Funniest/Most Insightful Comments Of The Week At Techdirt

Techdirt

from the doom-and-gloom dept

This week’s most insightful comments could just as easily be called its most cynical — and that’s fair enough. If there’s anything that should make you cynical about the US government, it’s the still ongoing revelations about the NSA. Thus, we’ve got our most insightful comment of the week from silverscarcat, responding to torture-defender John Yoo’s defence of the NSA:

There’s one thing John Yoo missed

the terrorists have already won.

After all, Bin Laden said that he didn’t have to do anything anymore after 9/11, since America would destroy itself.

He was so right.

And then we’ve got second place, with Headbhang reacting to a conversation about the shuttering of Groklaw:

The ruling elite is not afraid of the terrorists, it’s actually secretly grateful to them for providing the excuse for their whole surveillance programme.

On the other hand, they are clearly terrified of Snowden, Greenwald, et al.

There’s plenty of room for gloomy insight across the pond, too. Our first editor’s choice on the insightful side goes to an anonymous commenter, responding to the UK Home Office’s comment that those who oppose the detention of David Miranda must “think about what they are condoning”:

Those who oppose [Snowden and the NSA leaks] need to think about what they are condoning.

And, finally, we’ve got a great comment from BentFranklin that racked up lots of insightful and funny votes, but not quite enough to crack either leaderboard. When the NSA insisted that the idea of it sifting through as much as 75% of US online communications was “simply not true”, he saw the real meaning of the words:

If they say it is simply not true, it must be true complexly.

On the funny side, for first place we head back over to the UK. As details emerged on the government’s threats against The Guardian newspaper in forcing it to destroy hard drives, Ruby turned a classic Big Brother argument back on them:

Someone needs to tell the government that if they’ve nothing to hide, they’ve nothing to fear.

And in second place, we’ve got That Anonymous Coward providing some narration for the Time journalist who announced his eagerness to defend a hypothetical future drone strike that kills Julian Assange:

*Marlin Perkins Voice*
And if you watch closely you can see the wild reporter in heat. Here he is presenting, showing the dominate ones he is receptive to receiving what they are willing to give him. See how he as assumed the submissive position, showing he is no threat.

(UK residents: substitute David Attenborough for Marlin Perkins in the above joke. [US Residents: substitute Sigourney Weaver for David Attenborough in the adjacent joke.])

For editor’s choice on the funny side, we’ll start by slipping in one more comment about the NSA. When the agency revealed that it conducts 20-million database queries per month, Zakida Paul suggested that isn’t so bad when you put it in perspective:

Well, to be honest that’s not a lot considering the US has over 300 million terrorists inside it’s borders.

And, finally, we’ll break away from all this high-stakes international insanity and stupidity to focus on the garden-variety kind. When an incredibly painful-to-watch CNBC news panel argued that Call of Duty and other video games have killed chivalry and kept guys from dating, an anonymous commenter suggested they were looking in the wrong place [link added, to clarify for non-gamers]:

Chivalry isn’t dead! It just sold 1.2 million copies and it’s really fun!

I’m certain that answer would both confound and infuriate the CNBC panelists, so I support it wholeheartedly.

That’s all for now!