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

Post by seanmcdirmid » Mon, Mar 21, 2022, 6:41 PM UTC

mytailorisrich wrote: post #59

seanmcdirmid wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> "cheese-eating surrender monkeys" Any phrases that came directly from the Simpsons can definitely be considered intended as jokes and parody (if not in very good taste, but this was before the Family Guy took tasteless even further).

Racism is not a joke and not banter. Maybe you are too young to remember what I'm referring to in my previous comment. There definitely was racist French-bashing from some. It's denying reality to claim that "freedom fries" were a joke. It was not a joke for those who started it and spread it. The Simpsons are a satire but what they satirize is what some people really do and think. I only used the term from the Simps…

Post by mytailorisrich » Mon, Mar 21, 2022, 6:44 PM UTC

seanmcdirmid wrote: post #61

mytailorisrich wrote: post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Racism is not a joke and not banter. Maybe you are too young to remember what I'm referring to in my previous comment. There definitely was racist French-bashing from some. It's denying reality to claim that "freedom fries" were a joke. It was not a joke for those who started it and spread it. The Simpsons are a satire but what they satirize is what some people really do and think. I only used the term from the Simps…

> It's denying reality to claim that "freedom fries" were a joke. It was not a joke for those who started it and spread it. The joke was on the people who took "freedom fries" seriously. There are definitely Americans who believe that, usually in red/right leaning America that many of us have no experience with but are we are definitely apt to ridicule and parody. > It was not a joke for those who started it and spre…

Post by adhesive_wombat » Mon, Mar 21, 2022, 6:48 PM UTC

mcphage wrote: post #51

adhesive_wombat wrote: post #25

I 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 Brex…

Not being in the UK, I was surprised that the referendum was specified as being non-binding, but once the vote happened, politicians spoke as if they had a moral obligation to implement the result. Which seemed ludicrous, given the final result was 52%/48%—and who know what it would have been had the referendum been specified as binding beforehand. I'd certainly vote differently on quite a few measures if I knew the…

Post by mcphage » Mon, Mar 21, 2022, 6:54 PM UTC

adhesive_wombat wrote: post #65

mcphage wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not being in the UK, I was surprised that the referendum was specified as being non-binding, but once the vote happened, politicians spoke as if they had a moral obligation to implement the result. Which seemed ludicrous, given the final result was 52%/48%—and who know what it would have been had the referendum been specified as binding beforehand. I'd certainly vote differently on quite a few measures if I knew the…

Leave even said it first: > In a 52-48 referendum this would be unfinished business by a long way. --Nigel Farage [1] [1] https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-eu-referendum-3630668...

Post by [deleted] » Mon, Mar 21, 2022, 7:08 PM UTC

valbaca wrote: post #60

seanmcdirmid wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ya, I never remember freedom fries being anything but a joke, but then again most of us are leftward leaning (I assume) and have never lived in conservative places (like small town Texas) where those terms were taken seriously. Support for the war in Iraq was never really there (but again, from my perspective as a leftward leaning individual living in a relatively liberal area).

I lived in a small town in Texas (2nd Most Conservative city in the nation) and everyone across both aisles thought it was a joke. Granted, yes, I'm also a leftist.