StoneToss: Episode 59

Comic Name: United Kangdom
Description: I’m sure this was an idea originally given to me by a reader. Credit where it is due.
Mouseover: wot’s all dis den?
Image Name: migrant-invasion-comic.png
Originally Published: 6/13/2019

What The Comic Is: A soldier struggles to warn his liege of invading forces, even as he’s punctured by several arrows. The king, shocked, turns to his guard and orders the soldier to be arrested for hate speech.

What StoneToss Actually Thinks: That “we used to deal with invasions” the ‘right way’.

Why It’s Fucking Stupid: Brown people are moving to the United Kingdom. LET ME REPEAT: BROWN PEOPLE ARE MOVING. TO THE UNITED KINGDOM. I know, I know. It’s terrible, isn’t it? Y’know, maybe I’m just being a nitpicker when I point out that StoneToss sure likes making commentary on how the USA’s founding fathers wouldn’t/shouldn’t care about problems happening in other countries and then turning around and complaining about problems in other countries when it suits him, but hey, I digress.

Migrant issues across Europe have been a hot topic for years, with many governments of leading European nations welcoming the influx of new arrivals, while hardline citizen groups have voiced opposition. StoneToss, and seemingly some unknown reader who gave him the idea, depict this by setting Europe back to a stereotypical medieval period, with kings and knights. Back in this “middle ages” period it would’ve been completely unexpected for a king to react to news of an invasion as “hate speech”, they would’ve defended their borders in a fantastical Game of Thrones-esque siege battle (obviously). Thus, StoneToss juxtapositions the “old” Britain against the “new” United Kingdom (stylized in the title as ‘Kangdom’, as a really funny nod towards the racism-twisted ‘we was kangs‘ meme); the old Britain fought against invaders and that’s how it maintained its borders and, much more importantly, its whiteness. Today’s Britain thinks invaders are hate speech victims! See how far the mighty have cucked?

It’s trying to highlight an absurdity that does not exist. The United Kingdom is not being “invaded” by a foreign army that pincushions soldiers with arrow fire. Safe to say that if an enemy nation was, you know, actually invading Britain by force, that the UK government would, I dunno, actually fight back? Of course, the UK does have an important modern history of fighting back against invaders, like the Nazis in World War 2. Ah, of course!! No wonder StoneToss hates the modern UK! But then, this is the dishonest argument of racists. StoneToss knows full well that the UK isn’t being ‘invaded’ in the sense that an aggressive foreign army is breaking down the doors to the royal palace. Rather, he and his supporters will claim that “invasions” have simply dramatically changed tactics: that now, instead of armies and warfare, it’s “migration” and “refugees”.

This comic broadly falls in with any other dumbass “white idolization” fantasies that idiots like StoneToss have. Just like with the strict vetting processes of the Nazi Regime, one only needs to point out to StoneToss that if he were really living in Nazi Germany or perhaps medieval Britain, that he would not be a part of the “white chad” caste and would in reality be regulated to menial labor at a bottom rung of society, or perhaps simply murdered by the regime he so admires. So this pining for “the old days” and “how things used to be”, for StoneToss, is especially fucking pathetic considering the only reason he enjoys his current quality of life is specifically because the “way it used to be” is no longer the way it is.

Comic Name: Deus Ex Màquina
Description: Labor markets.
Mouseover: Domo Arigato…
Image Name: automation-stealing-jobs-comic.png
Originally Published: 6/18/2019

What The Comic Is: A man approaches a robot who is using a shovel sideways, because StoneToss didn’t know how to depict the robot at an angle where it would be using the shovel in the right way. Maybe he’s using it to slice at a big rock or a giant piece of septic turd, I dunno. Anyways, the guy shouts at the robot that automation is stealing all the jobs. The robot, wondering what the commotion is all about, turns to the man with an inquisitive “¿Qué?“, its chest displaying a sign reading “HECHO EN MEXICO“, or “Made in Mexico”. The man, sobered from his anger, apologizes to the robot, referring to it as “Señor“.

What StoneToss Actually Thinks: There’s a hypocrisy if you complain about automation taking jobs, but are okay with immigrants doing it.

Why It’s Fucking Stupid: StoneToss is trying to liken immigrant work to automation. They both “take jobs”, so is it not hypocritical to condone one and oppose the other? No, no it is not. And StoneToss is fucking stupid. First of all, as a small aside, the future is pretty clear: automation is coming. We’re on the precipice of an unstoppable and fundamentally society/world changing revolution. Within the next lifetime, automation will replace thousands of menial labor and transportation jobs. But hey, whatever. The point is that “Mexicans also take our jobs!”, and are somehow just as bad.

The exploitation of desperate immigrant labor is a big problem in the USA, sure. It’s gotten markedly better in the past 20~30 years or so, but there’s a huge difference between Mexicans taking jobs and automation taking jobs. Mostly being that a specific part of a specific state might have higher than average undocumented workers taking up jobs from documented citizens; whereas when automation happens, entire jobs are made obsolete. So the two aren’t really comparable (which of course didn’t stop StoneToss from trying to compare them, because why would it? He’s a fucking idiot, did we really think simple logic would impede him?).

The comic’s title is a play on the term “Deus Ex Machina”, or when a story is suddenly solved by an unexpected (read: never previously established) person or event. For instance, if at the end of a story the hero is trapped at the edge of a perilous cliff with no clear way to escape and then suddenly decides to fly away Superman-style (with no commentary at all about how they’ve suddenly recalled their ability to fly, or how they’ve never decided to use it before), this would be a Deus Ex Machina. Deus Ex Machina” is a Latin translation of the ancient Greek term “theos ek mēkhanēs“, which when put into English, roughly comes out as ‘god from the machinery’, which is a pretty badass phrase. StoneToss very cleverly replaces “Machina” with “Màquina”, or the Spanish word for “Machine”. Why? Because mexicans lol. How in the world Mexican workers or automation are a dues ex machina is completely beyond me, though it’s likely StoneToss barely thought about what the reference was supposed to actually mean before he used it.

The description takes the term “labor market”, otherwise known as the ‘job market’, and slyly(?) spins into a saying: that labor is marketed, and the cheapest supplier of labor (an undocumented worker or an automaton) will win the bid for the job. So here’s a fun little thing I’m going to do. I’m going to type something SARCASTIC in blue text, and then write what I ACTUALLY mean in red text. Ready? Here I go: Wow, StoneToss! What a clever and sly way of making commentary on competition for jobs, your comics are so coy and deep. StoneToss you are fucking stupid.