Someone who has gone through US customs please comment if this actually happened to you. I see way too many straw man cartoons, and I hate to see a Ben Garrison of the left.
The sea lion’s questions in that Wondermark comic were perfectly valid and a good example of what to do when someone tries to dogwhistle their bigotry and then refuses to elaborate further.
I agree. I just looked through a few of their other comments and didn’t observe more sea lioning. So I responded with one of the top results from a web search.
I initially wrote out a different response, but wanted to give the benefit of the doubt here.
I gotta find the link but a woman’s American-born son was detained at the airport for 8 hours and asked about his loyalty to the US because he’s asian looking and was heading to some middle-eastern country or some shit. So literal citizens are being stopped and questioned.
It’s kinda always been that way though, kinda on and off. I’m a white American citizen and I was detained over 4hrs coming back from Canada in the 90s. And six hours coming in from Mexico just before that. I’ve also been searched by guys holding AKs crossing European borders in the late 80s. And yet my US - Canada and back trip last month was super easy. Hostile borders have existed forever. I say, travel anyway.
I’ve also been searched by guys holding AKs crossing European borders in the late 80s
Yeah but that was before the soviet union fell and people were getting shot trying to cross over to west Berlin over the wall… It’s absolutely insane that the US is now starting to be comparable to those horrifying times.
Someone who has gone through US customs please comment if this actually happened to you. I see way too many straw man cartoons, and I hate to see a Ben Garrison of the left.
The comic strip is satire, in response to USA border agents inspecting travelers’ phones and social media when they try to enter the country. And there are in fact cases where foreign nationals were denied entry to the USA on account of their social media posts. Although it has not yet been reported that any foreign tourists have literally been deported to Libya, so yes that part of the comic strip is not literally true.
But then again, neither is Garfield.
I would argue Garfield is very literally true.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/entering-the-us-think-twice-before-posting-about-trump-your-social-media-could-get-you-denied-entry/ar-AA1ByyKJ
You don’t seem like a sea lion, but this is well reported and easily available information.
The sea lion’s questions in that Wondermark comic were perfectly valid and a good example of what to do when someone tries to dogwhistle their bigotry and then refuses to elaborate further.
I agree. I just looked through a few of their other comments and didn’t observe more sea lioning. So I responded with one of the top results from a web search.
I initially wrote out a different response, but wanted to give the benefit of the doubt here.
Read the news, dude.
I gotta find the link but a woman’s American-born son was detained at the airport for 8 hours and asked about his loyalty to the US because he’s asian looking and was heading to some middle-eastern country or some shit. So literal citizens are being stopped and questioned.
It’s kinda always been that way though, kinda on and off. I’m a white American citizen and I was detained over 4hrs coming back from Canada in the 90s. And six hours coming in from Mexico just before that. I’ve also been searched by guys holding AKs crossing European borders in the late 80s. And yet my US - Canada and back trip last month was super easy. Hostile borders have existed forever. I say, travel anyway.
Yeah but that was before the soviet union fell and people were getting shot trying to cross over to west Berlin over the wall… It’s absolutely insane that the US is now starting to be comparable to those horrifying times.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/mar/19/trump-musk-french-scientist-detained
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/03/13/world/europe/german-tourists-detained-deported.html
https://www.newsweek.com/australian-journalist-deported-us-alistair-kitchen-2086256
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cqj4w91vz7jo
And a lot more, do your own homework next time.