Hey You! Stop, Drop and Roll

October 9, 2001 2:15 AM

Hey You! Stop, Drop and Roll Am I going to hell because this made me laugh--albeit briefly and with pangs of guilt? Was it schadenfreude? Frayed nerves? An inherent appreciation of irony where I can find it? Or something far worse? (Are these enough questions?)
posted by Kato (16 comments total)

No comment on your final destination, Kato, but this sort of thing makes a person wonder -- where do they get all the flags they burn in places like Pakistan? I mean, they're very hard to come by in the U.S. these days. Maybe protesters in other lands have cornered the market, I dunno.

And, um, since the guy looks like he's going to be fine, I feel OK in admitting I thought it was kinda funny, too.
posted by diddlegnome at 2:22 AM on October 9, 2001

Maybe you are just darned to heck.

(I am glad the guy is going to be okay....and yes, the irony of it all, the irony of it all......)

Relax, you are human. Now if you had only linked to ONE of those pics........
posted by bunnyfire at 2:33 AM on October 9, 2001

Shoot, didn't remember I should have linked to one image and not the "news photo" page. Being wired with insomnia does not help attention to details. {sigh}

And good question, diddlegnome, on where they obtain the myriad large flags they trot out--do they purchase them just for flag burning on camera? The one he lit up seemed go up like flash paper - one of my fave items in my pyro kit bag.

And overall I'm glad the fellow seemed okay afterwards; he missed becoming a quasi-Darwin Award candidate by seconds...
posted by Kato at 2:52 AM on October 9, 2001

i laughed, but felt no guilt. what a wally!
posted by monkeyJuice at 3:04 AM on October 9, 2001

I saw a link to this this earlier, and I was so inspired, I made an animated version of this.

I'm definitely going to hell.
posted by Potsy at 4:30 AM on October 9, 2001

(Sorry for self-linking, but it is within the threads and not a front page link, so I figured it would be okay.)
posted by Potsy at 4:37 AM on October 9, 2001

Brilliant, Potsy. Absolutely inspired.
posted by Optamystic at 4:37 AM on October 9, 2001

Add the music "Burn baby burn (disco inferno)" to it and you've got something.
posted by Outlawyr at 5:40 AM on October 9, 2001

go hobbs! go hobbs!
posted by monkeyJuice at 6:05 AM on October 9, 2001

Horrible. The man obviously scorched his face and you twerps are laughing about it. Definitely worse than schaudenfreude. Fortunately for you, hell doesn't exist.

diddlegnome: Nearly all American flags are Made in China, and Pakistan is a little closer to them than we are.
posted by isildur at 7:16 AM on October 9, 2001

He's fine. Get over it.

In other news, everyone behind the man appears to be smiling/laughing.
posted by jragon at 8:07 AM on October 9, 2001

Rather ominous, don't you think? They burn us, we burn them...

isildur: What makes you think Hell doesn't exist, when God makes it perfectly clear that it does?
posted by schlaager at 8:26 AM on October 9, 2001

Not even slightly funny. Not even a grin out of that. Would it have been funnier if it were a woman and her hajib caught fire? Ha ha.
posted by Hildegarde at 9:03 AM on October 9, 2001

instant karma.
posted by Foosnark at 9:59 AM on October 9, 2001

without the digital enhancements i never even noticed calvin and hobbes in the crowd, that makes me sad they would be at such a rally.
posted by th3ph17 at 11:54 AM on October 9, 2001

As my friend would say: "That's what you get".
posted by owillis at 1:17 PM on October 9, 2001