June 29, 2017

Interview with @pixelatedboat, the man who created Milkshake Duck.

It was the perfect tweet: "The whole internet loves Milkshake Duck, a lovely duck that drinks milkshakes! *5 seconds later* We regret to inform you the duck is racist."

The backstory:
"I can't remember, exactly, but my best guess now is it was probably the Chewbacca Mom," @pixelatedboat, a comics artist from Australia, who asked not to use his real name, explained of the inspiration behind it. Chewbacca Mom, a woman who went viral for laughing in a mask — it was a much more innocent time last year— later came under heavy criticism for a misguided attempt at fomenting racial harmony. She got Milkshake Ducked.

"It was a thing that had happened a few times that seemed to be a trend," he went on. "I was trying to come up with a joke that would sum it up because I hadn't seen that joke done before, so I was trying to come up with the most absurd version of that that I could."...

29 comments:

Known Unknown said...

How about we work to build a rocket ship that will travel to the next galaxy?

Too hard?

Okay, we'll just do this stuff instead.

John henry said...

I just tried to read the article but it was like reading something written in Chinese. I have absolutely no idea what this was about other than that pretty much anything is racist.

I started out wondering what a milkshake duck was and now I know less than I did before I even heard of it.

I feel like going back to bed, pulling the covers over my head and curling up in a fetal position.

John Henry

Eric the Fruit Bat said...

Lost me at "[t]he whole internet loves."

No, it doesn't.

Eric the Fruit Bat said...

There's something called a milkshake IPA. I think maybe they put flour in fairly high abv beer with a massive quantity of hops. Young people want something new to call their own is the way I see it.

But milkshake? Isn't that a treat for a child?

Don't get me started on the increasingly prevalent misuse of the descriptor "IPA." Makes me grumpy.

Eric the Fruit Bat said...

I mean, why not call it an "OPA" for "opaque pale ale?"

What? Insufficiently infantilizing?

Eric the Fruit Bat said...

It's also becoming a thing for younger persons to describe a beer as "juicy" which they mean as a compliment.

The juice box generation, apparently.

Snark said...

"I just tried to read the article but it was like reading something written in Chinese. I have absolutely no idea what this was about other than that pretty much anything is racist.

I started out wondering what a milkshake duck was and now I know less than I did before I even heard of it.

I feel like going back to bed, pulling the covers over my head and curling up in a fetal position."

I was debating on clicking through because the entire post is incoherent. Thanks for saving me the trouble. I'm just going to skip straight to the fetal position right...now

Brando said...

Everything's racist these days. I don't even have to see "Milkshake Duck" to know someone decided it's too racist to exist. Maybe eventually we'll live in a world where everything has been sanitized enough to spare anyone of all this racism.

"There's something called a milkshake IPA."

I haven't had it but I'll try any beer once. But beer really should taste like beer, otherwise might as well get a real milkshake and not hide it in my drinking problem.

Unknown said...

Trumpski News Network - BREAKING NEWS: Trump attacks news journalist with 2 tweets:

1. "I heard poorly rated @Morning_Joe speaks badly of me (don't watch anymore). Then how come low I.Q. Crazy Mika, along with Psycho Joe, came.."

2. "...to Mar-a-Lago 3 nights in a row around New Year's Eve, and insisted on joining me. She was bleeding badly from a face-lift. I said no!"

THIS IS THE 45TH PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES.

No seriously, IT IS THE 45TH PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES.

Funny thing is, the WHOLE WORLD is speaking badly and laughing at Trump.

Well done Trumpski's ... your man Trump really is winning big time. Bat shit crazy.

Wilbur said...

Love your use of CAPITAL LETTERS. It really strengthens whatever point you were trying to make while attempting to hijack this thread. REALLY.

samsondale said...

This is how Stalinism is enforced.

madAsHell said...

I started out wondering what a milkshake duck was and now I know less than I did before I even heard of it.

Me too!!

Bad Lieutenant said...

Funny thing is, Trumpski,

the whole media, the whole world, insists on joining the President, and are also bleeding badly (from a face-lift?).

I, too, say no!

Fen said...

I dug into it and some of the secondary links (poor Chewabacca Mom!)

HERE IS WHAT IT'S ABOUT

Unpersons. The SJW phenomenon where it's discovered that Today's Hero said or did some problematic things in the distant past.

That mistake is used to consign the now former hero to oblivion. He is shunned, his posters torn down, photoshopped out of group photos, etc.

He is Orwell's Unperson, and just bringing up his name will get you banned from polite society.

The best part about the meme is that we ALL will get our turn being Milkshake Duck.

You just saved a drowning baby and NBC made it go viral? Great! Everyone in America loves you - but wait... what's this... "NBC has just confirmed that in March of 2006, Drowning Baby Guy made some disparaging remarks about Jessica Valenti posing her breasts for Bill Clinton"... You sexist pig! Now America hates you. Milkshake duck.

Quayle said...

Unknown takes his news very seriously. Very seriously indeed.

That fact that almost every current TV news celebrity is a giant horses' patoot, in no way lessens the full and heartfelt respect Unknown has for them.

But Unknown is worried about the president.

It never occurred to Unknown that the president is the president precisely because he was the very and exact finger the voting public wanted to stick in the eye of every horse's patoot masquerading as a serious and knowledgeable person.

And Unknown takes his seriousness so very seriously.

CJinPA said...

I wonder where mass online communications will go. Will we adapt, rendering the social media lynch mobs moot? Will it get worse? The one thing we know is that how it is today will not last.

Fen said...

Damnit. Those SJW fuckers have gotten me to use "problematic" as an adjective. I need some Brain Bleach, brb.

CJinPA said...

Tim Soret, a video game developer, recently got the treatment after a trailer for his game The Last Night was previewed. Soret, it was pointed out online, had tweeted some inflammatory things, including how his game was about "progressivism spiraled out of control" and that he was "against feminism."

"Inflammatory."

I Have Misplaced My Pants said...

This is way too inside baseball. It's internet Inception. Trying to understand this only has one reasonable response which is to get off the internet and go for a walk.

Fen said...

Trumpski: "did i say something funny?"

You think the President is afraid to admit complicity in the media's death? Ha. To sweep all 50 states, the President would only need to do two things - blow CNN's brains out in the middle of Times Square and then walk across the street to Nathan's and buy a hotdog" - Leo, West Wing

Fen said...

sidebar - did you know that Amanda Marcotte and Jessica Valenti have an app that notifies them whenever someone mentions that Jessica Valenti posed her breasts for Bill Clinton?

They do. Because it infuriates them. It's like a Boob Signal that activates the Dynamic Duo into action. Or at least lurking.

So he warned, avoid the phrase "Valenti posed her breasts for Bill Clinton" at all costs. Just don't go there. And by to there, I mean any iteration of "Valenti posed her breasts for Bill Clinton". Drives them nuts.

But the term "Monica Wannabe" is safe. For now.

MayBee said...

John, Snark, and MadAsHell--

Me four! It's like it's written in English but I can't make the words make sense!

JaimeRoberto said...

Sure. If a cartoon frog that I had never heard of can be labeled racist, why not a duck I'd never heard of. I wonder what the next racist animal that I've never heard of will be. Maybe a panda, because despite the fact that they have black and while next to each other, they don't have enough colors. And that's problematic.

Mitch H. said...

Someone just got me to reopen my twitter account after leaving it rot for four years. I'm now a little worried that there's something about twitter - its structure and organization - which rewires your brain to be less rational and more inclined towards antisocial idealation like 'voted for Trump = evil!'

Am I just being paranoid, or has twitter already warped my fragile little mind?

wildswan said...

I painstakingly worked out what the milkshake duck did. My conclusion. If you use Twitter a lot, Milkshake Duck makes a great point about Twitter in an amusing way, I suppose. Anyhow, that's what others say. If you don't use Twitter, don't bother working it all out, just go on that nice long walk instead. Another fissure in American society exposed.

The Vault Dweller said...

I had never heard of the term Milkshake Duck until this was posted. So I read the article to try to figure out what it meant. For some reason whoever wrote the article decided to not actually describe in detail what Milkshake Duck is. Whoever wrote the article is one of those people who think they are a good writer because of their word choice or emotions conveyed. All the article did for me was make me dislike people who use milkshake duck to describe a situation.

John henry said...

Blogger Eric the Fruit Bat said...

There's something called a milkshake IPA.

I first heard that idea in the 50's. Didn't appeal to me then. Sounds even worse now:


"The waitress, a blonde beauty with just a hint of a goiter, smiled at him. “What’ll it be?”

“Beer milk shake,” said Doc.

“What?” Well here it was and what the hell. Might just as well get it over with now as some time later.

The blonde asked, “Are you kidding?” Doc knew wearily that he couldn’t explain, couldn’t tell the truth. “I’ve got a bladder complaint,” he said. “Bipalychaetorsonectomy the doctors call it. I’m supposed to drink a beer milk shake. Doctor’s orders.”

The blonde smiled reassuringly. “Oh! I thought you was kidding,” she said archly. “You tell me how to make it. I didn’t know you was sick.”

“Very sick,” said Doc, “and due to be sicker. Put in some milk, and add half a bottle of beer. Give me the other half in a glass—no sugar in the milk shake.”

When she served it, he tasted it wryly. And it wasn’t so bad—it just tasted like stale beer and milk.

“It sounds awful,” said the blonde.

“It’s not so bad when you get used to it,” said Doc. “I’ve been drinking it for seventeen years.”

John Henry

Freeman Hunt said...

If you had trouble figuring it out, could you see the tweets embedded in the story? Wonder if they're not loading for some people.

Be said...

A good stout with vanilla ice cream is a nice treat.

John Henry's quote made me nostalgic. The Frenchie loves Steinbeck, and got me to read a few of his works. Don't know if I like "Cannery Row" better or "Tortilla Flat."