Called Out
Irradiated by LabRat
Okay, so we spent the weekend converting a very large pile of logs into a very large pile of split and stacked firewood. It doesn’t exactly make for fabulous blogging material, but it will make for fabulous combustible material throughout the winter, so that made it priority. There’s part of a Cooking Noob in the draft section, but tonight I have neither the time, the energy, or the good mood to finish it.
For some reason- I don’t know if we’ve gotten a higher Google profile or what- we seem to have attracted a few trollish comments of late. I hadn’t responded to or highlighted the first one because it’s so incoherent I frankly can’t figure out what the guy’s point was supposed to be (though I considered making a reader contest of it), but as the other is a pure finger-wagging chide for my shameful, shameful indulgence in schadenfreude, well hell. I’ll just keep that schadenfreude train rolling. From the comments to my throwaway post on Scarred:
I’m probably wasting my time with this, but I just *don’t get it*, so I have to ask.
Here’s a free hint: If you start out knowing something is a bad idea, it’s a bad idea to go through with it. Actually that was the entire point of the original post. You’ll find it embedded in the wall somewhere above your head.
What, exactly, is funny about people hurting themselves?
Inherently? Nothing much. The irony here is that I won’t watch America’s Funniest Home Videos because I don’t think men taking a shot to the balls is funny even if it’s a three-year-old doing it. Well, that and I find almost everything else they think is funny to be either boring or antihumor, but still- I don’t laugh, I’m mentally counting up hospital bills.
People hurting themselves with full knowledge that it’s very likely they’re going to do so, and then actually coming back and doing the exact same thing again and re-sustaining the original injury only worse, and then volunteering for the whole scene to be on national television, followed by their sincere pledge to keep doing what’s wrecking their bodies, is either hilarious or suicidally depressing. I go with the former. Believing that being that stupid should, in fact, be painful probably has something to do with it.
Now I know that the Americans are big on revenge and humiliation, and in their twisted minds equate it with justice, but the people in this programme haven’t done you any harm so that excuse is out.
When did nationality come into it? The show is multinational- people submit videos from all over. We happen to be American, but we write as individuals and pretty much own the fact that we’re not particularly nice ones at that. I WONDER IF THIS COMMENTER HAS A LARGER AGENDA?
The interesting thing here is that he’s right, it’s not really about revenge or justice. I don’t give a damn if somebody thinks riding the ragged edge of natural selection is a good lifestyle choice*. Freedom means being free to be stupid, after all. But that doesn’t mean I won’t comment on it either. But it sure as hell was never about nationality, either- that’s all his axe to grind.
How can anyone fully human watch a video of someone acting stupidly and hurting themselves seriously in the process, and then not only *not* be revolted, but actually enjoy it and telegraph to the world how hilarious it is while mocking the injured and trying to be witty about it?
Well, my grandmother WAS an orc. That might have had something to do with it.
They can’t, of course. Only a completely pathetic piece of human refuse would be entertained by it. And then announce how much they liked it! What kind of sick fuck are you anyway?
Somehow I get the impression this is a rhetorical question.
I used to wonder why the Abu Ghraib was just “panties on the heads” to americans, how a judge running for election can brag about how many persons he sent to execution, how rape jokes can be so hilarious and ubiquitous, and how the police are seen not as upstanding servants of the people but as violent thugs, a necessary evil to keep the hordes of sub-humans at bay.
Here’s my rhetorical question: Gosh, I wonder why so many Americans think of Europeans as bigoted and condescending?
At this point I’m just fascinated, seeing as how I’ve never commented on Abu Ghraib at all (and for the record, my position is “it was bad”), I have no idea what he’s talking about with respect to the judge- but I suspect that doesn’t matter to him- and there are several law enforcement bloggers in the sidebar. But with this kind of drive-by troll, it never IS about much but having a place to spew their guts.
But then I learned that attitudes like the one seen in this post really are very common among Americans, and the mystery of why their country is such an unbelievably fucked up combination of sexism, homophobia and violence is solved.
Cheers to you too, cupcake. I’m glad to know that in Country of Origin Not Mentioned** people never, ever laugh at other people falling down, and I’m sure that if you polled the nearest bar full of young men they’d be outraged to find out this is happening.
Meanwhile, it’s perfectly just and only evidence of your own sensitive soul to deliberately seek out and call strangers sick fucks, not even human, worthless pieces of filth, and characterize their nations as hellholes based on, apparently, word of mouth and the assumption that all three hundred million members of that culture all think the same thing about each issue- fucking subhuman foreigners, am I right?
*Although, while they haven’t done us personally any harm, their habit of tearing up private property, opening the owners to liability, and putting their massive orthopedic bills on public hospitals doesn’t make us feel all warm and fuzzy, either.
**Traceroute says Sweden. Land of tolerance and justice. And a murder and assault rate twice America’s.
November 1st, 2009 at 6:53 pm
*sigh*
I’m glad I live on this side of the Pond these days.
November 1st, 2009 at 8:54 pm
Wow, normally I just read your guys posts but guess I need to start reading the comment sections.
November 1st, 2009 at 9:21 pm
I guess the pussy Swede skipped over the comments, you know, where about half of those responding admitted that they found the show distasteful?
The best thing Sweden ever did for me was kick my great-grandpa out so he could go live in a real country.
November 1st, 2009 at 9:29 pm
Thank you for your response, LabRat. I will be away for the next couple of days but still want to make two quick points.
1) You say the entire point of your post was that if your gut feeling is something is stupid, don’t do it.
But what I got out of your text was something different namely
It’s great fun to watch stupid people who are in serious pain.
Now even if they brought the injuries on themselves by acting stupidly I still don’t find it funny. I cannot at all understand how someone could enjoy seeing people getting hurt. Hence my question.
You say the videos are either depressing or hilarious. And go for hilarious, since stupid people deserve to get hurt. I guess we found the difference in our attitudes, since I don’t think *any* people deserve to be hurt, not even insensitive, cold-hearted fucks who think people maiming themselves is the height of comedy.
So I guess my follow-up question would be why do stupid people deserve to get hurt? I would greatly appreciate an answer, since as I said, I simply don’t understand that view at all.
2) Sweden *is* a land of tolerance and justice. Especially compared to America. For someone who fancies him/herself to be somewhat of an intellectual, it certainly must be embarrasing to get the fact so wrong.
Comparing crime rates is always tricky but those that involve fatal consequences are a bit easier to get right. According to the Swedish National Board of Crime Prevention(my translation, don’t know of there is an official one) the number of murders, manslaughters and batterings that resulted in deaths were 167 in 2001(the year your link is discussing). This means the American murder rate is more than *three times as high* as the Swedish one. How can the figures vary so wildly?
Go take a look(the economist uses 2003 data but the point still stands, unless somehow the number of murders in Sweden absolutely plunged in two years):
http://www.economist.com/world/middleeast-africa/displaystory.cfm?story_id=2158414
And even your own link disproves you if you read the whole text of the crime section.
Murders three times as common and major assault ten times as common in America compared to Sweden. Perhaps if you make prison conditions even more horrible and execute even more minors and mentally retarded people the bad guys will get the message and your crime rates begin to approach a Swedish level.
Oh, and Richard, I’m glad you live in on the other side of the pond too. To each their own.
November 1st, 2009 at 9:44 pm
pdb, this “pussy” Swede is likewise thankful that sexist shitheads like you don’t live here. If they did, feminism(or should I say feminazism?) might be considered useless and wrongheaded here just like it is in America.
November 1st, 2009 at 10:15 pm
“I would greatly appreciate an answer, since as I said, I simply don’t understand that view at all.”
Here’s a little tip that might get you a bit further, skippy: If you’re really interested in a discussion, how’s about not starting off by telling the person(s) you’re questioning, at length, how they’re sick sub-human disgusting filth?
Let’s try this in reverse: You’re a chicken fucking piece of crusted clown-semen unfit to waste carbon on this planet. I’m really interested in your views on POW prison culture, let’s have tea!
Now it’s clear we’re not going to see eye to eye on whether watching actions have consequences is funny, and you’re obviously more interested in pointing out how shitty America is, so let’s examine the consequence of your actions of coming in with no other agenda than to stir shit, shall we chicken-fucker? So far that action has had the consequence of annoying your hosts, much as we would be annoyed if a brain-damaged rhesus monkey started shitting in our living room. Great start to your cunning plan, ain’t it?
Alternately, if you’re actually curious about why one person would find an idiot doing something stupid and then being hurt because of doing something stupid and preventable, you could try being fucking civil about it, but then your actions are also leading to the consequence that I’ve decided you’re the same type of retard that ignored the possibility of a negative outcome and charges ahead full steam anyway, such as on the show you so abhor. Did you know the trick went wrong as soon as your wheel left the ground? Let me guess, you’re going to keep pressing on and do it more anyway, aren’t you?
Can I buy you a skateboard and a camcorder?
November 1st, 2009 at 10:29 pm
Schadenfreude, noun, German: The malicious enjoyment of another persons misfortune or displeasure.
Transliterated: Joy in harm.
Note, the word is used as a loan word in Danish, Swedish, and other northern European languages.
In swedish this lone word is transliterated as skadeglädje
See also: Epikhairekakia (greek)
It’s a universal concept, endemic to the nature of humanity.
I could give you a list of Swedish physical comedians and actors.
Outside of Sweden, the most popular television show in Russia features the police severely beating suspects.
In Japan they have several entire genres of television show dedicated entirely to abusing people in various ways.
In Korea, they have a genre of movies centered entirely around extremely violent revenge (also in Japan, but the Koreans are the true masters of it).
Let’s not even TALK about the Finns, and their “issues” with Russia, Germany…
I could go on like this for hours.
MP, you’re either ignorant, disingenuous, or both… a fool in any case.
November 1st, 2009 at 10:52 pm
You know, I was going to add my own take, but Chris wins the thread. Ownage left to stand.
November 1st, 2009 at 11:22 pm
Mighty provincial of you there Michael.
Zero tolerance for anything outside of Swedish political correctness.
I shouldn’t be too hard on them … with their cradle to grave socialism, no one in that socialist craphole can afford to travel much.
And here I thought the Germans had the highest provincial lout while traveling ratio.
Oh, and as for your murder rate numbers … I’ll take Interpol’s over the Swedish government’s. When the numbers get embarrassing, they seem to always shift. The British government does the same thing … lie about the embarassing numbers.
If you compare the rates to only Red State America, where we have full firearms rights, Europe looks even worse. The only places in teh US that have crime numbers like yours are shitholes like NY, Chicago, and LA, where they are making it impossible for us mere peasants to practice self-defense.
November 2nd, 2009 at 1:45 am
“Let’s not even TALK about the Finns, and their “issues” with Russia, Germany…”
Oh let’s do!
But our issues are first and foremost with Sweden, which some of us consider a nation of pelzfusses.
Just neighbourly snipery, of course. In reality, all Scandinavian countries get along famously:
http://humon.deviantart.com/art/No-invitation-129483258
November 2nd, 2009 at 6:58 am
Jesus, Labrat, would you stop acting like a rational human being? Don’t you know how hard that makes you to insult?
BTW, Michael, you’re doing a bang-up job of advertising what a childish jackass you are, but I’m really not sure what else you’re attempting to get out of this. I mean, do you want all Americans to just admit that we’re slime and drop dead? We’re a big country (approximately 300 times the population of Sweden) and we do not think like a monolith. There is HUGE variation between political parties, regions of the country, culture, ethnic background, et cetera. If you’re going to try to educate us about how we’re filthy, uncivilized, subhuman trolls, you might want to try educating yourself first.
Sincerely,
A New York Liberal Hippy
November 2nd, 2009 at 8:35 am
Oh Pun, that frikken brilliant.
And so true.
I have given many people advice about traveling in scandanavia over the years. The first bit is “Never drink with a Finn, unless you feel like getting in a friendly knife fight. No seriously, there will be a knife fight, or at the very least a rock or iceball fight, but it will be friendly. You’ll only be cut up a little bit and then everyone will go back and drink some more… Unless you’re a Russian in which case you’ll end up wearing your testicles as earrings”.
The funny thing is, everyone always thinks I’m joking. Then I remind them that the finns greatest national hero is Simo Hayha and explain the story.
If that doesn’t convince them, I explain that every adult male in Finnland still has access to a machine gun in case the Russians come back (up until relatively recently stored at home); and that Finns own nearly as many guns per capita as Americans do, but drink 8 times as much hard alcohol per capita (we Americans are in general much bigger beer and win drinkers).
Oh and twice the suicide rate.
…and that everyone with any balls still carries a puukko (fuck the ’77 law banning knife carry).
And that they swear as much as the Irish do.
From all that, you’d think I disliked the Finns.
Not in the slightest. If you knew me well, you’d know those are all compliments.
I love the Finns. I love the attitude, the drinking, the no-nonsense acceptance that pretty much everything in life is going to fuck you over, so you might as well just deal with it and get on with your life.
Oh and the clear eyed knowledge that at every moment nature is trying her damndest to kill you; so you’d better kill her first.
Plus, y’all are WAY less socialist than the rest of Scandanavia (not that that is saying much anymore); and given your utter hatred of Russia and all things associated with it, are unlikely to go full commie, unlike Sweden (which is in a death race between communism and Sharia).
Oh and Simo Hayha? Yeah, dude is AWESOME, in the literal sense.
And there’s always what y’all did to the Russians in the winter war: http://i38.tinypic.com/fdccax.jpg
Nice piece of work that.
Any country whose unofficial motto is “Hakka Palle” (generally translated into English as “Hack them down”) is ok with me.
November 2nd, 2009 at 8:45 am
Oh and of course putting y’all in the “scandanavian party” at all, is presuming you want to include yourself in Scandinavia… Since many Finns don’t.
Unfortunately, I don’t think Fennoscandia is going to get any sort of cultural traction outside of Finland.
November 2nd, 2009 at 9:36 am
I was genuinely surprised he was Swedish. Usually that kind of “pff, what can you expect from an American” ranting comes from Americans.
November 2nd, 2009 at 9:46 am
Chris at November 1st, 2009 at 10:29 pm, for the win.
Michael, you realize that you’re basing your entire opinion of 300 million Americans on the [superb] writings of two nerds, right?
And that we, as a nation, have collectively and individually condemned the actions by a few criminals at Abu Ghraib? We even, you know, convicted some people for criminal actions?
You realize that you’re living in a neutered nation, in a neutered region, that once was one of the greatest civilizations that this world ever built, and now is nothing more than an also-ran? Why should we, as a nation, ever, EVER wish to model ourselves after yours, current or past? You insult us incorrectly, for a feature that we’re not ashamed of. Do you also make fun of Italians for their large noses?
Look, I don’t want to keep you from your busy schedule of making pointed comments on YouTube videos about soccer hooligans. I know your schedule must be tight.
November 2nd, 2009 at 10:37 am
One wonders if modern Swedes even know who Gustavus Adolphus Vasa was, or Axel Oxensternia for that matter.
I mean his name is on all sorts of things, but they seem to have no concept of the man; or of the Swedish empire.
November 2nd, 2009 at 1:27 pm
Son of a bitch….
Show up late and all that’s left to look at is the greasy little spot on the ground that used to be a troll.
Next time I’m checking in BEFORE I go hug my guns and bible.
Oh, and Michael, how do you know how horrible prison conditions are in America? You ever been in one? My dad worked in the prisons for a number of years and they once had a bunch of German officials come through on a tour of US prisons.
When asked what they though of the US prisons the leader of the group said “If this is all you are going to do to me for killing someone and taking what I want, it’s not too bad of a deal.”
So yea, maybe we SHOULD start executing more murderers so they get the point that it’s a loosing game for them. Either that or how bout we send them to Sweden so you can re-educate them for us. How does that sound, Sparky?
November 2nd, 2009 at 2:26 pm
how the police are seen not as upstanding servants of the people but as violent thugs, a necessary evil to keep the hordes of sub-humans at bay.
Well, uh, it’s a sad fact that some police are violent thugs.
And they’re definitely a necessary evil, even when they’re upstanding servants of the law (they’re not servants of the people, at least not primarily) – just as the State itself is a necessary evil.
The sub-humans are fortunately not quite in horde strength yet, either.
(And the sub-humanity is of course in their culture and upbringing rather than in their genetic makeup. Just making it clear, because Europeans have a long tradition of being kinda unclear on that part, you know?)
November 2nd, 2009 at 3:26 pm
Mr. Pelzfuss? Still here? Of course you’re still here; trolls (tomte?) crave attention. Well, I’m one of those pleasant helpful Canadians you might’ve heard about (when I’m not clubbing baby harp seals, that is), so I’ll give you a little treat. Sit first. Sit. Good boy.
Go have a look through the archives of alt.tasteless.
It’s a pleasant and thoroughly multicultural hive of weaponized schadenfreude.
November 2nd, 2009 at 5:08 pm
Oh, a mainlander skitjävel! You do realize, do you not, that generalizing about Americans is about as sensible as generalizing about Europeans as a whole?
Watching somebody who is old enough to know better try to cheat gravity can be amusing.
November 2nd, 2009 at 5:48 pm
Was that your work Pun?
I think I like his stuff.
November 2nd, 2009 at 7:06 pm
“how the police are seen not as upstanding servants of the people but as violent thugs”
Sorry. Me again. I forgot to ask, Mike: How would you know how my community sees me? See, I’m a police officer, and I go into the schools and chat with the kids, and they attack me. They climb up into my lap, and insist that I pick them up, and poke me and giggle when I whirl around and make goofy monster noises, and… well. Maybe that where the thug thing comes from?
I’ve hit one (precisely 1. Neither 0 nor 2 shall the number be, but ONE.) person in my entire career as a cop. (I got sworn in in early 2000.) It was a guy who was blind drunk, and who clubbed my head as I was standing in the fast lane (> 110 kph) of an interstate. I was just trying to get him out of the car safely. I hit him once, and the fight was over, and I didn’t have to worry, and neither did he. I’ve certainly never shot anyone, and my expandable baton has only thumped car windows, doors, and the occasionally over-aggressive canine; never a person. Hell, I’ve never even had to use my Taser on a person.
I’m not unusual; most of my co-workers are like this.
And the public knows that.
But you, ‘way over there, say that we’re seen as thugs? Huh. I believe the word you’re looking for is “misperceived.” And in truth, I doubt that’s the common opinion at all, by those who have any reason to know what they’re talking about.
November 2nd, 2009 at 11:39 pm
Kristopher: “Was that your work Pun?”
No, the artist is Danish, I think. Those comics have been circulating some time now in Scandinavian forums.
CB: “One wonders if modern Swedes even know who Gustavus Adolphus Vasa was, or Axel Oxensternia for that matter.”
Well, King Gustavus is most famous for his pioneering work in building the the ship Vasa, the first Swedish submarine. The vessel dove in 1682 and resurfaced in 1961 with a Finn Mr. Nurmi on the Helm.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vasa_(ship)
November 3rd, 2009 at 3:46 am
Folks, cut Michel some slack. It must be hell for a fine, right-thinking young Socialist intellectual to wake up every day knowing that even if he lives another two hundred years he’ll never NEVER do as much to advance freedom, justice, and human rights as the average United States soldier, sailor, airman or Marine.
November 3rd, 2009 at 5:58 am
Wow! It’s just like I said: the little monkey flops down on your workspace, looks up at your face with moist, eager eyes and plunges its tiny hand earnestly down its own diaper for a wankfest. It’ll be over in a minute.
I’m glad that doesn’t just happen to me. Thanks for the grins. I love the smell of snark in the morning. See you in a few days.
November 3rd, 2009 at 12:00 pm
Thanks for the laughs guys, Tooling around Humon’s gallery has been awesome as well. And Chris, that rant about Finland? EPIC!
November 3rd, 2009 at 3:22 pm
Yeah I guess for the few that don’t read both sites, I’ll post the link.
I was inspired to write a longer piece on Finland by this thread:
http://anarchangel.blogspot.com/2009/11/finland-be-afraid-be-very-afraid.html
Now I’ve got a few hundred hits from Finland today. Apparently they like it.
November 3rd, 2009 at 10:55 pm
So…um…is this the “Sweden of tolerance and justice” you were on about?
http://majorityrights.com/index.php/weblog/comments/muslim_rape_wave_in_sweden/
I think I’ll stick to barbaric America, where rape (in the civilized parts of our country, at least) is NOT tolerated, and most of us view shooting a rapist dead as the pinnacle of justice. Maybe that’s just me.
November 7th, 2009 at 2:41 pm
Black Ice is right. It does the Swedes absolutely no credit at all to be tolerant of those who are not only intolerant of the freedoms (and tolerance) the Swedes so generously give them. Someone said that tolerance of evil is no virtue. Sweden has to watch that it has not fallen into that trap, because then everything that has made Sweden respected in the world will be gone.
December 12th, 2009 at 2:06 pm
*sigh* Well, there’s a countryman to be ashamed of. There’s always a few black sheep.
On the tolerance side of things… I wouldn’t throw stones in a glass house. American(and european, no excuses there either) tolerance and support of the continued depradations and crimes of a certain country is the root of most of the middle eastern hate for the west, which has resulted in the terrorist problem of today. America’s fondness of overthrowing secular and/or democratic governments and installing (sometimes religious fanatic) dictatorships in its place has kind of backfired too. See: Iran, for example, Ayatollah Khomeini was installed by the USA.
And the problem of wahabite extremists going terrorists… well it originates from the US ally Saudi Arabia.
Just saying tolerance of evil seems to be a long respected tradition, at least politically, in the USA.
No offense meant, as inflamatory as I know my post is. I know it’s not so much the general public as the ruling class that I’m ragging on, I quite like most americans I meet, good, decent and generous people by and large. Though with that big a population comes also your fair share of black sheep…