h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

What's most scandalous is Ms Artist's outfit

Oh I dunno, it's not exactly in the you're-not-going-out-looking-like-that-are-you category

No, not exactly. But what's that thing on her head?

It's just a knit cap. Her coat has a fur lined hood, like a parka, the ends of which are those odd things on her shoulders.

An unnamed Missouri man accidentally breaks a finger off of a 15th century Italian sculpture while touring a museum in Florence. He was possibly either "comparing hand spans or giving the statue a high five". The locals and art lovers around the world are outraged.

http://www.nbcnews.com/travel/look-dont-touch-american-tourist-snaps-italian-statues-finger-6C10861796

However, I see the close up of the damage in the video at the top of this article and confirm my suspicions when I read the following, "the pinky was actually a plaster replacement for the long-missing marble original".

Is this tourist an eedjit? Yes. Should he bare some financial responsibility for the damage? Yes. But I think the reported outrage is unwarranted. It seems he snapped off a piece of plaster that obviously was precariously attached in the first place. I suspect it may have already been cracked. The stud/dowel with which the plaster finger was attached to the hand is still there. This looks like an easy fix (for a competent restorer) and no integral damage has been done, as I see it.

OK... there are a lot of stupid advertising campaigns out there. But the Madison Avenue Moron who came up with this one deserves a very short career.

http://www.nbcnews.com/business/running-shoemaker-doghouse-after-dead-dog-ad-8C11080335

Seriously, who in the hell would think such an ad would be funny?

When I got Nessie, one thing I considered was how active her breed is. So, I planned to take her along for bike rides. (I don't run.) When the weather started warming up, I noticed she would hit the wall (bonk) after only 2 miles. I let her set the pace, and I'm glad I did. It was just a week or two later I learned something every dog (and horse) owner should know. Animals that pant to regulate their temperature, can't do so at anything faster than a slow trot. They can over heat quickly when running in the heat, especially the blistering heat here in Texas.

Yeah, after having searched around for an image big enough to read the copy it is pretty badly misjudged, but you have to admit that a good proportion of the outrage and offence that flies around these days is either exaggerated or outright ridiculous, and it's difficult to interpret some of it as nothing more than attention-seeking.

There's an unpleasant holier-than-thou taste to some of these instances, and I honestly believe some people have lost all sense of proportion about certain subjects. It's excusable, sometimes. I saw a bloke get seven colours of shit beat out of him, and later that evening I couldn't bring myself to watch a Tom and Jerry cartoon that was on TV. But it wasn't my place to take to social media (or its 1974 equivalent, whatever that might have been) and rant about how awful and sick and despicable cartoon violence is and hey, BBC, stop showing this and apologise for causing offence.

Perhaps an extreme example, but it's the best I can think of right now.

Businesses and organisations, who now seem to be in constant damage-limitation mode, no matter what, feel compelled to admit fault and apologise, sometimes when they should be standing for themselves, or common sense. By not doing so they're enabling the... I'm not sure what to call it. Offence culture? People are just too damn angry about... everything

Including me The difference is, I try not to be offended, and brush it off.

I, personally, wasn't concerned with any outrage. My point was what idiot thought portraying a dead or dying dog would make for good ad imagery? Who did they think would giggle and then want to buy their shoes?

Seriously, what were they thinking? I really can't understand this.

Now, back in 1990, the following Reebok ad aired just a couple of times and only on CBS, TBS and Fox before being pulled the next morning. (I saw it while watching The Simpsons.)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fm6UhMKF8DU

I loved that ad.


I dunno, maybe Canadians just haven't got the hang of edginess yet.

But yeah, I can see how that might upset one or two people. The thing is, and I might have got this from you pointing me at a quote, no-one has the right not to be offended. There's more to that quote and I wish I could remember it, where it's from, and where on my PC or on h2g2 I saved a copy

Oh yes, Philip Pulman.

"It was a shocking thing to say, and I knew it was a shocking thing to say. But no one has the right to live without being shocked. No one has the right to spend their life without being offended.

Nobody has to read this book. Nobody has to pick it up. Nobody has to open it. And if they open it and read it, they don’t have to like it. And if you read it and dislike it, you don’t have to remain silent about it. You can write to me — You can complain about it. You can write to the publisher. You can write to the paper. You can write your own book.

You can do all those things, but there your rights stop.

No one has the right to stop me from writing this book. No one has the right to stop it being published, or sold, or bought, or read."
http://whyevolutionistrue.wordpress.com/2010/04/01/philip-pullman-nobody-has-the-right-not-to-be-offended/

Dear Bob almighty, I wish more people would say stuff like that.

Very nice. I don't think I'd heard that one yet.


“It's now very common to hear people say, 'I'm rather offended by that.' As if that gives them certain rights. It's actually nothing more... than a whine. 'I find that offensive.' It has no meaning; it has no purpose; it has no reason to be respected as a phrase. 'I am offended by that.' Well, so ing what.” - Stephen Fry



(I really hate having to bleep quotes like this.)

Ah, Stephen Fry. He would say something like that wouldn't he

And I'm offended by bleeped quotes

CENSORSHIP!

Bearing in mind what we've just been talking about, and those two quotes from Pulman and Fry, where do these two examples fall in the category of human reaction, upsetment*, offence-taking?

Ignoring the clever reply for the moment - "If it were a lady it would get its bottom pinched" http://images.tribe.net/tribe/upload/photo/cc4/97d/cc497d22-9455-47de-aa73-3727daa6715d

Offensive? And if so why? And if it's not offensive but it's still wrong (because of the way it turns women into sex objects), what are the criteria?

I don't have an image for the second one. There used to be one or two on the web but they're not around any more, apparently, and I didn't download a copy, but it's another car billboard ad, with a car being fired from the muzzle of a revolver and the tagline "The trigger is under your right foot".

That one's not offensive (if offensive be the right word) in the same manner as the first one, but it was still pulled by the Advertising Standards Agency for promoting aggressive driving, after complaints.

*I didn't just make up a word... Jack Rosenthal made it up for me http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7baZZNVtGM0 (why yes, that is King Theoden moving the stuff around in the back of the lorry).

Upsetment is in the eye of the begrudger. Offence is a function of context and perception... and the depth that stick is stuck up in the offended.

This is one of the funniest NPR stories I've ever heard. It's about a Dallas entrepreneur who is drilling (dry) oil and gas wells in Israel based on bible verses. His company is called Zion Oil & Gas. It's a case of Jerusalem Syndrome ( http://www.wired.com/magazine/2012/02/ff_jerusalemsyndrome/ ) that didn't go away when the pilgrim returned home.

http://www.npr.org/2013/11/27/247465505/texas-oil-man-commanded-by-the-bible-drills-in-israel

I heard that one too. Stupendously silly

I wish there was a transcript from it. Some of the lines are very quotable but I'm having a bit of trouble with playing it back.

They usually put up the transcript after something like 10am Pacific time, although I've noticed recently that not all items get a full transcript these days, just a summary and the audio.

I'll look for it later.

I wish they wouldn't let him do that. Or at least make him hire a geologist and do some proper science-ing to see if there's anything there _before_ he starts. I don't suppose all this drilling (dry though it is) could be very good for the environment.


On the theme of stupidity, though, you might get a kick out of this website:
http://leasthelpful.com