Whereas the ants do the same task day in, day out. So do you Calvin, school, eat, harass Susy, play with Hobbes, watch TV, have Hobbes do your homework, have Mom and Dad yell at you.
Of course, the anthill isn’t the objective, it’s just their version of a landfill. It’s like if a human construction crew just threw their debris in the street.
Not that that comment ads anything to the joke, but, meh, I had to get it out of my head, and here is a good place, so….
Well done ‘Grass Hopper’. Lessons learned from TV are far more valuable in the long run than those learned from nature. In 40 years you will not be reminiscing about ants but about Ginger and Mary Ann.
It’s all a matter of scale. Just as all of the ants hard work can/will be wiped out by a sweep of Calvin’s foot, so shall all the works of man be wiped out by mother nature once she decides we’ve desecrated her planet enough.
Having a TV does not mean you have to watch it non-stop. It does have an off button, you know. TV offers educational and informational shows in addition to the crap (like reality shows).
One of the big insights for me was the realization that for “hive insects” (ants, honeybees), the individual is the hive, not the single insect. Those ants are no more important to the ant colony than the skin cells that protect me for a few days then die and slough off… or the cells in my heart: Totally not individually important though they work without stopping and I’d die if a bunch of them gave up at once.
I sat for two hours last weekend and meditated on the actions of the ants that wandered across the patch of dirt I was watching. It was still better than TV.
BE THIS GUY almost 5 years ago
They do have tiny brains.
The Calvinosaurus That Calvin Wanted To Discover almost 5 years ago
He doesn’t give up on watching TV! Got to respect it.
Watcher almost 5 years ago
Whereas the ants do the same task day in, day out. So do you Calvin, school, eat, harass Susy, play with Hobbes, watch TV, have Hobbes do your homework, have Mom and Dad yell at you.
Templo S.U.D. almost 5 years ago
in some C&H comic, Calvin once imagined himself in an any colony where he heaves a dead caterpillar when he’s really carrying his laundry
enigmamz almost 5 years ago
Of course, the anthill isn’t the objective, it’s just their version of a landfill. It’s like if a human construction crew just threw their debris in the street.
Not that that comment ads anything to the joke, but, meh, I had to get it out of my head, and here is a good place, so….
codycab almost 5 years ago
Next I suppose Calvin is going to call Pinky and the Brain morons for doing the same thing they do every night?
jpayne4040 almost 5 years ago
There is a moron in today’s strip—-and it’s not the ants!
Troglodyte almost 5 years ago
Cal, there was a fight going on in the colony. If you had waited, you could have witnessed the ant-i-climax!
Charles Hoeft almost 5 years ago
Calvin was way ahead of his time- and not in a good way
vaughnrl2003 Premium Member almost 5 years ago
Well done ‘Grass Hopper’. Lessons learned from TV are far more valuable in the long run than those learned from nature. In 40 years you will not be reminiscing about ants but about Ginger and Mary Ann.
bbenoit almost 5 years ago
It’s all a matter of scale. Just as all of the ants hard work can/will be wiped out by a sweep of Calvin’s foot, so shall all the works of man be wiped out by mother nature once she decides we’ve desecrated her planet enough.
sandpiper almost 5 years ago
Line should read: let’s see what morons are doing on tv.
Bookworm almost 5 years ago
Yes, let’s go inside and watch THEM! (Hee-hee-hee.)
BiggerNate91 almost 5 years ago
Hey Calvin, remember when you were about to wipe out an anthill and then decided against it?…
ex window inspector almost 5 years ago
sounds like my kitchen counter top
streetbeater almost 5 years ago
Can you say metaphor? I knew you could!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GhswH1bLMy8
Diat60 almost 5 years ago
So, I’m an ant – married with children. If my sister is killed, does that make her an antibody?
ckeagy almost 5 years ago
Having a TV does not mean you have to watch it non-stop. It does have an off button, you know. TV offers educational and informational shows in addition to the crap (like reality shows).
Scoutmaster77 almost 5 years ago
Good news and bad news.
Night-Gaunt49[Bozo is Boffo] almost 5 years ago
Not one of Calvin’s better forays into philosophy.
Ka`ōnōhi`ula`okahōkūmiomio`ehiku Premium Member almost 5 years ago
Ants have hiveminds – incapable of thinking independently. Very much like members of our two dominant political parties.
Yontrop almost 5 years ago
Calvin, go read a book instead. Hemingway’s A Separate Peace, comes to mind.
Concretionist almost 5 years ago
One of the big insights for me was the realization that for “hive insects” (ants, honeybees), the individual is the hive, not the single insect. Those ants are no more important to the ant colony than the skin cells that protect me for a few days then die and slough off… or the cells in my heart: Totally not individually important though they work without stopping and I’d die if a bunch of them gave up at once.
hagarthehorrible almost 5 years ago
The lesson is for adults not for 6 yrs olds. TV and now mobiles take all the attention of kids.
Romeo2Delta2 almost 5 years ago
“This also is vanity and vexation of spirit.”
john_chubb almost 5 years ago
I sat for two hours last weekend and meditated on the actions of the ants that wandered across the patch of dirt I was watching. It was still better than TV.
baraktorvan almost 5 years ago
I say the same thing Calvin does every time I read/watch another hurricane destroying yet another community on a coast in the South/East.