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Australian Prime Minister's Spoof "Apocalypse" Speech Goes Viral In China
brindafella writes "Australian Prime Minister, Julia Gillard, recorded a spoof speech about the Mayan calendar apocalypse several days ago, for radio station "Triple J". Gillard said in part, 'Whether the final blow comes from flesh eating zombies, demonic hell beasts or from the total triumph of K-pop, if you know one thing about me it is this: I will always fight for you to the very end.' The speech has been picked up in China on Sina Weibo (China's Twitter) and has achieved well over 23,000 repeats, without anyone picking up the irony." This comes on the heels of the online version of China's Communist Party newspaper picking up an Onion story about North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un being named the "Sexiest Man Alive."
it was also play on a different date, 7-12-12.
There was an unknown error in the submission.
Then the apocalypse is already upon us and I for one welcome our Korean overloads.
I personally can't wait until North korea finally gets this news and starts the widespread news about a flesh eating zombie outbreak in Australia.
will believe anything on the interwebs.
Be seeing you...
I'm pretty sure they'll make any story that makes the outside world look crazy and scary go viral to justify their great walls and firewalls...
That, or the crazy is just business as usual over there and I'm very thankful they've taken measures to confine themselves.
Why did nobody tell me demonic hell beasts were an option. Why am I always last to get the memo? I'm all geared up for zombies, vampires, ice ages, meteorite strikes, pandemics and alien invasions. Now I have to go study Alice Cooper videos for vulnerabilities. Is salt good or is that just ghosts? Damn!
Just like a sufficiently advanced parody can't be distinguished from a zealot, sarcasm doesn't translate. I'm sure they thought it funny and entertaining, but for completely different reasons than intended.
Learn to love Alaska
Bravo for the rare politician today willing to demonstrate some humour and humanity :). Can I get the hotline number in case those zombies show up?
This is on a different level from the Onion spoofs of world leaders like Obama or Kim Jung'Un. This is the real Australian Prime Minister doing the spoof. US presidents have been known to pardon Thanksgiving turkeys and part of running for public office in any democratic country is to show your "lighter side" in front of the media, but Gillard's "speech" goes beyond the realm of a simple practical joke. That or the producers of the show have done some nifty CGI work worthy of a Hollywood disaster movie.
..some nationalities just done get it..
Is it something lacking in Asia, or just in dictatorship?
Tomorrow is another day...
What I would like to know is how often we mistakenly take foreign news at face value.
It can be so hard to read the cues from a different culture.I wonder if that has been studied?
-- B.
This sig does in fact not have the property it claims not to have.
As an aussie. This was not funny the first time. And not funny the second on /.
Im just glad she listened to the right people when it comes to fiber.
...of this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=789he-8T_-E
...this isn't even remotely the craziest thing the witch has managed to convince people of as fact.
Smoke my peg.
23,000 repeats shouldn't mean much in China.
This explains why my wife's cousin suddenly emailed with lots of questions about the mayan doomsday.
You apparently never lived in totalitarian regime :D At least your total cluelessness suggests :D
I would say that people in "genuine democratic countries" are several times more easily fooled by media (or government) than people that have to filter the pieces of truth from streams of propaganda as part of their lifes.
medvedev also recently trolled a bit, in a seemingly "i don't know i'm off camera" moment.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zHCSpm2kepo
India != Pakistan
Christian != Muslim
Try again.
She has a terrible voice but it was a nice sentiment.
If only she had Joss Whedon's parody skills...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6TiXUF9xbTo
There's a good point there though about the radio bullshit even if the poster got nationalities mixed up. Imagine a far right beyond the point of insanity, gay (yes despite the far right bit), woman hating, xenophobic suspected pedophile (rumoured to be quietly kicked out of several jobs as a teacher for that reason) that deliberately stirs up race riots and you've got what the leading "shock jock" in Australia appears to be. The pedophilla is just a string of yet unproven rumours since they tended to just move teachers on in those days at the first sign of suspicion (such as naked locker room antics with the football team which may have been innocent and may have been all that happened), but what comes out of his mouth is bad enough, and his political connections would make him untouchable perhaps even if it is true. So the message is put out there that truly vile and evil sells (even if he isn't really so evil) and it gets copied by others that want good ratings. Do we really need enough of a "shock" to stir up race riots, or on that other station, drive somebody to suicide with a pointless prank (let alone truly vile stuff from Kyle Sandilands from that same station that could have driven two other women to suicide if they were as fragile - joking about an underage girl's rape experience in front of them is going too far IMHO).
Luckily this is something that happens only with news stories.
So basically, when it comes to the internet, China is like my nan?
Science is all about firing a drunk pig out of a cannon just to see what happens.
Humor can be hard to translate. Maybe instead of the Chinese speakers missing the Aussie's sarcasm, it's visa-versa.
Now Australia has a similar land mass to the US, but less than 1/10th the population and is heavily urbanised.
1Gbps will be available in a couple of years on the NBN, but price is $150 plus data (100/40Mbps wholesale is $38/month so retail prices will be likely to be double wholesale).
- 1000/400Mbps falls from $150 to $90, while the average speed grows from 30Mbps to 230Mbps. So price falls by 40% while average speed grows by 7.6 times
- price of CVC falls by 2.5 times, while the data usage grows by 20 times
Sadly, too many people in Australia have read the "1Gbps Fibre announcement made during the 2010 Federal election campaign in response to Google Fibre Announcement. Very little investigation has been done to appreciate what is being delivered for fear that like other government initiatives, the delivery will be a failure. The reality is that for 50% 12/1Mbps will be what they experience and for maybe 25% 100/40Mbps with download quotas. The rich will have their 1Gbps connections subsidised by the national roll-out. Rather than revolutionary the NBN will be little better than current 100Mbps cable services. NBNCo are also focusing on areas already serviced by cable to re-enforce their natural monopoly and reduce competition.
The alternative would have been to release uncapped fibre speeds (everybody receives 1Gbps) and charge for data. This is fair as low quota users put hardly any load on the network, while heavy downloaders do. We would then have had something closer to Google Fibre and truly revolutionary. To quote Simon Hackett (Internode):
Instead we have a fibre network where anyone downloading less than 5GB month (national average is ~20GB (ABS) is probably better using a 4G connection and ditching the land line. If we accept that NBNCo are correct in predicting that 50% will connect at 12/1Mbps, then based on the fact that 25/5Mbps plans are only $5 extra a month there is a significant number of people who may find wireless better value.
Don't make fun of China, 'cuz Fox depends on people making the exact same assumption to get away with their bovine scat: "If it wasn't true, they wouldn't be allowed to say it."
When your government lets you down, you're a prime candidate to join the march of the lemmings.
Orwell: "In a Time of Universal Deceit, telling the Truth is a Revolutionary Act"
Useful to China, by the way - when the news spreads that it was just a spoof, it in turn spreads "Western journalism is all lies, and only Chinese journalism is trustworthy.". Between China's superior manipulations at home and their ally in News Corp abroad, they're winning on the propaganda front.
Quite obviously they've honed playing the greed of the West's few to a fine art, and so are far, far ahead on the industrial infrastructure/defense arsenal and financial fronts.
It's been sad to watch, really...like watching Confucius pick on Western kindergartners.
Orwell: "In a Time of Universal Deceit, telling the Truth is a Revolutionary Act"
I don't know. From my point of view, both pairs of groups have more in common than not.
You shouldn't believe him, he is lying.
refactor the law, its bloated, confusing and unmaintainable.
When I was a kid there were many articles about how the increased number of UFO sightings was due in part to the anxiety of the Cold War and the bomb.
These days it isn't enough to have a simple apocalyptic movie/show with almost everyone dead. It isn't enough to have survivors battling mutants. Now, the survivors have escape walking corpses.
It would be interesting to read something about the unconscious hook zombie apocalypses have on us.
without anyone picking up the irony
You are either:
(1) a dumb ass fuck, and thinks this is actually true.
(2) a condescending dumb ass fuck, that thinks people can't see through your feeble attempt at waving your obviously tiny penis.
So which is it?
Oh, it's you.
Well, any time there is an apocalypse story, I have to post a link to DoomsdayPie.com...
www.DIYTVAntennas.com
I had a Chinese friend, but she never understood my satire. While traveling on business I commented on how nice the pillows were. She agreed they were nice. Then I told her that's why I packed one into my luggage to take home. She really thought I was serious. I had to explain I was joking.
Culture plays a big role in how people react to things. For instance, don't pull a prank on a total stranger, like a random nurse in a hospital. Depending on their cultural background you might prompt them to kill themselves.
http://joeyskaggs.com/html/dog.html
No, Hell's tempure is 444c. Let’s try to be scientific here.
http://www.lhup.edu/~dsimanek/hell.htm
Shouldn't Japanese pop be called Nippop?
I was born and raised in America, so I get sarcasm. But my parents (born in China) have never made any sarcastic expressions in their life, they don't get sarcasm - they take everything anyone says at face value, and I am pretty sure few people in Asian countries get it. It just doesn't exist in the culture.
... this makes "Western Culture" look stupid in the eyes of the Chinese masses. Which is actually brilliant for state-owned news organizations to do...
when they assume a certain level of stupidity for their non-asian counterparts...sarcasm is not the their first conclusion.
My God can beat up your God. Just kidding...don't take offense. I know there's no God.
Although the hundreds of millions of Americans outside of the USA don't really feel this way...
My God can beat up your God. Just kidding...don't take offense. I know there's no God.
fiber has been shown to improve throughput significantly...which is helpful when you have a lot stuff to push through
My God can beat up your God. Just kidding...don't take offense. I know there's no God.
From TFA: 'Many more commenters asked "is this video real?"'
How does that turn into "without anyone picking up on the irony"?
A better question is, why are we having to hear about this wacky video second-hand as a Chinese meme, when the content is English? Do the Chinese have a better sense of humor than us?
I'm starting to think The Onion has more power to bring down dictators than any military action.
"Molest me not with this pocket calculator stuff."
- Deep Thought
If only there were a tag for 'buzzkill'...
May you enjoy a short article on the subject.
I have it on good authority that the preferred way of dealing with the Devil is to run him down. Getting a car might be a good idea.
Of course when dealing with the minions of hell in general I wouldn't have a healthier or more deeply-felt respect for any object in the universe than a shotgun. Or I'd just use a chaingun, the hell with respect! Whatever your approach is, you should have a good chance as long as your cause is just, your will is strong and your gun is very, very large.
USE HOT GRITS WITH STATUE OF NATALIE PORTMAN (NAKED AND PETRIFIED)
That is awesome. A Head of State acting like a human being. Surely, that is a sign of the Apocalypse.
Let the sarcasm begin:
* Ronald Reagan's microphone test ("We begin bombing in five minutes") is a case in point. That could have been read much more benignly, I think, if the Rusians had a more 'Western' sense of humour.
* North Korea's (Kim Jong-un's) recent launch of a satellite into orbit, passing over Japan, Philippines, Indonesia and Australia, could be read differently, too, if we folk from those countries had a better Korean sense of humour. Maybe the Chinese and Russians would have understood the North Koreans better, if the launch had been to the north.
Looking at space, radio, science and computing from a 'down-under' amateur enthusiast perspective.
In my professional life, I have seen the type of 'commercial' deals that NBNCo is doing. Definitely as case of "sign them up then forget them", from my personal observation. And... foreward thinking? 0%
Looking at space, radio, science and computing from a 'down-under' amateur enthusiast perspective.
Them Aussie's and their pranks. It's all fun and games until some packy nurse tops herself.
Good pick-up. My original post of this article drew the attention of readers to Gillard's speech being on the same day as the death of the Indian nurse as a result of 2Day FM's hoax call. The /. editors changed it to the North Korean link. Fair call, but the hoax in London also works. :-)
Looking at space, radio, science and computing from a 'down-under' amateur enthusiast perspective.
...but we'll forget Rudd's reasons for demotion from PM to Foreign Minister (ie, before being replaced once again from that role).
More recent events in Gillard's life:
1. her beloved father died
2. a radio talk-jock made regrettable comments about that death
3. a story was brought back from Julia's pre-politics days, in practice as a lawyer
4. Gillard allows the Opposition to waste a week of question-time sessions asking questions on the details of the law-practice era event
5. In an apparent "tit-for-tat" reaction, Gillard wastes additiona&l time [trying to persuade the Opposition to disendorse Mal Brough sp?], after an Aussie court finds that a sexual-harassment claim (against a former Speaker, then in her party) was raised primarily to boost Brough's political career, at the expense of the Gov't.
Female (by far, the minority gender, in Aussie politics) office holders -often- find themselves bullied, harassed & - eventually - pressured to to resign their positions - whether at state or federal level.
She's clearly not getting sufficient support from her hair-dresser partner, nor sufficiently wise advice from her political colleagues... Did someone at home- or, worse, some Labor colleague - actually advise her, that contributing to the unscientific side's false hype about a groundless 21st Dec 2012 "doomsday" prediction could possibly help her lift her Gov't's popularity?!?
If Gillard continues to show the kind of poor judgment that lead to her -allowing- the recording & broadcast of a meaningless "end of world" speech indicates, she'll be (quite rightly) the next "broken" woman to resign her job... or - if she refuses - to bring her office even -more- into disrepute, than she already has.
I, for one, am (once again) -not- impressed!
The Chineese love a good joke. Even the one's they don't get!
This is hardly a new phnominum, they've been re-publishing Onion stories for years.
THINK! It's patriotic