If you can’t laugh at yourself…
Robert Scoble insisted (insisted!) that we take these photos. Possibly to let the healing process begin after yesterday’s Google phone drama. And he isn’t the only one who wants to turn this into some kind of meme.
I hope we can just let this go now, and move on with our lives. I promise to try to use a headset much more often while driving in those states that require it, and otherwise abide by the laws of the land.
http://gizmodo.com/comment/19155728
Hi, reposting this from Schonfeld’s post ( http://techcrunch.com/2010/02/09/techcrunch-blocked-china/ ) to ensure that it gets to the right desk. This is a follow up to an earlier post .. .the main gist of which was to attempt to explain to people why this is a sensitive issue and why they were out of line with their extreme reactionary china bashing. Please read it as it may be insightful to you as to why this snowballed into such a major issue… thanks, and I love the non-politically-and-culturally maligned content on TC!
The main point I was making in my earlier discussion was that people should open their minds a little bit and seek to understand what is going on in china and in their own country (assuming it is america, but all countries have their issues) before bashing the hell out of china [mainly addressing your commenters on that point] and making light hearted jokes about an issue that is not “light” or “humorous” at all [that's all you Arrington and Scoble .. please read on].
First of all, before you go bashing every other countries totalitarian governments take a look at the U.S. it is not run by a perfect, peaceful regime itself. look back the Iran-Contras Affair and Nicaraguan massacres, think about the ‘ethics’ of dropping two nukes killing 100,000’s of civilians in the blink of an eye.. and of course the current ongoing wars in iraq and afgh. I’m not saying I’m for or against any of these things, but they too lie in the grey moral and ethical areas!! and if you really want to raise humanitarian issues, focus on your own government, be grateful you live in a democracy and work to fix the broken system in the U.S… there are millions of people living without access to basic minimum health care nor education in that wealthiest nation on earth!! don’t get me wrong, I am a big fan of the U.S. in fact I think it is the greatest nation on the planet, but it still has issues.
Secondly, Tiananmen was a day when the Chinese Gov’t opened fire on its own people to suppress civilian protests for democritization. I have met people in China whose friends and family members were killed or disappeared on that day, many others whose families fled china in the weeks+months following, and others who are friends with some of the organizers of Tiananmen who are still under house arrest or worse. THIS IS NOT A TOPIC TO MAKE LIGHTHEARTED JOKES ABOUT. SHOW SOME FUCKING RESPECT!
that’s all I’m saying… or at least show some willingness to look to the other side and understand WHY this is an issue. show some empathy THINK about what is happening instead of reacting
thanks for hearing me out. I genuinely hope my words can help people to make some effort to think about other peoples’ perspectives on polarized, sensitive issues.
PS: this wouldn’t have been a big deal if it was just a joke between a couple of friends, but you guys (Scoble and Arrington) are major figures and tons of people look up to you and follow your lead, so you should act responsibly.
-Mom (jk)
Arrington:
Watch this Youtube at time 2:15 and learn.
http://tinyurl.com/justsaynobile
LOL, well done. At least you’re making the best out of a weird ass situation.
lollol! gg…
HAHAHA this post or meme go viral now…”The nerd that stop Arrington” I think this annoying nerd dude only wants free publicity and he get it.
hahah… this is Awesome!!!
Too funny guys….. made my day!
If you have a bad day, TC will surely make your day, complete! I wonder what will be the reaction of those, serious-looking private china men officers when they saw this tianamen geek-looking guy… on USA..?? Now that’s more viral!
can somebody take off this troll from tc blog?
Your foot COULD have slipped Arrington..
Lucky that his car wasn’t a Toyota and experience “sudden acceleration”.
This one made me laugh!
Excellent John! LOL.
or…if you own a Toyota, you foot may not have to slip
I hope the Police do not see this he could end up paying for this
Now What !?????????? Are we going to see a WorldWide STOP the Phoning DRIVER !?
TechCrunch was founded on June 11, 2005, as a weblog dedicated to obsessively profiling and reviewing new Internet products and companies. In addition to covering new companies, we profile existing companies that are making an impact (commercial and/or cultural) on the new web space.
and sometimes we post stupid stuff because we think it’s funny.
This one was really funny one. Are you going to make Scoble disappear to a re-education camp like the real Tiananmen guy? This could be a whole weeks worth of posts.
Yeah, and that would be really funny. Let’s keep demeaning the events of 1989, in which thousands of people died, to satisfy the ego of an overblown technology blogger.
failed the IQ test.
Yeah you did.
Sociopath.
No you failed the IQ test by driving that monstrosity and talking on the phone at the same time. Typical american a**hole
I understand the pain that you’re feeling, but keep in mind, that this is a techblog and techbloggers deserves the right to have some fun-time…
If you think this is somewhat offending, then you might as well just press alt+f4 and search other news.
He probably would do pretty well on the IQ test, as evidence that he had to have done well on the LSAT, which is in IQ test, in order to have gotten into Stanford Law School However, it appears that Arrington, like many with high IQ, may be lacking in EQ.
I’m not saying that this event per se is indicative of his low EQ. As a whole, watching him in videos– judging from his mannerisms, quick temper, and just how easily he gets frustrated/flustered when put on the spot, it does appear that Arrington is a little lacking in the EQ department.
As Arrington will admit, growing up, he has heard too many times this phrase from his elders and teachers: “That poor Mikie, he’s book smart, but is so utterly lacking in life cooping skills.”
Really funny. Now that you posted your driving misery’s here, expect more such meme’s from now
Scoble should have put you under citizen’s arrest! How did he find you? Google Latitiude?
“and sometimes we post stupid stuff because we think it’s funny.”
it is however very nice to see you’re both enjoying your hobbies.
stupid it is, funny it isn’t. it’s a good idea not to reference politically sensitive events where lots of people died when blogging about a personal beef with some self righteous toolbag.
fail
That’s all you gotta say to that? You ran out of answers? Means that he’s right, and you’re wrong. You should feel embarrassed for what you did. I’m serious. And post it on a blog like that? Guys, I was a loyal reader for some time, but I think I’m gonna stop. What you think is funny might not be for other people. Since your American, let’s say for instance your wife died in 9/11. Then you’d be just as pissed of at somebody making a “9/11 Americans don’t get this joke” joke. And calling dude’s comment a “fail” just proves your weakness when it comes to the core of the problem. This whole post was a fail. If I have an inside joke with my friend, I don’t go ahead and post it on my blog, especially if it was about Arabs or Asians or whatever culture there is to make fun of. Just don’t, Michael, you embarrass yourself. Thanks.
where do you people come from? seriously. in this case, i had just repeated myself over and over, so i didn’t re-explain. so you lost the plot twice in a row while getting yourself all worked up.
These people come from a the basement of their mom’s house. The spend too much time in front of a monitor and not enough time out living and laughing.
I am not going to try and score points on this but if you really care about your company, send me an email.
Where I come from, I welcome constructive criticism. It always gives me something to think about, even when a customer/reader is way off the mark. Their premise might be wrong but they are never wrong about how they feel.
In this very thread, you’ve expressed that other people (including the kid’s boss) use their phone in the car just like you. You have also expressed that it is legal to do so in other states, as well as mentioned that it was formerly was legal to do so.
Personally, I do not care whether you are right or wrong. However, as a reader (customer), it is not clear to me whether you think you did something wrong or not. For all I know, It may not be clear even to you. The entire deal is murky at best. Then out of this confusing environment you inject a spoof into the mix?
Clarity is not the enemy of humor. Even with jokes there is usually a fairly clear point, even though it may be sophomoric, most people can still get it. What the hell was the point here?
I don’t sleep with Scoble, I didn’t server time with him or grow up in the same neighborhood. I don’t know Jack Sprat about Scoble, so the reason why he was blocking your car was hilarious to you must have been incredibly inside, because I did not get it, and from the looks of many comments here, I wasn’t alone.
From my limited perspective you essentially recreated the event all over again, and presented the gory pictures to all of your readers. I know this much, I have seen angles of Robert Scoble that I do not ever desire to see again. It looks like the idea was “hey lets get industry insiders to block your car while you are on the cell phone, it’ll be a viral laugh riot.”
Then comes the insult to the injury. You explain your attack on a reader who commented on this post (and the reader was quite civil I might add), the one where you responded only with “fail”, by presenting the following explanation.
“I had just repeated myself over and over, so I didn’t re-explain”
This could apply to a debate or a joke, but I will focus on jokes, especially since that is what this second post is supposed to be. I occasionally write stuff that is funny. When I find that I have to explain my joke over and over, it usually means that a large number of people did not get my joke. It may mean that the joke went over their heads, and it may also mean that my joke was too inside for a majority of readers to grasp. But…..
Sometimes, the joke just isn’t funny at all.
No matter why the joke did not work, I don’t attack my audience for my failure; I just fold up the joke and move on for another day. Sure sometimes it’s true the audience is too stupid to get my joke. That said, it’s also partly my responsibility to see to it in advance that most of my audience can understand the joke. If not, why the heck are you doing the joke in the first place?
In reality, nobody died. You can come back on another day, and do another joke. Maybe the next one will get the majority to laugh at it. That is what an audience does, they let you know how well your joke worked. But in this case, large chunks of your audience are telling you it’s not funny, and because there is a safety issue entwined within this some readers are even telling you it’s tasteless.
What a shock that must be to a publisher who isn’t listening to his readers.
PS: you can go ahead and respond with a giant “fail!” to this comment, but that will only mean that somebody who was trying to do you a favor didn’t succeed.
PS: Instead of a light saber, why don’t you photoshop in a rubber chicken the next time you juice it up?
fail? what? cause I don’t agree with your brand of humor? should i expect jokes and references to events like 9/11 and the holocaust anytime anything else in the future even remotely similar happens to you?
get over yourself man, cause right now you’re coming off as an even bigger douche than the guy who stopped you.
like i said, referencing politically sensitive events where lots of people died in an attempt at humor=fail. getting upset because not everybody thinks its funny= fail. trying to justify your bad taste in humor=fail.
poor taste in humor, plain and simple.
if only your phon had video
I’ll take that post over anything Iphone/Twitter related.
on the first pic, it looks like robert is humping the car.
I think it was hilarious that the Googler ran away when you got out of the car. What did Scoble do when you got out of the car?
bent over?
reply of the century!! HAHAH
Oh no! If the police see this, they’ll fine him $20 for talking on the phone, and then they’ll fine the guy standing in the street $220 for obstructing traffic!
I’d hope so. It’s dangerous and wrong. Stop talking on your phone while driving. If its that important use a bluetooth. Stop putting peoples families at risk.
is it dangerous and wrong in the 47 (or whatever) states that haven’t made it illegal?
Is drunk driving ok in the many countries in which it’s legal?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drunk_driving_law_by_country
no, it isn’t. in my opinion. but driving while talking on a cell phone, whether right or wrong, didn’t change from right to wrong when a law was passed.
Do you read the posts you’re replying to? “mrloserpunk” never mentioned the law; *you* brought it up.
Then why did you cite the amount of the fines as evidence that the Googler’s crime was greater?
I don’t follow your logic. Did drunk driving change from right to wrong when a law was passed?
exactly. so if people didn’t get worked up over phone use in cars before it was illegal, why now.
people got worked up over phone use in cars *before* it was illegal… that’s why it became illegal.
yes it is http://www.drivinglaws.org/stats.php
suicide is also legal. is it dangerous?
http://www.google.com/#q=accidents+linked+to+use+of+mobile+phone&hl=en&fp=1
is drinking under 21 wrong? What if you’re in Europe?
Even in the United Kingdom you can have one drink with a meal from the age of 14 in restaurants. 18 to purchase alcohol.
In Australia I went to the Pub in my senior year and had a counter lunch and a beer .
hehe
Nice arguments Mike. I love it. But they got a good point: it is illegal in that state. Not wrong, illegal. Shoot me an email so I can send you a Bluetooth headset.
like others, you make an assumption that I don’t already have one, and use it.
I’m only haflway down the page and I’m sensing that this discussion is getting too heated and emotional to be real. It is extremely unlikely that regularly people would get this worked up about cellphone use. In fact, I would expect the opposite: that most young tech males would tend to feel that the cellphone law is a stupid, unnecessary law. This is to say, these comments seem unusually biased– in the most counter-intuitive way.
I’m willing to bet that a dozen of the commentators in here are actually just one guy making up numerous aliases to make it seem like the whole world is up in arms. I’m also willing to be that that one guy is probably the skinny guy blocking the road. What’s funny is that Arrington is taking the bait.
does it really matter if you think it’s wrong or right? you’re putting other peoples lives in danger (apparently it’s hard to die in that monstrous SUV polluter you drive)
and i don’t care if you drink when you’re 5. but don’t drive drunk and don’t talk on the phone. just because you have a blog doesn’t make it right, arrogant mr. Arrington
oh, i was definitely wrong to be talking on my phone while driving. because I live in California. If I was in Texas, I wouldn’t be wrong, and no one would feel righteous indignation. But this post isn’t about me. It’s about a Googler. Who needed to stand up for what was right. No matter what the cost. Until I got out of my car.
i hate relativism. and i don’t understand the reference cause i m not american.
i ‘m actually surprised that people actually tolerate such behavior. or maybe the road system in the bay area is so big and comfortable that nobody causes an accident by talking on the phone. Over here, lives are lost due to mindless phone / sms use
are you big?
Well, you can also f… prostitutes in thailand, have slaves in myanmare, corupt people in a lot of other countries. You should go smoke crack in guantanamo… Is Ku klus klan illegal in Texas ?
What about if you are talking on your phone while driving drunk? Do those two cancel each other out? I think we need a Mothers Against Talking on the Phone (MATOTP). I drive drunk all the time and never hit anything. Practice is the key.
umm, sure. i also find it more fun to drive when drunk. i also like to make phonecalls – keeps me from having to read all those traffic signs.
me too. i also drive stoned.
Stoned and phoned is the only way to ride.
Me to I drive Low-IQ’ed all the time I have been inflicted with the Low-IQ disease all my life and sometime I have to drive while being Low-IQ.
What if I think bluetooth headsets make people look like douches? Is a regular corded headset okay?
Think of the children!
People these days really need to grow a pair. Distracted drivers are bad drivers. You need to recognize that there is just a certain element of the unknown when you go out into public. People won’t always follow the rules. You are not freelance police and if you pull that kind of stuff at the wrong time (emergency/anger issues/intoxicated) you could get flattened or get beaten up.
LOL that was great!
I hope iJustine (or any of my fellow YouTubists) would start a video meme on this theme.
A side note, Mike, you realize that these two symbolism-laden posts will probably not be accessible to the good folks in China, due to the word “Tiananmen” in the titles, right?
Suggestion: add the words “Dalai Lama” somewhere in there, and I guarantee you these posts will be vaporized by the Chinese Internet Police.
It looks like the force is strong with Scoble
Am I the only one who thinks this becoming a meme cheapens the actual Tienanmen incident?
I’m all for laughs, but tanks running over people for freedom being compared to cell phone drivers is a bit much.
Yes.
I agree. Albeit the story is funny enough, a comparison with Tienanmen is not appropriate and kinda … childish.
i thought of that yesterday. i guess that’s an ‘all-american’ way to read history. won’t be surprised if the next generations thinks tienanmen is the struggle against phone use
Also, I can’t believe Jerry Seinfeld called a character the “Soup Nazi.” He made light of a situation that is a very serious thing to lots of poeple. Even seriouser than Tianaman Square.
No one should make references ever.
Scoble should have been dressed as a building, and Arrington an aeroplane. That would have been much funnier!
Hmm. Talking on a cellphone while driving vs. Being a self righteous douchebag. Well, no surprise which of these folks pokes fun at themselves first.
Way to laugh this into a teachable moment.
I can visualize my reaction to this guy, near the temple of self righteousness there on Garcia, where I’ve been driving on my cellphone since the early 90’s and I shudder to think of what I might have done in te same situation.
That….is….hysterical. I heart Scoble.
I don’t think it works that well when you are parked.
Also are you giving him a finger? or is that just glare?
Scobles’ form is all wrong, he needs to be pointing down with a finger of fury.
+1 to the google guy for causing such a stir.
lol good one
Not so funny when it’s staged, and you’re parked up, and it’s your mate acting out the role and you’re smiling.
Andew stole the words from my mouth. This is obviously staged and he is parked. So even if the cops got this picture, they can’t fine him because he is not driving.
Michael, law is law, whether reports say it has done any good or not. So, don’t give that justification. Also, that Googler doesn’t have to quit, he works for Google and not for Eric alone. Sure there’s that $20 or $200 difference, but problem is – there are way too many people not following this law, and that’s what this guy is trying to tell… simple man, follow the law.
America was not built on “simple man, follow the law.”
In this case I think it’s a fine law. One that I usually respect. In this case I didn’t. But that has nothing to do with this story.
Quite right, this isn’t about law – more to do with ego I’d say. Someone called you for doing a thing you know to be unwise and I think he embarassed you. And then you set up to humiliate him over the internet. That’s bullying, and it cheapens you.
Yo, Arrington: It’s not about the law, it’s about being stupid. Almost every time I see someone doing something deadly dumb while driving, they have a phone in their hand. You think you can drive well with it because you’re so damn SPECIAL, but you’re just as dumb as the rest, and just as defensive about it. Dumb and cocky: nothing too special there.
“Stupid” is your opinion and yours only. Dumb and cocky is exactly how I would describe you… but that’s just MY opinion.
yet by being dumb and cocky in a blog comment you don’t endanger anyone’s life
Let me see if I got this straight.
You just tried to use imagery referncing to Tiananmen Square in a poor attempt at a meme? Poor taste guys, poor taste. Whats next? Mock of MLK assaination while waiting in line for a new product?
And we continue our downward spiral…
i think the tiananmen reference is a sense of humor basic IQ test. You either get what I’m saying and chuckle or you think I’m drawing an analogy and get angry.
1. There is a humor in your story but it’s simply inappropriate.
2. Driving while talking on the phone without a headset/speakerphone is against the law.
3. Combined with your previous post about the intern, simple perception is that you can be a better person than what you are now.
You’re a pretty funny guy Mike. Smart too!
I would have run over the Google guy THEN taken the photo and tweeted it. That guy is an @ss.
I don’t care about any of this. Tell me what the Google product briefing was about!
Mike, the moment someone in your life gets seriously hurt or dies because of someone talking on the phone while driving, you’ll change your entire perception on this topic. Better to change now (and encourage others to do the same) than wait for it to happen.
at that point I’ll be in favor of idiots stopping traffic to stop cell phone use? You’ve painted me as a pro-cell-phone-while driving person. There’s no evidence of that.
@markus That implies that Mike (or anybody) is only able to comprehend something if it affects them. That’s a pretty unintelligent way to approach the world. Believe it or not, people are able to have positions on things that have not directly happened to them … and some of those same people have the fortitude to make a rational evaluation of how they feel about a situation even after it has directly affected them without immediately overreacting because it now happened to them.
But maybe you’re right. Maybe Scoble saw the first story and took that as HIS call to action … to ‘encourage others to do the same’ and cease their treacherous ways of using a cell phone while traveling zero miles an hour and posing for a photographer.
Classic Doug.
Arrington, memes are naturally occuring. This is a forced meme, and an unfunny one at that.