# Robin Williams quote a personal insult?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/robin-williams-quote-a-personal-insult/773460
**Category:** About This Message Board
**Created:** [November 30, 2016, 4:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/robin-williams-quote-a-personal-insult/773460 "2016-11-30T16:00:43Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)
#### Post date: [November 30, 2016, 4:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/robin-williams-quote-a-personal-insult/773460/1 "2016-11-30T16:00:43Z")
A question has come up over in the Elections thread: [How’s Trudeau doing, Canada?](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=784008)
**Grey** made this post:
> [@How's Trudeau doing, Canada?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hows-trudeau-doing-canada/746019/71):
>
> [QUOTE=DerekMichaels00]
>
> Trudeau; a disgrace to the Free World that fought to rape the kind of Communism Castro promoted and engaged in. Canada, you can keep him while he continues to praise communists and lets this continent become more Islamic with those refugees
Like living over a meth lab.
I miss Robin Williams.
[/QUOTE]
**tomndebb** commented:
> [@How's Trudeau doing, Canada?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hows-trudeau-doing-canada/746019/75):
>
> [QUOTE=DerekMichaels00]
>
> Trudeau; a disgrace to the Free World that fought to rape the kind of Communism Castro promoted and engaged in. Canada, you can keep him while he continues to praise communists and lets this continent become more Islamic with those refugees
You might want to review your posts for coherence before hitting “Submit.” If the Free World was trying to rape Communism, that does not speak well of (your idea of) the Free World.
That said.
[QUOTE=Grey]
Like living over a meth lab.
[/QUOTE]
Do not hurl personal insults at posters outside The BBQ Pit.
[/Moderating]
[/QUOTE]
I didn’t take this as a personal insult, but rather a difference between Canadian and American views, which is consistent with the purpose of this thread.
**Grey** was not making up a phrase; it’s a quotation from Robin Williams, as I thought was clear from **Grey’s** post. Williams gave it in an AMA exchange on Reddit, later cited by HuffPost.ca: [Robin Williams’ Quote About Canada Will Make You Miss Him Even More](http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2014/08/13/robin-williams-canada-quote-meth-lab_n_5676523.html).
> [@](#):
>
> Q: “Can you come to Canada so I can hug you? I love you for naming your daughter Zelda.”
>
> Williams’ response: “I will be there as soon as I can! You have to give me a more specific location, you are a big country. **You are the kindest country in the world. You are like a really nice apartment over a meth lab**.”
So, perhaps not the most flattering statement towards Americans in general, but given that context, I didn’t interpret it as a personal insult aimed at a poster on the board. Rather, a Canadian using Williams’ comment to highlight differences between the two countries.
**tom** , could you comment on this?
---
### Author:  [@Drunky\_Smurf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Drunky_Smurf)
#### Post date: [November 30, 2016, 4:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/robin-williams-quote-a-personal-insult/773460/2 "2016-11-30T16:06:03Z")
I too thought it was clearly a Williams quote.
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### Author:  [@Grey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grey)
#### Post date: [November 30, 2016, 4:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/robin-williams-quote-a-personal-insult/773460/3 "2016-11-30T16:22:26Z")
I suppose I could have better identified it as a quote, but I don’t understand where the personal insult comes from.
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### Author:  [@D\_Odds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/D_Odds)
#### Post date: [November 30, 2016, 4:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/robin-williams-quote-a-personal-insult/773460/4 "2016-11-30T16:27:33Z")
2 cents worth: The last two sentences of the actual quote would have made your meaning apparent. As written, it is easy to be construed as an insult.
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### Author:  [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)
#### Post date: [November 30, 2016, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/robin-williams-quote-a-personal-insult/773460/5 "2016-11-30T16:31:01Z")
I found it confusing, not knowing the quote; my best guess was something like, “Posting around here is like living over a meth lab, what with all the insane junkie-style rants you hear around these parts.” I had no idea how Robin Williams entered into it.
Knowing the quote’s origin makes it much clearer what you meant :).
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### Author:  [@Grey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grey)
#### Post date: [November 30, 2016, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/robin-williams-quote-a-personal-insult/773460/6 "2016-11-30T16:38:02Z")
I thought, assuming you knew the reference, it was an obvious comment on the incoherence of the quoted post. An incoherence that **Tom** himself comments on. Doesn’t bother me much one way or the other but I appreciate **Northern Piper** bringing it here for some clarity.
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### Author:  [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)
#### Post date: [November 30, 2016, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/robin-williams-quote-a-personal-insult/773460/7 "2016-11-30T16:42:39Z")
Yes, I took the reference as highlighting the different approaches to taking in Muslim refugees from Syria, which was raised in the Economist article I quoted, and the response from **DerekMichaels00** on that issue.
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### Author:  [@Jonathan\_Chance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jonathan_Chance)
#### Post date: [November 30, 2016, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/robin-williams-quote-a-personal-insult/773460/8 "2016-11-30T16:56:14Z")
> [@Grey](#):
>
> I thought, assuming you knew the reference, it was an obvious comment on the incoherence of the quoted post. An incoherence that **Tom** himself comments on. Doesn’t bother me much one way or the other but I appreciate **Northern Piper** bringing it here for some clarity.
I won’t speak for Tom, but I’d certainly look askance at it.
This pops up from time to time. Someone drops a quote that they think is an obvious reference to something and others don’t get it or recognize it and report it. The moderator acts and boom! Kerfluffle occurs.
Remember, this is text. It’s very easy to have your words misconstrued or to hurt others when something you think is obvious really isn’t. Always best to try to make your intent as plain as possible.
That said, it was a note. Tom didn’t issue a warning for it. So no harm, no foul, IMHO and perhaps this discussion will do us all good.
---
### Author:  [@CarnalK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CarnalK)
#### Post date: [November 30, 2016, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/robin-williams-quote-a-personal-insult/773460/9 "2016-11-30T17:25:22Z")
I don’t get why it being a Robin Williams quote makes any difference. The quote was chosen for a reason, i.e. that post makes you think of the meth lab joke. If Grey had instead said “never go full retard” would he not be making an insult? Don’t worry it’s just a quote from Tropic Thunder?
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### Author:  [@Grey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grey)
#### Post date: [November 30, 2016, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/robin-williams-quote-a-personal-insult/773460/10 "2016-11-30T17:34:55Z")
I suppose you could go that way, but the phrase was directed at the post and the post isn’t the poster.
Now had I said you post like a meth user, that would be personal. If I say your post is like a meth lab I’m not saying you the poster is a meth lab (or user for that matter).
My post was ambiguous enough, I guess, to get the note - live and learn.
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### Author:  [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)
#### Post date: [November 30, 2016, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/robin-williams-quote-a-personal-insult/773460/11 "2016-11-30T17:43:07Z")
> [@CarnalK](#):
>
> I don’t get why it being a Robin Williams quote makes any difference. The quote was chosen for a reason, i.e. that post makes you think of the meth lab joke.
It’s not that it’s a quote that makes it non-insulting: it’s that the quote is a comparison between two countries, Canada and the US. It was part of the conversation in the thread: I posted the quote from the Economist, praising Canada for taking in more Syrian refugees than the US, even given the difference in our population sizes; **DerekMichaels00** responded with a very critical comment about Muslim Syrian refugees, a perspective we’ve seen a lot of from some USians recently (Skittles, anyone? 😉 ); **Grey** responded with the Williams quote as a reference about the difference between the two countries.
I didn’t see it as an insult, but rather a comment on a political difference between Canada and the US, as developed in the posts in that thread.
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### Author:  [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)
#### Post date: [November 30, 2016, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/robin-williams-quote-a-personal-insult/773460/12 "2016-11-30T17:43:40Z")
Just because it’s a quote, famous or otherwise, doesn’t automatically make it not a personal insult.
Robin Williams make the quote as a general observation about the two countries. In the post it was used without context as a reply to another poster therefore it was not written as a general observation but as a direct response. What matters is what’s written not what’s in the posters head.
Even with knowledge of the original quote I could interpret the post as either insulting to the poster or commenting on perceived American attitudes or both. In this case I don’t see a problem with a note. The poster could have written the post a little better to make his intentions clear.
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### Author:  [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)
#### Post date: [November 30, 2016, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/robin-williams-quote-a-personal-insult/773460/13 "2016-11-30T17:46:10Z")
It appears to be context-specific then, based on one’s own familiarity with the quote. The Canadian posters here seem to be more familiar with the quote and saw it as a comment on differences between the two countries; those not familiar with the context of the quote seem to have seen it as an insult.
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### Author:  [@Euphonious\_Polemic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Euphonious_Polemic)
#### Post date: [November 30, 2016, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/robin-williams-quote-a-personal-insult/773460/14 "2016-11-30T17:59:32Z")
> [@D\_Odds](#):
>
> 2 cents worth: The last two sentences of the actual quote would have made your meaning apparent. As written, it is easy to be construed as an insult.
I disagree.
Moderation here has become rather inconsistent and spotty at best as of late.
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### Author:  [@Euphonious\_Polemic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Euphonious_Polemic)
#### Post date: [November 30, 2016, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/robin-williams-quote-a-personal-insult/773460/15 "2016-11-30T18:01:04Z")
> [@Loach](#):
>
> Just because it’s a quote, famous or otherwise, doesn’t automatically make it not a personal insult.
>
> .
I really don’t see how this could possibly be interpreted as a personal insult. At all.
It’s obvious that the poster was referring to THE ENTIRE COUNTRY as a meth lab, and Canada is the country living on top of it.
It’s not personal. It’s also a freakin’ obvious joke. About a country. Not a person.
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### Author:  [@Muffin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Muffin)
#### Post date: [November 30, 2016, 6:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/robin-williams-quote-a-personal-insult/773460/16 "2016-11-30T18:09:31Z")
It would be wise to consider obvious context before assuming offense.
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### Author:  [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)
#### Post date: [November 30, 2016, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/robin-williams-quote-a-personal-insult/773460/17 "2016-11-30T18:26:03Z")
> [@Euphonious\_Polemic](#):
>
> I really don’t see how this could possibly be interpreted as a personal insult. At all.
>
> It’s obvious that the poster was referring to THE ENTIRE COUNTRY as a meth lab, and Canada is the country living on top of it.
>
> It’s not personal. It’s also a freakin’ obvious joke. About a country. Not a person.
Quoth the Canadian. 🙂
Yet **LSLGuy** , who’s a pretty with it guy, didn’t know the context in the original thread. It was a new saying to him.
As I said above, this appears to have been a joke that Canadians got and Americans didn’t.
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### Author:  [@Euphonious\_Polemic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Euphonious_Polemic)
#### Post date: [November 30, 2016, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/robin-williams-quote-a-personal-insult/773460/18 "2016-11-30T18:39:16Z")
> [@Northern\_Piper](#):
>
> Quoth the Canadian. 🙂
>
> Yet **LSLGuy** , who’s a pretty with it guy, didn’t know the context in the original thread. It was a new saying to him.
>
> As I said above, this appears to have been a joke that Canadians got and Americans didn’t.
Point taken, but to me, it’s indicative of a wider phenomenon that I’ve seen lately on the boards:
Poster A says something that is idiotic, jerkish and downright nasty.
Poster B says something that may possibly, if you look sideways, be taken the wrong way.
Poster B gets a warning. "Oh, poster B could have written the post a little better to make his intentions clear. "
Give me a freakin’ break. In many instances, the warning might as well be given for simply responding to an asshole troll.
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### Author:  [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)
#### Post date: [November 30, 2016, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/robin-williams-quote-a-personal-insult/773460/19 "2016-11-30T18:45:24Z")
All I’ll say is that I did not recognise it as a quotation.
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### Author:  [@Muffin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Muffin)
#### Post date: [November 30, 2016, 7:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/robin-williams-quote-a-personal-insult/773460/20 "2016-11-30T19:09:27Z")
Neither did I. Given the context, I assumed it was a cut against the USA.
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