… as usual.
[click the image to see the whole comic]
That is one of the best — and most concise — examples of debunking of the conspiracy theory subculture I have ever seen. Joe Rogan, you listening?
Too bad, though, that the last panel in the comic won’t work.
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Phil Plait, the creator of Bad Astronomy, is an astronomer, lecturer, and author. After ten years working on Hubble Space Telescope and six more working on astronomy education, he struck out on his own as a writer. He has written two books, dozens of magazine articles, and 12 bazillion blog articles. He is a skeptic, and fights misuses of science as well as praising the wonder of real science.
Contact me: The Bad Astronomer "at" gmail "dot" com
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May 7th, 2007 at 12:47 pm
When I saw it earlier today it had me wondering if the irony in the last panel is intentional or not.
May 7th, 2007 at 12:55 pm
Great comic – I immediately thought of you and the gang at the Skeptic’s Guide when I saw it.
May 7th, 2007 at 1:00 pm
That last panel is something called the “punchline.”
May 7th, 2007 at 1:03 pm
When I first saw it this morning, I mistakenly thought it was the denialist who was filing a bug report. Somehow, I think it’s funnier that way.
May 7th, 2007 at 1:34 pm
All in favor of my Joe vs. Phil comic making it into a blog entry say aye!
May 7th, 2007 at 2:22 pm
There’s quite a discussion going on about this over at the xkcd forums, and actually your name has been thrown around once or twice, Phil. The only thing is, I think that last panel is simply for the humor of referring to the CT as a “bug,” nothing else.
May 7th, 2007 at 4:49 pm
I find it rather ironic that those who deny the “official story” of 9/11 are called “conspiracy theorists”. After all, the offical story is itself a conspiracy theory, isn’t it?
I’m not commenting on whether it’s accurate, or how many holes it may have, just observing that the official story involves a criminal conspiracy by members of Al Qaeda. Perhaps we need a more precise term than “conspiracy theory” for things like the Moon landing hoax delusion, but I’m not sure what it should be.
(To be very clear, the term “delusion” here refers to the idea that the Moon landings were a hoax.)
May 7th, 2007 at 5:22 pm
>> I find it rather ironic that those who deny the “official storyâ€
>> of 9/11 are called “conspiracy theoristsâ€. After all, the offical
>> story is itself a conspiracy theory, isn’t it?
It involves a different conspiracy, though, involving Bush and controlled explosions and aliens and aliens and… I’ve lost track.
This is just metadiscussion and obfuscates the real issues.
And… wait a minute… WHO ARE YOU WORKING FOR! TALK!!
May 7th, 2007 at 5:41 pm
I’m convinced that conspiracy theories are the result of that proletariat feeling of helplessness and irrelevance that I read so much about whilst taking sociology in college. Kind of like religious fundamentalism, conspiracy theories give people the chance to be right, to be experts and to feel, in some small measure, superior to a world that disappoints them.
Then again, I could have just pulled that out of my ass.
May 7th, 2007 at 5:44 pm
It ain’t just science, you know. Try dealing with a Shakespeare denier, or one of the “Michael O’Hare was fired from ‘Babylon 5′ against his will” crowd.
May 7th, 2007 at 6:09 pm
In my experience conspiracy theorists thrive on the notion that they have some kind of special insight or intuition into life, science, or events that the rest of us are unable to see. It makes them feel special, allowing them believe that the Universe has more to it than our normal, humdrum existence.
Why should Mars be a barren planet of interest only to geologists when it might hold the key to an ancient and powerful alien civilization? Who needs a simple, rational explanation for the success of a terrorist plot, when you can conjure up events, plot twists and conspiracies to rival the best Tom Clancy thriller?
The truth is that very few people are blessed to be in the right place at the right time to add something of significance to humanity’s body of knowledge, and usually only after years of graft and toil. Conspiracy theories and pseudoscience go hand-in-hand in that they provide an apparent short cut for those who believe in them, a way to feel special without putting in the effort usually required.
May 7th, 2007 at 8:04 pm
Conspiracy theories are obviously promoted by the media, the NSA and the Pizza Hut corporation to distract attention from their evil plot to …
Uh, Tacitus, “graft and toil” ???
May 7th, 2007 at 8:07 pm
This is something I have to keep in mind on a daily basis. You see, I happen to work at “The Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza,” and I’m asked some pretty wacky questions. While it’s essential to state the facts as responsibly as possible, it is also necessary to politely short-circuit leading questions before they snowball into a public relations meltdown. Something tells me though I think I should avoid the XKCD approach.
May 7th, 2007 at 8:35 pm
Are you guys serious? The last panel is a joke. XKCD is a comic aimed towards geeks, if you were a computer geek you would know what a bug report is. A bug report is where you, report bugs (duh). It’s a joke because he is saying that human who believes in 9/11 conspiracies is a bug. It is nothing to do with prayer working..JESUS.
May 7th, 2007 at 9:11 pm
Thrall, I think that is what Phil et al mean. Our disgruntled friend in the last panel is submitting a bug report and the bug report is what won’t work i.e. will be ignored. Which is probably why the cartoon ends there. Which way does it go from there? God says “OK my child, bug will be eliminated at our next scheduled update”? Or God says “I’m sorry, tech support hours are 9 – 5. Please pray back then”? The joke works better left unfinished.
May 7th, 2007 at 9:56 pm
Mark:
The decision of whether or not to fix the change and incorporate it into the next version is not necessarily up to God; it must be discussed at the next SCCB meeting by the SCCB. God can only work on approved change requests.
See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Software_configuration_management/MEE
May 8th, 2007 at 4:02 am
[...] to Bad Astronomy for pointing out this cartoon. As I’m not in the same place as Mr. BA on the effectiveness of [...]
May 8th, 2007 at 4:45 am
“Graft” is Brit speak for hard work, not corruption.
Cheers
May 8th, 2007 at 4:54 am
More humorous is watching you gearheads biopsy a cartoon. It’s a freakin’ joke, kids.
ROFL!!!11!ONE Irony alert!!ELEVEN! He mentions teh god!!1! FSM wins the Internets!!1!ELEVENTY!One
May 8th, 2007 at 7:21 am
Mark;
I find the whole idea of filing a bug report with God is funny as hell. I can just imagine the next panel, with God saying: “Evolution will fix that in the next hundred generations. In the meantime, there is a work-around available at http://www.skeptic.org.“
March 1st, 2008 at 11:32 am
This is a test to see what HTML tags I can use:
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