The comic you shared is filled with some many false equivalencies that it's actually kind of funny.
indeed. people that really like this meme are almost telling on themselves. it is enforcing conformism. it is discounting genuine discussion, reminding me of that "Let people enjoy things" meme. it is also full of terrible presentism.
take this one.
panel 3, this is equating
car seat belts (which is a physical safety issue. car accidents kill an average of over 3,000 people a day AFTER we have implemented such safety measures) with
posting. how are we comparing a demand for holding our corporations accountable to greater public safety by improving their products to somebody complaining about corporate tax policy and workers in China? one is a direct physical threat. a car accident could kill any of us on any day. the other is a complaint about how international businesses run pay their taxes, pay their workers, and charge for their phones. essentially a complaint about how Apple prices things.
some guy pops in, comically, to ask a question that nobody asked. when Ralph Nader was bringing the seat belt issue to congress, they weren't saying "Yet you bought a car without one". this is presentism, a kind of common trope people fall into these days. it is ahistorical and promotes ignorance. it is fake
news history. this is why this is a bad meme. nobody actually said this.
how about panel 4? the people who were intelligent smart asses in the Medieval Ages were actually working for the system, they were scholars, Latin writers, people that worked for the church and state producing official religious texts and legal documents. they were the media class. the access elite. the same people who are pundits now were working for the Catholic church during the witch trials, saying "These Christians are so barbaric and idiotic" while working directly for them. we can draw a pretty good line directly from those Latin fetishizing do-nothing "humanists" to current Ivory Tower privilege. they would shed a tear for someone at a witch trial, despite having penned the paperwork which sentenced the condemned to death.
this panel also infantilizes the medieval peasant again, boiling him down to a simpleton who asks "improve society somewhat?". this is an outdated trope, the idiot peasant, and it is historically inaccurate. i refer you to the Peasant's Revolt of 1381.
en.wikipedia.org
"peasants" were not just idiot manual laborers so condescendingly depicted here and elsewhere. this calculated yet failed revolution proves as much. it was purposefully directed, they knew who were the authorities to locate, as well as where the necessary documents and legal paperwork were stored that kept them oppressed. they actually succeeded at capturing the King of England and getting him to give up fuedalism (for this the king's advisers turned on him & quickly quashed the rebellion) it's a fascinating story. better than this trash comic.
just as well, comparing yourself typing away on an iPhone to a medieval peasant is beyond stupid and idiotic. look at the physical realities they lived in, the fact that they lacked so many of the comforts you take for granted. take plumbing for example. you don't have to shit in a bucket and then carry it to compost pile. or eat stale bread again for dinner. be glad for that!
we live in extreme historic privilege and bad memes like this contribute to our obliviousness.