poadeleted1
Deleted by request
- Joined
- Apr 8, 2005
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From a Peter Schweizer op-ed in USA Today:
In a brilliant new white paper on public diplomacy, Michael Waller, the Walter and Leonore Annenberg chair in International Communication at The Institute of World Politics, makes a strong case for America's employing a new powerful weapon against the terrorists: ridicule.
Actually, this has been tried, by the Piranha Brothers. From a July 9, 1970 "Monty Python's Flying Circus" sketch by the same name:
Vercotti: Well, I was terrified. Everyone was terrified of Doug. I've seen grown men pull their own heads off rather than see Doug. Even Dinsdale was frightened of Doug.
2nd Interviewer: What did he do?
Vercotti: He used--sarcasm. He knew all the tricks: dramatic irony, metaphor, bathos, puns, parody, litotes and--satire. He was vicious.
Presenter: By a combination of violence and sarcasm, the Piranha brothers by February 1966 controlled London and the Southeast of England.
2nd Interviewer: What did he do?
Vercotti: He used--sarcasm. He knew all the tricks: dramatic irony, metaphor, bathos, puns, parody, litotes and--satire. He was vicious.
Presenter: By a combination of violence and sarcasm, the Piranha brothers by February 1966 controlled London and the Southeast of England.