See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virtue_signalling. If we switched that off I'd guess that over half of the the output on social networks would go away.
Ask HN: Why was it hard to criticize Freedom Fries hysteria while it lasted?
21–30 of 85 posts
Re: Ask HN: Why was it hard to criticize Freedom Fries hysteria while it lasted?
#22The United States were not the aggressors but the victims (putting it simplistically), much like Ukraine is. In the moment, Americans wanted allies to help them hunt down terrorists who committed, supported and/or funded 9/11. France was not the most willing ally and thus Americans, for better or for worse, became somewhat anti-French. The "Freedom Fries" craze was in-name-only though; it's not like McDs or Burger Ki…
> Americans wanted allies to help them hunt down terrorists who committed, supported and/or funded 9/11. France was not the most willing ally France was fine with sending their troops to Afghanistan.
France was ok with Afghanistan. The Freedom Fries indecent happened when Bush tried to get support for the invasion of Iraq. They (the French) thought it was a bad idea and there wasn’t enough evidence for Saddam having weapons of mass destruction.
Or at least that is the way I remember it.
Re: Ask HN: Why was it hard to criticize Freedom Fries hysteria while it lasted?
#23I don't think it was hard to criticize; it always seemed to be a little tongue in cheek and lighthearted.
Have you read Chomsky's "Manufacturing Consent" and discussed the ideas inside with others? While he is right about in general about editorial bias, he ultimately posits that media that shares his own political agenda is good and media that does not is bad.
Media-induced hypersensitivity to fear porn is certainly an issue, and the good people of this board like to think they are invulnerable to it. Ha.
Re: Ask HN: Why was it hard to criticize Freedom Fries hysteria while it lasted?
#24See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Virtue_signalling . If we switched that off I'd guess that over half of the the output on social networks would go away.
Two thumbs up.
Re: Ask HN: Why was it hard to criticize Freedom Fries hysteria while it lasted?
#25I noticed something very similar with the whole Brexit process.
At the beginning, in 2016, it was made very clear by the Leavers that it was unthinkable that the UK would end up outside the single market and without a free trade deal with the EU. "No Deal Brexit" was called a scaremongering fiction and was promptly dubbed "Project Fear".
Once May invoked Article 50 in early 2017, it became clear that the softest Brexit possible would be harder than even the hardest Brexit countenanced by Leavers during the referendum.
Suddenly, the whole debate pivoted to a whole new one, where No Deal was renamed Hard Brexit: harder than any outcome mentioned in the referendum. Then, it was continuously repeated that people had, in fact, voted for that Hard Brexit.
It was very strange, and I felt like I was taking crazy pills as the options were redefined, it felt, almost overnight, and it seemed everyone just went with it.
Re: Ask HN: Why was it hard to criticize Freedom Fries hysteria while it lasted?
#26When the freedom fries thing came up it was ridiculous and I am not sure how far it went in other states but they where still french fries in California. As far as I know it was just a republican stunt in the congressional cafeteria and never went beyond that. I think I remember them also renaming french toast to freedom toast. I also remember how my dad reacted on them trying to ban “The Anarchist Cookbook” after co…
Well, three, maybe four. I am not a very social person, I have to admit.
Re: Ask HN: Why was it hard to criticize Freedom Fries hysteria while it lasted?
#27I don't think it was hard to criticize; it always seemed to be a little tongue in cheek and lighthearted. Have you read Chomsky's "Manufacturing Consent" and discussed the ideas inside with others? While he is right about in general about editorial bias, he ultimately posits that media that shares his own political agenda is good and media that does not is bad. Media-induced hypersensitivity to fear porn is certainly…
It was neither tongue-in-cheek nor light-hearted... Rather an offensive, and slightly racist, reaction to a country making its own decisions.
Re: Ask HN: Why was it hard to criticize Freedom Fries hysteria while it lasted?
#28It wasn't hard at all. I ridiculed it and walked out of a restaurant in a Vegas casino because it had freedom fries on the menu and told the server so.
There are always people who are scared of dissenting. History often refers to these people as "collaborators", if it bothers to refer to them at all.
Re: Ask HN: Why was it hard to criticize Freedom Fries hysteria while it lasted?
#29why don't you write a sternly written letter to the editor
Re: Ask HN: Why was it hard to criticize Freedom Fries hysteria while it lasted?
#30I was a senior in college on 9/11. The creation of the DHS, TSA, and the passing of the Patriot Act all occurred rapidly, with anyone trying to say "Hey, wait a minute.." shouted down as being unpatriotic and/or a terrorist sympathizer. I went into the Army right after graduating, being the patriotic young man that I was.
Some learned from that and didn't let themselves get whipped up by propaganda during our latest round of crises. Most did not.