Home
Creators
Search Recent Random
Posts
Search DMs Popular Hash Lookup Tags Random
Importer
Import FAQ
Register Favorites Keys Review DMs Logout
Community
Telegram ThePornDude
Home Creators Posts Import Register Favorites Logout

Early update for July 25, 2025 (Patreon)

Published:
2025-07-24 03:55:01
Edited:
2025-07-24 04:12:58
Imported:
2026-06

Content

she's gotcher number

Files

Comments

Minzoku Bokumetsu

"what do you do about being called out" "...what we just did, I guess"

Kazo

...she ratted them out, didn't she.

Smoochie

….It is increasingly likely that Joyce and Dorothy were seen kissing and are now the faces of protest. Everyone already knows.

Megh

Okay her asking if they got the attention they wanted makes me think for sure most the campus has already seen video of them kissing

Logibear

I wonder if Mary is the type of person who would take photos of people kissing at protests and share it out of spite? Surely that would be out of character. Edit: just realizing that she's enough of a bongo to completely dox these two as well.

Megh

Also curious if this is another recently added strip or if it was always here

GPanda

I’m becoming a raidah fan. Damn you Willis!

C

Raidah being cynical isn't that big a surprise given she's demonstrated her friend group only exists for her own future career benefit.

voyager-ngc5195

If that's the worst interaction these two have with others this evening, they should consider themselves immensely fortunate. As things stand, though, Raidah's more the slowly receding shoreline of the immense drama tsunami about to head their way, hopefully they're paying attention...

William Lewis

Eh, I grew up in white bread central. If there was a protest when I was in high school, I was there, because it's all there could be. Of course it confused most of them when I later joined the Army but if there is any chance for the establishment to reflect the people - our desires and our will- then the people must be part of the establishment. I still get shit as a leftist for that, who still protests despite the damages that 16 years in the military did to my body. And yeah, tear gas stinks, though not as bad as gun powder... Like I said though, tomorrow is soon enough. Go shower together and snuggle. That's what the two of you really need to help process everything that's coming.

Grace Serenity

It's Raidah. She's cynical and an ass. Also it's just enough plausibility to go either way because Willis is a great writer! They're out here playing 4d chess!

MrShoggoth

Raidah would love a former friend of mine. She once asked a mutual friend after his nasty breakup if she could still invite his ex to gatherings and game nights because she was Asian and, in her words, “our group is really white and I feel we could use some more diversity”.

Sajuuk-Khar

Haha you have spent your entire collegiate career trying to torment and destroy a Black woman for a reasonable thing she did

Smoochie

Radiah reminds me of a girl from my college days who lived on pragmatism. Friends with upperclassmen usually of different social groups on campus. Card carrying sorority sister of Alpha Kappa Alpha. She said one day all the networking would pay off but never really explained just WHAT it would pay off to.

Sajuuk-Khar

I mean given that she’s a naked, useless hypocrite I’d advise against it

Kelly (they-them)

Y'know, I wanna be pissed at Raidah (and I am - hate that bongo), but like. These two did ignore the leadership and cause of the protest in favor of centering their own political upheavals and making out in the middle of everything. I will admit that Raidah has a point.

C

Yeah, no, Raidah isn't great. Whether or not she has a point, she's such an asshole nobody wants to give her the satisfaction of saying so.

Megh

I mean I suppose it's possible that maybe Raidah specifically didn't see any video But I feel like there's been too much hinting towards "most everyone knows already" for that part at least to not be the case

Heatth

The first panel does make it seem like she is just learning they were at the protest though. The ambiguity is likely on purpose.

MiqoRems

worstpersonyouknowhasapoint.png

Sajuuk-Khar

I mean, she does, sure, but in the immortal words of Shirou Emiya, “just because you’re correct doesn’t mean you’re *right*.” (small ramble: the series he’s from loves this sort of dumb wordplay joke, another example being the much stupider “people die when they are killed” meme, but this one I think is actively useful—the character in question is 100% correct in their analysis but they’re still a total asshole doing a shitty thing about it.)

Albi

ehehehe i'm enjoying all these strays they're catching (ok, maybe laser targeted)

Albi

Stopped clocks and all that.

Diane

Well, I admit, I'm glad it's Radiah's face we see once inside, instead of, say, Becky watching them from the privacy chairs have their make out session outside the see-through door. (I did not realize they were walking inside yesterday and just now realize)

Kelly (they-them)

On the other hand, didn't see YOU at the protest, Raidah. Had trouble finding a spot to dismount from your high horse, huh?

Albi

This is what I thought, too...

Sajuuk-Khar

People love to compare Raidah here or Rachel to my beautiful girl Roz, but like, there’s a difference Sure, Roz is prickly; sure, Roz is cynical about white privilege; sure, Roz is very nonmonogamous But she’s also, you know, helpful, and comradely, and sometimes even kind These bongoes just fuckin’ sneer at that

Kelly (they-them)

Ooh, Sajuuk, those immortal words are perfect here. Spot on. I'll have to look into the series.

Maude Reads Things

I am increasingly concerned how many people seem to know what happened at the protest. And given what they did there....Raidah isn't wrong

Sajuuk-Khar

It’s the Fate/ series, which I will say has some really good parts and some really REALLY 😐 parts, so your mileage will vary probably lmao

T Campbell

Raidah's "Uh HUH" makes me confident she doesn't actually know what Dorothy and Joyce were up to today. Also, I can't believe she wouldn't have some more cutting comment queued up if she'd seen a viral photo of them kissing. (Who would have taken it and shared it? Most people who'd be close enough would be preoccupied with running away at that point. Maybe somebody videoing the protest from the sidelines? But it seems like the tear gas would block their view...)

Sajuuk-Khar

I may be feeding Willis’ plausible deniability engine but the stink of tear gas is real specific.

Kelly (they-them)

Ha, perhaps I already got the best part of the series from you just now

Shane Wegner

Don’t worry Raidah, they achieved another repressed objective they had you aren’t thinking of, also totally unrelated to the well-being of Bulmeria!

Sebastian Gomez

I mean, Raidah definitely has a point, especially considering how sometimes young white leftists center themselves while ignoring marginalized voices. But also, c'mon Raidah, everyone has to start somewhere, right? And how would she even know what Joyce and Dorothy did or didn't do there? Unless this is foreshadowing that their kiss was captured on camera and now everyone on campus knows who they are. Sal didn't seem too surprised after seeing them together... 🤔

Smoochie

If you’re right and she doesn’t know—when she DOES learn that the two of them had dramatic smooching in the middle of tear gas and sniping, she will probably feel vindicated in her low opinion of them.

Sajuuk-Khar

Raidah doesn’t actually care, because to Raidah life is a game where you accrue the most points and then you are “the winner”

Edwin I Callahan

Roz is pretty much this strip’s performative leftist. So, was she at the protest?

Shane Wegner

For anyone who (entirely reasonably) hasn’t experienced tear gas to know what tear gas residue smells like for Raidah’s “you reek” comment, a mixture of barbecue, bug spray and windex will get you in the ballpark.

Jay

I woulda loved if Raidah somehow knew and called out the cheating. Ah well.

William Lewis

Consider that a shit ton of us lefties grew up in places where the only color you see is if we stay out in the sun too long without sunscreen 😉 If my parents hadn't been staff at the local university, I'd have been insanely uniformed of the real world when I graduated High School in 1982 rather than only mostly uniformed since my parents hung out with lots of the Native American students there.

Gale Tazzin

She seems nicely equidistant between Rachel ("no one can get better") and Asma ("good for you but i don't trust you") in the chapter. people can change and grow but the starting point can still be annoyingly self-serving

GundamBradley

I don't *like* Raidah in the slightest, but I mean, she's a Muslim woman who has a lot more skin in this game than they do. Similarly to with Asma, I feel like it shouldn't be taken personally because, well, it isn't personal. It's not about either of them.

I Know Why the Mowed Lawn Screams

finally bought into the patreon bc i thought the blurred preview was going to be of a MUCH more dramatic reveal (plus i’ve been reading this comic long enough that i might as well) but honestly i’m pretty down with getting to see Raidah being weird and grumpy early instead

Mariah

I think disrupting the protest is way worse in her eyes than cheating she is not close enough to either of them to care about that.

Packy Anderson

Even an asshole like Raidah can have a valid point once in a while.

Heatth

I mean, so far it is not clear anybody knows what happened in the protest. It is still just fandom speculation that there is some video or photo showing the two there.

Megh

@Mariah: I could see her caring about the cheating actually, considering Jacob cheated on her with Joyce in that one storyline

C.T. Phipps

I feel like everyone wants to find a reason why Raidah was in the wrong even though Sarah and Joyce broke up her relationship.

C.T. Phipps

The important thing is our romance, not the country that is being genocided!

C.T. Phipps

*walks in on Walky playing Mario Kart* "Walky, I...kissed Joyce." "Yeah, I saw it on the news."

Sajuuk-Khar

I also realized that I could’ve just quoted Billie on pot v. kettle but I still prefer the dumb anime wording 🥲

C.T. Phipps

Raidah doesn't care about them enough to.

C.T. Phipps

Raidah's biggest problem to commentators is that she's almost 100% right all the time like Mike. Like, Dorothy didn't give a fig about Bulmeria until it was a way to briefly escape her bisexual awakening and neither of them are worried about the fact that they got tear gassed for protesting genocide. You know, despite how horrifying that is.

AE Gonzalez

I suspect someone recorded them, and it’s all over the internet. Everyone already knows.

AE Gonzalez

If someone recorded The Big Moment, and put it on YouTube . . .

Sajuuk-Khar

Gale: I mean given that Raidah’s other antics involve psychologically torturing Sarah and running a weird cargo cult friend group-as-pyramid scheme I’d say she makes Rachel look like SHE has a point

Kazo

au contraire. She wants revenge on Joyce for causing her breakup with Jacob, remember?

T Campbell

I'm pretty anti-cynicism in general, so Raidah's smug arguments have never cut much ice with me. I respected her more when she was overdoing loyalty to a friend-circle full of dumbasses and self-destructives than now, when she's all about optimizing her optics and her "network" and doesn't seem to care for anyone but herself. But she's an interesting nemesis for Joyce and Dorothy, because they're not close enough to her to see her more recent bad behavior, so her hypocrisy doesn't register to them, whereas Mary's registers from fifty paces. And she usually hits their self-esteem when they're feeling guilty about tangential or unrelated issues, like right now.

Sajuuk-Khar

C.T.: No, Raidah was in the right to be mad about that. If Joyce was the sole target of her petty revenge squad I might even feel sympathy. But an entire school year of torturing Sarah? Nah. Fuck off.

Sajuuk-Khar

It is 100% right all the time to engage in a fucked-up ostracization campaign where you torment and isolate a Black woman for trying to do the right thing?????? Also, Jesus, I thought we were past lionizing Mike’s well-intentioned psychological abuse. Like, really??

Sajuuk-Khar

Yeah except she saw Walky and immediately plotted to get him away from his (unrelated to her horseshit) girlfriend for her own benefit So like, she COULD get on a high horse, sure, but she’d be a hypocritical asshole, like usual

Maude Reads Things

Yeah, I'm hoping it's JUST speculation but Sal's unconcern plus Raidah's comment is making me wonder

Heatth

The only important characters who live in Forest Quad are Jennifer and Lucy, I am pretty sure. When in doubt, assume everyone lives in the same dorms. (from the cast page I think Asher, Charlie and Alice are the only other ones that don't, but I don't think we know which dorm they go either)

Sajuuk-Khar

Your analysis about folks being insanely too willing to give Raidah a completely unearned benefit of the doubt is spot on, but unfortunately she does live there. :(

GPanda

Fair but at least she has a leg to stand on here

Sajuuk-Khar

Literally not something anyone is saying in comic or out, but go off

C.T. Phipps

Raidah broke off her friendship to Sarah and believes it sent her friend somewhere unsafe. But you really want, "Destroy the relationship of a Muslim woman with a white fundamentalist proxy?"

Fart Captor

Except for how Mike was only ever accurate in determining the most hurtful thing he could say at a given moment, and most of Raidah's expressed opinions thus far have mainly been extremely unfair evaluations of Sarah and "social climbing is more important than sincere relationships" A person can in the right about an issue without being some kind of magical truth teller.

Sajuuk-Khar

Lmao “Raidah broke off her friendship with Sarah” is not what happened, bro It is incredibly, textually clear that Raidah *psychologically abused Sarah for half a calendar year* Also, did I fucking say that Sarah was right to break up her and Jacob? No. Kindly don’t put words in my mouth. Keep being useless and get blocked.

Heatth

Raidah's cynicism can be useful to shed light in some unexamined problems. Like how it helped Dorothy to deconstruct her presidency goal. Like, she is being a dick but it is useful for them to consider what they were doing in the protest. I am of the opinion that Dorothy didn't join the protest *just* in a desperate self-destructive way to be away from Joyce, but because she was genuinely moved by what was happening (as seem in the strips leading up to her action). But even then, it is useful for her consider her actions actively and how useful she was really being. Same for Joyce.

Sajuuk-Khar

Nash is important! In my heart

Ria

@Fart Captor I initially misread ur last line as "truth seller" and was gonna comment "truth seller, I am going into battle of wits, and I need your strongest truths" but unfortunately that is not what u wrote so it is I who am the fool

Jay

I could see her makjng a sly comment on it

Heatth

It is factually wrong Dorothy didn't a shit about Bulmeria or, very relevantly, the draconian response to the protest. To act that Dorothy's self destructive act is motivated solely by her attempt to escape her bisexual awakening is both reductionist and requires you to completely ignore the strips leading up to it (or assume Dorothy is lying through her monologue). I don't disagree Dorothy should reflect on how useful her actions really were or the optics involved. But it is just wrong to pretend she didn't give a shit about the cause.

Heatth

I think if Sal actually saw them kissing she would have a stronger reaction. She being nonchalant, to me, implies she knows nothing and all she saw was them hugging, which is not really unusual.

Brian Danger Hicks

If she's talking about them only showing up to the protest right as it ended and having no involvement beyond that she has a point, if she's talking about the viral video of them making out at the protest I think she has less of a point.

Sajuuk-Khar

I mean, I guess, out of these three characters, she is possibly behaving the most ethically this strip at this current point of this storyline. She’s Raidaurora Borealis.

Jesse

“““““Burn.”””””

Dan Rabin

Heatth: Alice also lives in Forest Quad.

Waifu Purplebutt

Remember folks - there's no such thing as "reverse racism", it's just racism. Even if there's a reason for the bigotry, you're still being a bigot.

Maybeeus

I actually got the entire opposite read from her line there. To me it's more of a "No shit" uh huh like she knows exactly where they were and what they did. The "did you get the attention you wanted" bit also sticks out. I could be wrong though.

Amós Batista

Uh-OH, now I'm sure it was streamed for everyone. Like, for EVERYONE in Internet. All plan was ruined.

George Simpson

I think she could also reasonably point out that they don't have a clue about Bulmeria, and who's killing who there. They weren't actually there for *attention*, but they also didn't go in for activisim.

Amós Batista

I don't know if she already knew about Joyce having a boyfriend . Because, if she knows, Raidah has a vengeance ready.

Amós Batista

I loved Joyce and Dorothy, but I think Raidah is completely right, here.

Amós Batista

oh, if Raidah figured out, watching them outside through the glass, okay. But if she already knew, because someone recorded them making out, Dorothy and Joyce are screwed

taekwondogirl

I mean, someone can be a bad person but also right once in a while.

Amós Batista

Dorothy: "Raidah, how did you know we screwed in the protest? " *run to Raidah, like the goose meme* "HOW DID YOU KNOW WE SCREWED IN THE PROTEST??"

taekwondogirl

They smell like tear gas and there was a protest on campus. She's a smart lady and that's not a hard puzzle.

Amós Batista

Did Willis inserted a newer strip before?

Amós Batista

*Dorothy runs towards Raidah, like the goose meme* HOW DID YOU KNOW?

Jeremy AR

Really? I mean really? That is a hill you willing to die on.

Sajuuk-Khar

Okay, volcanically hot take and maybe a bit of a reach but like, am I alone in thinking this reaction actually makes Raidah even shittier? Because if she’s this aware of the role of whiteness and white privilege and how racism is America’s foundation stone, then it follows, I believe, that she would know and understand that for a Black freshman to be caught in the same dorm as a white freshman’s weed would be an expulsion sentence. She would be cognizant of why Sarah acted in haste. And she tortured Sarah anyway, because she doesn’t care. She wants to keep hurting Sarah anyway, because she *does not care*. She is not genuinely concerned—whiteness is not something she seeks to fight or abolish, it’s just part of her toolkit to benefit herself.

Sajuuk-Khar

“When the pot calls the kettle black, the pot’s still fuckin’ black”, to quote Billie in a rare moment of lucidity

Waifu Purplebutt

Known-terrible-person Raidah is prejudiced against people for the color of their skin, stereotypes them based on that, and treats them differently because of it. If you want to address power-imbalances between classes, that's good - but don't use racism as an excuse to justify your grievances. The attempt to redefine racism as "power + prejudice" is tying the class-inequality issue with the issue of racism, resulting in alienating other people of the same class from the struggle, alienating at best and making enemies out of them at worst when they would otherwise be allies. Proud Ecuadorian Latina here with the hot take of "All racism is bad."

Beck Chonigman

Even a broken clock is right twice a day.

Ray Fay

Yeah, imo, this reads more as Raidah wanting to dunk on Joyce and Dorothy, whom she already doesn't like

Grace Serenity

I think she's so mad at Sarah because Dana was one of her stepping stones. I seem to remember that Dana's dad was like some sort of executive or something? Raidah is just an objectionable person.

Sajuuk-Khar

@Heatth: I think you’re right that ultimately it became useful to Dorothy to hear that and that Raidah obviously isn’t wrong about the Presidency, a corrupt office held by men who range from “morally compromised” to “deeply evil”. But I really, really hate Raidah in that scene the more I think about it? Because that scene isn’t really *about* the Presidency. It’s about how Raidah interacts with people. Raidah doesn’t know Dorothy from the mitochondrial Eve. She has maybe, if I’m generous, spotted her chatting in the vicinity of Sarah. But she knows she wants to get at Walky, who has important parents and a hot body. She sees Dorothy and Walky are close. Rather than even attempt to strike up a rapport or anything, she is casually, viciously cruel. She is very comfortable hurting Dorothy and leaving with her quarry. It’s incredibly gross. And that, I think, is Raidah laid bare: someone who is shallow and cruel, but performs really great in the limelight, and people mistake it for sincerity when all it really is is a more “adult” version of Billie’s cheeleader ideas.

Sajuuk-Khar

Yeah, exactly. It’s all about Raidah. Everyone else is just something Raidah can use or something that looks good on Raidah. Like for all that Joyce and Sarah trying to steal Jacob was wrong, and it was, Jacob NOTABLY did not get back with her, once the mask slipped. Because it was clear Raidah didn’t value him as a person, but a Thing to Have.

Silent

I honestly think we might revisit the Raidah|Sarah|Dana storyline sometime in the future. Raidah caring about Dana as much as she did/still does is kinda notable considering how she treats basically everyone else in her friend group

Grace Serenity

They're both friends with Sarah. Raidah has had a low opinion of them since the mall incident.

ScrimpArt

yeah you two are fucking cooked icl its over for ya'll

Giant Speck

Amós, the recent strip with Asma returning to the mail desk was not in the original queue and was only added recently to give Asma more screen time for the audience.

T Campbell

This must be a definition of "screwed" of which I am unaware

Astariel

But not in this case.

Astariel

No, it's definitely personal. She hates both of them.

Ren Doiron

I'm pretty sure she didn't understand Doctor Kings message lol

Seth Aaron Hershman has they/she pronouns

would that be the one about how the biggest obstacle to racial justice is the white moderate who prefers an unjust peace? like the sorta person dorothy admitted she used to be a few weeks ago?

T Campbell

See, this is where we have to part company a little bit, because I agree completely about Raidan's real motives, but I *don't* think she's right about the presidency. I recognize her opinion there is one that some good people also have, but this is part of what I mean when I say I'm anti-cynicism. I believe that making high-level who-lives-and-who-dies decisions takes a spiritual toll--there's a reason most presidents seem to age more than twice as fast in office as out of it. And sometimes the only available choices are "bad" and "worse." But I believe power reveals more than it corrupts. You can point to America's long list of sins till you're blue in the face, but there is nothing so bad that it wouldn't be worse if not for the efforts of those who believed things could be better, and that includes most presidents. One of the worst things about the ogre currently occupying the office is that his narcissism prevents him from imagining that anyone could be better than he is in any way--and worse, he promotes the belief that we shouldn't expect better than corruption from those who hold office. Don't fall for that. It's not true. Original-flavor Dorothy's life-plan to become president *was* naive, but not because she wouldn't have been a good influence had it actually come to pass. It was naive because it's like planning your life around winning the lottery: even well-connected "A" students only have something like 1 in 100,000 odds of making it. Other events, like how she did against Roz, only made those statistics look more unfavorable. But--as I know from experience--Dorothy's gifted-kid mindset said that having a "plan B" was the same thing as giving up, which was the same thing as failing, which was unacceptable and unthinkable. One of the strengths of David's approach to comics is that you often don't *have* to buy into the same beliefs as one character to remain invested in the overall story. So when Dorothy refuses Yale (...CHRIST, would I love to send my goddaughter to Yale), when she signs up to get tear-gassed and dragged to jail because "AT LEAST IT'S A BETTER LIFE DECISION THAN WANTING TO BE PRESIDENT (SELF-OWN!!!)," I still have sympathy for her journey, but I'd place her a few steps further back on the path to wisdom than you might. (I will say this much for her encounter with Raidah, though, kinda going along with Heatth: Dorothy had already been changing in ways that were incompatible with the goal that had defined her for so long, and *something* had to precipitate that break. So I do think Raidah performed an accidental good deed there, I just wish it didn't sorta come off as an endorsement of "ALL REAL POWER IS NECESSARILY CORRUPT, THE ONLY WAY TO WIN IS NOT TO PLAY, WE HAVE NO CHOICE BUT TO EMPOWER CROOKS BECAUSE NO GOOD PEOPLE WOULD WANT TO BE IN CHARGE.")

Seth Aaron Hershman has they/she pronouns

anyone who thinks it's impossible for a person who commits harassment campaigns or values their own status to earnestly and honestly believe good things, especially at a young age, has a very different experience of the internet than i do

joe mcguire

Hmm it’s not personal for Asma, for sure. When asma is harsh or rude to them, it’s definitely not personal and definitely from a place of emotional exhaustion. But with Raidah, I think it’s pretty personal. She’s an affluent person with affluent friends who are constantly seeking to extend their connections to other affluent people— I think she’s as ingrained and tacitly benefits from the system as anybody. Of course, as a poc she has challenges Dorothy and Joyce don’t have, but we’ve never seen her making any effort to help other POC students or express any intentions to fix or improve the system— in fact, she seems intent on gleefully exploiting the existing power structures. I get the sense that she’s the kind of person who finds any way to invalidate the intentions or actions of anyone she doesn’t like. They couldn’t win with her. Whether they attended the protesr, ignored it, or just expressed feelings of any kind about it, she would find something to stick her nose up at because she doesn’t like them.

Helena Antonia

Seriously, is kissing screwing now? If so I gotta go update my autobiography, it just got a LOT more steamy.

zee

Oh hey speaking of raidah. And like... yeah, fair. Objectively correct. That is what dot used the protest for

C.T. Phipps

People want Raidah to be a psychopath who never has any real friends versus her being actually worried about her friend returning to an unsafe environment.

Smoochie

She probably did—Raidah just likely found Stokely Carmichael to be more her bag

Smoochie

Humor me. What if—Raidah wasn’t like this entirely until Dana was gone. Like it’s entirely possible that Dana’s influence somewhat tempered Raidah or that she wasn’t so focused on getting ahead until Dana was gone. I don’t disagree that Raidah might have some definite Gordon Gecko meets Carlton Banks energy at all times but you gotta ask yourself just how much Dana as a person MEANT to Raidah. Joyce blew up her relationship with Jacob and Raidah hasn’t been led a campaign to wipe Joyce from the university. If Dana was just someone to be used, Raidah wouldn’t be STILL trying to upend Sarah’s life to the current timeline. I think Dana genuinely meant something to Raidah. Hell, I’ll even go as far as saying MAYBE Dana was to Raidah, what Joyce is to Dorothy.

Prognostic Hannya

Yeah but she doesn't really have a way of knowing that. Also Dorothy almost certainly knows as much (if not more) about the situation as she does.

Baqly

The comments on this page are a mess. Like god really ? Racism? Have a little nuance to what youre saying, maybe examine the why of her reaction, rather than just assuming. Man

Seth Aaron Hershman has they/she pronouns

okay survey is turned off what i thought this would accomplish: figuring out how the upsetness breaks down so i can forge a path towards greater understanding what it actually accomplished: making me feel so hated and shamed and deep-in-the-skin wrong as a person that i wanted to yank my guts out through my throat and i only got like 200 responses and only like 110 of them said some real jugdey mean stuff! willis gets like at least twice that per day and i do not understand how they are still alive

Jeremy AR

Fuck all the way off.

Heatth

No it is not? Like, Raidah has valid reasons to think whe she thinks, but unlike her we are pretty much in the characters head. We know why Dorothy went to the protest, we also know why she joined the protest. And "getting attention" is literally not it. Like, it is fair to criticize the characters but, like, do so based on what we know they actually did.

zee

Not getting attention but she did, objectively, try to use the protest to make herself feel better about her political and interpersonal issues

zee

Aww man that sucks! I'm sorry that's how things went down :( ig it makes sense that people would be their most vile in a private thing though. What a shame, I was really looking forward to seeing that data

Sajuuk-Khar

Alright, I’ll cop to it: I am almost certainly wrong that Raidah doesn’t actually care about her beliefs, especially re: dismantling whiteness. That was me going off into left field. Sorry. I would ask for clemency though, because it’s really hard for me personally to believe Raidah’s sincere about her good ideology because her actions are so manifestly shitty! In retrospect, her having cognitive dissonance seems obvious, but like…It isn’t the first thing that comes to mind, what comes to mind is “what a desperately unpleasant person”. Also, it goes without saying, Raidah’s beliefs ≠ a pardon for her awful, garbage pattern of behavior. I think she’s absolutely right that the Presidency is an evil office. I think Joyce and Dorothy had NO BUSINESS, in story or out, at that protest. But I don’t want to hear that from someone who spends her time chuckling under her breath at Dina being called the r-slur or engineering Sarah’s ongoing harassment.

zee

Remember folks- prejudice without historical context of oppression is just being kind of a dick. A meanie bobeanie White americans wanna be oppressed so bad ong

zee

I think shed have more of a point bc wtf does that look like from the outside? Particularly to a Muslim woman who knows for a fact Joyce's ass was islamophobic just a couple months ago, and knows dot was all "i wanna be president!" Like a week ago?

zee

@astariel i mean one of them tried to fuck her boyfriend the hates pretty valid there lmfao Don't get me wrong I'm not a raidah fan, I was rooting for that situation bc it was funny and I hated the classist way she talked to Joyce in that arc. But I can get that grudge lol

Sajuuk-Khar

Asma was 100% right to throw shade and she should say it. She’s earned every bit of shade she threw and people who say otherwise are wrong. Raidah, on the other hand, is kind of absent moral authority because she acts like a fucking nightmare person all the time.

Sajuuk-Khar

Jesus like uh I know we haven’t always gotten on but what the fuck, sorry to hear that :/

zee

Ehhh, it can be hard for some of us with more melanin than a sheet of paper to have that kind of patience sometimes

Megh

I am so sorry to hear that. Anyone who decided the survey was a good opportunity to harass you can seriously fuck all the way off! I know it can be difficult to deal with that level of vitriol, and I hope you have the opportunity to step away and take some time for yourself to recover, you deserve it ❤️

Alexandra Falk

I think the ability to acknowledge one's whiteness - take it on the chin humbly, as Dorothy has said - is a real test of a (white) comrade's character. Regardless of the applicability value of the statement itself.

Sajuuk-Khar

Yeah absolutely this, outside of my thoughts on Raidah’s character and actions, Dorothy and Joyce are doing what white folks should and have to do in this situation.

Seth Aaron Hershman has they/she pronouns

i mean i think a lot of these things are causal, you know? if she cared about dana, and really earnestly believed sarah did the wrong thing, then it follows from her pov that sarah deserves to be hounded and ostracized. if raidah believes she knows better than other people, then what's so wrong about doing what she can to achieve a position of power from which she can enforce that? in a sense she's not terribly different from who dorothy was a few weeks ago--just wider eyed about what problems she'd be fixing and the optimal way to fix them, and less concerned about who gets hurt along the way

Seth Aaron Hershman has they/she pronouns

@sajuuk-khan: we might not always agree, but i think you seem rational and levelheaded and explain your viewpoints well, and i look forward to seeing your comments megh: it's not even people harassing me! it's just the sheer volume of, like, being told this comic i like is bad, being told the creator is acting in bad faith, being told there was a problem with the way the survey was constructed--even when people are being polite about it, even when people were agreeing with me and shitting on the anti-cheating crowd, the sheer VOLUME of negativity just completely fucked the signal to noise ratio and made it hard for me to think about myself or the comic rationally

I Know Why the Mowed Lawn Screams

If not for nothing, even though it might not have been an intentional character beat, I do find Raidah’s bipartisan cynicism to be weirdly accurate to the experiences of most politically active SWANA diaspora around my age. Like, what I can say from both my own personal experiences and from the experiences of the many, many people i know and love, is that you become pretty politicized at a young age, and that your identity as an Arab-American will always be at odds with your lived experiences as someone who culture, religion and heritage is a perpetual “Enemy of America”, regardless of who’s in charge. You learn the reasons as to why your parents have to leave their home countries, and you grow up watching CNN lie about it. It’s weird! One of my most formative memories as a kid was being told, with wide-eyed, bone deep, blunt sincerity that “I was really nice for a terrorist”. It was a stark reminder that what was my normal wasn’t just hyperniche (something that I’ve internalized at this point) but actively “hostile” in the wider public eye. And that’s with the benefit of going to a progressive school inside a multiculturally diverse city, nevermind the swaths of America where that isn’t the case. I’m not going to talk about my voting history to a group of online strangers, nor do I really want to particularly want to open that can of worms, but I will say that the 2024 election was a breaking point for SO MANY of my Muslim peers. And while it has encouraged so many to become politically active in ways that are radical and community building (mutual aid groups, protesting, anti-war committees, etc), I personally can't find it in me to begrudge anyone like Raidah who's response to being the perpetual collateral damage in usamerican political rat race is to just, not believe in it. That being said, before anyone accuses me of projecting noble intent for Raidah being mean and snippy to her juniors, I’m very much aware that she’s in the wrong for expressing that frustration via snide comments to a bunch of freshmen she does not know all that well. That’s pretty rude, if nothing else! ( Also please still vote in your local elections! It does help! )

Edwin I Callahan

By doing something that immediately mattered, regardless of the cost to her.

Rob McBobson

Now that the arc is over, I gotta ask... what was the problem that some people had with the Bulmeria plot? I didn't keep up with the discussion. (Oh, and I don't want Willis to get hit with a ton of criticism so if, when you read this, somebody has already explained what the issue was then PLEASE don't add on. I DON'T want a pile-on, just an explanation since I'm clueless.)

Mariah

My understanding is people took it as a one for one with the palastine situation and that it was in poor taste to center dorothies and joyces romantic drama around a very real genocide. Not to say doing this plot was impossible the new superman movie did something similar but at least the people effected by the genocide was more involved I think willis mean't well but it could have been executed a bit better.

Ilana Feldman

In a way that was actively not helpful, as pointed out by Jocelyne.

Waifu Purplebutt

Wait, what? She's Muslim? Where do we find that out???

zee

Not really? The protest was already being broken up, her sticking around for 30 seconds to have her epiphany and then making out with Joyce didn't do anything for the protest. Maybe if they're (un)lucky their picture got taken and maybe it'll become some sort of icon of resistance, but otherwise. Nah she didn't actually do anything that immediately mattered. Don't get me wrong, this isn't a real criticism, I'm not saying she shouldn't have done it. Morally, they're teenagers idgaf. Narratively it was perfect. But also. these are the facts of what happens. She used a genocide protest to feel better about her own issues, in a way that stupidly put herself in danger for no good reason

Maude Reads Things

@ Sajuuk - Raidah didn't laugh at Dina being called the R-slur. She told her friend to knock it off and not say things like that. She DID think Dina was "mentally challenged" and was very condescending to her afterwards. Dina suspects she was TRYING to be kind but ended up missing the mark and being fantastically shitty, but she didn't laugh at Dina being called a slur.

Maude Reads Things

Yeah, I'm hoping that's all it was. Willis knows how to get my brain to torture me for damn sure! XD

Jayne Lindgren

I've been thinking about this for a bit, but I wonder to what extent the daily comic strip format contributes to the level of extreme vitriol that some people experience. Because from an in-universe perspective, this situation has been a couple hours at most. And these recent strips have occasionally covered mere seconds. But we, the audience, have had days and weeks to process how we feel about things. So a reader has already had time to think about everything they hate about what's happening, while the characters are still in the exact same moment. And it's easy to get angry because they aren't "learning", despite not actually having had time to do so.

Sebastian Gomez

Oh absolutely, I completely agree with that! Trust me, as someone who also has more melanin than a sheet of paper, it can be very trying to keep that level of patience you mentioned. I don't blame her for being cynical of "white freshmen". I was just pointing out that everyone who gets involved with leftist politics starts out being a little confused, and it's not like they have consistently prioritized their voices over others. Honestly, I'm more curious about what Raidah meant when mentioned the attention they got. It's almost as if their kiss went viral. 🤔

Sebastian Gomez

Oh, yeah, my comment wasn't about that. What Joyce did in that situation was absolutely shitty. And Raidah has a point in this situation too, there's just two sides to it.

Sebastian Gomez

Everyone starts somewhere lmao. The second best time to get involved is now, after all.

Astariel

@T Campbell - That was beautifully put. I agree with you 100%, and I wish I could have put it so well myself.

Sebastian Gomez

Respectfully, I think there is a touch more to Raidah's character to just that, to put it lightly. I think she genuinely believes in the beliefs she espouses. She was right that all presidents are basically war criminals and that anyone who goes into politics inevitably dirties their hands, even though it also felt she was putting down Dorothy's hopes of doing good in the world via involvement in public service. And she has a point here too about white leftists!

Rob McBobson

People are allowed to theorize and make fan theories all they want, of course, but it's still weird how very many posts I see worrying about some hypothetical news photo-or-video-footage of Joyce and Dorothy at the protest. Like, more than the amount worrying about some actual things happening in the comic.

Helena Antonia

@Seth - "if she cared about dana, and really earnestly believed sarah did the wrong thing, then it follows from her pov that sarah deserves to be hounded and ostracized": why does that follow? Why is "hounded and ostracized" (harassment and bullying) the logical next step here?

Silent

Agreed, its entirely plausible, but I believe in Joyce and Dorothy's ability to completely mess things up without any outside help.

zee

Yeah nothing will get you ejected from the movement quicker than crying about anti white racism

Heatth

I think Raidah's early interaction with Dina is a good example of the nuances of the character. She was very condescending and ableism towards Dina, but was still appalled when she was called a slur. I think it is an issue where people have trouble recognizing a character might be a bad person but still have some good values and qualities. Raidah is ableist, but she wouldn't use a slur. She maintained year long harassment campaign on a former friend, but she still cares for (some) other friends. And here she is being petty and pointlessly cruel, but that doesn't mean her commend didn't come from a genuine place.

Ph

I think it's roughly what Raidah is attributing to Joyce and Dorothy in this strip, except some readers are also attributing it to Willis's artistic choices in showing it.

etherealDesign

its probably because we already have had one queer member of the Brown family (possibly) outed by being caught on camera at the protest this storyline. its not exactly a leap to say that it could happen again

Uniquitous

Raidah can join Rachael in Fuckoffville.

Kelly (they-them)

It reminds me of back in the day when everyone was theorizing that Ruth had thrown herself into the garbage chute in act of depression.

Kyle

Blame Willis for his excellent paneling. The presentation was just so damn cinematic.

Kelly (they-them)

Lol, it's okay, you still got to quote her in another comment

Laura

yeah this is why i like it when raidah pops up. she’s an interesting foil to most of the main cast who mostly either don’t care for social status, or do care but are humorously bad at obtaining it (jennifer). she is steadfastly committed to her moral values (at least some of which are good!), while being deeply cynical/ uncharitable (unlike joyce), and is a clout-chaser/institutionalist* (unlike recent dorothy). i have been hoping for a long time that raidah’s quest for power doesn’t stem solely from like, GREED, but some calculation she's made... for example, maybe she thinks that being a ruthless social climbing lawyer is the best way to work toward justice for her community. idk! we'll see! either way i am looking forward to seeing more of her in the upcoming storyline * i know that raidah has stated her contempt for anyone trying to be president, but i think she's still an institutionalist, just that war crimes are a hard boundary

Seth Aaron Hershman has they/she pronouns

@helena: well it's the logical next step if you're fresh into adulthood, are tasting personal responsibility and some semblance of power for the first time and feel obligated to weild it like a cudgel

Amós Batista

Just imagining Willis queueing ALL DoA buffer again, to fit this strip 💀💀

Maybeeus

I deleted my previous posts because they were bad but i can summarize my thoughts on Raidah pretty quickly. As someone who hasn't really played the ace attorney games in my head she's how i imagine Miles Edgeworth is with what i've gleaned from pop culture osmosis. Lawfyl Neutral in a cruel way throwing judgement without a shred of empathy. Now i'm thinking about Dorothy pivoting to law and properly becoming her Phoenix Wright in this situation.

Fart Captor

Jeremy, until the government starts rounding up people in concentration camps for extrajudicial deportations, shut the entire fuck up. You are not and have never been oppressed for being white

Waifu Purplebutt

@Fart Captor Is Jeremy STILL replying to me? I think he blocked me cuz his stuff's not showing on my replies

George Simpson

She tweaked Joyce by inviting her to her mosque at one point.

Helena Antonia

@seth - honestly, that virulently and for that long though? To my way of thinking that's a distinctly malicious approach, is my point, focused almost entirely on hurting someone else vs enacting whatever of "justice" you think you're dispensing. I get that folks are complex, and I don't think anything she's saying here in this specific strip is off base. I just also think she enjoys being cruel, ie exercising any perceived power she has explicitly to cause suffering when the suffering doesn't conflict with her other goals (appearances, networking, with an eye to securing future power presumably). It's a bonus for her, not a side effect. She's a bully vs a leader, and that's going to impact her words and her actions, including the good ones she earnestly believes in. Likely especially those. EDITED: to remove a pointless Marvel metaphor that just plain didn't work.