Bad Taste

[Æmeric]

Which do you find more offensive? The "Suut has died" prank by Suut? Or the recent presence of Barack Obama? I don't think it was the real Barack, probably just someone's idea of a parody by some anonymous person.

[Loyalist]

The Obama thing, whoever was behind it, was simply good for a laugh; nothing offensive about it.

Personally, I wasn't at all offended by SuuT's prank, but at the same time, I can understand how others might have been. While the majority more or less saw through the whole thing from the start, you can never be certain, and SuuT is an established and highly respected member of this community. Many were thus seriously concerned for his well-being, and to have the whole thing exposed as a joke by a member who is generally held to a higher standard is going to provoke backlash.

[Loki]

I never for one moment believed SuuT was truly dead, so it didn't affect me in the slightest. If anything I found it a bit amusing.

As for Barack Obama ... if that obvious parody offended you, well ... then you have issues.

[Æmeric]

I thought the "Suut is dead" gag was probably just that, a gag. But you never know. I tried to find some confirmation of the incident. If a White man killed two Negroes with his bare hands in a botched robbery that would be major news along the lines of a 'Hate Crime' :rolleyes2:. But if he died in the robbery that wouldn't necessarily be news. Like for example the Jena incident that made the national news, versus the Knoxville Massacre which didn't.

As for Barack, I regret I was too busy yesterday to interact with him. I looked forward to having some interesting debates with him.:ranger:

[Allenson]

Personally, I didn't think Suut was really dead...but, I didn't want to make too much of a joke about it in case he really was (glad to hear that he's still with us, or course :) ).

As for BO--I thought it was kind of fun having the ol' chap around. ;)

[Electronic God-Man]

Personally, I don't know SuuT that well. I know he is a member of the forum. Maybe some people feel like they know him more, but unless they have personally met him then I still don't quite get it.

Am I just cold-blooded? How can you really be that upset about someone you don't know?

Then again, maybe posting to people on the internet just doesn't give me the feeling of really knowing anyone and to other people it does. (I still don't fully understand that, but it's certainly possible.)

Let's give an example. Loki seems like he can handle this. Suppose Loki actually died and someone informed all of us. My reaction would be "Damn, that really really sucks. I wish that hadn't happened." And that would be about the end of that. I might wonder how Arctic Fox would be handling it, etc. But it wouldn't ruin my week.

And yes I like Loki.

And no this does not mean Loki is actually dead. You can breath a sigh of relief.

[Vulpix]

Barack Obama was obviously a joke, and while I never bought into SuuT's obvious (according to me) prank, unfortunately some did, getting quite upset, and I see why they have been offended.

I'm not quite sure why anyone would find the "Barack Obama" joke offensive. If anything it lightened the mood here :).

[Lady L]

Personally, I don't know SuuT that well. I know he is a member of the forum. Maybe some people feel like they know him more, but unless they have personally met him then I still don't quite get it.

Am I just cold-blooded? How can you really be that upset about someone you don't know?

Then again, maybe posting to people on the internet just doesn't give me the feeling of really knowing anyone and to other people it does. (I still don't fully understand that, but it's certainly possible.)

Let's give an example. Loki seems like he can handle this. Suppose Loki actually died and someone informed all of us. My reaction would be "Damn, that really really sucks. I wish that hadn't happened." And that would be about the end of that. I might wonder how Arctic Fox would be handling it, etc. But it wouldn't ruin my week.

And yes I like Loki.

And no this does not mean Loki is actually dead. You can breath a sigh of relief.

We are all wired different. So, we are going to deal with these issues differently. If we all reacted the same, the world would be boring.

I think we all have certain people here we interact with on a more personal level than others. It isn't fun to hear of anyone's suffering but when one you were close with comes to hard ships you may feel more touched by the situation. Some of us have even spoken to SuuT ;) No, that doesn't mean you " Know " them...but it makes the character more real. :)

[Loki]

Let's give an example. Loki seems like he can handle this. Suppose Loki actually died and someone informed all of us. My reaction would be "Damn, that really really sucks. I wish that hadn't happened." And that would be about the end of that. I might wonder how Arctic Fox would be handling it, etc. But it wouldn't ruin my week.


You've really, really offended me now. I've just thrown all the toys out of my cot, and won't ever ever come here again. :mad:

Arctic Fox, please take over. This has just been too upsetting.

[Æmeric]

I see 2 persons found Barack Obama to be the most offensive. I know one must be BeornWulfWer but who is the other?:chin:

[Absinthe]

I found Obama to be highly amusing. :wink

As for Suut...I didn't believe it but I still think it was a rather morbid and tasteless joke.

Neither of the two jokes affected me, though.

[Baron Samedi]

Yeah, I agree with Loki.... The internet is certainly not "serious business" but some people on here take it to be.

CHILL

[Electronic God-Man]

On a serious note, April Fools day jokes are and have been a part of European culture for centuries. No one knows exactly how long the tradition has been practiced or what the origins are, but the earliest known possible written reference was in 1392 by Chaucer.


April Fools' Day or All Fools' Day, although not a holiday in its own right, is a notable day celebrated in many countries on April 1. The day is marked by the commission of hoaxes and other practical jokes of varying sophistication on friends, family members, enemies, and neighbors, or sending them on fool's errand, the aim of which is to embarrass the gullible.

The origin of April Fools' Day is obscure. One likely theory is that the modern holiday was first celebrated soon after the adoption of the Gregorian Calendar; the term referred to someone still adhering to the Julian Calendar which it replaced. In many pre-Christian cultures May Day (May 1) was celebrated as the first day of summer, and signalled the start of the spring planting season. An April Fool was someone who did this prematurely. Another origin is that April 1 was counted the first day of the year in France. When King Charles IX changed that to January 1, some people stayed with April 1. Those who did were called "April Fools" and were taunted by their neighbors. In the eighteenth century the festival was often posited as going back to the times of Noah. An English newspaper article published on April 13th, 1789 said that the day had its origins when he sent the raven off too early, before the waters had receded. He did this on the first day of the Hebrew month that corresponds with April. A possible reference to April Fools' Day can be seen in the Canterbury Tales (ca 1400) in the Nun's Priest's tale, a tale of two fools: Chanticleer and the fox, which took place on March 32nd.
Wikipedia.

I added the emphasis on "to embarrass the gullible" because it seems everyone who was offended were the gullible ones who, for however briefly, believed SuuT was actually dead.


In 1708 a correspondent wrote in to the British Apollo magazine to ask, “Whence proceeds the custom of making April Fools?“ The question is one that many people are still asking today.

The puzzle that April Fool’s Day presents to cultural historians is that it was only during the eighteenth century that detailed references to it (and curiosity about it) began to appear. But at that time, the custom was already well established throughout northern Europe and was regarded as being of great antiquity. How had the tradition been adopted by so many different European cultures without provoking more comments in the written record?

References to April Fool’s Day can be found as early as the 1500s. However, these early references were infrequent and tended to be vague and ambiguous. Shakespeare, writing in the late sixteenth and early seventeenth centuries, made no mention of April Fool’s Day, despite being, as Charles Dickens Jr. put it, a writer who “delights in fools in general.“

Many theories have been put forward about how the tradition began. Unfortunately, none of them are very compelling. So the origin of the “custom of making April Fools” remains as much a mystery to us as it was back in 1708.

This link has lots of theories as to when April Fools day began and why. http://www.museumofhoaxes.com/hoax/Hoaxipedia/April_Fools_Day_-_Origin/

Anyone who doesn't like April Fools day has no right being on a forum for European cultural preservation! :D

[Absinthe]

My mom was noted on her high school Yearbook as the "Most Gullible Person on Campus" :(

Next to the title there was a photo of her looking inside a garbage can (because somebody told her something was in there) :D :D

[Baron Samedi]

I was going to post a topic on April 1 about how I converted to Judaism.... But nevermind now!

[Absinthe]

I'm a man. A 40 year old Turkish auto mechanic. ;)

[Baron Samedi]

I'm a man. A 40 year old Turkish auto mechanic. ;)

This would make for one of the most horrible days ever.

Seriously.

[Psychonaut]

Yeah, I agree with Loki.... The internet is certainly not "serious business" but some people on here take it to be.

CHILL

That's the wrong answer!

http://thunkdifferent.files.wordpress.com/2008/05/normal_internet-seriousbusiness.jpg

[Eldritch]

I didn't really mind either one of them. I've been on fora that had George W. Bush, Adolf Hitler and Josef Stalin as members, too, not to mention some other lesser historical figures.

As for SuuT's thing, it was obvious that it was a prank from the start.

[Inese]

I'm a man. A 40 year old Turkish auto mechanic. ;)

Oh then thi is your friendly son???? :D
http://www.mundymc.com/images/kopf-osam.jpg

:wink

[Absinthe]

*Gods* ....no, even the turkish automechanic would look better that that. :D

[Inese]

It is a turk from Germany!!! :cool: Looks pretty.....:rolleyes2:

http://www.popartuk.com/g/l/lghwr1041+caution-vomit-ahead-pavement-pizza-alert-poster.jpg