2009-10-31
Explanation
This single-panel comic depicts a man working at a suicide hotline, talking on the phone to a caller. He aggressively tells the caller, "You're THINKING about it? You don't get anywhere by THINKING about it." He then reveals his own lack of self-awareness by saying he didn't get his job at the suicide hotline by "thinking" about applying -- he just went ahead and did it.
The joke operates on a dark ironic reversal. The man is using a generic motivational speech about taking action rather than overthinking -- the kind of pep talk you might hear from a self-help guru or aggressive salesperson. However, in the context of a suicide hotline, "you're thinking about it" takes on a horrifying double meaning. The caller is presumably thinking about suicide, and the hotline worker is inadvertently encouraging them to stop thinking and start doing -- the exact opposite of what a suicide prevention counselor should say.
The votey panel shows the same man saying "Hello?" into the phone, implying the caller has hung up (or worse), adding an extra layer of dark humor to the already grim joke. The comic satirizes the absurdity of applying one-size-fits-all motivational platitudes to situations where they are grotesquely inappropriate.