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Big Banana Car

bigbananacar.com

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Re: Big Banana Car

#111

Post by eru »

Henchman21 wrote: post #39
alentred wrote: post #8

> World Needs More Whimsy 100% that! When did everything get serious and look-alike? Anyway, I am taking off, shopping cart racing in the mall...

In the early 2000s the media ecosystem decided to re-tell every story, but darker & “grittier”. Then 9/11 happened and the darkness became permanent. It would be nice if we were coming out of that phase!

TV Tropes puts the start of darker and grittier more into the 1990s. See https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/DarkerAndEdgier

And some even in the 1980s or 1970s. https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/DarkerAndEdgier/Batma...

I don't think the 2000s were especially darker and grittier?

Re: Big Banana Car

#112

Post by eru »

dcrazy wrote: post #4

Well this headline is certainly a crash blossom: https://www.merriam-webster.com/wordplay/crash-blossom-words...

English has a lot more of these crash blossoms--not just in headlines--than eg German or other more inflected languages.

It's sometimes charming, sometimes annoying. (But it makes for some cheap joke material that tends to make Poms think they are especially funny.)

Re: Big Banana Car

#113

Post by eru »

init2null wrote: post #14

Every time he gets pulled over for a selfie it's an abuse of power. If he can't ignore it, they shouldn't be doing it. Wait for a random encounter in a parking lot or gas station like the rest of us.

In some purer version of the universe where laws are absolute, you might be right.

In the world as it is, with laws interpreted by humans along notions of what society generally finds acceptable: if you drive a funny car or where an especially funny hat, expect to get a lot of attention from all kinds of people, including cops.

Re: Big Banana Car

#114

Post by eru »

ceejayoz wrote: post #57
andy99 wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Meh, you might technically be right but the world is better if everyone can have a bit of fun, even police. I’m not super sympathetic to the “I was minding my own business driving a giant banana when the police pulled me over to ask me about it” argument - this guy seems fine with it too, but it’s not like there’s any reason to drive it other than for the attention. And the “I pulled you over because you peeled out”…

> the world is better if everyone can have a bit of fun, even police Police have plenty of ways to have fun that aren't Fourth Amendment violations. If you wanna give out free ice cream cones, station a cruiser with a sign saying so. People can come to you just fine, without the "what the fuck, why am I getting pulled over?!" worries. The banana guy at least has an inkling of why there are flashing police lights in h…

Sure, I agree about the ice cream cones for random people. But the banana car guy is basically opting-in to getting lots of attention.

(And, yes, I realise that this is exactly the same shape of argument that turns into victim blaming when it's about cat calling or worse. No, I don't have a principled way to distinguish the two cases.)

Re: Big Banana Car

#115

Post by eru »

tjrlx wrote: post #66
superkuh wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It could never be against the police officer themselves due to qualified immunity. They are free to break the law however they wish. And that completely lack of accountability creates the risk inherent in every (US) police interaction.

[flagged]

I don't think that's how it works in theory, but in practice it seems to be pretty close.

(I mostly agree with you otherwise. Mr Banana Car Man would tell us, if he felt himself to be a victim.)

Re: Big Banana Car

#116

Post by eru »

ssl-3 wrote: post #49
ceejayoz wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"Violating his civil rights" is harm.

Unless having their rights violated in this way is one of their kinks.

And as far as we can tell from the writing, it is. (Not in a sexual way, I guess. But he seems to like the attention.)

Re: Big Banana Car

#117

Post by abyssin »

lproven wrote: post #93
0xbadcafebee wrote: post #85

I hosted Steve on my couch (remember Couchsurfing?) when he was taking his Big Banana Car to a local art festival. Awesome guy, awesome car. I got to ride along for a bit. It was thrilling to see every single person's face light up as soon as they saw it, like a moving happiness machine. I hope somebody sees this and decides to make their own bit of whimsy

The movement is still alive. I hosted a couchsurfer last week. https://www.bewelcome.org/ https://www.warmshowers.org/

https://www.trustroots.org/ for the more alternative folks

Re: Big Banana Car

#118

Post by zamadatix »

TurdF3rguson wrote: post #83
init2null wrote: post #14

Every time he gets pulled over for a selfie it's an abuse of power. If he can't ignore it, they shouldn't be doing it. Wait for a random encounter in a parking lot or gas station like the rest of us.

The thing is, you can be reasonably sure when you pull over a big banana car, that the driver won't be a curmudgeonly prick who invokes the fourth amendment.

Well yeah, all the ones who were too easily annoyed got weeded out over 100k miles ago!

Re: Big Banana Car

#119

Post by zamadatix »

eru wrote: post #114
ceejayoz wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> the world is better if everyone can have a bit of fun, even police Police have plenty of ways to have fun that aren't Fourth Amendment violations. If you wanna give out free ice cream cones, station a cruiser with a sign saying so. People can come to you just fine, without the "what the fuck, why am I getting pulled over?!" worries. The banana guy at least has an inkling of why there are flashing police lights in h…

Sure, I agree about the ice cream cones for random people. But the banana car guy is basically opting-in to getting lots of attention. (And, yes, I realise that this is exactly the same shape of argument that turns into victim blaming when it's about cat calling or worse. No, I don't have a principled way to distinguish the two cases.)

Opting in to getting attention shouldn't imply anything one way or the other about how often you get pulled over. In the real world it does, because the police are a collection of humans and will misuse powers they are able to, but that has no bearing on what's supposed to be right or wrong - it's just the realistic expectation you'll have to deal with.

Re: Big Banana Car

#120

Post by eru »

zamadatix wrote: post #119
eru wrote: post #114

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sure, I agree about the ice cream cones for random people. But the banana car guy is basically opting-in to getting lots of attention. (And, yes, I realise that this is exactly the same shape of argument that turns into victim blaming when it's about cat calling or worse. No, I don't have a principled way to distinguish the two cases.)

Opting in to getting attention shouldn't imply anything one way or the other about how often you get pulled over. In the real world it does, because the police are a collection of humans and will misuse powers they are able to, but that has no bearing on what's supposed to be right or wrong - it's just the realistic expectation you'll have to deal with.

Well, especially in a democracy what's supposed to be right or wrong is heavily influenced by what the general public wants and accepts.
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