Before replying to this, you must watch the 2:48 seconds of the video before posting, otherwise you might look dumb in your reply.
Alright, so this US congressman is the new internet sensation this week. In the video (depsite it beyong monotonous and boring as hell), he is "caught" saying that he fears Guam "will become so overly populated that it will tip over and capsize".
If you read the comments, and read comments made in other forums about this, people think he's literally afraid of the island tipping over. Clearly, when speaking with the admiral, he is making a corny joke about the island capsizing, like a ship would. Is he not?
And if this is the case, don't you find it pretty funny that everyone is calling him an idiot?
link to vid:
Sounds to me like he was serious when he said the island could tip over. Maybe he was joking, but if he was, that would be extremely disrespectful to the admiral. And yes, that video was extremely boring to watch, and the payoff really wasn't that good. I guess I'm not all that shocked that some people could think that islands can tip over.
Click at your own risk.:
He wasn't serious, I don't think. He was making a metaphorical reference to the island's stability. Right after he makes the comment in question here, you can see him smile, proving that he's trying to be funny.
But congressman are old and boring, and their place of work isn't really the most casual place, so the way he makes the joke is different than you'd normally see.
Last edited by Che; 04-07-2010 at 04:01 PM.
I think he might have been serious. First he's talking about physical specifics of the actual island, to prove that it's a small island. Then he talks about how the island might tip over.
It's too crazy to be true, but it really looks like he's being serious. I don't think it was a joke. It might have been a metaphore, but I don't see why he had to bring up the measurements of the island.
It doesn't really matter since the guy looks and talks like he's stoned as hell anyway.
Last edited by RagnaToad; 04-07-2010 at 04:26 PM.
Crao Porr Cock8: Getting it while the getting's good
I've seen the video running around on the news and the congressman seems to have so much trouble just speaking clearly and getting his point across in a timely manner that anything he says doesn't come off has sounding like a joke. I tried to find a smile that you were talking about, but I couldn't see it, though he had his hands up by his face a lot.
I hope he is joking, but I fear he is being serious. Which is why he's being made fun of because it is not clear that he is joking. If you come out saying something like that you want to be clear to everyone without a doubt that you're making a joke, which he did not I don't believe. However, what place does a joke like that have in a congress hearing? The guy already has trouble speaking in front of people, he shouldn't be trying to be making jokes if that is what he is trying to do.
Though he also sounds like he still believes that Global Warning is real. So I think he is discrediting almost everything he is trying to say.
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It's honestly hard to tell. On one hand, he's a grown man and should know better -- common sense would say that nobody's that stupid.
On the other hand, we're talking about Hank Johnson here. If anybody is that stupid, it just might be him. Plus, he doesn't appear to be joking, and the segment of the video before the "capsize" comment reveals him to be an idiot anyway.
EDIT: Now that I think of it, I think this is the guy that's had Hep C for a few decades, so it's probably scrambled some things upstairs. But apparently, he's smart enough to be elected, so maybe his STD isn't hurting him too much. Then again, I think it's Georgia's 4th District that he's out of, so anybody with a (D) in front of their name is guaranteed a seat anyway.
Last edited by Sasquatch; 04-07-2010 at 04:33 PM.
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It seems to me that this man is terrible at public speaking.... which is a bit strange for a man who's job is almost exclusively public speaking. Beyond that it sounds like he was using capsizing to relate to the Admiral that the environment is something to be concerned about when deciding to more densely populate an island. No one was concerned with global warning, now we're kind of boned; no one is concerned about the environment in Guam, and we might get boned there too. Now Hank Johnson is obviously an idiot for at least one reason: Why get a job doing something you're terrible at?
Originally Posted by Block
- Because it pays 175,000$/year.
- 35,000-65,000$ pension annually after retiring at 50.
- It's easy.
- etc.
and I just want to go on record saying I do not find the joke funny. But I do recognize whatever he did as some kind of humor.
The admiral reacted the same way that I did, I was shocked that he made a joke like that but I think he was being serious. I mean if you're gonna crack a ship joke to an Admiral of the United States military then at least laugh or smile after it to try and encourage the notion that you are only joking lol I hope that he was joking to say the least
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It's just me then who finds the whole video hilarious?
The whole speech is a joke! He's taking the piss! That's my kind of humour right there.
He's not stupid; no one's that stupid. The only possible reason on would behave like this is that he is just pushing the envelope a little. Why would he discuss the dimensions of the island? Does he think Guam is a boat? Of course not, but that navy guy is unsure whether this guy is being serious, but he won't take the risk of calling him on it, so he, in effect, is playing along. The Johnson guy gets what he is aiming for.
Or he's just stupid. But the capsize reference isn't the punchline. There is no punchline, the whole situation was created to be humorous.
Also, a question. Do the people of Guam want to be part of the US? I suppose I could research it, but this is easier.
That's exactly what I thought. Surely, no one can be that stupid. There's just no way. The whole dimensions of Guam thing leads up to him saying he is worried it will capsize. And what balls, talking to an admiral. When he says it, you can see the lady behind the admiral smiling, and the guy next to her smirking and whispering I believe.
The congressman himself, I think has a smirk on his face as well.
Guam is owned by the U.S. but is not a state. I do not know why they had this meeting, though.
I'd like to think it was a joke, and I'm sure even if it wasn't someone will come out and say it was to the public via the press so people don't condemn him as stupid.
I dunno, the man may just have a very dry sense of humor, and he seems a bit slow (and awfully redundant) with his wording, so it may very well have been a joke that he just kept rolling with instead of stopping for a laugh pause.
I lol'd
Anyway, I can't really tell if he's serious or not.
I really don't know. It could have been a joke that the admiral was in on. But at the same time, I actually think that it's possible that the man was high. But lets stop and think about this. A lot of politicians career is just telling one lie after another. So would it really surprise anyone if he could pull off a joke that well?
I barely even understood what they were talking about. Wasn't he just saying that the island's really damn small and that further military presence would make a dense population even denser?
According to my shitty research on wiki its population density is 830/sq. miles (320 km^2). If it were a US state it would be the 3rd highest in the nation as of 2005 and ranks 38th highest country/region in the world as of 2009. So it's probably just a metaphor... right?
Last edited by SOLDIER #819; 04-10-2010 at 12:03 PM.
S is using potty language. I've never seen that before. Or have I?
A friend told me that the events in this video occurred on April Fool's Day. So April Fool's? Either way, I had a similar reaction to Alpha's, heh. Anyhoo...
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EDIT: Watching the video again, the date "3-25-10" goes across the screen, so not an april fool's.
Last edited by Taco-Calamitous; 04-11-2010 at 01:57 AM.
I used potty language because I don't know all my alphabets and can't emphasize a point without it.
A) If he's telling a joke, he's damn bad(or good) at it. Because regardless of his intentions, he's convinced a large part of the population(possibly of his voting constituency) that he's either disrespectful, a low-grade moron or a pot fiend. Either way it kind of works out to be a fail moment for him, doesn't it?
B) If he's not joking...well, that explains itself.
C) The nightmare is that people are having a hard time telling whether he was joking or not.
Me? I think it's ****ing hysterical. Whether it's a joke or not a joke...it's funny. I would never have attempted that joke, had I been in his shoes. It was a poorly thought-out joke(strategically-speaking).
But, the congressman doesn't matter. He's not funny. The humor doesn't occur on his end, but the general's.
Last edited by Sinister; 04-10-2010 at 10:58 PM.
Fear not, this is not...the end of this world.
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