Ask HN: Why was it hard to criticize Freedom Fries hysteria while it lasted? • Hacker News Board

Re: Ask HN: Why was it hard to criticize Freedom Fries hysteria while it lasted?

#41

Post by tablespoon » Mon, Mar 21, 2022, 4:50 PM UTC

> I was too young to notice all the details in people's behaviour in the post-2001 political climate (and I've never been to the US). Anyone with some interesting perspectives who remembers?

The most visible reaction was people would fly the American flag on their car, sometimes multiple. Stuff like this was pretty common, though far from ubiquitous: https://www.amazon.com/US-American-Patriotic-Window-Clip/dp/.... Within a few years most of that stuff went away, as the flags wore out or people got new cars.

Re: Ask HN: Why was it hard to criticize Freedom Fries hysteria while it lasted?

#42

Post by spacemanmatt » Mon, Mar 21, 2022, 4:56 PM UTC

Corona beer took a PR hit when the pandemic started.

That's beer. Not a bottle of virus. But people are not superficially logical.

Re: Ask HN: Why was it hard to criticize Freedom Fries hysteria while it lasted?

#43

Post by acadapter » Mon, Mar 21, 2022, 5:09 PM UTC

jeanluc_discard wrote: post #39

> Recently ... in PR, media, and other popularity-based professions, there seems to be a very different arrangement of perspectives and emotions It was never this bad. The "Freedom Fries" thing was a small subset and not taken seriously. What's going on now, however, is frightening. It's terrifying. Years ago, when the US invaded Iraq under the pretense that they had weapons of mass destruction (WMD) and they were an…

Of course - this post is not about the renaming of French Fries, but about the political bandwagons behind things like these

Re: Ask HN: Why was it hard to criticize Freedom Fries hysteria while it lasted?

#44

Post by rflec028 » Mon, Mar 21, 2022, 5:14 PM UTC

mytailorisrich wrote: post #27

rflec028 wrote: post #23

I 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.

Explain your hyperbole or go back to Reddit.

Re: Ask HN: Why was it hard to criticize Freedom Fries hysteria while it lasted?

#45

Post by jeanluc_discard » Mon, Mar 21, 2022, 5:16 PM UTC

acadapter wrote: post #43

jeanluc_discard wrote: post #39

> Recently ... in PR, media, and other popularity-based professions, there seems to be a very different arrangement of perspectives and emotions It was never this bad. The "Freedom Fries" thing was a small subset and not taken seriously. What's going on now, however, is frightening. It's terrifying. Years ago, when the US invaded Iraq under the pretense that they had weapons of mass destruction (WMD) and they were an…

Of course - this post is not about the renaming of French Fries, but about the political bandwagons behind things like these

What's strange to me is the intensity of it all. It's like the entire media industry is willing to die on this hill. They're losing all credibility, inch by inch, day by day, and they won't get that back. They're killing their industry with each passing day and instead of backing off, they're doubling down. Why?

Re: Ask HN: Why was it hard to criticize Freedom Fries hysteria while it lasted?

#46

Post by rflec028 » Mon, Mar 21, 2022, 5:16 PM UTC

spacemanmatt wrote: post #42

Corona beer took a PR hit when the pandemic started. That's beer. Not a bottle of virus. But people are not superficially logical.

I heard that sales went up! Might be neat to look into that.

Re: Ask HN: Why was it hard to criticize Freedom Fries hysteria while it lasted?

#47

Post by valbaca » Mon, Mar 21, 2022, 5:21 PM UTC

"Freedom fries" was always considered a joke and I never heard anyone ever use it except with dripping sarcasm. Everyone knew it was a joke from the very beginning.

It also occurred when it was clear that with the emotions of 9/11 passed, that we had no real reason to invade Iraq other than a very loose set of connections and assumptions with very little hard evidence. I was in high school at the time of the Iraq war and anti-war sentiment was strong (granted, I was also in my "rebellious phase" though I still hold to those opinions). Bands like System of a Down and A Perfect Circle had several anti-war protest songs.

For the record, most people don't even say "French fries", you just say "fries" or specify the other kids of fries like "waffle fries" or "crinkle fries." French fries are implied by "fries".

Re: Ask HN: Why was it hard to criticize Freedom Fries hysteria while it lasted?

#48

Post by yucky » Mon, Mar 21, 2022, 5:28 PM UTC

tomjen3 wrote: post #17

I do avoid buying Russian made products/products from companies that deal with Russia so the target market here is me, I suppose. If the product appears Russian I won't buy it, I assume there are enough others who feel similar that they would rather take it of the market than explain how it is not Russian. This has nothing to do with freedom fries, it has everything to do with the place the product is made.

Out of curiosity, is this issue particularly personal for you, or is just a principled stand against a nation that is doing bad things? I find it curious how China has been involved in an ongoing genocide for years now and we don't see this sort of move to boycott their shit. It's a curious thing to behold.

Re: Ask HN: Why was it hard to criticize Freedom Fries hysteria while it lasted?

#49

Post by oceanjams » Mon, Mar 21, 2022, 5:39 PM UTC

Bush and Putin are both war criminal, period. They both "Manufactured Consent" to justify going to war. American right-wing journalist use propaganda, like freedom fries to denigrate and vilify the opposition.

In the case of the US, Osama bin Laden, a Saudi, was living in a mansion in Pakistan. The hijackers were mostly Saudi's. Bush decided to attack Afghanistan, then Iraq? The Saudi was killed by a small group of soldiers, so war was unnecessary. The attacks are the sign of someone very incompetent or a war criminal. The offenders were Saudi Arabia.

On a side note, 2000 American's died in September on the day, and people were outraged. During Covid, 4000 American's were dyeing daily (not just one day), and people were like it's no big deal, I'm not going to get vaccinated or wear a mask. So the whole thing is disingenuous.

It was immediately apparent that when the US engaged in war crimes and got away with it other countries started to salivate. It's easy to see a link between what happened in Iraq and Ukraine. But again, both are war crimes.

Re: Ask HN: Why was it hard to criticize Freedom Fries hysteria while it lasted?

#50

Post by speedgoose » Mon, Mar 21, 2022, 5:44 PM UTC

rdiddly wrote: post #34

For the record, I think Freedom Fries were what they renamed the fries in the Congressional cafeteria or something like that. I never saw it on any menu outside of that. But it wasn't hard for me or my circle of friends to criticize, because it was so goddamn stupid. Not least because "French" fries were invented in Belgium. But there was also the very convenient oversimplification it represented, where supposedly "t…

French fries are not from Belgium. They are French and from Paris.

A Belgium source about that but you can find many others. It’s a common misconception to debunk. https://www.rtbf.be/article/cuisine-la-frite-vient-elle-de-f...