It's about authoritarianism! You're busy wondering if he's wearing pants, but the point is he is not doing whatever he wants. His dad programmed him to do what he's told.
this post was submitted on 29 Aug 2025
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His dad programmed him to do what he's told.
Well THAT sentence caught my attention. My wife and I are very much in an "It Ends With Us" mindset when it comes to that kind of indoctrination. Which, by the way, often comes from otherwise loving and well-meaning parents who are indoctrinated themselves.
My son seems to have a lot of the same tendencies as me, and a life full of anxiety over all the rules around you is not what I have planned, to say the least. It's quite possible to be the awesome fun parents and also raise a person who isn't an asshole, as long as you remember to prioritize those things and put in some effort. (the word "effort" sounds negative there, but the secret is that spending that time on your kid will almost always be the best choice for your own future well being. Close family relationships are a big deal to our brains, turns out)
What fucks with me is that you can't control all the variables. School and peers can outweigh the ideas you try to put forward. I feel like I'm working on deprogramming more than I actually have a chance to teach already and my kids are only small.
Schroedinger's pants. He may be wearing them or not, depending on your interpretation.
He ain't wearing no pants
Neither do I
joke's on you, i work from home and a t-shirt is all i need ^^
oh bother
🐻
🟥🍯
I almost forgot to put on a proper shirt one time (I was wearing a tank top) and realized as soon as I turned on my camera. Fortunately I was able to duck quickly and turn it off.
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I don't even need a shirt. Webcam not required.
Yeah in summer it's 35 degrees (C) in my flat so a T shirt is also too much
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On the bright side with remote work you can work without pants.
Look closer, he isn't working from home. That's a cubicle
maybe he lives there
I mean... I can't tell if he has pants on or not in that final panel. Maybe he won? 🤷♂️
One of the many perks of remote work!
It’s like the mullet of remote work: business on top (suit), party on the bottom (underwear or sweatpants if it’s cold).
Edit: I overlooked that he’s in a cubicle but my point still stands (sits?).
Yeah, I liked this one. The first layer is "haha, he's not wearing pants, rad lad", then the next layer hits; "oh shit, he is wearing pants, and he's definitely not doing what he wants..".
Here's a conundrum: what if most people wanted to organize the society in a certain way? They are doing what they want. Are they not allowed to do that? People who make complaints about not being able to do what they want rarely seem keen to grant others the same privilege.
Also, the guy in the comic is doing exactly what he wants - it's just that he probably wanted a job more than he wanted to not wear pants. The issue isn't not being able to do what one wants, the issue is that people don't want any inconvenience for doing so. The more you learn to tolerate inconvenience, the more free you are to do whatever you want. But you can't have your cake and eat it too.
You can't both resist a system and then demand to be able to enjoy the fruits of the system you are resisting.
He only "wants" a job because of the oppressive systemic forces that dictate the society he lives in necessitating him having one or else his access to material necessities be threatened.
The guy is not doing what he wants. He is being forced into doing what he is told to do (work a meaningless office job) because he was conditioned in childhood to do just that by his parents instead of doing what he wants.
oppressive systemic forces that dictate the society he lives in necessitating him having one or else his access to material necessities be threatened.
The fact that the society was built to work like this shows that enough people wanted it more than they wanted something else. Why should one individual's wants matter more than the wants of a collective? Isn't that just you trying to impose your wants on everyone else?
Your questions are valid but your first sentence is logically flawed, as written; It also presupposes that society was built as it is with intention, rather than shaped over time by an accumulation of processes, some of which included violent coercion.
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How do you know he's wearing pants in the last panel?
Can someone decode what the hell this person is even trying to say.
We live in a society and you can't have it all your way.
Social norms are necessary when people come together.
Someones interest in not wearing pants needs to be weighted against other peoples interest not wanting to see their hairy balls halfway falling out of their slip. Imagine if that coworker whose "jokes" are just short of sexual harassment now gets to run around naked and rub his balls on your desk and you are not allowed to tell him to fuck off, because that would violate his "no-pants"-rights.
Yea fuck that authoritarian mentality.
The only thing that needs to be weighted is when someone's actions directly affect others around them, not against the whims of others who need to learn how to cope with people existing differently than they would. Not wearing pants does nothing to no one. Your desire to not see nudity is your problem and your problem alone, and it is not a valid excuse to dictate the actions of others when those actions are harmless.
Some social "norms" are ass-backwards, based in toxic, archaic ideology only meant to oppress, and need to be dismantled to improve and create a free-er society.
That's a nice hyperbolic hypothetical that exaggerates the issue, making it seem more than it actually is. No one is saying people should be able to go around "rubbing their balls all over" your personal property. That's still harassment. Inappropriate and sexual "jokes" directed at another individual is still harassment. You would be completely within your right to tell them to quit fucking with you, because they are directly affecting you by doing so.
Being able to just exist while not wearing pants because it is how someone would be most comfortable, regardless of how others around them feel about nudity themselves, is not harassment, and they should be well within their right to do so, others around them need to learn to cope.
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You can't both resist a system and then demand to be able to enjoy the fruits of the system you are resisting.
I've spoken with some folks who might arrrrrgue with that.
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When WFH you better bet I've done this.
Yeah never stand up during a video call lol
And yet, this young dude will most likely also procreate. What a great concept for existing. Working for someone else's good life most of your own life. Dressing, behaving, speaking, thinking in conformity and uniformity with only a slight tolerance for deviation. And then also procreating and spreading the disease to their children. True love 😁
Nobody is forcing you to work a white collar 9-5. The dad was 100 percent right.
I agree to a point. I love the work i do. It makes money and helps keep the family afloat, but since it is a leading role in early education with challenging kids it gives me the opportunity to do something that can help a lot of children that would otherwise be grinded down by the system.
But.
I still miss spending time with my kids. I still hate that i can't support my wife the same way i could during our stay at home year together.
If i would be financially independent i would for sure do something beneficial to others with my time, but it would't take up quite as much of my time and energy.
So yes, nobody has to work a white collar job. If you are privileged enough to have a choice, by all means do something that you love. But it still is something most of us have to do.
That's not entirely true. I've worked many intense labor positions. I excelled in them and loved getting paid to exercise. The pay was shit and the hours were completely unreliable. I tried really hard to get another similar job with a more successful company and got basically nowhere. I now make way more than I ever have now that I work in the public sector in a DBA/development position.
I love the work and have always loved working with code, but honestly I'd prefer doing manual labor. I was in great shape, I could study audiobooks all day, and I could be high all day. Manual labor work is fucking great! The problem was I had no paid holidays, no sick time, no benefits whatsoever, the hours weren't guaranteed, and my coworkers and boss were extremely racist and often dropped the N word out of nowhere. I'm part Mexican and often reminded them of that fact, but I know they just saw me as ""One of the good ones". Also they made the position a 1099 position even though I worked for one company and had 0 control over anything.
I'd still switch back to manual labor if I could make the same amount I do now with the same benefits.
Are you thinking what I am thinking?
Yes. I don't put on pants for work.
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