It hurts to suggest this, but perhaps it’s because having a lot of spikes is a better survival strategy than putting some really big holes in your shield.
Leorale
Maybe it wasn’t a shield — it could’ve been for dissipating heat, or for being extremely stylish.
The phrase “no notes” is originally a showbusiness term. In its original context, “notes” mean brief editorial critiques on how a piece of work can be improved. Praising the work isn’t a “note” in this sense, and “no notes” indicates that you have no ideas for improving it, not that you are making no comments at all. Hope that helps.
(If they come at you with pedantry, you come at them with even more pedantry…)
Do people really talk this much about their religious status? Like it’s their whole identity. I’d much rather know what music you like, or if you’ve played any good video games that flew under the radar.
For some people that is their whole identity. And it wasn’t that long ago (in comic time not our time) that being a fundamentalist Christian pretty much was her whole identity for as long as she could remember. It’s not a surprise for someone like that who becomes an atheist to make atheism their whole identity, at least for a while.
Some people talk about it so much, they’re willing to murder anyone who talks about anything else. An 18-year-old figuring out their identity is not representative of “people” at any scale beyond their own life.
there are people who define themselves as strongly by their atheism as some do by their faith.
The former tends to get pissed when you point out the similarity. Which makes doing it doubly fun.
misanthropope
so if i told you that you argue just like donald trump, you might be irritated but it wouldn’t be because it was accurate. your irritation (if any) would hinge on the fact ive taken a superficial similarity- using garbage “both sides” assertions to try to support a specious point- and exaggerated it to the point of being slander.
Da Boy
The thing is that many atheists just switched what they believe in but kept the mental patterns and behaviour. They are Fundies but for Anti-Religion and that’s just kinda annoying. Like if you abandoned religion then why are you spending every waking moment obsessing over it so much?
Adept
If you feel you’ve been raised in a cult and brainwashed, I can understand feeling some way about it upon waking up.
thejeff
That’s definitely part of it, but it’s not just that. Many also go through an “I’m so smart, skeptical and rational that I figured this out and thus I must be completely right about all of it and many other things too.”
Similar to Joyce’s shift from “But I’ve learned I’m usually wrong” to “I’ve now got everything important figured out, here at the end of my life.” But often more so.
One thing that often happens is that they treat all religious people as fundamentalist Christians and get upset with those that don’t fit the role. Thinking that all religions are cults because theirs was. Or all religious people hate LGBTQ folks. Or should. Or that they should all be literalists.
Da Boy
Yeah what thejeff said. It’s less about people who were genuinely victimized by religious groups and more the teenagers and young adults whose act of rebellion is to shit all over people who never really hurt them, while acting like they are morally and intellectually superior to them.
Adept
Well, I do personally feel that bringing a child up in any faith is morally highly questionable. An adult finding religion is their business, but claiming the supernatural is real to a child sets them up with an illogical world view many never escape. It’s even worse to claim your religion is correct and true, and every other one is just a silly superstition. Jesus definitely came back from the dead, but Mohammed ascending to heaven on a flying horse is just a story, and so forth.
Da Boy
And people can definitely discuss these things without being condescending assholes who thinks they have all the answers in the world, that’s what this is about.
Da Boy
And let’s be fair. This isn’t about supernatural. It’s about a framework to live by, every person needs one if they want to live a stable fulfilling life. It’s no different than raising a child in say, an atheistic view of the world. What you impart is values and moral rules.
Religion did not just magically Manifest out of thin air. It’s a product of probably tens of thousands years of civilizational development and wisdom gathered by countless generations. It guided those people and it did Something right because their descendants survived, thrived and created the modern civilization.
Remember that the modern equality movements Are born of Christian beliefs of all being equal before God and that you need to be kind to others. Just because you disagree with the supernatural part of it doesn’t mean you can just throw the whole thing away.
thejeff
I’m not as harsh on religion as some, but it’s a bit much to claim modern equality movements are born of Christian beliefs. While certainly some have used such arguments as motivation, Christianity on the whole has opposed such movements at least as much as promoted them. And such movements basically didn’t exist for long centuries of Christian dominance in Europe. It was the Enlightenment break with religion and later increasing secularization that really drove those changes.
Da Boy
Ah to clarify my statement. I was referring to the fact that Christianity created a foundation for these movements. Kind of like when you have a tech-tree, first was Christianity with ideas of equality and kindness and then next on the tech tree were ideas that built up on those foundations.
Dana W
No, we just get endlessly annoyed that theists define disbelief as a form of faith. Atheism is a faith like baldness is a hair color and not collecting stamps is a hobby. I hope she isn’t getting religious again, she really makes the comic for me.
yeah, why would anyone talk about centuries old systems of thought on which entire world systems are built. lets talk about something deep and interesting like brat summer
If a Buddhist doesn’t believe in gods/spirits, they’re an atheist. Perhaps not the kind of atheist we are most familiar with, but still a kind of atheist.
Aelfwine
If they don’t believe in gods they’re not theists — atheistic buddhism exists.
C.T. Phipps
They are, however, religious and believe in supernatural phenomenon.
As well as a spiritual side to reality.
Note that Buddhists find the Western category of atheism derivative and eye-roilling too.
Strictly speaking, the Abrahamic God is also not named God. We explicitly do not call them by their real name because it is too holy to be spoken, but they are also known as YHWH, or Yahweh, or Jehovah, or He Who Makes That Which Has Been Made, or He Who Is.
Wise Old Guru
When I was just a little Jewish kid who asked a lotta questions, my father told me that one of the oldest spiritual traditions is the idea that Naming Calls. You don’t say His name out of respect, sure…but you also don’t say it because He might hear you and show up, which…probably wouldn’t go great given His history of the type of stuff He does when He shows up.
Anyway I am still tickled by the idea that God follows Beetlejuice rules.
clif
Names have power.
thejeff
“Beware what you name a thing.”
As attested by a friend of mine who named a kitten Loki.
Keeping in mind that Becky and Dina’s first date was the two of them holding hands while looking at dinosaurs on the computer (or like, one of their first dates), I think it’s just a joke that Becky’s worried that Dina being hand in hand with someone while talking about dinosaurs is like… emotional cheating or something?
I mean, they did walk into a safe a few chapters ago.
Yumi
I assume by “chapters” you mean “strips,” but I’m also amusing myself by imagining they walked into a safe chapters ago an have just been chilling there ever since. Been there since February our time. People in-universe are just starting to notice.
161 thoughts on “Reverting”
Ana Chronistic
imagine, instead of keeping your partner from gawking at other people, having to keep them from hearing others talk about Lokiceratops rangiformis
Thag Simmons
Why is it whenever a cool new Ceratopsian is found it’s always a Centrosaur. When are we going to find some cool weird Chasmosaur?
Rolf of Many Doors
Cause no one’s looking in chasms for dinosaurs anymore
Androiddreams
There’s a distinct lack of people willing to Chas it up and nobody is talking about it
APersonAmI
This is the best YuGiOh joke I’ve read in years. Good job.
Rolf of Many Doors
Rex Raptor x Chazz fanfic plays on hacked muzak
Ray Radlein
I never could find enough candies to evolve my Chasmosaur
Decidedly Orthogonal
It hurts to suggest this, but perhaps it’s because having a lot of spikes is a better survival strategy than putting some really big holes in your shield.
Leorale
Maybe it wasn’t a shield — it could’ve been for dissipating heat, or for being extremely stylish.
https://www.dumbingofage.com/2015/comic/book-5/04-walking-with-dina/edmontosaurus/
Doctor_Who
Talking about dinosaurs?!
They’re not even on their third date!
Lysbeth
No no that’s diner sores, dinosaurs are good for a second date
Deanatay
Holding hands, taking about dinosaurs… you know.
INTIMACY
Thag Simmons
That’s a very good bit of Joyce dialogue in the second panel, no notes.
Risky
I’m having trouble wrapping my head around it.
Pylgrim
Joyce: Comfortable to drop “fucking” even for unnecessary emphasis now.
Also Joyce: Can’t say the word “butt”, let alone “ass”.
PedanticJerkass
Your note was “That’s a very good bit of Joyce dialogue in the second panel.” So… yes notes.
Daibhid C
The phrase “no notes” is originally a showbusiness term. In its original context, “notes” mean brief editorial critiques on how a piece of work can be improved. Praising the work isn’t a “note” in this sense, and “no notes” indicates that you have no ideas for improving it, not that you are making no comments at all. Hope that helps.
(If they come at you with pedantry, you come at them with even more pedantry…)
Opus the Poet
Or shovel the BS with a backhoe. or an excavator formerly known as a steamshovel.
shadowcell
A CHALLENGER APPEARS
C.T. Phipps
Is she an atheist?
Maybe she’s something else that doesn’t believe in God.
Joyce: THERE ARE OTHER OPTIONS?
Sirksome
Do people really talk this much about their religious status? Like it’s their whole identity. I’d much rather know what music you like, or if you’ve played any good video games that flew under the radar.
Proxiehunter
For some people that is their whole identity. And it wasn’t that long ago (in comic time not our time) that being a fundamentalist Christian pretty much was her whole identity for as long as she could remember. It’s not a surprise for someone like that who becomes an atheist to make atheism their whole identity, at least for a while.
Coatl
Exactly, and let’s hope that now they put a definitive stop to Joyce in that regard.
Amelie Wikström
At least her totalitarian evangelical phase was brief.
PedanticJerkass
For
somefar too many people.Taffy
Some people talk about it so much, they’re willing to murder anyone who talks about anything else. An 18-year-old figuring out their identity is not representative of “people” at any scale beyond their own life.
Freezer
there are people who define themselves as strongly by their atheism as some do by their faith.
The former tends to get pissed when you point out the similarity. Which makes doing it doubly fun.
misanthropope
so if i told you that you argue just like donald trump, you might be irritated but it wouldn’t be because it was accurate. your irritation (if any) would hinge on the fact ive taken a superficial similarity- using garbage “both sides” assertions to try to support a specious point- and exaggerated it to the point of being slander.
Da Boy
The thing is that many atheists just switched what they believe in but kept the mental patterns and behaviour. They are Fundies but for Anti-Religion and that’s just kinda annoying. Like if you abandoned religion then why are you spending every waking moment obsessing over it so much?
Adept
If you feel you’ve been raised in a cult and brainwashed, I can understand feeling some way about it upon waking up.
thejeff
That’s definitely part of it, but it’s not just that. Many also go through an “I’m so smart, skeptical and rational that I figured this out and thus I must be completely right about all of it and many other things too.”
Similar to Joyce’s shift from “But I’ve learned I’m usually wrong” to “I’ve now got everything important figured out, here at the end of my life.” But often more so.
One thing that often happens is that they treat all religious people as fundamentalist Christians and get upset with those that don’t fit the role. Thinking that all religions are cults because theirs was. Or all religious people hate LGBTQ folks. Or should. Or that they should all be literalists.
Da Boy
Yeah what thejeff said. It’s less about people who were genuinely victimized by religious groups and more the teenagers and young adults whose act of rebellion is to shit all over people who never really hurt them, while acting like they are morally and intellectually superior to them.
Adept
Well, I do personally feel that bringing a child up in any faith is morally highly questionable. An adult finding religion is their business, but claiming the supernatural is real to a child sets them up with an illogical world view many never escape. It’s even worse to claim your religion is correct and true, and every other one is just a silly superstition. Jesus definitely came back from the dead, but Mohammed ascending to heaven on a flying horse is just a story, and so forth.
Da Boy
And people can definitely discuss these things without being condescending assholes who thinks they have all the answers in the world, that’s what this is about.
Da Boy
And let’s be fair. This isn’t about supernatural. It’s about a framework to live by, every person needs one if they want to live a stable fulfilling life. It’s no different than raising a child in say, an atheistic view of the world. What you impart is values and moral rules.
Religion did not just magically Manifest out of thin air. It’s a product of probably tens of thousands years of civilizational development and wisdom gathered by countless generations. It guided those people and it did Something right because their descendants survived, thrived and created the modern civilization.
Remember that the modern equality movements Are born of Christian beliefs of all being equal before God and that you need to be kind to others. Just because you disagree with the supernatural part of it doesn’t mean you can just throw the whole thing away.
thejeff
I’m not as harsh on religion as some, but it’s a bit much to claim modern equality movements are born of Christian beliefs. While certainly some have used such arguments as motivation, Christianity on the whole has opposed such movements at least as much as promoted them. And such movements basically didn’t exist for long centuries of Christian dominance in Europe. It was the Enlightenment break with religion and later increasing secularization that really drove those changes.
Da Boy
Ah to clarify my statement. I was referring to the fact that Christianity created a foundation for these movements. Kind of like when you have a tech-tree, first was Christianity with ideas of equality and kindness and then next on the tech tree were ideas that built up on those foundations.
Dana W
No, we just get endlessly annoyed that theists define disbelief as a form of faith. Atheism is a faith like baldness is a hair color and not collecting stamps is a hobby. I hope she isn’t getting religious again, she really makes the comic for me.
Bruno
yeah, why would anyone talk about centuries old systems of thought on which entire world systems are built. lets talk about something deep and interesting like brat summer
clif
The bratwurst was good this summer.
S.R.
This /is/ also a cartoon. People’re gonna be silly and act in somewhat exaggerated ways.
HueSatLight
there’s all kinds of theists that don’t believe a god named God exists.
Charles Phipps
There’s a lot of theists who don’t believe in gods technically, depending on what flavor of Buddhism is your ice cream.
GoodbyBallad
If a Buddhist doesn’t believe in gods/spirits, they’re an atheist. Perhaps not the kind of atheist we are most familiar with, but still a kind of atheist.
Aelfwine
If they don’t believe in gods they’re not theists — atheistic buddhism exists.
C.T. Phipps
They are, however, religious and believe in supernatural phenomenon.
As well as a spiritual side to reality.
Note that Buddhists find the Western category of atheism derivative and eye-roilling too.
Smallmoon
Strictly speaking, the Abrahamic God is also not named God. We explicitly do not call them by their real name because it is too holy to be spoken, but they are also known as YHWH, or Yahweh, or Jehovah, or He Who Makes That Which Has Been Made, or He Who Is.
Wise Old Guru
When I was just a little Jewish kid who asked a lotta questions, my father told me that one of the oldest spiritual traditions is the idea that Naming Calls. You don’t say His name out of respect, sure…but you also don’t say it because He might hear you and show up, which…probably wouldn’t go great given His history of the type of stuff He does when He shows up.
Anyway I am still tickled by the idea that God follows Beetlejuice rules.
clif
Names have power.
thejeff
“Beware what you name a thing.”
As attested by a friend of mine who named a kitten Loki.
Opus the Poet
Similar to what happened when the kids named their kitten after the cat on Smurfs, who was named after a demon/avenging angel. Azrael.
Adept
I liked your anecdote a lot Wise Old Guru. Thank you for sharing.
anon
maybe she’ll be ‘agnostic’ in the long run but given everything that happened i wouldn’t be surprised if she’s overly compensating
Sirksome
Is that a bad thing? Talking about dinosaurs that is. I don’t understand the distress at that.
Doopyboop
Keeping in mind that Becky and Dina’s first date was the two of them holding hands while looking at dinosaurs on the computer (or like, one of their first dates), I think it’s just a joke that Becky’s worried that Dina being hand in hand with someone while talking about dinosaurs is like… emotional cheating or something?
Yumi
It’s that combined with the hand-in-hand. Becky’s worried it’s gonna get or is flirty– they’re talking about dinosaurs, after all.
Deanatay
In Becky’s experience, talking about dinosaurs is HOW you flirt.
Deanatay
And yes, she is def totes jealous. She’s jellin’ like Magellan. She so jelly, you can call her PB.
Jeremiah
Becky fear Dina leave her for someone who is as into dinosaurs az hed (it seems). It’s not a rational fear but they seldom are.
Sirksome
Oh, it’s jealousy. I was reading it as if somehow they were in peril. I guess Becky is.
Nono
Not so much jealousy, just anxiety.
Yumi
With their powers combined, discussing dinosaurs could lead to them wandering into the Mesozoic Era.
VolticEXE
I mean, they did walk into a safe a few chapters ago.
Yumi
I assume by “chapters” you mean “strips,” but I’m also amusing myself by imagining they walked into a safe chapters ago an have just been chilling there ever since. Been there since February our time. People in-universe are just starting to notice.
OBBWG
Weren’t you ever taught about the Theropods and the Hymenoptera?
clif
When I strained my Hymenoptera, applying Theropods at night brought Instant Relief.
Instant Relief is my favorite Saurian.
Taffy
“Talking about dinosaurs” is a sapphic dogwhistle that really means “having anal sex near a boat”.
clif
That’s completely old-school. Wearing a T-Rex jawbone on you belt loop is the new Sapphic dogwhistle.
Michael Steamweed
To me, all T-Rex’s are named Sue.
ValdVin
Is it time for a Becky red panel yet?
AY
Cute interaction so far. Hope Joyce doesn’t accidentally make it weird about Carla!
jeffepp