Comments on: Men of Sparta! Eat More Greens!

By: Marcus

Marcus — Fri, 14 Aug 2015 20:10:07 +0000

I imagine that a lot of the strange wording was due to fear of the police, and what kind of trouble they might make for the company (or rather, the individuals who had to deal with them) in the future. It’s an apology to the police, made under duress.

I remember a bit of culture shock one time encountering police in china. My father was arguing with the proprietor and some of the staff of a dumpling shop, because our bill was twice as high as the values posted on the menu sign, which he didn’t expect my father to be able to read. A trio of officers wandered down the road in the middle of the discussion and abruptly the conversation was paused as everyone made themselves look busy polishing tables. It seemed to me that I saw a look of real terror in the guy’s eyes. Which didn’t stop the conversation from starting up again after they were gone.

At that point my father gave up, saying “I realized at that moment that I could make life very difficult for him, over what was actually about $2, and it really wasn’t worth it.”

By: ArvidaJ

ArvidaJ — Wed, 05 Aug 2015 15:38:28 +0000

Yup, they must be fakes. At 76 I’m hardly an up to date connoisseur of male models, but clearly these fellows don’t pose or stand like models. However, what a great morning chuckle this made for me as well as an interesting introduction to SorryWatch.

By: Frances

Frances — Wed, 29 Jul 2015 06:47:35 +0000

Apparently “foreigners” in China are considered like exotic pets or precocious children. I don’t think it ever occurred to the Chinese to apologize to the models. (And I’m pretty sure they were already in China, they didn’t get any free trip anywhere.) There is an interesting story about it on This American Life:
http://www.thisamericanlife.org/radio-archives/episode/467/transcript

By: sumac

sumac — Tue, 28 Jul 2015 03:53:32 +0000

In reply to Jonelle Patrick. Well said. Though maybe they teach Russian instead of English.

By: Pamela McCorduck

Pamela McCorduck — Tue, 28 Jul 2015 03:48:12 +0000

The righteousness of the post before mine makes me ashamed to say I giggled all the way through this one. I apologize.

By: Jonelle Patrick

Jonelle Patrick — Tue, 28 Jul 2015 03:32:37 +0000

And…arg. This pushes my buttons, because I spend a lot of time in Japan, where foreigners are equally “exotic” and sometimes viewed more like amusing pets than people. Marching 30 or 100 or 300 scantily clad foreign models through the streets of Beijing and then making a further publicity stunt out of some of them being wrestled to the ground by the cops for doing what you paid them to do? Deserves a lot more than even a new, improved apology. I wish those guys got paid a LOT to do that, but I suspect not, since my bet would be that none of them got a free trip to China; that they are in fact guys who teach English and barely make their rent each month, supplementing it by “modeling” of various kinds. At least, that’s what their situation would likely be if they were in Japan. This thing is all kinds of wrong.

By: jnfr

jnfr — Mon, 27 Jul 2015 21:23:47 +0000

This may be the best SorryWatch ever!

By: sumac

sumac — Mon, 27 Jul 2015 20:49:21 +0000

In reply to David Doty. I guess warfare consists of more than waving salad, and bulging your pecs at people?

By: David Doty

David Doty — Mon, 27 Jul 2015 19:04:42 +0000

Historical note: Spartan hoplites (infantrymen) fought in heavy armor. They did not fight in leather hot pants and capes, as depicted in the stupid movie *300*.