Quotes of the Year 2007
I actually wrote this back in December of 2007 but for some reason, I neglected to post it because I wasn't sure it would be all that relevant. Boy, was I wrong.
1. Don’t tase me, bro! -- Andrew Meyer, September 17, 2007.
Apparently this is becoming the most popular catchphrase in the year. Which would be nice if it was being quoted to establish solidarity with the dude who said it. But apparently it’s being quoted for the same reason Rodney King‘s “can we all get along?” was so often quoted -- to make fun of the person who said it. On one hand, I can understand this. No one likes a jerk, and it’s very tempting to see the person who said it as just another jerk who got his just desserts.
And yet one can’t help but find something ominous about the circumstances of that quote. After all, that guy who said it wasn’t harassing cheerleaders or schoolchildren. He was asking questions of a major Presidential candidate. And while he might not have been all that polite in the ways he asked his questions, he didn’t deserve to be punished so harshly for essentially doing no more than ask a few questions.
Yes, people will laugh at anything, and maybe I shouldn’t take the jokes surrounding that quote all that seriously. But then again, maybe I should. After all, if Americans have no shame about laughing at the tasering of a political dissident -- and let’s face it, that’s what the student in question is -- how long before they start laughing at far worse treatment?
2. Por qué no te callas? -- King Juan Carlos of Spain, to Hugh Chavez, November 10, 2007.*
Apparently this is becoming one of the most popular Spanish-language quotes of the year. It’s apparently appearing on T-shirts and everything.
Too bad that out of context, it comes across not as much as an effort to quiet a jerk’s insults but rather an attempt to silence free speech.
But, hey, that’s the Spanish tradition, right? Whenever someone tells us something we don’t like, our first response is not to debate them and prove them wrong. It’s to tell them to shut up.
Good thing we don’t yet have an attitude like that here in the United States, right? Er, right?
* Spanish for “Why don't you shut up?”
I actually wrote this back in December of 2007 but for some reason, I neglected to post it because I wasn't sure it would be all that relevant. Boy, was I wrong.
1. Don’t tase me, bro! -- Andrew Meyer, September 17, 2007.
Apparently this is becoming the most popular catchphrase in the year. Which would be nice if it was being quoted to establish solidarity with the dude who said it. But apparently it’s being quoted for the same reason Rodney King‘s “can we all get along?” was so often quoted -- to make fun of the person who said it. On one hand, I can understand this. No one likes a jerk, and it’s very tempting to see the person who said it as just another jerk who got his just desserts.
And yet one can’t help but find something ominous about the circumstances of that quote. After all, that guy who said it wasn’t harassing cheerleaders or schoolchildren. He was asking questions of a major Presidential candidate. And while he might not have been all that polite in the ways he asked his questions, he didn’t deserve to be punished so harshly for essentially doing no more than ask a few questions.
Yes, people will laugh at anything, and maybe I shouldn’t take the jokes surrounding that quote all that seriously. But then again, maybe I should. After all, if Americans have no shame about laughing at the tasering of a political dissident -- and let’s face it, that’s what the student in question is -- how long before they start laughing at far worse treatment?
2. Por qué no te callas? -- King Juan Carlos of Spain, to Hugh Chavez, November 10, 2007.*
Apparently this is becoming one of the most popular Spanish-language quotes of the year. It’s apparently appearing on T-shirts and everything.
Too bad that out of context, it comes across not as much as an effort to quiet a jerk’s insults but rather an attempt to silence free speech.
But, hey, that’s the Spanish tradition, right? Whenever someone tells us something we don’t like, our first response is not to debate them and prove them wrong. It’s to tell them to shut up.
Good thing we don’t yet have an attitude like that here in the United States, right? Er, right?
* Spanish for “Why don't you shut up?”
Labels: Andrew Meyer, Citas Españolas, Citas Políticas, Hugo Chávez, Juan Carlos I de España, Pensamientos Acerca de Política II, Tradición
posted by Tonio Kruger at 2:01 AM
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