Mmmm..I love coal
No, there has been a bit of frog fever going around the pond, but I haven’t got that bad. It’s just this ol’ free love forum coal promotion video, somehow it’s just so…comforting. Try it out. Maybe I’ve got coal all wrong.
Bookmark to:
August 31st, 2007 at 5:27 pm
I dunno man…. I started to laugh halfway through…
Either I’ve forgotten more about the stupidity of my fellow Americans than even I imagined possible, or this is a very subtle, very VERY nasty satire.
You notice how tha last word in the voiceover, which I think is actually off of some advert, does NOT match the last word on the image? Some of the interview responses seem just ever so slightly “off”.
Truth… I like it. I am just wondering how many others are going to “get it”.
respectfully
BJ
August 31st, 2007 at 5:47 pm
Don’t ya just love it?
As BJ says, very VERY nasty satire, but brilliant. “Clean” in the voiceover becomes “Cheap” in the graphic.
And “Paid for by the United States Department of Energy”!!! Wonder if they actually did find a way to utilise US Goverment funds to produce it?
August 31st, 2007 at 6:14 pm
far from nasty. its brilliant!
felt sorry for the poor coughing miner fella. i think he’s getting the black lung (pop)…
August 31st, 2007 at 11:55 pm
They also do a very gross send-up of family board game ads.
http://www.freeloveforum.com/video/mutt.html
September 1st, 2007 at 9:13 am
Of course its satire.
Very good
“My friend has a pool!”
September 1st, 2007 at 10:40 am
Yes, of course it is satire. Very funny though. Became beyond a joke when she said “coal grows in the ground or something”.
September 1st, 2007 at 11:37 am
I’m not sure it is supposed to be a joke or satire even… with americans, nothing surprises me any longer
September 1st, 2007 at 1:35 pm
Gill - it’s definitely a joke.
September 1st, 2007 at 2:07 pm
It might be a joke Peter, but it is rather typical of peoples’ ignorance isn’t it. Note I say ‘people’ not Americans
:) 
September 1st, 2007 at 3:17 pm
Nothing wrong with the Americans I know. Smarter than your average kiwi, anyway.
A pity to see xenophobia alive and well in NZ, as usual…
September 1st, 2007 at 11:37 pm
PEL - I beg to disagree. Maybe a grass-is-greener issue, but I would put the average Kiwi knowledge of the world in every aspect (except American sport and entertainment) up against the average American Citizen….
Any day at all.
I know enough people PERSONALLY who could have made those remarks without being in on the joke, to have been sore pressed to be sure of what I was watching.
respectfully
BJ
September 2nd, 2007 at 9:00 am
“the Americans *I* know”…..
I’ve been to many countries. The bell curve representing intellect means you get high levels of stupidity wherever you go, New Zealand being no exception…
September 4th, 2007 at 12:03 pm
Off-topic, but did anyone see the Listener article on oil? Lots of hearsay but not much factual info I thought…
http://www.listener.co.nz/issue/3513/features/9547/what_happens_when_t he_oil_stops_coming.html
September 4th, 2007 at 1:54 pm
PEL, how is saying “Americans are thick” xenophobia?
The dicdef of xenophobia is “intense fear or dislike of foreigners or strangers”.
1) The people you are labelling as xenophobes commented about one nationality only, not all nationalities, not all strangers.
2) Calling a nationality stupid is not evidence of intense fear or dislike. It’s possible to like or love someone even if they are stupid and it is possible to be intensely afraid of intelligent people.
If you ask me, people who believe Americans are thick are much less likely to be xenophobes than those who pull them up for it and therefore reveal their fear of strangers, i.e. their fear of greens.
September 5th, 2007 at 12:13 am
The medical definition of a phobia is “A phobia is a type of anxiety disorder. It is a strong, irrational fear of something that poses little or no actual danger.”
Popular culture has watered that down to include a mere dislike of something. Children don’t have a phobia about veges, they just don’t like having to eat them. The labels homophobia and xenophobia should never be used to refer to those who express a dislike, it is simply substituting an ad hominem for rational debate and it undermines the dangers posed by those who are genuinely phobic. Irrational fear produces irrational responses, frequently violent. A mere dislike will not have that effect.