StoneToss: Episode 43

 

Comic Name: Season of Giving

Description: Merry Christmas to everyone except communists.

Mouseover: Of course, communists aren't too fond of Christmas because you need to be employed to appreciate a day off. 

Date Published: 12/20/2018

What The Comic Is: A man remarks that communism isn't so bad, noting that even Santa Claus is communist. The man, with his friend, look on as a child sits on Santa's lap, receiving a wooden train. The fourth panel reveals a glimpse into Santa's workshop, where terrified elves dressed in rags toil under the whip of a hooded taskmaster, creating toys.

What StoneToss Actually Thinks: People only like communism because they're only seeing the "get free stuff" part of it and aren't seeing the "slave labor" that creates their free things.

Why It's Fucking Stupid: This was the first of two separate Christmas comics StoneToss would create for the 2018 holiday season. While the second one proved to be so stupid and basic it wasn't worth talking about on this blog (you aren't missing anything, it's just a stupid comic about crimes committed by black people), this one caught my interest. I've seen people seemingly misunderstand what the comic is saying, which made it all the more important for me to pick it apart here.

Anyways, StoneToss is trying to strawman and reduce communism (and by extension, anyone who supports communism) as equaling "people get free stuff thanks to slave labor". StoneToss seems to be confusing communism for some sort of pure socialism or government handouts, while also trying to suggest that these handouts are coming at the expense of some bottom-rung caste of workers. In reality, it's the privileged rich who are regulated (so they can't use their wealth and power to assume total control over impoverished workers, as was the norm in the early half of the 1900's USA) and large-scale government financial plans that create the welfare distributed to those who need it. Funny enough, there is no slave caste in the USA who are being whipped around clock to produce welfare money for the working class, so whatever StoneToss is trying to convey with this stupid comic is lost the second it's subjected to the real world.

It's possible, theoretically speaking, that StoneToss meant to mock people who are pro-communism because they believe it means they get free stuff; so it isn't StoneToss who is mixing up what communism is, but rather it is the people who believe it to mean they'll get stuff for free. This would be giving StoneToss a lot of credit, however. It's much more likely he's just a fucking idiot with a poor grasp of communism, subscribing blindly to anti-socialist rhetoric that is commonly found deeply rooted in the USA.

In the comic's mouse over text StoneToss tries to suggest communists aren't employed, despite communist nations historically having very low unemployment rates. This seems to suggest that StoneToss is complaining about people who are merely pro-communist, which he strawmans as being unemployed. The joke doesn't work either way, though, because even someone who isn't employed would be fond of Christmas despite not having a day off of work, as the Christmas holiday normally means a lot more to people than just 'a day off of work'. So StoneToss constructed a joke that isn't clearly aimed at anyone and doesn't even make sense either way. It would've made more sense for StoneToss to make a joke about the USSR banning Christmas, but that requires StoneToss to know literally anything about history/governments/economy/reality.

Comic Name: Working Clash

Description: Hello, comrade.

Mouseover: Quick, name something communists hate more than work. Protip: you can't.

Date Published: 12/27/2018

What The Comic Is: A man in a hammer and sickle t-shirt declares his support for the working class. An oil-drenched rig worker, complete with buck teeth, crucifix necklace and deer-in-the-back-the-truck-that-has-a-confederate-flag-on-it, extends his hand in gratitude of the communist man's support. The communist man glares at the worker's outheld hand with pompous disgust.

What StoneToss Actually Thinks: The 'working class' are confederate flag flying hicks and 'the communists' hate them for being workers/dirty/poor/whatever.

Why It's Fucking Stupid: Yes, StoneToss, I'm sure his religion and the fact that he works a dirty job and hunts deer and drives a truck is what makes people not want to shake his hand, and not the fact he has a confederate flag flying from his vehicle lol. You know, StoneToss, if you're trying to construct a fake safe space reality where the people you don't like are assholes, then you can't really ruin it by making the worker guy fly a confederate flag. So StoneToss, once again, is the person who ruins his own comic. 

But let's look past that. StoneToss is still on some little 'communism bad, they don't have jobs' tantrum that we can assume was planted in his head at the time by someone else. StoneToss is nothing if not a brainless sheep whose ideas are all direct derivatives of whatever or whoever he's subscribed to at the moment, after all. Again, StoneToss depicts communists as hating work or not having jobs, although communism has always been competitive in unemployment rates with capitalist rivals. So therefore it stands to reason that StoneToss must be talking about pro-communist people living in the USA, who he is strawmanning as being unemployed. It's one thing to joke that the people who you don't like are all jobless losers, I guess, but StoneToss takes it further by suggesting that not only are they not employed, but they actively hate and have disdain for those who do have jobs. 

StoneToss depicts those who "have jobs" as being someone that flies a confederate flag (apparently StoneToss is unaware of the millions and millions of people who have jobs and who don't fly confederate flags, I dunno). This is so StoneToss can point to the real world (a place he prefers to spend as little time as possible in) and equate liberals and people who aren't total shit as being job-hating communists when they disparage those who fly confederate flags. Obviously that's the takeaway, after all. It isn't because the confederate flag is a tacky emblem of a bygone era in American history when rich slave owners convinced uneducated peons to fight a war against 'northern aggression'; it's just because everyone who works a job is a redneck with a confederate flag and everyone who doesn't work is a communist who hates the former for working. Duh! Don't you get it? Communists just hate jobs and the entirety of the working class is contained to stereotypical bumpkins and no one else. 

Nah, I'm only kidding. StoneToss is a fucking idiot.