Calvin and Hobbes by Bill Watterson for September 12, 2020

This cartoon says so much about today.

2+2= 22 and you can’t tell me otherwise!

This cartoon was in my history textbook back in middle school!

you’re a riot, Calvin

Remember, without math, we are cavemen eating mud.

It would appear that Calvin was the creator of ‘common core’.

He’s starting to have another meltdown!! Quick, get his meds!!!

Make Calvin Great Again ,

A college professor seriously contended recently that the simple equation 2+2=4 “reeks of white supremacist patriarchy.”

When we were young, my brother used to say “Let’s not and say we did” a lot!

I’ve got a kid AND a grandkid who are able to do one kind of math, but as soon as you start to extend the range (moving from adding to subtracting, say), it all falls apart and they can do neither. Then, if you push ahead with (subtraction, say) they can eventually get so that works, but (addition) is completely gone. In retrospect, I think it was almost entirely boredom. Asking them to do math is like asking me to keep track of celebrity status.

On the other hand, this could be part of that New Math that Tom Lehrer did a song about some 60 or so years ago ….

When can his dad see that his son is the next Albert Einstien.

“She said I had to spend more time on math? Why couldn’t she just tell Mom about the noodle incident and leave it at that?”

Suppose that spaceships A and B are traveling towards each other with one spaceship traveling at 8 times the speed of light and the other at 4 times the speed of light. What is their combined speed? If you apply the theory of relativity equations, all answers are equally valid because I have no idea what the true answer is.

Who knew Calvin was a snowflake.

Mathematics is a deep state conspiracy. It’s all a hoax. You have your “facts”? Well, I have alternative facts!

Calvin was ahead of his times.He went on to become a stock broker made people invest 8+4 and returned 7

The corporate world does it all the time and you know it, Dad. The big corporations make millions but then declare a loss.

They’d better hurry and get him fitted for a MAGA hat.

Calvin is six going on sixteen…

(I remember a time when political discourse was frowned upon in this particular forum. I miss those days.)

If you added a negative number to 8 you would come out with less than you started.

I notice that Calvin seems to be a bit bi polar here. Even though this is dated in 1990 that is still not exactly half way between the well behaved kids of Leave it to Beaver and today’s unruly mob that can’t be spanked and are in need of psychology induced medication. I am glad that I was born in the Beaver Cleaver era. I’d rather behave so my father doesn’t take me out to the woodshed instead of living in a drug induced haze against my will.

Yes Calvin, you have a right to remain stupid. You need not educate yourself and work diligently toward a better future. There are others out there that will, in their naivete, struggle hard all their lives to earn money and we will tax that income and provide you with everything you need so you will be equal in all appearances to those that work hard for a living.

Funny, that’s seems to be what happens with my paycheck.

Yes!

I think screaming American bigots should look up occasionally and realise there are other countries on the planet and on internet forums that don’t give a toss about your racist lying president, or his language-mafia opponents. We come here to comment on Calvin & Hobbes. Incidentally, on the recent annual report on the most liveable advanced countries, US ranks 28th, not 1st. Not even close to “greatest” – in fact, two below the island of Cyprus!

I have a right not to be bothered by gravity! SPLAT! Reality doesn’t care about your mental delusions.

Calvin sounds like a Trumpster! :O

Calvin grew up, went to college, attended parties, and spread Covid to people he loved.

This is so true, but this was written well before Trump. That things haven’t changed is of course, inevitable.

I’m with calvin

Always called adding, subtracting, multiplication and division, arithmetic. Math was that toxic mind bending trig, algebra, geometry, number theory, abstract algebra…and the mind bending cousin, physics. If you don’t get a firm grasp on basic “math”, your foundation is built on sand and will collapse woefully in the not too distant future. I can do arithmetic in my head, math gives me a headache.

Somebody needs to lay a hand on that disrespectful kid! ;o[

I’ve seen the government add things to the budget and come out with less than they had before.

Kid, you’re about one more wisecrack away from losing your TV privileges – cool it!

And the parents never ended up in an insane asylum?

Who is it that keeps complaining that Calvin and Hobbes shouldn’t be political? Huh? This sure looks like current politics to me…

He might make a great trial lawyer. Most attorneys were lazy in math.

This cartoon sounds too horribly familiar.

30 years later and …. sigh

So basically Calvin = right-wing populists.

As an occasional math tutor for family and friends, I have only seen students who wanted to know how to get through the class with good grades. It doesn’t make good cartoons, though.

Calvin was just ahead of the curve. He lived in his own little Alternate Reality based on made up facts long before everyone else fell into that trap.

I could make a pointed political comment, but I’ll be nice and not.

and, since it was written about 1985 the direction it continued

“The universe is not governed by individual perception; it matters what’s true.” – Seth MacFarlane

Calvin is in desperate need of a spanking.

If you can declare bankruptcy & end up with millions, why not?

Math is hard but fair. The answers come out the same once you figure out the rules. Of course, there are a lot of rules, especially if you…just stick to Euclidean space.

The sum of two negative numbers is less than either of the addends. Dad is wrong.

8+4=7 sounds like most folk’s paychecks these days.

What about adding negative numbers?

Is Calvin old enough to run for president? He’d be a shoe-in.

Calvin may have a future as an accountant for the Bernie Madoffs of the world. $8 from investors +$4 in gains = $7 back to investors.

I struggled with math all through school. I always thought I was stupid in that area until one day, as adult, I realized that I have what I call “number dyslexia.” I would look at a number and swear that I was looking at 98, for example. Then, when I looked at it again, I would see an 89. That explained why, on tests, I was so sure I had answered the questions correctly, only to find out I hadn’t. I just wish I had discovered that sooner, because, as a mostly A student in everything else, my self-esteem really took a hit. It didn’t hold me back, though. I became a Licensed Professional Counselor, and throughout my career, I managed to help quite a few people. I’m just glad I didn’t want to become an accountant!

Calvin just needs the Participation Grade (Check mark?) for math. He did spend ten minutes on it.

Math is math, Calvin. It doesn’t care where you live or what you believe.

Probably the ONLY time Calvin got any help with his homework.

I see future grown-up Calvin as a successful snake oil salesman or some other type of con man, shyster, etc. Lousy at math, great at manipulating people.

So Calvin is an anti-vaxxer?

I was in his class. I got the same answer.

I would just like to say, for the record, that the school district I work at has been back to school for two weeks now. And my students, grades 7 – 12, have all been acting better and more adult-like than the comments in this section. It’s been so refreshing being around my kids the last two weeks and not all of this childlike rhetoric displayed in comic sections. If you don’t like Trump, fine, don’t like him and don’t vote for him. If you don’t like Biden, fine, don’t like him and don’t vote him. Whether you’re a Democrat or Republican, makes no difference to me. All I know is we just recognized one of our most solemn days in American history on Friday and we are not honoring the memories of those lost that day by these comments. I hate the government. It cannot get out of its own way. Yet the more I hear and listen to adults complain (about it) the more I appreciate the young people I work with. We have our hands full with this pandemic. Let’s show our kids how we can, and should, lead by example. Thank you and have a good day.

would you look at that, Watterson predicted “Alternative facts” almost 30 years in advance…

Sadly everyone with a job and bills knows that you definitely can add things up and have less than when you started

Dad – Calvin should know there are consequences for bad grades rather than you and your wife nonchalantly mentioning it when it happens.

He got his wrongs, too !

Calvin does the mistakes just for the heck of it. He knows the answer alright. His refusal to follow academics is cute. His palm expressions in the second panel is priceless.

What he means is that you should start adding the numbers instead of doing it random especially if it’s a VERY easy question