North Korea Launches Nuclear Attack

[(o)(o)]

There is also no right to shout "Fire" in a crowded theatre.

Not correct. Bit of a primer on how that works here.

Hitchens shouts fire in a theatre, as part of a lecture on free speech :

[Harlequin]

In a free society, there is no right to not be offended.

There is also no right to shout "Fire" in a crowded theatre.

So the title of this thread caused people[*][/size] to stampede and injure/kill one another? Or are you suggesting that Dear Leader reads this forum and that (o)(o)'s joke might have given him ideas?

H.

[*][/size] Presumably people who take YakYak thread titles as literal complete truths without even bothering to click on them.

[gravy]

April Fools day is widely recognized and celebrated as a day when people play practical jokes ("a mischievous trick or joke typically causing the victim to experience embarrassment, indignity, or discomfort") and hoaxes. It was clearly an April Fools Day joke and I'm sure the 3 seconds it took you to click on the thread caused no lasting damage.

Well not from excessive laughter, definitely.

[zip accident]

So the title of this thread caused people to stampede and injure/kill one another? Or are you suggesting that Dear Leader reads this forum and that (o)(o)'s joke might have given him ideas?

It wasn't funny, maybe Boobies didn't live through the fear of the 'sixties and to a lesser extent the '70s, but I did and nuclear war isn't funny, and could still happen, even though it's hopefully less likely these days.

If some spy somewhere was searching the net for references to Korea they could find the thread on google without knowing anything about Yakyak, and they might have felt it was their job to report the title before looking at the contents. So the thread title could, in theory, unhelpfully add to the tensions. Which with the lack of funniness means that the overall impact of the thread's existence on the state of the world is and was negative.

All IMHO of course. Different people see things differently, obviously. My first reply in the thread was mainly for the purpose of agreeing with Markie that gravy isn't the only one who doesn't like the thread title.

[RedOktober]

I reckon this forum is probably one of the least controversial sources of opinion compared to a lot of the internet.

[Foozwah]

I didn't comment at the time, but I feel I should note how surprised I was to discover upon clicking this thread that North Korea had not, in fact, launched a nuclear attack, and that instead my face and April Fool egginess were apparently occupying approximately the same physical space.

And the deft usage of that little laughing emoticon, to make sure I got it? "Wacky" and "zany" ain't in it!

Why is it that so many of our best, brightest and funniest only choose to share their talents with us on that one special day of the year? Why, oh why, can't it be 1 April every day...?

[gravy]

All IMHO of course. Different people see things differently, obviously. My first reply in the thread was mainly for the purpose of agreeing with Markie that gravy isn't the only one who doesn't like the thread title.

To be honest I'm not that bothered. It suits Harley to mischaracterise me as being offended as devoid of any real point to make straw manning is something he seems to love doing. Whatever floats your boat I guess.

I do have an objection though, it's just not funny. Which feeds into my wider objection generally about April Fool's Day, it's like a license unfunny idiots to post unfunny stuff.

It'd be great to have a day dedicated to lols replete with top jokes we can all enjoy. April the 1st isn't that day. It's the exact fucking opposite.

That all said if someone posts an opinion about how nice it is to fry up and eat a cow's face (o)(o) is all over it, squawking hard about how that's really bad and tasty protein will make your heart explode like the Death Star did.

But a little bit of push back on a joke involving the incineration of hundreds of thousands of innocent people? Oh man, it's a freedom of speech issue all of a sudden.

Double standards there? Yeah it seems so.

Actually, thinking about it, that is pretty funny.

My objections are dropped

[Markie]

Happy April Fools..

If it actually happens ... If they do actually launch something ... Let's see how funny you find it.

[Mqark]

Time for this?

[Cloudane]

"Global nuclear war started by one man making a joke on April Fools day on a random game developer forum on the internet"

Some of these overreactions
If that actually happened humanity would probably deserve it, it's like the ultimate Darwin Award.

Why, oh why, can't it be 1 April every day...?

Democracy. Noddy Holder wants it to be Christmas every day so the world leaders are still debating how to split the rest, especially seeing as most years it's an odd number.

[zip accident]

Some of these overreactions

I was initially (while agreeing with Markie) responding to:

Is this a reference to gravy getting on his high horse about potentially offensive[*][/size] humour?

H.

[*][/size]Although I doubt that anyone other than gravy was offended.

Everything after that was explanations of how and why it was offensive to me.

If you're not offended, fine for you, but you can't assume that therefore no-one else can or should be allowed to be offended.

There is also no right to shout "Fire" in a crowded theatre.

Not correct.

You really think you have a generalised right to shout "fire" in a crowded theatre (or cinema, football stadium, shopping mall etc.), and if there are injuries or fatalities, you would walk away scot-free because you were exercising a right you have under law? I believe that under The United Kingdom's laws you would be done for a breach of the peace at the very least. I admit you might be able to arrange circumstances such that you could shout "fire" without putting anyone at risk, but that isn't the general case I was talking about above.

[Istar]

For the record, when I first saw the thread title yesterday I got that rather interesting sensation colloquially described by the term "my heart sank". Which is of course another way of saying "my adrenals kicked-in with a huge dose of *fuck* as my brain instantaneously ran through all the immediate and near-term consequences of a limited-theatre nuclear strike scenario".

Free speech, yeah, all for it.

Funny? No.

[Dio]

Which feeds into my wider objection generally about April Fool's Day, it's like a license unfunny idiots to post unfunny stuff.

I know it as "Stay away from Slashdot or spend your day cringing at the awfulness of it all" day.

[gumboot]

Which feeds into my wider objection generally about April Fool's Day, it's like a license unfunny idiots to post unfunny stuff.

I know it as "Stay away from Slashdot or spend your day cringing at the awfulness of it all" day.

... so every day is April Fool's Day! Hurrah!


My first reaction on reading the topic was "No, that can't be right. I'm sure I'd have heard something about it already.".

But I do think it is pretty bad form to edit posts just because you think someone's a bit of a dick and their joke sucks. It's alienating to more than just the victim of the edit.

[ekendrick]

But then, editing the title of an april fool joke is about as inoffensive as it gets and imho a more humourous act than the original "joke". As is mentioned title is borderline trollish and much closer to offense if not edited rather than causing an offense by being edited.

Getting pissy about it seems a bit self indulgent and pythonesque (help help i'm being oppressed)

My two pennith.

Anyone watching the xkcd webcomic "time"? Had it open on my tablet since i first saw it - still updating. Very truman show - how will it end???