7 responses to “From the “You Can’t Make this Stuff up” File”

1. 

   DrDaveT

   February 7, 2015 at 8:50 pm

   It’s really tempting to make snide comments about repressive regimes here. And then I stop to think — what would happen if an American company started making toilet paper with the American flag on every sheet?

   It would certainly be informative to watch the ensuing… discussion.
2. 

   gVOR08

   February 8, 2015 at 2:38 pm

   I seem to recall from reading The Arms of Krupp many years ago that for some time Krupp employed people as Klosetpapier Inspektor. They were charged with making sure employees weren’t using TP to distribute subversive propoganda.
3. 

   C. Clavin

   February 8, 2015 at 2:41 pm

   The directive came straight from the number 2 man in the Hong Kong Democratic Party.
4. 

   rodney dill

   February 9, 2015 at 10:00 am

   @DrDaveT: The discussion that would happen here is almost the entire difference between China and the US. Almost certainly the US government would not set in and put a stop US Flags on toilet paper here.

   Beyond that there would be some similarities with China, and some major differences. First, It would cause a big uproar from (I assume) mostly the right, but not necessarily just the right. There would be calls for the government to ban it, via new or existing or imagined laws. There would certainly be organized boycotts and commercial pressure applied (which is allowed here and different from an oppressive regime intervention).

   There could be local or state government action to try and ban such items, (or confiscate the flag TP) Some such attempts may succeed in the short term, causing the initiation of lawsuits to overturn the local or state actions, and to preserve the rights of the TP manufacturers. It could all be pretty amusing and messy here, but not the same as a repressive regime just unilaterally making the decision.
5. 

   CET

   February 9, 2015 at 12:07 pm

   Life must be very difficult for those without a sense of humor . . .
6. 

   JWH

   February 9, 2015 at 4:09 pm

   @C. Clavin: Dammit, I was about to make that joke. But you flushed my hopes away.
7. 

   DrDaveT

   February 9, 2015 at 10:30 pm

   @rodney dill:

   It could all be pretty amusing and messy here, but not the same as a repressive regime just unilaterally making the decision.

   Agreed. And therein lies much of the merit of our system of government. It’s not that our politicos are any less venal, stupid, or self-important. It’s that they can’t do nearly as much harm. Here, it would be (a subset of) the people who would (with no awareness of irony) demand that we defend our freedom by stamping out that particular form of free expression.