[ipnon]

Let me tell you why I think this is an inappropriate comment: The point of it seems not to be collaboratively extending the line of thought proposed by the original post or the parent comment, but to make the parent commenter feel some kind of personal shame or stupidity. Good commenting is more like a team sport than a martial art.

[mhh__]

Perhaps, but equally that's a route to a monoculture - can we not question Reagan?

Americans love to glibly propitiate to Reagan's spirit (in heaven I'm assured), there's no way they could be doing so out of ignorance of the more controversial aspects of his presidency?

[avgcorrection]

Propagandistic anecdotes deserve a little bit of ridicule. But just a little bit.

[kenned3]

So like telling "jokes" at Russia's expense by a man of questionable ethics?

what is the point of his joke, if not to mock another country?

The OP posted a quote, and i posted one too?

[dang]

"Eschew flamebait. Avoid unrelated controversies and generic tangents."

https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html

p.s. I don't think the joke was mean-spirited.

We detached this subthread from https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=32654981.

[coalbin]

I meet your skepticism with a video of him telling the joke: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QQh6q9gNCIQ

[kenned3]

Thanks for a link to a site labeled "free propaganda". It really rang true here, it is propaganda, and it is free?

Do read the comments on youtube.