October 11, 2001

11:41 PM

"I have taken down the "Bert is Evil!"site from my server. I would like to thank Sesame Workshop for their patience and restraint all these years. I implore all fans and mirror site hosts of "Bert is Evil" to stop the spread of this site too. -- dino"
posted by RavinDave (38 comments total)

Still a few mirror sites up. Grab the memories while you can. Damn!! I knew thi was coming. I need a moment.
posted by RavinDave at 11:50 PM on October 11, 2001

NOOOOOOO! Those were some of the funniest pictures ever made...
posted by Aikido at 12:30 AM on October 12, 2001

That's too bad...but at least it sounds like he took it down for reasons he really believed in. I think he made a good decision.
posted by bradlauster at 12:47 AM on October 12, 2001

It made CNN though.
posted by Markb at 1:00 AM on October 12, 2001

I think perhaps that poster showed that fundamentalists might have a sense of humour, which would imply they were somewhat human. That's what freaks people out. To go to war against a group of people you basically have to monsterize them, so that they can't possibly be human, can't be the same as you. That's your defense mechanism. Sesame Street's comments seem to repair the defense by asking: what kind of monsters would put a creature adored by children on a poster? It's really a shame that dino seems to feel indicted by this comment himself. He's made a lot of people laugh during the past few years.
posted by dlewis at 1:17 AM on October 12, 2001

Well, the guy that produced something this funny is sure to produce other good stuff. Still, I'm sad to see the site go.
posted by Optamystic at 1:25 AM on October 12, 2001

Maybe its all a mass hallucination. Bin - Laden psyops.
posted by spinifex at 1:51 AM on October 12, 2001

Weird. "responsible enough to stop here" - what is he stopping? Generating an image or idea that someone else uses isn't so unusual, is it? Nike seems to manage OK, despite adbuster's best efforts. And protecting children - what's that all about? Somehow children are going to think Sesame Street flew aircraft into the WTC or something?

I like dlewis's explanation (hey, maybe a terrorist has kids that watch Sesame Street and...), but I don't really believe it. Isn't it more likely this is just the same kind of over-emotional thrashing around that we saw here in the UK after Diana's death? A kind of public emotional fit that leaves people off balance and unable to view things from the distance they deserve?
posted by andrew cooke at 1:52 AM on October 12, 2001

It wasn't that funny though it was venerable for the internet, which, I guess, means it takes seven internet years to make one dog's year.

So, I copied the mirror site...But what happened to the Bertzilla picture? Wah!

More collateral damage from the war on terrorism: it sucks on a whole other level.
posted by y2karl at 1:58 AM on October 12, 2001

I suppose this is a good spot to slip in that lindqvist has a link to a Yahoo article pretty much cleaning up the loose ends of the mystery.
posted by RavinDave at 2:20 AM on October 12, 2001

It's kind of hard to grok why he or anyone else considered any Muppetesque creature standing next to Bin Laden to have been at all logical, cultural differences or not.

there are loads of pictured of politician, pop stars, sportsmen or other role models with man sized mascots. why not bin laden? maybe this reflects their naive idolisation of him. or maybe not.
posted by arf at 2:47 AM on October 12, 2001

"that poster showed that fundamentalists might have a sense of humour"

and they think it's funny to associate their hero with "Evil" ? I think not.
Please continue to laugh _at_ fundies ( of any flavour ).


"the guy that designed the poster has admitted..."

Do you have a reference for this ?
posted by godidog at 3:01 AM on October 12, 2001

Reference: The Charlotte Observer (Associated Press story).
posted by RavinDave at 3:10 AM on October 12, 2001

I want to shake the hand of the guy who made the posters! Just for a little while, he made everyone on this side of the war see the lighter side of the conflict. Unintentionally, but still...
posted by timyang at 3:27 AM on October 12, 2001

Thanks.

The referenced story makes it clear that the poster was not produced by a cheery "fundamentalist with a sense of humour", it was produced by an idiot:

Mostafa Kamal, production manager of Azad Products, the Dhaka shop that made the posters, told the AP he had gotten the images off the Internet. "We did not give the pictures a second look or realize what they signified until you pointed it out to us"

'Course, maybe he's a non-fundamentalist with a sense of humour, in which case its even funnier - but we're still laughing AT them.
posted by godidog at 3:34 AM on October 12, 2001

It's a sad day for the fans.
posted by GirlFriday at 3:38 AM on October 12, 2001

The Charlotte Observer story (linked above by RavinDave) also shows, that the poster contains images of Bin laden with a ham and with a bottle of alcohol (consumption of both is prohibited by Islamic Law).

Has this been reported anywhere else?

Maybe the poster wasn't printed 'accidentally'? I mean, fair enough to miss a cultural reference like Bert, but a ham and a bottle of liquor too? Hmm.. has the finesse of PsyOps written all over it.
posted by jiroczech at 4:12 AM on October 12, 2001

Im not sure if anything Dino fears was in the process of happening, but he seems like one cool, tactful dude. Dino: thanks for a most bizarre laugh. Rock on!
posted by ParisParamus at 4:23 AM on October 12, 2001

What "the lighter side of the conflict"? I'm having a lot of trouble see that.
posted by tranquileye at 4:40 AM on October 12, 2001

Wait a minute... Mostafa Kamal?! Think about it.
posted by jiroczech at 4:41 AM on October 12, 2001

also shows, that the poster contains images of Bin laden with a ham and with a bottle of alcohol..

The Observer should've done a web search for those images first. The ham is a print pattern on a pillow and the booze is some sort of flat metallic thing, not a bottle.
posted by nikzhowz at 4:41 AM on October 12, 2001

Oh, come on! I can't believe anyone would buy the "Oops; we didn't notice it' apology from the poster design company! Here's the explanation that seems most plausible to me, as originally posted here:

The graphics shop in Bangladesh employs a graphic artist who (being a wired technology worker) is aware of the Bert is evil meme and who is against Islamic fundamentalism. Said photoshop jockey resents having to make posters for these folks, so he gets 'em by putting in images of Bert, OBL with a bottle of whiskey and OBL in hell (or he has no political ax to grind, just a wicked sense of humor). For the sake of said photoshop jockey, let's hope said fundamentalists don't believe this theory, too.
posted by tippiedog at 4:42 AM on October 12, 2001

nikzhowz: I agree that the item that could be construed as a ham could also be a pillow or something, but the Johnny Walker bottle is unmistakable. Have you seen the high-res scan of the poster?
posted by tippiedog at 4:45 AM on October 12, 2001

I think perhaps that poster showed that fundamentalists might have a sense of humour, which would imply they were somewhat human.

It shows they're stupid, nothing more. (Want proof? Check out all the flag-burner-on-fire wirephotos being circulated)

And anyone who works so hard to try and "humanize" mass murderers and those who support them needs to have his head examined.
posted by darren at 4:55 AM on October 12, 2001

but the Johnny Walker bottle is unmistakable. Have you seen the high-res scan of the poster?

The link you've posted doesn't resolve to an image, so I can't view the graphic you want me to see. But if you go to the front page of the same site and scroll down, you'll see they agree -- it's not a bottle of liquor. Anyway, look at the credit watermark from the non-poster image, it's a still from a Muslim TV broadcast. It's not likely he'd televise himself with Johnny Black in his lap.

could also be a pillow or something...

I'm sure it's a pillow. Look at the non-poster image.
posted by nikzhowz at 4:59 AM on October 12, 2001

This is ridiculous. We are letting the terrorists win. He should follow the lead of the Onion and SNL and get back to his humor.
posted by brucec at 5:12 AM on October 12, 2001

Can we please stop recasting every decision in our lives as a matter of whether the terrorists win or not? ("I'm going to super-size my Big Mac Extra Value Meal today, because if I don't, we're letting them win.") Al Qaeda has a reputation for thorough planning, but I don't think they killed 5,600 people to drive humorists off the Net.
posted by rcade at 5:39 AM on October 12, 2001

Take a look at this link, the commentary, and photos, one of which is higher resolution. The 'bottle' appears to be the hilt and the upper scabbard of a jambiya, the traditional Yemeni dagger. A person posting there says Bin Ladin started carrying one of these after the attack on the Cole.
posted by Slithy_Tove at 5:44 AM on October 12, 2001

Man sporting a similar jambiya.
posted by nikzhowz at 5:48 AM on October 12, 2001

Do I get a free boost with my jambiya?
posted by Mid at 6:12 AM on October 12, 2001

That unmistakable Johhny Walker bottle (most have claimed it's a bottle of Jack Daniels, actually, which says something about its unmistakability) is not a bottle. It is a Yemini knife called a jambiya. They are widely used in the Arab Muslim world. The sheath (wooden, perhaps, in the photo?) is what makes it look like a bottle in that ultra-fuzzy photo.

I can't believe the Bert inclusion was an intentional act on the poster designer's part. These people are psychopaths, and would not have thought twice about committing physical violence against everyone in the entire print shop if they thought those guys were trying to turn their sainted Bin Laden into an international joke.
posted by aaron at 6:13 AM on October 12, 2001

Damn, I gotta learn not to go all ADD with my browser windows when composing responses. Way too many people slipped ahead of me on the knife thing while I was spending a half hour bouncing all over the web.
posted by aaron at 6:15 AM on October 12, 2001

Mostafa Kamal!! C'mon! Don't you get it??

That's the name AP gives the guy from Azad Products - now maybe I watched too many Carry On films as a kid but that has to be a joke name. Y'know, like Sheik Yerbouty or Mustapha Leak.

Must-have-a-Camel <--> Mostafa Kamal ?
posted by jiroczech at 6:33 AM on October 12, 2001

"These people are psychopaths, and would not have thought twice about committing physical violence"

Those damn Bangladeshi graphic designers! They must be stopped before kill us all! Those monsters. Aaron - thank you for bring this print shop horror to our attention. With all the press about Bin Laden it seems like the evil inherent in all Moslem graphic designers has fallen though the cracks. You keep us on our toes dude. You are our voice of sanity.

(I'm kidding)(really)
posted by y6y6y6 at 6:53 AM on October 12, 2001

Re: the alleged knife.

I think lindqvist is blocking access to the URL I posted except from internal referrals, so...

Browse to http://www.lindqvist.com/bert.php and click on the link Click here for a hi-res version of the imgage originating from Reuter that appears directly below the second image down. Look at the image of OBL directly above Bert and tell me if that looks like anything but a Johnny Walker bottle.
posted by tippiedog at 7:03 AM on October 12, 2001

tippiedog:

It's a knife. it makes no sense for him to be holding any alcohol, much less Johnny Walker.

the image just got blurred in the translation, so it now is similar to the shape of a bottle. it doesn't look anything like it in the original image.
posted by iamjacksamnesia at 8:21 AM on October 12, 2001

this reminds me of the old "Bart Simpson is making love to your wife..." story that was floating around during the Gulf War.
"claimed" here [psyops link] and decried here.
posted by bitcrank at 12:35 PM on October 12, 2001