From BBC:
The British embassy in Washington has apologised after tweeting a picture of a White House cake surrounded by sparklers, “commemorating” the burning of the building 200 years ago. […]
The offending tweet on Sunday read: “Commemorating the 200th anniversary of burning the White House. Only sparklers this time!”
The British embassy message, published on its official Twitter account, has been retweeted more than 4,000 times.
One user questioned: “Is this suppose [sic] to be funny”?
Another wrote: “I think this is in extremely POOR TASTE.”
An apology was issued on the account two hours after the original message.
My fellow US Americans, you’re sounding a little oversensitive about this, I mean where’s your self-proclaimed sense of humor when it comes to politically incorrect jokes, get over it man it literally happened 200 years ago. Oh yeah, that line of argumentation only applies when the mainstream mocks the marginalized; but when your sacred institutions of power are the subject, it’s not funny anymore.
I’m not saying this was a smooth move by the British embassy. Not at all. It’s an amateur-hour egg-on-face moment. But it’s a fucking cake, not a diplomatic or geopolitical initiative which could shift the balance of power and shake up the empire.
What’s especially funny is that most US Americans don’t even know about the War of 1812. Ask random US citizens if they’ve even heard of that war and you will get many, many blank looks. If they’ve heard of it, ask what happened and further empty gazes will follow. But don’t make jokes about burning down the White House because…because!
In Canada, the War of 1812 is celebrated every year. It’s the war that allowed Canada to become Canada rather than part of the US. It has almost come to encapsulate the divide that rubs both sides of the border the wrong way: uninformed US patriotic belligerence on one side, Canadian anti-American disdain on the other.
From my point of view, as a US citizen living in Canada, I say take a fucking chill pill, nobody’s taking away your drones or missiles. Learn to take a joke about our precious White House, its imperial power is all too safe and sound.
I suppose that if someone unfamiliar with Canadian history moved to Canada in the past couple years and was educated by osmosis thanks to Harper’s stupid 1812 publicity campaign, then yes, they might gain the mistaken apprehension that the War of 1812 was in any way significant or formative to Canada before Three Dead Trolls in a Baggie wrote their song about it in the 1990s.
"AND THE WHITE HOUSE BURNED BURNED BUUUUURNED AND WE’RE THE ONES THAT DID IT!"
It is so weird to think Three Dead Trolls shifted public consciousness about this. To me they were always this weird little group my brother had a casette tape of. I saw them once at the Edmonton Street Performers Festival—they did this really involved comedy sketch I volunteered to be audience participation for, and I walked away almost fully encased in saran wrap from knees to neck. I was about 12. Such things, I was certain then, did not contribute to national discourse.
comradewithbenefits