Predator Drone Jokes

[spiritual_gunfighter]

"The Jonas Brothers are here; they're out there somewhere. Sasha and Malia are huge fans. But boys, don't get any ideas. I have two words for you, 'predator drones.' You will never see it coming."

The Obama administration has spent a great deal of time on outreach to Muslims worldwide, and on dialing down the volume and rhetoric of the prior administration in order to defuse al-Qaeda's narrative of a clash of civilizations between Muslims and non-Muslims. So you have to wonder why in the world the president's speech writers would think it was a good idea to throw a joke about predator drones into the president's speech during the White House Correspondent's Dinner, given that an estimated one-third of drone casualties, or between 289 and 378, have been civilians. It evinces a callous disregard for human life that is really inappropriate for a world leader, especially a president who is waging war against an enemy that deliberately targets civilians. It also helps undermine that outreach by making it look insincere. It's already hard enough to convince Muslims that the U.S. isn't indifferent to civilian casualties without having the president joke about it.

Other people have compared this to George W. Bush's joke about missing weapons of mass destruction, but I think this is sort of irrelevant. The American people have really refused to cope with the human cost of using drone attacks against suspected terrorists because for the most part, as long as we feel "safe," we're indifferent to what the government does in the name of security. The president joking about drones just further justifies that numbness, and it's inappropriate even without the comparison.

I suppose the relative lack of outrage has to do with whose lives were the butt of the joke -- we recognize the names and faces of the American service members who died because of Bush's nonexistent weapons of mass destruction as friends, relatives, and family members. The people who die in drone strikes are anonymous -- they have no faces or names -- except for the suspected terrorist targets the administration celebrates as being neutralized.


-- A. Serwer

http://prospect.org/csnc/blogs/tapped_archive?month=05&year=2010&base_name=drone_jokes#119542#119542

[emulatorloo]

1. I did not know the Jonas Brothers were muslims?

[Foreveryoungster]

54. I think you are playing dumb

I think you know that the disagreement is about the drone, not the target of the drone.

I think you pretend that those who didn't like the joke believe the Jonas brothers were muslim, because you want to ignore the fact that relatives of the people who have been killed by drones would not find this joke funny at all.

If I joked about the Hiroshima bomb falling on the Jonas Brothers, Madonna or anyone else, the Japanese wouldn't laugh, if you ask me.

[emulatorloo]

63. OP claims joke was offensive to Muslims.

Muslims are smarter than that.

The article is bizarre.

[Cosmocat]

75. This is SO contrived ...

This is a father/daughter joke ...

99 percent of dudes with daughters TOTALLY get it ...

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

2. I haven't been so upset since I watched two children play slug bug.

[grantcart]

3. I have lived in over a dozen countries.

Perhaps the most consistent joke in all societies is that of the over protective father of beautiful girls.

In the US the father usually says (in the joke) to the boy "have you ever met Ted Williams?" and shows him a Ted Williams bat.

In Thailand the father is expected to 'grow a mustache' when his daughters hit 12.

In Malaysia the joke is about the father showing a prospective date the wild boar trap in back of the compound.

Obama was making the same universal joke about overprotective fathers that have been made hundreds of millions of time. The more the exaggeration the funnier the father looks. It is meant to show how out of sorts the father is in trying to raise beautiful duaghters.

The fact that this has to be explained shows how some at DU relish in inventing new ways to work itself into an outrage.

It also shows how incredibly insular someone is and how unfamiliar they are with the other 95% of the world.

[emulatorloo]

7. too bad we can't recommend posts. Because I would rec yours. n/t

[Enrique]

9. yes, we got the joke

and yes, everything you say is true and it's funny.

But what about what the OP and others are saying about the civilians killed by drone attacks?

[NJmaverick]

13. Who said liberals don't have a sense of humor?!?!?!?!?!?

:eyes:

[grantcart]

26. Civilian casualities are bad

Drone attacks will invariably result in some innocent civilian deaths, but at a rate that is a hundred times less than a general attack or a bombardment.

In the full scope of what is going on it seems as if drone targets are used relatively rarely and against high value targets.

Who are these targets? They are the folks that are trying to create massive civilian casualities in Pakistan, India, Afghanistan, Phillipines, Thailand, Indonesia, the UK, and virtually anywhere else.

Attacks by these bastards have become so common place outside of the US that most Americans are unaware of them.

For example more than 3,700 civilians have been killed in Thailand since 9/11 by groups associated with the Al-Qaeda-linked Jemaah Islamiyah (JI) terrorist network a number larger than those killed in the 9/11 attack.

So far over 117 teachers have been gunned down on their way home from school.

One profession in one country. I would guess that number alone far exceeds the number of none connected civilians killed in drone attacks.

A consistent plan - kill teachers and close schools - the same plan in Afghanistan and Thailand

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/06/25/thailands-muslim-separati_n_220903.html

Other watchdog groups, such as Human Rights Watch, have also condemned the systematic targeting of educators. "There is no excuse for such brutality," said the group's Asia director, Brad Adams, who described the trend as "sickening." In past years, teachers have been beheaded or doused with gasoline and set on fire.

Public school teachers are more than just symbolic targets, Abuza said. Compared to other agents of Thai authority -- police and troops -- they're relatively easy to kill. They often commute along rustic back roads lined by endless rubber tree farms in "regular patterns and fixed routines."

Thailand's Defense Ministry has even announced plans to arm teachers with 9mm handguns and rifles, with 4,700 firearms set for distribution to educators and community watch-style defense volunteers.

"Teachers are very anxious, especially in the rural areas," said McCargo, who conducted hundreds of interviews in the region for his book "Tearing Apart the Land: Islam and Legitimacy in Southern Thailand."

"Many teachers have guns -- anyone who wants one can easily get one -- and have been trained to shoot, often by military instructors," McCargo said.

This month's rash of killings -- against teachers, civilians and even Muslims knelt in prayer at a crowded mosque -- has signaled that the south's military occupation is not taming the violence.

Thailand's current premier, Abhisit Vejjajiva, has conceded that the solution will likely rely on economic solutions, not troops. He has even controversially suggested that setting up a Quran-derived Sharia law in the southernmost provinces could ease the crisis.

Meanwhile, separatists who struggle for a long-lost Muslim state have plenty of incentive to prey on public school teachers.

It's a "win-win," Abuza said. "Schools have shut down for months at a time, which further convinces Buddhists to leave the region. And Muslims are compelled to enroll their children in privately run madrassas."

Here is a picture of one of them



and another:







caution below is a very graphic picture

















here is a school teacher that has been beheaded on her way home from school:




and here you can see pictures of even more horrific murders but you might not be able to eat for the rest of the day.


http://zombietime.com/thai_jihad_photos/

Do you wonder why people outside of the US aren't complaining abuot the drone attacks? Its because they see these pictures in their newspapers. That is why there is no international uproar over drone attacks. On the one hand you have the military going after the people who are designing these attacks and, in some cases, killing civilians by accident. On the other hand you have people designing attacks on civilians and cutting off their heads.

Frankly I hope that the drones find the people who are planning these attacks. I would push the button and send them into the next world myself.

[ChimpersMcSmirkers]

45. Another thing about the unrelenting drone attacks is that AQ and the Taliban are radioactive.

Or at least should be. Anyone inviting one of these terrorist over to his house is the one putting his family and other civilians at risk. Sorry, they know the score and the risks they're taking.

Now that's not to say that we haven't killed innocents by bad targeting or whatever and that this is very regrettable and should be minimized at all costs.

[Egnever]

70. Absolutely on point

both posts.

:applause:

[Hippo_Tron]

48. Civilians are killed by pretty much anything that kills people

Predator drones are nothing special. The fact is that we're in a war and in a war civilians get killed. The only way to stop that is to end the war.

[BlooInBloo]

10. Yup. And DUers know it. They just want to get their poutrage on.

[Vinnie From Indy]

40. Really?

So if GW Bush had only made his "looking for WMDs" under the Oval office couch about his daughters then it would not have been offensive?

What about Harry Truman cracking a few jokes in public about nuking the entire city of the boy taking out his daughter? Not offensive?

The fact that joking about this issue causes you no pause implies you will find excuses for Obama just like the radical right found excuses for GW Bush.

I also find this passage mildlt amusing:
"It also shows how incredibly insular someone is and how unfamiliar they are with the other 95% of the world."

What about the percentage of Iraqis, Pakistanis and Afghanis that have had their families blown to bits in a failed attempt at killing by the US Government? Where does that percentage factor in to your thinking?

What about the Obama Admin's assertion that the President is fully within the law to KILL American citizens with predator drones without one iota of judicial review? Is that all part of being a father as well in your world?

The fact is that making decisions to ACTUALLY kill people, innocent and guilty alike, is hardly a joking matter regardless of how the joke is constructed. It is a serious, sober and unfunny matter. I find nothing funny in Obama's joke and it is probably one of the most depressing things I have ever heard him utter. It shows EXACTLY who is insulated in this situation - President Obama.

[grantcart]

66. Your reply shows that you actually had no interest in making a point about the joke

but in opposing the President was on the hunt for another reason and simply want to find another reason to express outrage. Again the President was joking about overprotective fathers not drones but English comprehension is not one of your strong suits.

Drones probably have the lowest rate of accidental civilian deaths in warfare and the potential with the right rules of engagement to be significantly reduced.

The use of IEDs aimed at civilian targets however provide a much higher percentage of the population.

For example IEDs are currently being used against civilian traffic in Afghanistan.

Here is yesterday's record

http://www.aljazeera.com/news/articles/34/Blast-leaves-7-dead-in-Afghanistan.html

A powerful bomb blast has killed 7 people and injured 14 others in southeastern Afghanistan amid escalating violence in the war-weary country.

According to Afghan officials, the blast took place in Zormat district in the southeastern province of Paktika on Sunday. Eyewitnesses in the area say most of the victims are women and children.

There have been reports of heavy fighting between foreign forces and militants in the area before the blast. Thousands of Afghan civilians have lost their lives either in US-led strikes or in the Taliban-led militancy across the occupied country.

[Sherman A1]

59. +1000

It's a Father of Daughters thing..... If you don't get it, you probably ain't one.

[Cha]

60. Thanks grant..you hit the nail on the

head.

[rug]

61. How does that joke go in Afghanistan?

[grantcart]

67. Pakistan and areas West you don't make jokes about daughters or wives.

I once was having a one and one dinner with a very worldly official from a middle easter country.

I admired his watch was diamond studded and said "What a beautiful watch". He took it off and gave me the watch which was certainly worth over $ 10,000. "Do you like it? It is yours".

I put the watch on and said "It is a beautiful watch but somehow it looks better on your wrist than mine so I must return it".

Then I turned to him and said "What would you have said, hypothetically speaking, if someone told you you had a beautiful wife".

His face reddened considerably and then he smiled and said "Then I would have had to kill you".

I replied "well of course I would never say such a rude thing no matter how beautiful your wife is, and I am sure that she is because you are a man of excellent tastes but I was curious what I should do if someone had said something about my beautiful wife".

Our negotiations went very well because I had passed the "not too stupid to take a watch offered" test and clever enough to talk my way out of a "joke about your wife" gaffe.

Oh and the Pakistanis and Afghans I met would have had no trouble making gallow humor jokes about drone attacks, beheadings or the misuse of goats although when joking about beheadings they would be furiously working their prayer beads in the hand calmly in their lap.

[quickesst]

71. I second the wish....

..for a k&r for your post. Nice to see that simple logic and common sense are still alive and kicking. Thanks.
quickesst

[woo me with science]

72. Thank you.

These threads just make me go "sheesh."

[Cosmocat]

76. COMPLETELY contrived nonsense ...

Even KO made a comment about it last night, only to have Jonathan Alter, I think it was tell him he was off, and that it was flat out a dad joke ...

[FLyellowdog]

4. Pa-leeze.

People should worry about something else more important which would be just about anything one could think of.

It was a joke...at a joke-filled dinner...actually, I thought it was pretty funny.

Did this guy misspell his own name? Sewer? Tee Hee Hee.:hi:

[spiritual_gunfighter]

5. When Bush made the WMD joke DU was up in arms about it

That joke was in poor taste and offensive, so was this one. Here is a little blast from the past. There is really nothing worse than a hypocrite.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x1284770#1284782

[frylock]

11. 11/3/08 changed everything..

kinda like 9/11. now all things bush did that we complained about are now considered good.

[NJmaverick]

15. What an utterly disingenuous comment

:puke:

[spiritual_gunfighter]

16. Unfortunately this statement is one of the truest things i have read on here in sometime

and it doesn't surprise me that you dont get it in the slightest.

[NJmaverick]

18. funny how you are good at tossing BASELESS opinions that you are unable to support

with fact or specific examples or explanations and little else

[spiritual_gunfighter]

27. Unable to support?

I could site numerous examples but that would be against the rules. You know the truth.

[NJmaverick]

30. You were challenged to give specifics to your baseless accusations

but instead you opted to attack. THAT is the TRUTH

[spiritual_gunfighter]

33. It is ironic that your blind support comes from a John McCain screenname n/t

[NJmaverick]

34. Ironic that you would misuse the term "blind"

as that can best describe your views of the world:eyes:

[tekisui]

65. You are the blindest of the party-liners.

[Name removed]

21. Deleted message

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[Name removed]

24. Deleted message

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[tekisui]

64. It is 100% true.

Hypocrisy is rampant on DU.

Although I would put the date at 1/21/09.

[namahage]

17. What happened on November 3rd?

If you mean the Presidential election, that happened on the 4th.

[frylock]

22. yes, nov 4th is what i meant

[NJmaverick]

25. Epic fail!

[NJmaverick]

23. !

:spray:

[NJmaverick]

14. BULLSHIT! How exactly was it in poor taste and offensive??????????

[ClarkUSA]

19. Your perpetual attempts to equate Obama with Bush are amusing. Keep spinning that outrage.

It is not at all like Bush's joke which tried to joke about a war started on a lie. On the other hand, I am very glad predator drones have killed so many Al-Qaeda leaders.

[NJmaverick]

29. Hey a President joking about lying the nation into a horrible war is the SAME thing

as joking about launching a missile at potential suiters to the President's daughter. At least to the eyes of those that are blinded by their own agendas

[ClarkUSA]

35. Have pity. 24/7 Obama critics have nothing better to hang their tattered hats on than this.

It must be such a bummer to them that President Obama has governed so well and has had the best first year in history. So now they're reduced to insisting he's failed at joke-telling.

Oh the inhumanity!!!!!!!! :rofl:

[Name removed]

28. Deleted message

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[Arkana]

37. These are in no way the same thing.

Obama didn't send us to war over Predator drones that don't exist.

[jenmito]

39. You can't seriously be comparing Bush's joke about a war he started on false pretenses (WMD)

rubbing it in that he couldn't find the non-existent weapons to Obama's joke about threatening potential courters of his daughters with weapons used to kill terrorists, can you? :eyes:

[NJmaverick]

41. Sadly they are serious

[Name removed]

42. Deleted sub-thread

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[frylock]

43. those weapons are also used to kill innocent civilians..

imagine the uproar here if ahmadinejad were to make a 9/11 joke.

[NJmaverick]

44. Now if there was an award for the worse use of hyperbole

suggesting President Obama's drone joke was like a 9/11 joke would surely clinch it.

[Arkana]

49. Dude's already called the Holocaust a hoax.

I think we're pretty much inured to anything Ahmacrazypants says.

[jenmito]

52. Wrong. They are used to kill terrorists. If they hit innocent civilians, that is NOT

purposeful, hence they're NOT what they're "also used" for.

[fishwax]

55. the two things aren't at all the same

:shrug:

[YOY]

6. I laughed. Sue me.

I hate the Jonas Brothers.

I also hate Predator Drones.

None-the-less I still laughed.

[JVS]

46. You laugh at a joke about two men (ages 23 and 21) and one boy (age 17) taking sexual interest...

in young girls of the ages 9 and 13?

:shrug:

[YOY]

47. No. I laughed about two corporate pop BS "icons" marketed to teenagers being turned into red paste.

Well I'm sure if it really happened I wouldn't laugh, but if fantasized into some cartoony South Park mock violence fantasy oh yes...I'm gettting a small chuckle.

As for the pedophilia, you just asked a great question to Disney! Why are these 23 and 21 year olds marketed to teens and pre-teens? Think that corporation has some splainin' to do.

[JVS]

51. Ok, I see the amusing aspect there, but that's a diamond in a hell of a lot of rough.

As far as disney goes, they're safe. The whole Jonas brothers thing is so rooted in "purity" bullshit that they can legitimately claim that a sexualized interpretation of the Jonas brothers goes against everything they stand for. I'm skeptical though, and think it more likely that all this talk about not fucking/purity/chastity caries with it the implicit alternative of a life of totally indulgent writing fornication. Maybe that's just me, but it seems the bars on the tiger's cage might be crafted so as to enhance the appearance of ferocity.

[YOY]

53. The purity thing is just f***ing creepy.

When my daughter is old enough for me to explain things I hope that my outcome influences her to the point that she is neither extreme in her own sexuality.

[Foreveryoungster]

56. Let's pretend you were the mother of a person killed by a drone

Do you believe you would laugh?

[YOY]

57. Apparently, you are unfamiliar with the Jonas Brothers...or cartoon violence in lieu of real.

But hey...try watching one of their videos then close your eyes and substitue a falling anvil, steam roller, or Indiana Jones style river of hot lava for the predator drone and try laughing...

If you still don't laugh then whatever you do STAY AWAY FROM THE LOONEY TOONS CARTOONS!

I'm no fan of predator drones but I can take cartoon fantasy violence and not turn psychotic.

[larkrake]

8. How very silly,only anal retentives heard it that way

It was a great joke, spoken in levity.Time to let some sunshine into your heart fella,I'm waiting to see what makes him lose his cool, he did promise that.

[FrenchieCat]

12. I think that the enemies of this President, including those in other countries

diss this President big time quite often, over and over again. They have called for his death; and even prayed for it. Some of these factions are so into hating on Americans, they have even taken credit for the New York City Bomb scare, although there is no evidence that they were actually involved.

He wasn't talking about Muslims in his joke, he was talking about the Jonas brothers. He said, "I have two words; Predator Drones". Of course he would never seek this weapon on the Jonas brothers.....just like I don't think he would ever deliberately seek out civilians to kill, even in the theater of war.

This administration is not out to rid the world of "muslims" , and it has never espoused such, so although this joke may be in bad taste to some, I think it is being made into more than it needed to be just because it can be.


I'm not sure why this President can't say anything without it being scrutinized to the upmost to see if it might be offensive to someone out there in the whole wide world.

[frylock]

20. aww cmon! praying for obama's death is just a harmless joke..

hahahaha!!! you need to lighten up!

[NJmaverick]

31. You need to learn a concept called- perspective

[Name removed]

38. Deleted message

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[deacon_sephiroth]

32. it wasn't THAT funny

funnymeter - 3/10 points for delivery and followup
offensivemeter - 1/10*

*A margin of error of one(1) point exists in the offensivemeter to take into account the inability of people to have empathy for the views and opinions of everyone on earth before opening their mouths. For example, when a president says something along the lines of "I like Pie." He's bound to offend anti-pie advocates the world over. And what if it's a meat pie? What about the vegans then? Insensitive jerk-off, what was he thinking! Or perhaps he means the figurative "American pie" which would offend and insult the causes of anti-americans everywhere, and spit on all their hard work... that son of a... ^&$(#

[chaska]

36. Yep, my first reaction was 'hey, wait a minute predator drones are in no way funny.'

[JVS]

50. That joke was bad on a lot of levels.

First there is the whole presidential abuse of powers aspect, and the fact that there is a war on, etc. That all hits just a little too close to home at this point. It's like Kissinger joking about carpet bombing, etc.

Then there is the cringe inducing fact that the joke is playing on the pubescent and pre-pubescent sexuality of his two daughters, who are 9 and 13. Add this to the fact that two of the Jonas brothers are old enough to drink, while the third is 17. We know damned well what kind of ideas he's hinting at, and everything down that alley is just fucked up.

Then add to it that the Jonas Brothers are already poster children for fucked up and repressive modern fundagelical sexuality in the guise of overaged teen heartthrobs.

Yeah, this is a field whence comes an ill harvest.

[emulatorloo]

62. Goodness, this sounds like Sarah Palin's over the top critique of Letterman's A-Rod pregnancy joke

[AtomicKitten]

58. It was a protective father joke and in that regard it was funny. nt

[Vinnie From Indy]

68. If it were possible, it would be instructive for each and every apologist

to feel just 5 minutes of the horror that the living family members feel when scraping up the bits and pieces of what used to be their fathers, mothers, sons or daughters after one of these predator drone attacks.
Do not forget that many of these attacks have missed their intended target and wiped out many innocent people.

He should have stayed away from using predator drones as a prop in his jokes.

[jeanpalmer]

69. "The Obama administration

has spent a great deal of time on outreach to Muslims worldwide." Really? Give me an example of something other than a speech. He widened the war and occupation in Afghanistan, now threatening to attack Kandahar in June even though 94% of the people in Kandahar say "Please don't invade us." He has attacked Pakistan, Yemen, and Somalia and has expanded the tentacles of the Pentagon throughout Africa. He routinely launches drone attacks, killing many civilians. He plans to keep combat units in Iraq, even though he says he's withdrawing them. Show me something other than a bunch of empty words.

[spiritual_gunfighter]

74. I agree with your statement

It was the one thing in the article I didnt agree with. I wouldnt call the occupation of two Muslim countries "reaching out".

[woo me with science]

73. NOBODY JOKE.

NOBODY, I TELL YOU!