Woman = Felicia Day
Sea lions = Gamergate
for screen printing using what material?
Thatâs the name of my new band!
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I think itâs a good parable for many arguments over social media or the internet in general, even completely forgetting anything about âgamergateâ or feminists or âsocial justice warriors.â Like, you might casually say Picard is the best Star Trek captain then suddenly some sea lion shows up to say âEXCUSE ME DO YOU HAVE ANY PROOF OF THIS ASSERTION OF YOURS?â And youâre like âdude, sea lion, this is how I feel about itâ and the sea lion just wonât leave it alone and keeps insisting that itâs being perfectly reasonable by asking you empirically prove that Picard is the best Star Trek captain; and you get frustrated with sea lion showing up in your bedroom and at the breakfast table still insisting you back up this thing you said about Picard being the best captain when you really didnât care that much in the first place.
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That is a valid point to make, yes, but I think itâs undermined by âI donât like sea lionsâ -> sea lion shows up to question what the hell is up with that totally racist statement. If the sea lion had shown up in a discussion about Kirk vs. Picard, it would work. If it had tied it to a freely-chosen-association group, it might work, but the fact that the complaint is about how Sea Lions are awful and the Sea Lion has some particularly passionate feelings on the subject doesnât, to me, shine much of a negative light on the Sea Lions.
Again, recast it:
Letâs say the cartoon showed two guys talking, and one said to the other, âChicks are crazy, man.â âDonât say that!â And then a woman appears to call him out on the sexist bullshit, in much the same way as the sea lion does. Then the cartoon ends with one of the guys saying to the other, âSee, I told you, chicks, manâŚâ
Hilarious unsexist joke about how people can get too worked up over âsmallâ issues like casual sexism? Or actually pretty sexist? Iâd lean towards #2.
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Thankfully.
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You make a good point and Iâd consider your example casual sexism, but still also an example of people getting needlessly worked up over an issue. I think a big aspect here is the badgering (or sea-lioning letâs call it). Asking over and over and over with faux politeness to continue an argument that one party has already completely forgotten or lost interest in. Like, âcâmon back up your point about Picard being better than Kirk with some facts. IâM ONLY ASKING YOU NICELY,â while the other person is all, âsea lion I really donât care that much.â In the venue of internet discussions itâs a parable of where one person is far more invested in proving themselves right on the internet and the other person wrong, while the other person is more invested in moving on to other things that are going on in their life.
I have no problems with sea lions.
Leopard seals are complete arseholes though.
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Its worth pinting out that you can only take an example so far, before youâre better off talking about the real thing. If you want to talk about racism, youâd better use real examples of racist behaviour and how they apply. BUT! youâve missed the point:
The sea lion comic does a good job of exposing the faux civility some people use when arguing their point, (Valid or invalid) its about a type of argument, not about who is right. Its about the way some people go to extreme lenghts to be civil in a manner that can only be described as passive aggresive.
In the example comic, the Sea lion is uising extreme politeness which is undercut by the fact that heâs actually being incredibly inappropriate in how heâs actually going about it.
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My point is that I think the point that you suggest is being made is way too muddled by how it was presented to be effective. Because, again, itâs not evidently clear that the âincredibly inappropriateâ manner in which the sea lion is going about his argument (following the people home) is not the same kind of comic exaggeration that allows a talking sea lion in the first place (as you say, sometimes youâre better off using REAL examples and how they apply, rather than making up a mythical sea lion race that all behave in the way you want, justifying the characterâs still-really-incredibly-offensive-in-that-universe âI donât care for sea lionsâ remark).
I donât think thereâs anything wrong with being polite in your disagreement, even when taking somebody to task for their racism, sexism, etc. Constant harassment, whether coached in politeness or not, now thereâs something wrong with that, but a) whether their point is valid or not DOES play a role in where they should stop (again, Iâm going to give a lot more leeway to somebody who just got insulted because of how they were born, not anything they did, to pester the racist/sexist/whatever past the point that they donât want to engage in the conversation, than I am to somebody who wonât shut up making a political pointâŚ) and b) when youâre writing a comedic comic, itâs not always clear what parts are central to your argument (like the fact that the harassment is beyond any reasonable standard of behavior) and which are part of the crazy funny world of the comic (like the talking sea lion).
If the comic said âI donât like Blonskyismâ and the Sea Lion appeared to defend that made-up ideology in that exaggerated politeness, Iâd be fine with saying âSea Lioningâ as a verb for that sort of harassment.
But as it stands, it became a very muddled issue. If I missed the point, it was because it was poorly made, and relied on me agreeing with racists (speciesists).
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