had to share...more!
- Thread starter Chernobyl
- Start date
I can't for the life of me fathom how anyone could be outraged by this - there's no disrespect to anything here, it's just an ironic picture to go with the pun, which is that traveller chargen is fatal (and given that most of the options in CT are military or pseudomilitary, a normal graveyard would be a lot less appropriate). It's just a comment on a stupid game, not on the military itself or the people who have died in it.
I guess this proves that someone's always got to be offended by something.
I guess this proves that someone's always got to be offended by something.
If there were a cemetary name shown, or a legible name on a tombstone, or anything to actually identify anything or anyone involved, then I could see offense.
But it is a "generic" picture of a "generic" cemetary. (Based on the comments here, I will go all the way and assume it is a "generic military" cemetary.) So, unless it has suddenly become "offensive" to use a generic military cemetary picture in any way not approved by specific individuals who have suddenly been given such powers, then, yes, being offended by this is likely an overreaction.
Maybe I am just callous. But I have to agree with EDG on this: It does appear that there is always someone, somewhere that can be offended by just about anything.
But it is a "generic" picture of a "generic" cemetary. (Based on the comments here, I will go all the way and assume it is a "generic military" cemetary.) So, unless it has suddenly become "offensive" to use a generic military cemetary picture in any way not approved by specific individuals who have suddenly been given such powers, then, yes, being offended by this is likely an overreaction.
Maybe I am just callous. But I have to agree with EDG on this: It does appear that there is always someone, somewhere that can be offended by just about anything.
It's obviously a real picture of a real cemetary with real people buried in it.
The joke itself is fine, but use a hand-made graphic of a cemetary, not a real picture of a real cemetary with real loved ones buried in it. It isn't the joke that makes it tactless, it's the picture that was chosen.
If someone can't undestand how this can be tactless, then try to imagine the picture is instead of your loved one's actual tombstone (even if you can't read the markings, you still recognize it). How would that make you feel for your loved one's tombstone to be used as a gimic within a joke even if it wasn't meant to harm anyone?
No, I don't recognize a loved one's tombsone in the picture above, but I was simply thinking of others' feelings, including the fallen soldiers themselves.
I'm sorry if I have over-reacted because I have served and know those who have fallen while serving and thus have some sympathy and honor for them. Through my eyes I see something that should be held in a place of honor being used as a gimic in a joke. Call it over-reacting, I call it having respect, honor, sympathy, you know, human feelings.
The joke itself is fine, but use a hand-made graphic of a cemetary, not a real picture of a real cemetary with real loved ones buried in it. It isn't the joke that makes it tactless, it's the picture that was chosen.
If someone can't undestand how this can be tactless, then try to imagine the picture is instead of your loved one's actual tombstone (even if you can't read the markings, you still recognize it). How would that make you feel for your loved one's tombstone to be used as a gimic within a joke even if it wasn't meant to harm anyone?
No, I don't recognize a loved one's tombsone in the picture above, but I was simply thinking of others' feelings, including the fallen soldiers themselves.
I'm sorry if I have over-reacted because I have served and know those who have fallen while serving and thus have some sympathy and honor for them. Through my eyes I see something that should be held in a place of honor being used as a gimic in a joke. Call it over-reacting, I call it having respect, honor, sympathy, you know, human feelings.
While I do not feel offended by the picture myself, I can understand why
people can feel offended by it.
My work brings me in contact with many elder people who fought in past
wars or lost loved ones in those wars. For them, a war cemetary is a ve-
ry strong and very emotional symbol of personal experiences and losses,
and definitely nothing to be used in any kind of joke.
I can imagine that someone who served in a more recent war would have
the same feelings, perhaps even stronger ones, because even less time
has passed since the events.
people can feel offended by it.
My work brings me in contact with many elder people who fought in past
wars or lost loved ones in those wars. For them, a war cemetary is a ve-
ry strong and very emotional symbol of personal experiences and losses,
and definitely nothing to be used in any kind of joke.
I can imagine that someone who served in a more recent war would have
the same feelings, perhaps even stronger ones, because even less time
has passed since the events.
I can't say it's "obviously" a real cemetary. There is nothing within the picture that is recognizable enough to say it is or isn't. For all we know, someone could have skill fully photo-shopped in a bunch of headstones on a picture of a park.Sturn said:
I would agree with you more if there were more that is recognizable about the picture. There is nothing about that picture that can narrow it down to a single cemetary - it looks like several I've been to in several different states. I will even go so far as to say that it's probably better to choose a picture of a military cemetary with it's uniform headstones, than a picture of a civilian one where the individuality of the headstones could make it more likely to have some recognizable feature to it.
kristof65 said:
Who here actually believes that isn't a photograph of a real cemetary?
It's a real cemetary someplace, that is the entire point of it being, "hallowed" ground wherever it might be, and so common courtesy says not to use it in a joke. I grew up in an era and place where respect for elders, respect for parents, respect for the deceased, etc was a common notion.
Yes, I know the original poster did not mean to disrespect whoever is buried in that real cemetary. I posted that it was tactless and would have left it at that.......until to my disbelief there were posts that didn't understand how using such a picture could be in fact tactless.
I guess I will just have to understand that others grew up in different places, in different eras, have different understandings of respect, and move on to another thread.
It is a real cemetary, there's no question in that. Having visited it, I would guess that it is Arlington National Cemetary, based on the shape of the headstones. Rounded tops for Union/USA, and "peaked" tops for Confederate soldiers. Other military cemetaries may use headstones of the same shape, I don't know, so it could be a different one, but that's the one I have visited.
Those who have been around this board for a while know I'm a veterean, having served in the Navy (during and after gulf war I) aboard the USS Nimitz in the Reactor Department (hence my "handle"). I have several friends in the service still, and relatives who have also served (several cousins and at least one Uncle) So I take it seriously when someone says they're offended by a picture of a graveyard used in a joke. I didn't compose the joke, I found it on the internet. I found it funny. I thought others might get a chuckle out of it as well, but as it turns out others might not. I apologize to those who are offended - none was meant but some have thinner skins than others.
Chern
Those who have been around this board for a while know I'm a veterean, having served in the Navy (during and after gulf war I) aboard the USS Nimitz in the Reactor Department (hence my "handle"). I have several friends in the service still, and relatives who have also served (several cousins and at least one Uncle) So I take it seriously when someone says they're offended by a picture of a graveyard used in a joke. I didn't compose the joke, I found it on the internet. I found it funny. I thought others might get a chuckle out of it as well, but as it turns out others might not. I apologize to those who are offended - none was meant but some have thinner skins than others.
Chern
Chernobyl said:
Thanks for the reply Chernobyl, I completely believe you didn't mean to offend, my posts became directed at those that couldn't understand how it could offend someone. That sentence above, the 'apology' gave me a snicker though. :lol: "I apologize while taking a shot at you". :wink: No apology was needed if you didn't intend to offend anyone, which I don't think anyone, including myself, actually believed. My posts were my attemp to try to get some to understand why I believed it was tactless; I never thought it was intended.
