Cat is being crushed by the whale. Girl repeatedly asks the whale to stop crushing Cat, getting louder each time. The whale ignores her until she shouts at it. The whale finally acknowledges Girl, but only to reprimand her for not keeping the "discussion" civil.
The joke is that whale ignored her pleas until she shouted, but instead of addressing the content of her pleading, all the whale cared about was the perceived incivility of being loud.
An additional layer to the joke is that the reason Cat is being crushed by the whale is because Cat complained about being crushed by a whale.
As an allegory, it's applicable to scenarios where one group abuses another group, and then punishes those victims for complaining about the abuse by victimizing them further -- and when called out on it by a third party, the abuser does not address the abuse, but instead complains about the tone of the call out.
What specific, real-world situation this strip refers to is open to interpretation, since it's illustrating a typical dynamic of severe power imbalances.
(But my own errant speculation is that it was inspired by the crackdown on pro-Palestinian demonstrations at US college campuses. YMMV.)
Nintendo's Satoru Iwata: Lost Interview 20th Anniversary Remaster ( www.youtube.com )
Piped link to the video.
"I like being helpful and productive!" ( lemmus.org )
Angry Little Girls by Lela Lee for May 20, 2024.
Forming a lasting bond with your community ( lemmus.org )
Haircut Practice by Adam Koford for May 20, 2024.
"Darthfield, we're out of lasagna" ( lemmus.org )
Super-Fun-Pak Comix by Ruben Bolling for May 20, 2024.
Pet, companion animal, or... ( lemmus.org )
Mutts, by Patrick McDonnell, May 20, 2024.
I think it goes without saying
Let's goooooooo, embrace the void ( mander.xyz )
TAITO Milestones 3 launches for Switch in November in Japan, this winter worldwide ( www.gematsu.com )
The games included this time are:...
The Valiant Various-Organisms-Man! ( lemmus.org )
Super-Fun-Pak Comix by Ruben Bolling for May 18, 2024
I urgently need to come in!!! ( lemmus.org )
Sarah's Scribbles by Sarah Andersen.
Heathcliff without Heathcliff 5/18/2024 ( lemmy.world )
Gotta stab a new drive into computer ( lemmy.world )
And now you get the bad ending ( lemmy.world )
No shit ( lemmy.today )
Via Twonks
But it's a necessary chore for successful business dogs ( lemmus.org )
Sticky Comics by Christiann MacAuley for May 17, 2024.
What did the lettuce say to the celery?
"Quit stalking me!"
What Is EGGCONSOLE? - Full Game List, PC-88, MSX2 On Nintendo Switch, Best Games To Start ( www.nintendolife.com )
Web Archive link....
Words for an epic quest, part 2 ( lemmus.org )
Incidental Comics by Grant Snider, May 16, 2024.
Pro-cat bias in education ( lemmus.org )
Mutts by Patrick McDonnell, 15 May, 2024.
The 7 deadly Amazon returns ( lemmus.org )
Sticky Comics by Christiann MacAuley for May 10, 2024.
Do you think you could survive on peanut-butter and jelly sandwiches? ( lemmus.org )
Haircut Practice by Adam Koford for May 13, 2024.
Nintendo Switch hacked to run Windows 11 on Arm, and it's just about as awful as you can imagine ( www.tomshardware.com )
About Microvision, One Of The First Handheld Game Consoles ( mentalitch.com )
Article on a Fan-Made Remake Of Dragon Quest ( www.timeextension.com )
Improvised bookmark ( lemmus.org )
Mutts by Patrick McDonnell, May 10, 2024.
Stay steady and keep your feet on the ground ( lemmus.org )
Nancy by Olivia Jaimes for May 10, 2024....
Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolfe (Comix Version) ( lemmus.org )
Super-Fun-Pak Comix by Ruben Bolling for May 10, 2024.
Prove you're really a Trekkist! ( lemmy.world )
Steve Albini Standing Outside Gates of Heaven Telling Everyone How Much He Hates the Smashing Pumpkins ( thehardtimes.net )
The mindless violence. And the way it's going, I sometimes wonder if we're even holding the line. ( lemmy.world )
Look out! I'm a wild-eye kitty today! ( lemmus.org )
Mutts by Patrick McDonnell, May 8 2024.
I'm being crushed by a big blue whale ( lemmus.org )
Cat and Girl by Dorothy Gambrell, May 8, 2024.
"Can you help me with my homework?" ( lemmus.org )
Haircut Practice by Adam Koford for May 06, 2024
The mullet isn't helping either ( lemmus.org )
Super-Fun-Pak Comix by Ruben Bolling for May 05, 2024
How to stop doing everything last minute ( lemmus.org )
Sticky Comics by Christiann MacAuley for May 03, 2024
Humans share the web equally with bots, report warns amid fears of ‘dead internet’ ( www.independent.co.uk )
The Original Version Of Columns For The HP-UX Has Just Been Found ( www.timeextension.com )
The BASIC programming language turns 60 ( arstechnica.com )
I was definitely a Commodore kid, and BASIC was my first language. Maybe it's nostalgia, but I still like BASIC for hobby stuff.
Why are *you* here? ( lemmus.org )
Sarah's Scribbles by Sarah Andersen, May 1, 2024.
The academically social Vulcan ( lemmy.world )
Just past the tunnel of "it's complicated" ( lemmus.org )
Too Much Coffee Man by Shannon Wheeler for May 01, 2024
Find & replace ( lemmy.world )
Retro Gaming Takes Over The BBC's Breakfast Show ( www.timeextension.com )
Fighting crime can be messy work ( lemmus.org )
Super-Fun-Pak Comix by Ruben Bolling for April 30, 2024.