unimportant issue is clearly ridiculous. From an outsider's perspective, the notion of going to war over which faction of Christianity would have greater influence could easily seem similarly trivial. 

The entire "correct banana end" discussion could be a reference to the wars between the Blefuscudians, who opened their eggs at the big end, and the Lilliputians, who broke their eggs at the small end, as told in {{w|Jonathan Swift|Jonathan Swift’s}} epic novel ''{{w|Gulliver’s Travels}}''. This in turn is the origin of the terms {{w|Endianness#Etymology|"Little Endian" and "Big Endian"}} which were much debated in circa 1980's computer architectures - which may also have been on Randall's mind.

Randall’s thoughts on the problems with opening bananas could also explain why this fruit, which many find very easy to peel and consume, is listed in the middle of the easy/difficult scale in the [[388: Fuck Grapefruit]] chart.

==Transcript==
:[A chart is shown with a line drawn from left to right with five markers on it. Each marker has a line going to it from a labeled below the main line. Above this there is a title and right below that a label above an arrow pointing to the right.]
:<big>People by intensity of evangelism</big>
:More intense

:Religious proselytizers
:People who want the US to switch to metric
:People who want the US to switch to metric but keep Fahrenheit
:People who threw away their socks and bought all one kind
:People who open bananas from the other end

{{comic discussion}}

[[Category:Charts]]
[[Category:Rankings]]
[[Category:Religion]]
[[Category:Food]]