Mefi notices the Taliban back before they were fab

May 22, 2006 12:20 AM

This post was flagged fantastic, five years ago today. It seems we underestimated the "Taleban's" Godwin factor. By a lot.
posted by anotherpanacea to MetaFilter-Related at 12:20 AM (43 comments total)

What?

I honestly have no idea what you are trying to say. What is a "goodwin factor"? I think the taliban banned the Internet, so I don't think they were running around comparing things to the nazis online.

So did you mean their comparability to the nazis? If so I still don't see what you mean. The Taliban were assholes but I don't remember then committing genocide at any point.
posted by delmoi at 12:32 AM on May 22, 2006

Godwin's Law: "As an online discussion grows longer, the probability of a comparison involving Nazis or Hitler approaches one."

Read the thread: the Taliban was taking steps to identify Afgan Hindus as second-class citizens, and a lot of people compared it to the Nuremburg Laws and the anti-semitic ordanances.

Or try this:
9/11 is to the Reichstag fire as _____ is to the Holocaust.

I just thought it was a fascinating slice of metafilter history. In May 2001, mefites were talking about Afganistan, when most people couldn't locate it on a map.
posted by anotherpanacea at 12:42 AM on May 22, 2006

Ordinances, that is.
posted by anotherpanacea at 12:42 AM on May 22, 2006

mefites were talking about Afganistan, when most people couldn't locate it on a map.

I doubt the number of people who could locate it on a map is significantly higher today.
posted by grouse at 12:55 AM on May 22, 2006

posted by Rhomboid at 1:50 AM on May 22, 2006

Did we have flagging five years ago today?
posted by biffa at 2:07 AM on May 22, 2006

no.
posted by quonsar at 4:23 AM on May 22, 2006

did we even have anotherpanacea five years ago today?
posted by quonsar at 4:24 AM on May 22, 2006

I think you underestimate "most people." The Taliban was being talked about during the Clinton Administration.
posted by netbros at 4:47 AM on May 22, 2006

I just thought it was a fascinating slice of metafilter history.

That needed to be posted to MetaTalk why, again, exactly?
posted by mediareport at 5:06 AM on May 22, 2006

>mefites were talking about Afganistan, when most people couldn't locate it on a map.

>>I doubt the number of people who could locate it on a map is significantly higher today.

You reckon?
posted by stavrosthewonderchicken at 5:09 AM on May 22, 2006

Mr. Miyagi drives a Prius?
posted by Saucy Intruder at 5:39 AM on May 22, 2006

stav, that was fantastic. Where did it come from?
posted by goodnewsfortheinsane at 6:14 AM on May 22, 2006

I think it was on MeFi awhile back GNFTI
posted by edgeways at 7:00 AM on May 22, 2006

posted by chiababe at 7:12 AM on May 22, 2006

The Taliban were already in the news at that point, in large part for destroying the two giant 1500 year old Buddha statues. It wasn't just MeFi that noticed.
posted by caddis at 7:26 AM on May 22, 2006

omg, stav. that goes so far in explaining why we have Bush as president. I am depressed.
posted by madamjujujive at 7:29 AM on May 22, 2006

There's another taliban post somewhere in the archives about them destroying all the hindu artifacts in early 2001, and how the US was giving them money to fund their anti-opium programs. They came up a few times before 9/11.
posted by mathowie (staff) at 7:49 AM on May 22, 2006

This is a wretchedly bad MeTa post, but the thread is redeemed by stav's amazing video. (Take that, non-broadband suckers!)
posted by languagehat at 8:00 AM on May 22, 2006

I think the video kind of cheats though, because it looks like the map is mislabelled.
posted by smackfu at 8:28 AM on May 22, 2006

I know this is a derail, but damn, Matt, I hate to see that mistruth repeated yet again. Twain noted that a lie goes around the world twice before the truth has a chance to put its boots on. He missed the part about how it hangs around longer than a burrito fart in a cubical.

The aid the U.S. gave the Taliban was mostly for drought relief, and distributed through NGOs, ostensibly bypassing the Taliban. Some $10 million of it was for "crop-substitution programs," which was a part of the Taliban-led anti-opium campaign.
posted by mojohand at 8:39 AM on May 22, 2006

Yeah, I'd have a hard time telling where Australia was if it wasn't labeled. And who knew North Korea is a lot larger than South Korea? Not I.
posted by Orange Goblin at 8:42 AM on May 22, 2006

it looks like the map is mislabelled.

Well, duh—that's part of the joke! How ignorant do you have to be to look at a map where Australia is labeled IRAN or NORTH KOREA and not notice anything wrong?
posted by languagehat at 8:43 AM on May 22, 2006

in large part for destroying the two giant 1500 year old Buddha statues.

Yeah, it also got occasional press as the poorest country in the world, and for the burqa. At the time, groups like RAWA were calling for an invasion, but nobody thought it was a realistic goal. Of course, the Taliban are still very active against Hindus.
posted by anotherpanacea at 8:44 AM on May 22, 2006

Some $10 million of it was for "crop-substitution programs," which was a part of the Taliban-led anti-opium campaign.

So how is it a mistruth to say the US provided funding for their anti-opium program?
posted by aaronetc at 9:13 AM on May 22, 2006

For those of us who can't see youtube, would someone be so kind as to synopsize what stav linked? Thanks.
posted by Lynsey at 9:57 AM on May 22, 2006

Highly simplified synopsis of stav's linked video: Interviewer asks various random people on the street who we should attack next and gets the usual and then some strange answers. Interviewer asks people to put a flag with the number 1 on it into Iran and then shows them a map of the world with Australia labelled Iran. Flags go in with no questions, etc. as these people clearly think that Australia is Iran. The interviewer is obviously a joker, but the people appear to be real. See the whole thing if you can; it's a hoot.
posted by caddis at 10:05 AM on May 22, 2006

Accent (Australian, I think) guy: "Who should we invade next in the war on terror?"

Various old/homeless/stupid people: "Iran, Korea, Saudi Arabia, China, Russia, etc."

Accent guy: "Point to it on this map?" [Map has Australia labeled as Korea or Iran in various shots. Each person puts a pin in Australia.]

"Wow, I didn't realize that North Korea was so much bigger than South Korea!"

Accent guy: "Which direction should we invade from?"

Response: "East!" "No, West!" [Huh?]

The point: a bunch of stupid Americans think we should invade Australia. Apparently some of them don't realize that the world is round, either.

I wonder how many people he had to go through to find the gullible ones? Frankly, I thought he was reaching a bit with the homeless guy.
posted by anotherpanacea at 10:13 AM on May 22, 2006

Mujahideen=freedom loving, patriotic Muslim Afghans who fought off Soviet oppression with American arms and funding after the 1979 invasion. Rambo even got to make a movie with them.

Taliban=pretty much the same guys.

cf. Saddam the anti-Iranian freedom fighter, personal friend of Don Rumsfeld, last bulwark of calm, secular leadership against crazed Shi'a Islamofascism, understandably uses chemical weapons because he has to for the greater good of American interests ca. 1980's vs. Saddam big bad evil dude, ZOMG HE USE WMD AND AFRIKA WANTS TO GIV HIM NUKLEER STUFF! ca. 1990's.

So mefi is a little ahead of the national curve (American), but that's really saying very little.
posted by bardic at 10:27 AM on May 22, 2006

mefites were talking about Afganistan, when most people couldn't locate it on a map.

And apparently still can't locate it in a dictionary...
posted by Urban Hermit at 10:34 AM on May 22, 2006

The events bardic references make up a large part of the Power of Nightmares documentary. I recommend it.
posted by ludwig_van at 10:58 AM on May 22, 2006

Taliban=pretty much the same guys.

Tell that to the Tajiks.
posted by Mid at 11:20 AM on May 22, 2006

Wow, I didn't realize that North Korea was so much bigger than South Korea!
"South Korea" = Tasmania. It is much smaller.

Rambo even got to make a movie with them.
James Bond, too.
posted by kirkaracha at 11:21 AM on May 22, 2006

Massoud was an important and notable exception (and a fascinating person), but an exception all the same.
posted by bardic at 11:36 AM on May 22, 2006

stav, that was fantastic. Where did it come from?

I think the video was a segment from The Chaser's War on Everything, but I'm not certain of that. Haven't seen it here before -- uploaded it myself.
posted by stavrosthewonderchicken at 12:59 PM on May 22, 2006

I've been following this thread all day, and I still have no idea what is going on here...
posted by slogger at 1:00 PM on May 22, 2006

Whoops, no, I think it was actually CNNNN. Part of a series taking the piss out of Americans, hooray!
posted by stavrosthewonderchicken at 1:17 PM on May 22, 2006

stavros is right. CNNNN it is. I loved that show.
posted by Effigy2000 at 1:30 PM on May 22, 2006

Currently on CNNNN:

The difficulties experienced in Iraq have not put Americans off going to war again, CNNNN's Julian Morrow found when he surveyed people on the streets of Texas.

While the failure to capture Saddam Hussein, locate any weapons of mass destruction or control the almost daily terrorist attacks might have discouraged a lesser imperial power, Americans are already sizing up the central Asian republic of Kyrgyzstan as their next invasion target.

Though CNNNN commentator Chris Taylor said that the 'teething problems' in Iraq should not be seen as any indicator that the war had been anything other than a complete success, he admitted he had been encouraged by what he termed Americans' "refusal to think twice" before rushing into another conflict.

Taylor paid tribute to the Americans' refusal to let even their prior ignorance of Kyrgyzstan's existence stop them from declaring war on the former Soviet republic...

In fact, Morrow's investigation discovered almost universal enthusiasm for a war on Kyrgyzstan. "I don't think they're powerful enough to be a threat to America," one person commented when interviewed. "But we should invade them anyway."

Could somebody please invade us and put us out of our idiocy?
posted by languagehat at 2:18 PM on May 22, 2006

Thanks stav, edgeways.
posted by goodnewsfortheinsane at 2:21 PM on May 22, 2006

Could somebody please invade us and put us out of our idiocy?
posted by languagehat at 5:18 PM EST on May 22 [+fave] [!]

Do it during an episode of "Survivor" and know one will even notice.
posted by caddis at 6:22 PM on May 22, 2006

When joking about the idiocy of the masses it's best to suppress one's own inner idiot, or at least to not make OUTRAGEOUS spelling errors, you no know? Aggghhh. Let the invasion begin.
posted by caddis at 8:58 PM on May 22, 2006

So this is just like the portobello mushroom thing, except not funny, and with the Taliban for mushrooms and the general public for the supermarket employee?

Weird. I'm sure there are many things discussed here before they were widely discussed elsewhere. But the Taliban in 2001? You must be joking.
posted by jack_mo at 9:01 AM on May 23, 2006