Web Animation / Common Sense Soapbox

"Actually..."

Common Sense Soapbox is a web series consisting of 3 minute lectures on economics. It is created by Seamus Coughlin, the creator of FreedomToons. All of the videos are posted to the Foundation for Economic Education Youtube channel.

It can be viewed here.

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Tropes:

• Be Careful What You Wish For: After Seamus gives an explanation about how inflation devalues our currency, Bob remains defiant on the issue and says that the government should spend as much money as possible. Then the dollar bill he holds in his hand suddenly turns into a penny.
  Seamus: Told you so.
• Big Ol' Eyebrows: Seamus is depicted in this series as having large, thick eyebrows.
• Catchphrase: Sometimes when somebody says an idea ​that only sounds good on paper, Seamus would say "Actually..." and then explain how flawed the idea is.
• Character Death: Manny "Bubble Man" Seifenblasen eventually dies at the end of the COVID-19 story arc when he's crushed to death by a falling piano. To add insult to injury, he's buried under the auspice of dying to the disease he tried so hard not to catch.
• Character Development: Bob goes through significant changes during the "Bob to the Future" arc. Beforehand, he held flawed ideas about economics and is normally the target of being proven wrong by Seamus himself. Fed up with his constant preaching, Bob hides in his secret hut located in Antarctica, where he accidentally freezes himself for hundreds of years. He then wakes up in a futuristic city and befriends Charlie who, like Seamus, lectures him about economics, and also helps him become a successful entrepreneur. Then when Bob returns to the present using a time machine, he gives everyone a lecture on why socialism doesn't work, much to Seamus' shock. Afterwards, while Bob is still annoyed by Seamus' constant preaching, they both tend to agree on most things now.
• Cycle of Revenge: "Blame Russia!" points out that a lot of the actions being taken against Russia are acts of virtue signaling that won't deter its government, and are just being done so people can brag that they're sticking it to Russia. Such examples include FIFA banning Russian players from their game servers, and cat shows not allowing Russian bred cats to compete. All stuff like this does is harm citizens of Russia, who have nothing to do with their government's actions, and will feel ostracized by the west. Even worse, this bigotry towards Russians will only make them more likely to support Russia's war effort in order to get pay back.
• Double Standard: "Blame Russia!" calls out the fact that while sanctions have been placed on Russia in response to invading Ukraine, China's government is also guilty of similar atrocities. However, no one demands sanctions against China, and America's corporations cater to the demands of the Chinese government.
• Early-Installment Weirdness: There is a significant contrast between the first few videos and the current ones.
  • The series was formerly more political and focused on political correctness and fake news. There was also a white background for the first 10 videos before it changed to grey as we know it today.
  • In another early video, “Does Life Owe You Lemonade?” Ron is named Billy and is used to express Seamus’s actual opinions while Bob’s voice is not quite what it currently is. And during "Can Big Business Save the Trees (and the Bees)?", Bob actually pronounced the word "entrepreneur" correctly.
  • Seamus' self-insert character during the early videos was designed differently (yet inconsistently), otherwise he is mostly absent.
• Express Delivery: Sarah's baby in "Is Having Kids Socially Irresponsible?" is born minutes after she announces her pregnancy.
• Good Ol' Boy: Florida Man who's a pretty cheerful addition to the cast despite his obsession with his pet gators and some of his more bizarre conspiracy theories.
• Green Aesop: This trope gets deconstructed in the appropriately-named "It Ain't So Easy Being a Green", as Seamus goes on to explain that as important it is to keep our world clean, there are many costs that comes with going green; such as the necessity to build a lot of solar panels and wind turbines, even though they take up so much space that they have to be built in wildlife preserves and plantations. And also how batteries, as an alternate energy source for crude oil, are super expensive and require a lot of fossil fuels for manufacturing, and still generate pollution.
• Ironic Echo: After both Seamus and Bob explain to Ron about the severe downsides of the Covid lockdowns, we get this exchange.
  Ron: UGH! Are you seriously suggesting we should just reopen?!
  Bob: Well, if it just saves one life! (laugh track)
  Ron: (glares at Bob)
• It's a Wonderful Plot: This story element is used in a video that talks about private charity and how contributing to society can be done without government help. Seamus is dressed up as an angel (and a devil) in this video.
• Overpopulation Crisis: Discussed in "Is Having Kids Socially Irresponsible?" as Seamus explains how the narrative of overpopulation is "mostly mythical", and that our world's natural resources are actually expanding, not dwindling. Also, because of the rising number of people, extreme poverty has decreased dramatically. Bob then goes on to talk about how insane it sounds because it's the exact opposite of what would happen if more people meant fewer resources.
• Political Correctness Is Evil: Explored in "Don't be P.C. Be Polite".
• Replacement Flat Character: Following Bob's Character Development, Ron has taken over his role as the character who makes points Seamus argues against.
• Running Gag: Bob's butt implants are brought up as a joke very often.
• Story Arc: "Bob to the Future" as the name suggests, is about Bob who finds himself in the future after accidentally freezing himself for hundreds of years, and is lectured about economics by Charlie. Then much later afterward, the main cast decides to take a "post-lockdown vacation" that goes horribly wrong and gets them stranded on a desert island... er, Archipelago for over 8 weeks.
• Took a Level in Jerkass: Ron (formally named Billy) was initially used as a mouthpiece for Seamus, especially in his debut episode, "Does Life Owe You Lemonade?". Come Season 5 and onwards, he becomes progressively more stubborn and dismissive of Seamus' preaching, even more so than Bob ever was. He straight-up falls into villain territory during the "Island Lockdown" arc and turns into a tyrannical parody of Dr. Anthony Fauci. After the main cast builds a small society whilst stranded on an island, Ron shuts down the whole beach, which causes their entire economy to tank and thus preventing them from being rescued, all because he has an allergy to lobsters. He gets worse when he forbids everyone from working, forces them to eat small portions of food, and nearly starves them - and himself - to death! Yikes.