Difference between revisions of "Talk:180: Canada"

Explain xkcd: It's 'cause you're dumb.
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My take: "I'll move to Canada," threat has the sub-text of implying that I'm a contributing member of society (at least in my own mind) and thus the country will lose if I, and others like me, were to depart (a fitting punishment to all those wrong-headed voters on the other side who sought to harness my contributions while forcing me to play by their rules).  The second panel, however, comically establishes that the complainer is, basically, a loser: no money, no job, couldn't even finish his college degrees, and choose Art for a major -- the stereotypical major for those who put personal fulfillment above financial prudence.  The third panel nails it in harder by implying the complainer is a video games addict -- not clearly delineating real and virtual lives -- further accentuating that he is *not* a productive member of society. [[User:Danshoham|Mountain Hikes]] ([[User talk:Danshoham|talk]]) 17:32, 19 September 2015 (UTC)
 
My take: "I'll move to Canada," threat has the sub-text of implying that I'm a contributing member of society (at least in my own mind) and thus the country will lose if I, and others like me, were to depart (a fitting punishment to all those wrong-headed voters on the other side who sought to harness my contributions while forcing me to play by their rules).  The second panel, however, comically establishes that the complainer is, basically, a loser: no money, no job, couldn't even finish his college degrees, and choose Art for a major -- the stereotypical major for those who put personal fulfillment above financial prudence.  The third panel nails it in harder by implying the complainer is a video games addict -- not clearly delineating real and virtual lives -- further accentuating that he is *not* a productive member of society. [[User:Danshoham|Mountain Hikes]] ([[User talk:Danshoham|talk]]) 17:32, 19 September 2015 (UTC)
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It is actually quite common for students to be somewhat divorced from reality. This tends to be more exaggerated for students of more abstract majors, i.e. art. (the reason partially being that young poeple with good understanding of the world tend to choose majors that lead to material waelth, which is the socially more accepted form of progression). The second panel implies that clueless is actually still a student.
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The first panel also implies that clueless has difficulties finishing his degree. In some countries, with cheap or free education, the "eternal student" is actually somewhat of an epidemic. (in Japan for example Ronin refers to students that have difficulties getting through the entry exams, sometimes for several years)
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It is also "known" that Students actually spend less time learning and more time playing computer games or consoles.
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I feel strongly that the whole scenario refers to the eternal student, without understanding of the real world, playing computer games all day long, making "strong" statements.
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It is near impossible to explain this as it requires extensive real world context. The closest approximation to a proper response, that can be understood by such people, is then indeed "you die in real life".

Revision as of 21:24, 10 October 2015

Actually I suspect this comic may be referring to the propensity for video games in which you can create teams of characters which can be generally be respawned or come back to consciousness/life after levels/battles to have areas or levels where if someone is killed they die "for real"- that is they don't come back and you lose them for good. 184.21.189.153 10:58, 21 September 2013 (UTC)

Couldn't this be a Matrix reference? 06:11, 1 December 2013 (UTC) 108.162.216.52 (talk) (please sign your comments with ~~~~)

From the explanation: "Canada is arguably part of reality already." I would love to have that argument with someone. 108.162.219.202 (talk) (please sign your comments with ~~~~)

Canadians don't have arguments. They would either apologize for confusing you by existing, or smack you in the head with a hockey stick. Americans tend to forget the second possibility. 162.158.255.69 14:08, 16 September 2015 (UTC)

I feel like adding some "dubious-discuss" after the first sentence of the explanationMeneldal (talk) 06:54, 11 March 2015 (UTC)meneldal

Sorry for Ninja-editing/commenting, but I take it as a direct reference to the works of Philip K. Dick, especially Ubik (iirc, that is it could also be one of his other VR-related stories), where a scene that could be summarized with 'if you die in canada, you die in real life' actually takes place (in canada). Then again, this could be lucky coincidence, and xkcd might not be familiar with PKD at all. 141.101.92.37 (talk) (please sign your comments with ~~~~)

Addendum to the above (↑) it most certainly is a PKD reference, also taking his biography into account. 141.101.92.58 05:24, 14 April 2015 (UTC)

We might also want to mention that making fun of Canada is basically a national pasttime in the U.S. Bbruzzo (talk) 14:36, 25 August 2015 (UTC)

My take: "I'll move to Canada," threat has the sub-text of implying that I'm a contributing member of society (at least in my own mind) and thus the country will lose if I, and others like me, were to depart (a fitting punishment to all those wrong-headed voters on the other side who sought to harness my contributions while forcing me to play by their rules). The second panel, however, comically establishes that the complainer is, basically, a loser: no money, no job, couldn't even finish his college degrees, and choose Art for a major -- the stereotypical major for those who put personal fulfillment above financial prudence. The third panel nails it in harder by implying the complainer is a video games addict -- not clearly delineating real and virtual lives -- further accentuating that he is *not* a productive member of society. Mountain Hikes (talk) 17:32, 19 September 2015 (UTC)

It is actually quite common for students to be somewhat divorced from reality. This tends to be more exaggerated for students of more abstract majors, i.e. art. (the reason partially being that young poeple with good understanding of the world tend to choose majors that lead to material waelth, which is the socially more accepted form of progression). The second panel implies that clueless is actually still a student. The first panel also implies that clueless has difficulties finishing his degree. In some countries, with cheap or free education, the "eternal student" is actually somewhat of an epidemic. (in Japan for example Ronin refers to students that have difficulties getting through the entry exams, sometimes for several years) It is also "known" that Students actually spend less time learning and more time playing computer games or consoles. I feel strongly that the whole scenario refers to the eternal student, without understanding of the real world, playing computer games all day long, making "strong" statements. It is near impossible to explain this as it requires extensive real world context. The closest approximation to a proper response, that can be understood by such people, is then indeed "you die in real life".