Terrorists and humour

[Gold Winger]

http://www.jokesgallery.com/joke.php?joke=4639&id=1

[vol_scouter]

That is funny!

[SSScout]

Yeah, funny in a sort of Road Runner / Coyote sort of way.

But that's cartoon, and this is too close to real life. I give it a "two".

[Trevorum]

I dunno ... having someone get killed is kinda disturbing in a commercial.

[Gold Winger]

I guess that you turn off the Raid commercials? Or is that okay because they're only killing anthropomorphic bugs?

[OldGreyEagle]

since its obviously a European commercial, I was surprised to see the sense of humor portrayed in it

[Trevorum]

Cartoon bugs are one thing, but this was disturbing. I don't think it would play in the US. Which is strange, because we're so inured to violence on TV and in the movies. Maybe Americans feel it's OK to use sex to sell stuff but not violence.

 

All I can say is I found it jarring.

[John-in-KC]

We are entirely inured to violence.

 

There are a couple of videos making the rounds of youtube. In my professional life, they have some teaching points, but I think they're really up for civilians to have yuks:

 

- In one, a US helicopter is overflying some Iraqis doing Exlosive Ordnance Reconaissance on a 6" (152/155mm)artillery shell the wrong way. Your fertile minds can determine what happened.

 

- In another, an insurgent is video-ing another insurgent as he mortars some other poor sonofa#####. Instead of "HANG IT," the insurgents use "Allahu Akhbar!" Well, about the fourth round, Allah was Akhbar. Some folks think counterbattery came in. I think the mortar had an inbore detonation.

 

Like GW and I suspect Gunny, I've looked at range safety training materials for a generation of my life. As an artilleryman, I've seen the consequences of inbore detonations. I once had to un-ass a howitzer at warp speed when the round stuck in the tube.

 

Have we, as a society, become too used to the violence of humanity?(This message has been edited by John-in-KC)

[Gold Winger]

It's always funny when it happens to the other guy. :-)

 

People go to NASCAR to see the crashes.

 

During First Manassas, city folk from Washington rode out to have picnics and watch the battles. The French upper class did the same thing during the late 1600s and probably other times.

 

That commercial was really nothing compared to some of our current moveis or even TV shows.

 

As for insensitivity, that commericial came from Great Britain, a country that has a recent history of "bomb throwing Paddys" (to quote an acquaintance who is ex-SAS) blowing up movie houses.

 

The sad thing is that we are inured to violence when it involves entertainment but real life is another thing. People will pay big bucks to watch Jean Claude VanDamme beat the snot out of someone but heaven help us if little Johnny gets into a scuffle on the playground.

 

 

[anarchist]

It has been said that we laugh at some humor...to keep from crying....

[Argyle]

Artillerists. LOL. Whenever anyone says "Howitzer" my mind immediately races back almost two decades. I was a commo guy, working in our brigade's operation section, big antennas (scud magnets) parked about 50 klicks north of Hafr al Batin. We were running our ops out of semi trailer with lots of antennas. The sun was just coming up when all of a sudden BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM BOOM, shaking and rattling our world, the six of us went from sleepy to stoked awake. We thought we had bad guys right outside the doors with big guns. I pulled the .45, thinking, "I'm not ready for this" and three of us went left, three went right, ready to do whatever. We bust out of the doors like Starsky, Hutch and Company, but there wasn't anyone there.

 

It seems a self propelled brigade of Artillerists had pulled up about a half mile away in the middle of the night and let loose at first light. Glad they weren't any closer...pucker factor might have been higher than 10.