Zen Moment of Self-Acceptance

[Michael Stuart Kelly]

Zen Moment of Self-Acceptance

This is making the rounds on the Internet. The Zen title is mine, though. I tried to find the original image, but was unable to, so I just copied it.

Please excuse the vulgarity. This was far too precious for an Objectivist forum to leave behind.

Michael

[sbeaulieu]

Michael,

Without the vulgarity, I doubt the cartoon would have made its point ;)

Funny as hell, too!

~ Shane

[James Heaps-Nelson]

Michael,

I couldn't stop laughing. Too funny!

Jim

[Dragonfly]

Perhaps I'm dumb, but I don't see the joke...

[Michael Stuart Kelly]

Dragonfly,

Is that a way of saying the following?

I'm a draaaaagonflllyyyyy

I'm a draaaaagonfly

Suck my stiiiiiiiiiiingerrrr

I'm a draaagoonfllyyyyyyyyyyyyy!!!

Michael

[Brant Gaede]

It's beyond me, too. And I didn't know dragonflies had stingers.

--Brant

feeling really dumb

[BaalChatzaf]

I don't get it.

Ba'al Chatzaf

[Michael Stuart Kelly]

All right I looked it up. Not stinger, but clasper.

So let's go around one more time, gang...

Ah one, ah two, ah three...

I'm a draaaaagonflllyyyyy

I'm a draaaaagonfly

Suck my claaaaaaaaaaasperrrr

I'm a draaagoonfllyyyyyyyyyyyyy!!!

Michael

[Dennis Edwall]

I don't get it either.

[Michael Stuart Kelly]

Oh man, you guys are making me feel young at heart. Is it only the older people who don't get this?

(No offense intended, but a pattern is developing...)

Michael

[Chris Grieb]

I'm older than most on OL and I got it.

[9thdoctor]

You can put my name in the "not getting it" column. Is it a Zen Moment because there's nothing to get? Or something to do with the fact that sharks don't have vocal cords and thus can't roar?

<object width="480" height="385"><param name="movie" value="

name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="

type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="480" height="385"></embed></object> Edited April 17, 2010 by Ninth Doctor

[Michael Stuart Kelly]

Well I can think of some other reasons that people don't get it.

Either they are not sharks (not even metaphorically),

Or they don't have Zen moments,

Or they don't accept themselves.

Or they don't suck... er...

Time to stop...

Michael

[Brant Gaede]

You can put my name in the "not getting it" column. Is it a Zen Moment because there's nothing to get? Or something to do with the fact that sharks don't have vocal cords and thus can't roar?

<object width="480" height="385"><param name="movie" value="

name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="

type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="480" height="385"></embed></object>

You can see why they needed a great film editor--they had so much trouble with the mechanical shark they were grossly short of footage. You'd never get away with this in such a film today.

--Brant

[Brant Gaede]

I'm older than most on OL and I got it.

And was it funny to you?

--Brant

curious

[Brant Gaede]

Well I can think of some other reasons that people don't get it.

Either they are not sharks (not even metaphorically),

Or they don't have Zen moments,

Or they don't accept themselves.

Or they don't suck... er...

Time to stop...

Michael

Don't stop yet I haven't laughed yet yet when I laugh I'll feel dumber yet that's the way yet is I guess.

--Brant

[9thdoctor]

There's a video, but I still don't get it.

Not to be obtuse, but why a shark? A whale would be better, see from 1:20

[Michael Stuart Kelly]

Brant,

Try this.

Try explaining to someone who doesn't get it why the following riddle is a joke:

Why did the chicken cross the road?

To get to the other side.

The person who doesn't get it will simply say, "Of course it wants to get to the other side. What's so funny about that?"

And the more you try to explain it, the less funny it gets.

Michael

[James Heaps-Nelson]

Oh come on guys! It's about a shark that's supposed to be this stealthy, awful killer and instead is proudly singing this catchy jingle and daring people to make the most of his sharkness. You have a hard time taking him seriously, but you still wouldn't go out in the water.

Jim

[Brant Gaede]

Oh come on guys! It's about a shark that's supposed to be this stealthy, awful killer and instead is proudly singing this catchy jingle and daring people to make the most of his sharkness. You have a hard time taking him seriously, but you still wouldn't go out in the water.

Jim

Thx. I didn't know this. But I'm still not laughing.

--Brant

am I humanity deficient or is it lack of sharkness?

[Brant Gaede]

The chicken crossing the road "to get to the other side" is mildly funny because the answer begs the question. Once George Smith had a contest on Atlantis wanting to know why the turkey attacked Ellen Moore. My answer was "It was next in line." Very funny; the same thing. Ross Barlow cracked a gut. He couldn't stop laughing (email to me). It wasn't that funny even to me but different people react differently. I still don't get the shark thing--not in the least. Obviously we have different funny bones, but I don't even get the schematic.

--Brant

[Michael Stuart Kelly]

Brant,

Try this scenario. It might help.

A few years ago, right before Barbara Branden left the old SoloHQ, Objectivist Liar and Hater Lindsay Perigo decided he would destroy her. Literally destroy her. That was his intent (and it still is). Here is an exact quote, but I would have to look it up to find the link.

Objectivist Liar and Hater Lindsay Perigo to Barbara Branden: "You're toast."

Well, as time has shown, Pretentious Perigo was Charly the Tuna and Barbara was a shark. Her response--as I imagine it--as she turned around and swam off (edited a bit out of respect):

I'm a shark!!!

I'm a SHAAAARK!

Kiss my aaaaa....

I'M A SHAARK!!

And there is nothing he can do about it, no matter how hard he tries. He just ain't good enough to cut it. Except for a few fundies, kooks and some misguided youth, the Objectivist-libertarian world loves Barbara and sees Perigo as a buffoon.

Sorry Charly, only the best...

Michael

[Dragonfly]

The chicken crossing the road "to get to the other side" is mildly funny because the answer begs the question. Once George Smith had a contest on Atlantis wanting to know why the turkey attacked Ellen Moore. My answer was "It was next in line."

That's indeed funny (even if I don't know who Ellen Moore is, but I can imagine somewhat), because it gives an unexpected and rather absurd twist to the question, while I can imagine that it at the same time was an exaggeration that did resonate with many people (I think that is the essential factor that makes it funny, the punch line must be unexpected, but should also make a valid point). The chicken "joke" isn't funny - even if the answer is unexpected, it's lame; you expect some clever answer and you get a triviality. Apparently some people think that is funny (perhaps they think the fact that it isn't funny, is funny), but I suspect that most people won't even smile when they hear it for the first time, or only out of politeness.

[Brant Gaede]

Brant,

Try this scenario. It might help.

A few years ago, right before Barbara Branden left the old SoloHQ, Objectivist Liar and Hater Lindsay Perigo decided he would destroy her. Literally destroy her. That was his intent (and it still is). Here is an exact quote, but I would have to look it up to find the link.

Objectivist Liar and Hater Lindsay Perigo to Barbara Branden: "You're toast."

Well, as time has shown, Pretentious Perigo was Charly the Tuna and Barbara was a shark. Her response--as I imagine it--as she turned around and swam off (edited a bit out of respect):

I'm a shark!!!

I'm a SHAAAARK!

Kiss my aaaaa....

I'M A SHAARK!!

And there is nothing he can do about it, no matter how hard he tries. He just ain't good enough to cut it. Except for a few fundies, kooks and some misguided youth, the Objectivist-libertarian world loves Barbara and sees Perigo as a buffoon.

Sorry Charly, only the best...

Michael

This type of humor never worked for me. It might be funny the way a circus clown--I can't stand clowns--might be, but funny doesn't make me laugh.

I can't find humor in anything about Leonard Perigo though I can see humor used to attack him. Humor as a weapon would be something I'd have to work at but it's not any default position of mine. There are some very bad people and policies that are extremely vulnerable to humor but you'd not look to me to be the manufacturer of it.

--Brant

clowns are for children in hospitals, maybe

Edited April 17, 2010 by Brant Gaede

[Brant Gaede]

The late Ellen Moore was an Objectivist denizen of the old Atlantis who wasn't very intelligent and thought she knew more than she did. She was like talking to a rock when it came to ideas. I think it's Peter Taylor on this list who still thinks she was the cat's ass (I mean "meow" if you're easily offended). Once she posted that she had been attacked by a turkey on the old Atlantis--she never migrated to AtlantisII on Yahoo--when the old Atlantis was still extant but dying. George posted his question on the new Atlantis. It was the then uncelebrated Jimmy Wales who took over the servers of the old Atlantis and destroyed it with his civility policy and GhS was one of the first to make himself lost.

--Brant