Though the Bundy militia has shocked the world with their terrorist act, their threats of armed violence, and a stated willingness to kill or be killed, you have to admit there is an absolute ridiculousness to their ill-conceived and redneck attempt to get attention. It's a bit of misfortune for them, really. (Come to think of it, malheur translates to "misfortune" in French...)
If you stand back a bit from all the horror (the guns, the death threats and stalking of the sheriff, the religious zealotry, the way they are using children as human shields), it's actually sorta funny.
I mean, after all, you've got a bunch of bubbas in cowboy hats coming in from other states, invading a deserted building in the middle of a snowy, wind-swept nowhere, speaking for locals (who don't want them there), proclaiming themselves defenders of arsonist/poacher/child-abusers (who don't want them there), and demanding that the government suddenly dismantles the entire refuge and give it back to the original owners (by that they mean ranchers, who don't want them there, and not the Paiute Tribe, who don't want them there either), with no clear goals or really any clue as to a plan. And then they urgently want us to send snacks!
Naturally, the internet came alive with snarky reactions. First came the political cartoons, often poking fun at the fact that they chose a bird sanctuary as their target....
And then Twitter lit up with satirical hashtags, such as #YallQaeda, #VanillaISIS, #YeeHawdist, and others...
The Twitter reaction to the request for snacks was excellent...
as well as being lampooned on the Daily Show and Stephen Colbert.
And Twitter came alive with other spoof images...
But, perhaps best of all, Twitter users came up with homoerotic fan fiction to mock them, using #bundyeroticfanfic, starting with the singer for the Decemberists, Colin Meloy ....
Heck, I even added my own...
Hopefully this whole situation will end peaceably and we can keep laughing at these extremist morons. One thing's for certain: however this ends, these thugs are a laughing stock.
UPDATE (1/8/16): Oh man. Just to make the sordid situation any more laughable, one of the militiamen, Brian "Booda" Cavalier, abandoned the occupation when exposed as a fake for claiming he was an ex-marine, and another militiaman, Joe Oshaugnessy, absconded with donated money and drank it away at a local hotel. Also, some of these "occupiers" have actually been staying at a local motel and eating at area restaurants, since the government has allowed them to come and go at will.
And, just to add a little more chaos, members of another extremist militia, Veterans on Patrol, got into a brawl with the Bundy Militia guys after showing up to urge them to release the children from the compound, leading to minor injuries. See images, at right, from their Facebook page:
The rest of the world is both horrified and entertained by the militia invasion. HERE is a video made by some Japanese, mocking them.
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