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How a comedy slogan became a symbol of protest
- Zikes 10y ago"<Insert Irreverent Thing Here>" is the new symbol of protest. Every protest I've seen has had a slew of various comedic signs and slogans.
- godshatter 10y agoMy favorite is "They said there would be cake."
- a3n 10y agoAs always, the cake is a lie.
- Apocryphon 10y agoProtests seek the empathy of others. It's easier to make people laugh, than to make them care.
- RangerScience 10y agoI feel like there's a new kind of protest now, that's almost more of a party. It started with Anonymous' birthday protests - where people brought actual cake to Scientology centers - and then the Occupy movements took it a bit further. There are still classic protests - the women's marches are a great example - but it's like there's this idea now that a protest can also be a fun event.
- aantix 10y agoOf all the varied protest signs that have made an appearance, this article makes it to the front page of Hacker News? What is it with developers and their obsession with European comedy? - Monty Python - UK Version of the Office - Eddie Izzard - John Oliver
- alexkavon 10y agoI can't speak for everyone but the main difference between American popular comedy and European comedy is that the European comedy is drier requiring more thought and understanding. Thus making it more attractive to me as I enjoy that level of effort. Disclaimer: I run a comedy group and am a software developer.
- eru 10y agoYou should try German comedy. English is too full of puns, so makes humour too easy.
- diminoten 10y agoOnly a German would think that comedy being easy is a problem!
- eru 10y ago"We choose to go to the moon. We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard, [...]"
- rhizome 10y ago"Dying is easy; comedy is hard."
- conistonwater 10y agoBloody hell that quote is ambiguous. "Dying" refers to playing tragic roles in Shakespeare (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edmund_Kean https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edmund_Kean), not WW{1,2}.
- beaconstudios 10y agodying is also a euphemism for performing badly on-stage. It works on many levels!
- pinewurst 10y agoFather Ted is a great, great show, btw, well worthy of watching every episode.
- jmkni 10y agoWorth re-watching with the directors commentary also. Linehan and Matthews are two very smart guys!
- rmchugh 10y agoMy guess is that it's Irish emigrants carrying the placards. It's sort of an in joke.
- AimHere 10y agoPossibly, but no need to assume the placard-bearers are Irish. Father Ted was a joint Irish-British production and was very well-received in the UK when it came out.
- boyce 10y agoI'm in the process of registering a semi-satirical political party and "down with this sort of thing" was the first official slogan I listed - it's so ingrained in the culture here now
- jaimebuelta 10y agoFrom the same show, I´ve been remembering the line "I heard you're a racist now, father" quite often these days... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6zkL91LzCMc&t=1m14s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6zkL91LzCMc&t=1m14s
- sandworm101 10y agoMy grandmother hated that show. She said she disliked how father hacket (the old drunk) was treated. But i suspect some of the catholic humor struck a little too close to home. For those who liked it: check out "black books" which the makers did between father ted and the it crowd. Same humor. Same trio of characters. Same irish bits. One of the writers said he did all he could to avoid another "drunk irish" character ... but it couldnt be avoided and does crop up in all three.
- aaron695 10y agoFYI: It's “Down With This Sort of Thing” from Father Ted, for anyone feeling to lazy to push the web button above.
- 97-109-107 10y agoRelevant read Can Jokes Bring Down Governments? Memes, Design and Politics. by Metahaven http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/17797884-can-jokes-bring-down-governments-memes-design-and-politics http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/17797884-can-jokes-bring-...