Here goes nothing.... (World Reaction part 5 ?)

[Count Zero]

Spoof of a real product called "Nissin Lamen" (noodles). "Flavor: American Barbecue", "Ready in 18 minutes".




"United Airlines Ticket to the United States: US$ 1400.00"

"Lunch in a WTC restaurant: US$ 200.00"

"Entrance to the WTC observatory: US$ 70.00"

"Seeing the USA being massacred by shabby third world people: No Price !"

"Middle East"

"There are things that only the Middle East does for you. "



This one came in today... I think it could be American made.

although i didn't find any of them particularly humorous, i can appreciate the fact that some people need to find humor in the most ghastly circumstances. can't imagine that the families of over 6,000 innocent people would appreciate them so much...

"i agree not with a word you say, but i defend to the death your right to say it"...

[Undertoad]

Hey, as is often pointed out, and sometimes by me - comedy is tragedy plus time. If you're not connected to the situation, plenty of time has passed.

I can see how these things would be funny. What we have going here in this country is a sort of self-feeding grief at this point, I think. The natural time for really severe grief is over, I think. And what we have now is everyone sharing their own grief, which makes everyone sad again and prolongs the cycle.

The other aspect of this is that... well, I believe that anything can be fodder for humor. I believe that anything is fair game. A lot of people won't find something funny because they don't find it a joking matter. Those people should, IMO, just take it. Because different people handle things differently and the one thing that I find vital is a sense of humor.

All the late night comedy shows have had to come back cautiously, stumbling over themselves a little, to wonder openly whether comedy is permitted. Even comedy entirely unrelated to WTC. That's a shame, I think. The time has come to end this cycle of grief and get on with life - get on with activity, get back to being productive, which will stop the stock market's decline and put everything back on track. One thing that can do that is comedy. The sooner we get to laughing the better off we'll all be.

Of course, that's just my opinion, and I could be wrong.

[elSicomoro]

No Tony, I think your right. Lord knows the number of quips I've cracked within the safety of my own home in the past week. Were I to crack them outside the home, I'd probably be blasted for being an insensitive unAmerican asshole.

For me, going to NYC last weekend and seeing everything going on outside St. Vincent's Hospital gave me what I can best describe as "closure." Since then, I've had a sense of peace about what has happened. Furthermore, given my current health situation, I have something that requires more of my attention now.

It's like what happened during the Gulf War...the US was riveted to its TV for days on end, then the War ended, and we went back to normalcy. We never forget about it, but we moved on.

I don't know what is going to happen from here, as it seems we are on a path towards some sort of military action. But I personally feel like I'm getting desensitized to the situation, which I'm fighting. We certainly will not forget what has happened, but we must live again...

[Vegeta]

A friend of mine is in the middle of a class, I believe on the Islamic religion. Half the people in there are Arabic; he is caucasian. Soon after 9/11, he was cracking jokes about the Arabic members hijacking the classroom and flying it into the English building.

Since then I've heard a dozen jokes from him about flying planes into things. It still bothers me to hear that--and I'm someone who normally is NEVER offended by the most off-color humor, being an avid reader of The Onion--but I'd say my natural grief period has quieted into a dull pain for the time being. Humor probably isn't TOO far behind, but it's still too early right now.

On a side note, I wonder if any Cellar readers understand the irony of someone nicknamed "Vegeta" posting comments like these.

[Hubris Boy]

Heh.

I was expecting much worse, CZ. If this is the best the world can come up with, we have nothing to fear!

[ndetroit]

uhhhh....

The... uhhh.... last one... *is* fake, right?

[Joe]

You'd see jet exhaust trails streaming behind that plane if the photo were real. If you've ever seen jets from a shallow angle, you'd be amazed at how much they smoke.

[Joe]

Very morbid but for some reason I still cracked up.

At the spelling.

[jaguar]

Thankyou for pointing out the blindingly obvious joe.
I have to agree with Hubris Boy - i was expecting worse.

[Joe]

You'rewelcome.

[Undertoad]

1) Did the first jet come from the North?

2) OK, what <i>is</i> the irony of "Vegeta"?

[elSicomoro]

I got a good chuckle off that...

[Vegeta]

Joe, that image was funny...

Undertoad, have you ever heard of the anime "Dragon Ball Z"? Vegeta was one of the first bad guys. Very sadistic and dark. He enjoyed blowing up planets and the like--his job was eradicating indigenous populations for the highest bidder--but eventually, slowly, he became a good guy.

The irony is that he'd never post comments like mine. And yet, he's still my favorite character.

[elSicomoro]

Given that I work for a wireless phone insurance provider, I knew I would get a few calls from folks who lost phones during the terrorist attacks. And I DID expect a few shitheads to call who would use the events as a "weapon" of sorts. Then...there was today.

A guy was mad because we needed some documentation before his claim could be processed. Needless to say, he was pissed at our company. After arguing with the guy for nearly 15 minutes, he seems to be settling down...then comes this out of his mouth:

Customer: "God, why couldn't you guys have been in the World Trade Center?"

Sycamore: "EXCUSE ME?!"

Customer: "You heard me!"

Sycamore: *trying to cool the blood that is suddenly boiling* "Okay sir, I'm afraid I'm no longer going to be able to help you."

Customer: "What?!"

Sycamore: "Sir, I have been trying to assist you for the past 15 minutes, okay? And that remark you made? That was uncalled for! I'm afraid I cannot help you any further. You have a good day now."

*click!*

Having been in the customer service industry for over a decade now, I have learned to handle customers rather well. But for some reason, the comment that this bastard child made stirred up what could best be described as primal rage.