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."

Comments

K-pop?

[Platinumrat]

Then the apocalypse is already upon us and I for one welcome our Korean overloads.

Re:K-pop?

[somersault]

Op, op op, OP is correct.

Re:K-pop?

[samoanbiscuit]

Korean pop has been called K-pop (and Japanese pop called J-pop) long before Gangnam Style was a twinkle in PSY's sunglasses.

Re:K-pop?

[ThirdPrize]

You mean big japanese robots prancing around as if they were riding a horse? That I would like to see.

Stupid People

[Nyder]

will believe anything on the interwebs.

Shit

[Intrepid imaginaut]

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!

Re:Shit

[ciderbrew]

Too much salt will make you a ghost and or zombie. High blood pressure is a killer!

Re:Shit

[Mindcontrolled]

Don't worry. Demonic hell beasts are handled like fast zombies. Firepower is key. Just don't rely on your anti-zombie shotguns. You want armor piercing capability. Minor upgrade to your gear, no big thing. Wait, don't you have at least one M82 for anti-alien action?? I thought you were prepared...

Re:Shit

[Intrepid imaginaut]

Wait, don't you have at least one M82 for anti-alien action?? I thought you were prepared...

Please, my shit is next gen. I've got a powerbook running windows 95 on a virtual PC that I left exposed to the internet for a couple of days.

Welcome to earth!

Re:Shit

[Anonymous Coward]

What makes you think Intrepid imaginaut is not a cute schoolgirl.

Re:Shit

[gman003]

But you're completely ignoring the variety of special strengths and weaknesses demons have. You can't just treat them like a subtype of zombie.

For instance, zombies are generally flammable, and can be dispatched en masse with a flamethrower. Demonic hellbeasts, however, regularly withstand immense temperatures (theologians agree that Hell normally maintains a temperature of 666 degrees, although there is disagreement as to whether this is Celsius or Fahrenheit). Likewise, you should avoid incendiary ammunition, WP grenades, napalm, etc. for similar reasons.

However, they also have certain vulnerabilities. Like vampires, they are vulnerable to religious symbols and holy water (although contrary to popular belief, demons have a non-denominational hatred of religion - even your Pastafarian symbols should work). And like lawyers, they can be bound by contracts, although (like lawyers) they generally get the better end of the deal.

Sarcasm

[AK Marc]

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.

Re:Sarcasm

[Anonymous Coward]

From my experience working with Chinese people, and I don't mean people of Chinese decent, but actually born, raised and lived in China most of their lives; they don't get sarcasm. Most of them, anyway. They don't.

My boss is Chinese, and will stare blankly when I make a sarcastic remark about something, and most of the Chinese people around me are the same. They just have a different sense of humor, I guess it's a cultural thing. ...and it's not like I can write [SARCASM] on a notebook and hold it up like a sign. They won't get the reference either.

A spoof by, not of, the leader

[aNonnyMouseCowered]

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.

Re:A spoof by, not of, the leader

[dwywit]

No - it was definitely her. I mean, "Brave" was pretty good, but I've yet to see a female ranga with a broad Aussie accent successfully rendered on a computer.
 
And Gillard's got enough of a sense of humour to do this. Actually, some of our other PMs have said/done some funny things - Hawke's "bum" comment when we won the America's Cup, Howard's ability to take "The Chaser" on the chin - whatever else you thought of him, he kept on going for his morning jog, knowing they'd be waiting for him.

Re:A spoof by, not of, the leader

[Farmer Tim]

Don't forget Julie Bishop's effort in outstaring a garden gnome.

What I would like to know...

[Balinares]

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?

Re:What I would like to know...

[somersault]

Hmm.. could be that all that stuff about the Great Firewall is just a practical joke. And North Korea is actually a real paradise with real unicorns. They just pretend to be a horrible, insane dictatorship to keep us out..

Erm..

[philmarcracken]

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.

Re:Erm..

[Farmer Tim]

Im just glad she listened to the right people when it comes to fiber.

Indeed, the last thing you want is a constipated PM.

Re:Erm..

[In hydraulis]

As an Aussie, you misspelled "fibre."

Re:Stupid People

[Spottywot]

I believe you.

Re:Stupid People

[Nyder]

I believe you.

And you should because I posted it on the interwebs.

23,000 repeats

[lucmove]

23,000 repeats shouldn't mean much in China.

Re:Humour and irony

[gagol]

Thank you for your enlightning answer.

Re:Humour and irony

[Simon Brooke]

Living in China, I found that people here really don't seem to know about irony. They just don't use it and therefore don't notice it. At least that's what I got from the various misunderstandings I've expererienced. I found that being true for Koreans and Malaysians as well, so it might be applicable to whole East Asia.

I hate to tell you this, but all over Europe it is well known that Americans don't understand irony.

No, it isn't anything like silvery or coppery....

aussie pm isn't the only one

[etash]

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

Who is missing whose sarcasm?

[guanxi]

Humor can be hard to translate. Maybe instead of the Chinese speakers missing the Aussie's sarcasm, it's visa-versa.

Re:Humour and irony

[Jawnn]

I hate to tell you this, but all over Europe it is well known that Americans don't understand irony.

No, it isn't anything like silvery or coppery....

I hate to tell you this, but all over the U.S.A. it is well known that Europeans are prone to over-generalizing when it comes to Americans.