(Conical hat tip to Reed Richter.)
88 Responses to Ooh, A Tough One
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Summing Up Economic Woe « Mobile Success -
April 21, 2008
[…] Summing Up Economic Woe I was going to write today about the mortgage mess, the credit crunch, various government rebates and hand-outs, but decided that this sign summed things up for me better (found here, here and here): […]
Thank goodness that China doesn’t buy into the West’s hypocrisy. China is big enough and self-confident enough to be able to think for itself and not be influenced by the media lies and myths that the West like to propagate.
An example of these lies and myths? As many commentators pointed out here, Jesse Owens was actually greeted enthusiastically by the Nazis, and was snubbed by none other than the President of the United States for being black.
Take that! You Western hypocrites!
China is hardly self-confident.
Who is more stupid, a person who would make such a sign not knowing that Nazi Germany did in fact host the Olympics, or a person who sees such a sign and misses entirely its winking sarcasm? Answer: The latter. Which is funnier, the sign’s sarcasm, or the hubris of the people who don’t understand it? Answer: Tie.
Um, what if the sign writer means would we – as in present day people – have allowed Nazi Germany to host the Olympics? Perhaps it would be better if it said ‘Would we allow Nazi Germany to host the Olympics?’
If you see what I mean.
Fake Steve Jobs linked to you. You are now officially cool.
http://fakesteve.blogspot.com/2008/04/why-i-love-san-francisco.html
@jt
“Oh well, we can always send the US war machine to “save darfur” and “the children” instead.”
Uhhh, we can’t even do that since we’re bogged down in Iraq and need to keep enough troops there to keep Iran in check. The US military has shown what a paper tiger it really is. We bow down to China because we can’t afford to piss them off. The US has let itself become a joke. That needs to be fixed. Maybe we can start by taking back our manufacturing sector.
clivex’s explanation sounds most reasonable to me. the protester is fine, it’s y’all who don’t get it.
You gotta understand, out here in San Francisco we have ( and are already tired of ) something called post-irony. It’s when you intentionally do something dumb just to show how ironic the accepted norm really is. Like wearing unfashionable shoes _because_ it calls out the entire idea of “fashionable shoes” for review and disparagement.
For further research on the culture that produced this sign, checkout the youtube videos “The Qwesi: An Exploration Of Post Irony” (more scholarly) and “Hipster Olympics” (direct application).
No need to check it out online, though. Like wraps, bowling sneakers, yoga, and opposition to the war, this San Francisco fad will be in your hometown soon enough. Til then, enjoy the laugh — that’s what is there for.
“Would we have allowed Nazi Germany to host the Olympics?”. Yes, and for the same dumb reason: Fear of the economic and political fallout from opposing an immoral regime.
Ha. Ha. What a dumbass.
Thankfully someone gets irony. (austinfromboston/clivex)
The whole point of the sign is to demonstrate that it _was_ done before and for the same reasons. By asking a rhetorical question it’s calling for us not to make the same mistake again.
It’s not dumb, it’s very intelligent.
Even if it is fake (and I don’t believe it is) the point has been made.
The Tibetan prayer flags on the sign lead me to believe that it was probably made by a pro-Tibetan/anti-China protester.
Which in turn inclines me to believe that it wasn’t intended ironically.