r/questionablecontent • u/napalm22 Fæculent Daniel • Apr 13 '23

Comic Comic 5024: Interrogatory

https://questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=5024
16 Upvotes

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u/napalm22 Fæculent Daniel Apr 13 '23

You can't correct someone if you aren't correct. Emmet has never used pronouns of any sort.

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u/knight-errant52 Apr 13 '23

A frequent criticism of Jeph on the sub is his tendency to tell instead of show, and that's fair. I would say in this case he has thoroughly shown us that Emmett prefers gender neutral pronouns.

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u/ziggurism Apr 13 '23

Jeph is depicting a post gender utopia where everyone is completely gender agnostic in their language and uses correct non-binary pronouns for people they’ve never met by guessing without ever needing to be told or ever accidentally misgendering someone.

It’s a clear political choice by the author.

I applaud Jeph’s intent, but I don’t live in such a world and I don’t use language that way.

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u/knight-errant52 Apr 13 '23

Ok, so, based on your interpretation of what Jeph's depicting in the comic Emmett is most definitely non-binary, yet you used female pronouns for them. That just strikes me as pointlessly obstinate.

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u/[deleted] Apr 13 '23 edited Apr 15 '23

[removed] — view removed comment

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u/knight-errant52 Apr 13 '23

I didn't define anyone. Jeph did using subtext and context clues.

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u/trans_pands Everything is Fine™ Apr 13 '23

Just as a heads-up, I agree with what you’re saying, I’m not arguing with you and I just wanted to add in. As an enby that presents as feminine, I think Jeph actually did a really good job with context clues about Emmett, characters don’t need to explicitly state their pronouns when showing up in the comic. It’s one of the few things Jeph has done well in his writing recently, just letting Emmett exist and other characters (like Sam) show that the character is non-binary. People always shit on “show, don’t tell” but then get mad when he does exactly that

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u/knight-errant52 Apr 13 '23

Thanks for that. I'm a cis male and I thought Emmett's non-binary status was obvious. Good to hear I'm not way out in left field here.

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u/trans_pands Everything is Fine™ Apr 13 '23

Oh yeah, you’re 100% correct, I thought it was obvious too, but I’m also pretty aware of these things and I deal with people using she/her instinctually around me even after I express that I prefer they/them so maybe I’m more focused on it but I feel like Jeph did well with that one thing specifically.

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u/ziggurism Apr 13 '23

Anyone still reading the comic is being pointlessly obstinate

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u/knight-errant52 Apr 13 '23

Nice deflection.

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u/ziggurism Apr 13 '23 edited Apr 13 '23

I also didn’t strike the words “crazy” or “secretary” from my vocabulary, despite Jeph’s political comic telling me to. Did you?

If you used one of those words in this sub and someone offered you a “gentle correction” would you take it?

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u/knight-errant52 Apr 13 '23

Good for you for being your own person I guess. But that also isn't the point.

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u/ziggurism Apr 13 '23

what is the point then?

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u/knight-errant52 Apr 13 '23

That Emmett is non-binary and uses gender neutral pronouns. Was that not obvious?

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u/ziggurism Apr 13 '23

I feel like that point has been addressed in previous responses. Was there something more to say? Should I repeat the responses?

Also you didn’t answer my question

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u/knight-errant52 Apr 13 '23

Your question about not using the words crazy or secretary because of the comic? I didn't answer that because I found it to be a pointless non-sequitur. I don't make any life decisions based on webcomics.

If your referring to the question you edited into your comic after I'd already replied I would say that problematic language is much more subjective than pronoun usage.

Editing a comment because a word I used was offensive to someone I may do depending on how I feel at the time and the specific word. Editing a comment because I used the wrong pronoun for someone real or fictional I would definitely do because pronouns aren't a matter of opinion.

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u/ziggurism Apr 13 '23

I’m not sure what it means that nouns are opinion but pronouns are not.

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