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I'm glad the writer enjoyed taking the piss out of The Oatmeal, but serious articles responding to a mostly-tongue-in-cheek webcomic seem to have missed the poi

I'm glad the writer enjoyed taking the piss out of The Oatmeal, but serious articles responding to a mostly-tongue-in-cheek webcomic seem to have missed the point. I wonder if he'll write an article next about how working from home doesn't actually destroy our abilities of communication and continence.

kevinchen 14y ago
Right, but while it is clear that the comic about working from home was for humor, some people have taken the comic about Tesla vs Edison as fact.
- babarock 14y ago
  I think the "cult of Tesla" preceded the comic. It seems to me like conspiracy theorists particularly affectionate this story, for some reason. I guess that the author was simply refuting the comic as the latest manifestation of an annoying trend.
  - Ygg2 14y ago
    You don't know the half of it. I actually have a biography of Tesla where it says he could generate earthquakes, extract free energy from space and whatnot... And my suspension of belief cracks. Perhaps he really could do some of the amazing thing he claimed but talking to aliens and pigeons that had laser eyes? I dunno maybe he was a wee bit unstable.
ForrestN 14y ago
Really? I don't quite understand how you're using "tongue-in-cheek" here, but I didn't take the article to be sarcastic at all. I'm not an avid reader of the comic, but it reads to me like someone who's a passionate fan of Tesla, making a sincere argument for Tesla's importance relative to Edison (and further, making an argument against revering Edison at all), and then going so far as to thank him. I don't know enough about it to have a position on who's more correct, but the fact that it's a webcomic, and therefor somehow "unserious," doesn't imply that the author doesn't believe what he's saying. If the point is being missed, if it's not that Tesla is an overlooked genius who deserved, and deserves, more admiration, what is the point, exactly?
- kylemaxwell 14y ago
  If you take this particular comic in the context of the rest of The Oatmeal, it seems clear (to me, at least) that the author likes hyperbole for comic effect. Maybe I'm wrong: maybe this is the one instance where he's totally and completely sincere in his approach with no exaggeration, but that strikes me as unlikely.
  - ForrestN 14y ago
    This is a bit straw man; no one ever said he wasn't exaggerating. The author isn't objecting to some precisely calibrated sentiment. He's disputing the premise: that Tesla is singularly important, and that Edison is vastly overrated. The author is exaggerating or effect, but the effect sought is to make a case that isn't sarcastic, but rather quite sincere.
- andywood 14y ago
  The point of 'The Oatmeal' isn't necessarily to be funny. The focus of the work of Matt Inman has always been to get pageviews, and he's notoriously good at it. Sometimes it's by being funny, sometimes it's by finding something that resonates, but most often it's by a certain type of pandering that IMO Inman has perfected. Tesla is the perfect subject for a comic whose point is pageviews through resonance and pandering. There has always been a mythos about Tesla the Geek Underdog in geek circles. Many act like it's a badge of honor to know more about Tesla or to revere him or contrast him with Edison. I've even seen t-shirts like this comic. The subject matter and the treatment of it fit perfectly with my idea of what The Oatmeal has always been about.

kevinchen 14y ago

Right, but while it is clear that the comic about working from home was for humor, some people have taken the comic about Tesla vs Edison as fact.

babarock 14y ago
I think the "cult of Tesla" preceded the comic. It seems to me like conspiracy theorists particularly affectionate this story, for some reason. I guess that the author was simply refuting the comic as the latest manifestation of an annoying trend.
- Ygg2 14y ago
  You don't know the half of it. I actually have a biography of Tesla where it says he could generate earthquakes, extract free energy from space and whatnot... And my suspension of belief cracks. Perhaps he really could do some of the amazing thing he claimed but talking to aliens and pigeons that had laser eyes? I dunno maybe he was a wee bit unstable.

ForrestN 14y ago

Really? I don't quite understand how you're using "tongue-in-cheek" here, but I didn't take the article to be sarcastic at all. I'm not an avid reader of the comic, but it reads to me like someone who's a passionate fan of Tesla, making a sincere argument for Tesla's importance relative to Edison (and further, making an argument against revering Edison at all), and then going so far as to thank him. I don't know enough about it to have a position on who's more correct, but the fact that it's a webcomic, and therefor somehow "unserious," doesn't imply that the author doesn't believe what he's saying. If the point is being missed, if it's not that Tesla is an overlooked genius who deserved, and deserves, more admiration, what is the point, exactly?

kylemaxwell 14y ago
If you take this particular comic in the context of the rest of The Oatmeal, it seems clear (to me, at least) that the author likes hyperbole for comic effect. Maybe I'm wrong: maybe this is the one instance where he's totally and completely sincere in his approach with no exaggeration, but that strikes me as unlikely.
- ForrestN 14y ago
  This is a bit straw man; no one ever said he wasn't exaggerating. The author isn't objecting to some precisely calibrated sentiment. He's disputing the premise: that Tesla is singularly important, and that Edison is vastly overrated. The author is exaggerating or effect, but the effect sought is to make a case that isn't sarcastic, but rather quite sincere.
andywood 14y ago
The point of 'The Oatmeal' isn't necessarily to be funny. The focus of the work of Matt Inman has always been to get pageviews, and he's notoriously good at it. Sometimes it's by being funny, sometimes it's by finding something that resonates, but most often it's by a certain type of pandering that IMO Inman has perfected. Tesla is the perfect subject for a comic whose point is pageviews through resonance and pandering. There has always been a mythos about Tesla the Geek Underdog in geek circles. Many act like it's a badge of honor to know more about Tesla or to revere him or contrast him with Edison. I've even seen t-shirts like this comic. The subject matter and the treatment of it fit perfectly with my idea of what The Oatmeal has always been about.