Tuesday, April 22, 2008

Uh...

I must note that I was perilously close to spraying grapefruit juice out of my nose and all over my monitor when I saw this...


Presuming that this is not some kind of Photoshop caper, I'm not sure whether this image (taken from a pro-Tibet rally in the US) is a sadder comment on American history education or on the history of the Olympic Games themselves....

(Via German Joys.)

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

You're deliberately misreading this, the point they're making is:

'Would (today's society) allow the Olympics to have taken place in Nazi Germany'

They haven't helped themselves by using an ambiguous 'we' but the meaning is perfectly clear. The lolz are directed back at you I'm afraid

JCWood said...

Thanks.

But:

1. It's bad form to show up anonymously at someone's blog and then accuse them of something that you have no proof for. Viz.,...

2. I'm not 'deliberately' misreading anything. A 'misreading' is always possible, of course, nobody is perfect. But your petulant adverb suggests mens rea, when -- I assure you -- none was present.

That's a cruel slur, Mr. or Ms. Unknown.

3. I have no idea how you know what 'they' meant. Did you write that sign?

4. Please note, for future reference: something that is 'ambiguous' cannot simultaneously be 'perfectly clear'. Certainly not in the same sentence. Think, please, before you type.

5. The fact that a great number of other people made precisely the same association that I did immediately on seeing that sign casts more than a little doubt on the perfect clarity you claim. So please keep your lolz to your own damn self.

(You may have, by now, moved on to many of those other sites to go copy and paste your great insight and to spread some precious lolz about. Be sure to keep a few for yourself though. You deserve them.)

6. Finally, though, let us assume that we should make all of the various semiotic contortions that you have projected onto the makers of this sign. (And I've seen enough dumb-ass signs at enough demonstrations to doubt that they really wanted to make it that complicated.)

In that case, we would be left with the equivalent of the following question: Would today's society have allowed the Olympics to be held in an oppressive totalitarian state?

The answer to that question, as we all know, is an emphatic yes.

This would seem to make the sign meaningless and stupid, rather than funny and stupid.

I prefer the latter. You are, of course, free to stand by the former.

I am impressed, though, that in such a small space you managed to pack in not only some bad manners but also an unsupported allegation, an un-evidenced speculation, a logical impossibility, and some tortured semiotics.

That takes some natural talent.

Good day.