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Okay. This is going to be cranky and petty. Consider yourself warned.
This Oatmeal comic about religion is running wildly through my twitter feed right now. I think it's got about a quarter funny jokes, half old jokes, and then a quarter that just don't work. After seeing a dozen people go BEST THING EVER at it, the last two categories are starting to bug me. So let's go through, point by point!
Does your religion make you judge people? Old joke--it came up in my Sunday School classes before I hit junior high--but a classic. Not bad.
Does your religion hinder the advance of science, etc? Old joke, but a pretty fair shot. While there's certainly nuance to be had in there--there is some "science" that could've stood more hindering, whether by religion or god damn empathy--one doesn't expect nuance in a joke, and this works.
Did you choose your dogma, or did someone else choose for you? It's a good point! But it's presented in a boring way. "Look! Cultural norms seem normal to children, but strange to adults who did not grow up in that culture!" can apply equally to food choices and religion. This would get more of a pass if it were actually funny.
Parents, you wouldn't do this... This is the first outright broken joke. In the first category, a child expresses a strong opinion, and their parent repeatedly tells them that their opinion is not merely wrong, but that they don't hold it. That's abusive gaslighting.
In the second category, the child asks an open question of their parent, and their parent answers with their personal views on things. Then the child asks an open question of their parents, and their parent replies with Teach The Controversy.
...this isn't parallel! If you want it to be funny, you at least need to go with the parent saying "You don't believe X, you believe Y!" after the child has stated an actual preference. There are lots of good arguments to be made for giving children open-ended choices on important matters in life, and this comic is doing a horrible job of expressing that. "Don't force your child to say she believes something she doesn't" is completely different from "Never actually answer your child's questions without caveating that other people somewhere disagree," and that's what the two sections are saying.
It's not a good joke because the parallel doesn't work.
Does your religion give you weird anxieties about your sexuality? The list on the board was mildly entertaining, and I have not seen this particular variant of the "Every time you masturbate, God kills a kitten" joke before. Kudos. Functional joke.
Do you validate your beliefs by constantly trying to convince others...? I rather liked the parallel universe part--it's funny because it's absurd--but, really? Abraham died for your lox? If you're going to make a joke about a parallel universe proselytizing religion, try to at least choose something based on what those people believe, instead of just doing a find-replace on nouns.
Do you mock other religions for believing crazy things...? A very old joke--we got this one in my high school Bible classes--but it's a good point. It's sort of a retread of the dogma joke from above, though. "Things that you did not grow up with sound really wacky compared to things you grew up with." True for in religion and outside of it, and I am all for a call to be more culturally sensitive. Pity this doesn't seem to be actually calling for that, but I can try to read it that way.
Do you vote solely based on your religious beliefs? This one baffles me, because again, broken parallel. It's presenting "This is financially useful to you" vs. "This is in opposition to something you believe is moral," and then mocking people for choosing the latter. Yes, I will totally vote for things that are not going to give me more money if I think it will help with gay rights. I think this makes me a moral person, not a religious zealot. "This person says God less often" has only incidental cultural things to do with "gay rights", especially given denominations of Christianity--this comic seems mostly to be about Christianity, rather than 'religion', yet again--that support such.
I'm not really sure what this is trying to argue. "Don't support gay rights if it's a slight financial burden to you personally!"? "If you like Nascar, you're not allowed to vote!"? What?
Are you so dangerously extremist...? Oh, look. Another hurr-hurr jab at Muslims. Not original, and kinda racist. You'd think they could've at least thrown in an abortion clinic bombing joke if they wanted to do the "people in your religion sometimes commit violence in the name of your religion" thing.
Would you die for your religion? This is absurdist in a way that I didn't find very funny, but, hey. It's at least a slightly different version than I've usually seen.
Does your religion inspire you...? This is a nice long set of questions that help people establish that they should...never talk about this thing in their life that gives them joy and makes them a better person.
What?
I mean. Seriously. What? If a friend of mine had discovered something that made them much happier than before and made them a better person, then I'd rather they told me about it! I don't want to be pressured about it, but if my friend goes out and discovers that atheism and rock climbing make her happiest in life, then by god I'd at least like a note. "Hey, atheism and rock climbing. You should try these things." Should I never breathe a word to friends about a good book I read because they might not like it? How about I mention I liked it, and why, and then let them make up their own minds?
Perhaps it is unreasonable of me to expect a comic to make sense or tell new jokes for over half its output. But if so, I will be slightly unreasonable, here.
This Oatmeal comic about religion is running wildly through my twitter feed right now. I think it's got about a quarter funny jokes, half old jokes, and then a quarter that just don't work. After seeing a dozen people go BEST THING EVER at it, the last two categories are starting to bug me. So let's go through, point by point!
Does your religion make you judge people? Old joke--it came up in my Sunday School classes before I hit junior high--but a classic. Not bad.
Does your religion hinder the advance of science, etc? Old joke, but a pretty fair shot. While there's certainly nuance to be had in there--there is some "science" that could've stood more hindering, whether by religion or god damn empathy--one doesn't expect nuance in a joke, and this works.
Did you choose your dogma, or did someone else choose for you? It's a good point! But it's presented in a boring way. "Look! Cultural norms seem normal to children, but strange to adults who did not grow up in that culture!" can apply equally to food choices and religion. This would get more of a pass if it were actually funny.
Parents, you wouldn't do this... This is the first outright broken joke. In the first category, a child expresses a strong opinion, and their parent repeatedly tells them that their opinion is not merely wrong, but that they don't hold it. That's abusive gaslighting.
In the second category, the child asks an open question of their parent, and their parent answers with their personal views on things. Then the child asks an open question of their parents, and their parent replies with Teach The Controversy.
...this isn't parallel! If you want it to be funny, you at least need to go with the parent saying "You don't believe X, you believe Y!" after the child has stated an actual preference. There are lots of good arguments to be made for giving children open-ended choices on important matters in life, and this comic is doing a horrible job of expressing that. "Don't force your child to say she believes something she doesn't" is completely different from "Never actually answer your child's questions without caveating that other people somewhere disagree," and that's what the two sections are saying.
It's not a good joke because the parallel doesn't work.
Does your religion give you weird anxieties about your sexuality? The list on the board was mildly entertaining, and I have not seen this particular variant of the "Every time you masturbate, God kills a kitten" joke before. Kudos. Functional joke.
Do you validate your beliefs by constantly trying to convince others...? I rather liked the parallel universe part--it's funny because it's absurd--but, really? Abraham died for your lox? If you're going to make a joke about a parallel universe proselytizing religion, try to at least choose something based on what those people believe, instead of just doing a find-replace on nouns.
Do you mock other religions for believing crazy things...? A very old joke--we got this one in my high school Bible classes--but it's a good point. It's sort of a retread of the dogma joke from above, though. "Things that you did not grow up with sound really wacky compared to things you grew up with." True for in religion and outside of it, and I am all for a call to be more culturally sensitive. Pity this doesn't seem to be actually calling for that, but I can try to read it that way.
Do you vote solely based on your religious beliefs? This one baffles me, because again, broken parallel. It's presenting "This is financially useful to you" vs. "This is in opposition to something you believe is moral," and then mocking people for choosing the latter. Yes, I will totally vote for things that are not going to give me more money if I think it will help with gay rights. I think this makes me a moral person, not a religious zealot. "This person says God less often" has only incidental cultural things to do with "gay rights", especially given denominations of Christianity--this comic seems mostly to be about Christianity, rather than 'religion', yet again--that support such.
I'm not really sure what this is trying to argue. "Don't support gay rights if it's a slight financial burden to you personally!"? "If you like Nascar, you're not allowed to vote!"? What?
Are you so dangerously extremist...? Oh, look. Another hurr-hurr jab at Muslims. Not original, and kinda racist. You'd think they could've at least thrown in an abortion clinic bombing joke if they wanted to do the "people in your religion sometimes commit violence in the name of your religion" thing.
Would you die for your religion? This is absurdist in a way that I didn't find very funny, but, hey. It's at least a slightly different version than I've usually seen.
Does your religion inspire you...? This is a nice long set of questions that help people establish that they should...never talk about this thing in their life that gives them joy and makes them a better person.
What?
I mean. Seriously. What? If a friend of mine had discovered something that made them much happier than before and made them a better person, then I'd rather they told me about it! I don't want to be pressured about it, but if my friend goes out and discovers that atheism and rock climbing make her happiest in life, then by god I'd at least like a note. "Hey, atheism and rock climbing. You should try these things." Should I never breathe a word to friends about a good book I read because they might not like it? How about I mention I liked it, and why, and then let them make up their own minds?
Perhaps it is unreasonable of me to expect a comic to make sense or tell new jokes for over half its output. But if so, I will be slightly unreasonable, here.