One of the books I read over the holidays was American Hoax by Charles Firth. This book is apparently what he was working on while the rest of the Chaser guys were doing The Chaser’s War on Everything.
The book is an exploration of different aspects of U.S. politics from an outsider’s perspective. Of course, it is a bit difficult to get a good view of the different political movements from the outside, so he creates a number of characters representing different points on the political spectrum as a way to become part of the various movements. Each of these characters was given a suitable back story, including Wikipedia articles for some and websites for others.
The book is definitely worth a read. I am not sure if it has been released outside of Australia yet, but is available from Dymocks.
I went to the book webpage to see what possible connection this book could have regarding anything that I would want to know about Ubuntu. Of course there is nothing. But the website seemed to be particularly gleeful about the how stupid Americans are, and appeared to be generally insulting to Americans.
I suppose that this is to be expected from someone whose country was formed as an English penal colony. And whose “king” has been a steadfast supporter of our king’s idiotic international policies.
Anyways, I don’t read the planet Ubuntu pages to be insulted or made fun of. If you have so little to post, perhaps you shouldn’t.
Michael: First of all, the Planet Ubuntu page says it is “a window into the world, work and lives of Ubuntu developers and contributors.” Given that, I am not sure why you’d expect every entry to be Ubuntu related. If you are after Ubuntu news, perhaps you could read fridge.ubuntu.com.
As part of the Chaser team, Charles has made fun of most aspects of Australian politics. I am not sure why you’d take it personally when he targets US politics instead.
The book mainly focuses on bizarre aspects of US politics (especially things that seem bizarre from an Australian viewpoint), and the differences between how the conservative and progressive movements appear to work.
James,
I’m sorry that I did not notice the Planet Ubuntu “window in the world…” stated purpose. It mostly seemed like a technical discussion area, with the occasional polictical diatribes.
Not being from Austalia and never hearing of the Chaser team, I didn’t know that they are satirical. I guess I’m a little sensitive to attacks on Americans based on political events that I have consistently opposed.
US politics == bizarre 😉