The character is deliberately offensive. I believe I have standing to draw these traits with AI. Why? Because they overlap with my own. I use marijuana and am trying to quit because I believe it makes me stupid. I am an American citizen and a coder. I have a bad back and forward-head posture, and I am skinny. In other words, if it’s your people, you can say it! Although I am a straight-ticket Democrat, Republicans are also my people: they are fellow Americans, and some are longtime friends of my family. I am not, however, a Republican, and I do not want to deprive other people of work. That is the difference between me and the character.
The comic’s actual subject is labor. In my view, the American middle class is waging class warfare against competent foreign workers by barring their entry into skilled jobs. A person of sound body and mind should have the opportunity to work for cheap when advancement within the company is not merely possible, but easy. For many of us, there is no other way in. Many people begin at low pay, gain experience, and later become more successful within the same company.
I also believe that barring skilled workers from the American labor force is a form of rent-seeking. Wikipedia gives this example:
Another example of rent-seeking is the limiting of access to lucrative occupations, as by medieval guilds or modern state certifications and occupational licensing.
I believe middle-class Americans — particularly people like the American coder in the main comic — are directly responsible for this behavior. Artificially limiting the labor supply to raise the price of labor while avoiding harder work is exactly the kind of conduct this comic is intended to ridicule.
“A planned economy, which adjusts production to the needs of the community, would distribute the work to be done among all those able to work and would guarantee a livelihood to every man, woman, and child.”
— Albert Einstein, “Why Socialism?”
Now we can move on to the main comic.
But first, a mini comic!
