NH Representative Says Two Nukes Not Enough But He Was Only Kidding!
March 26th, 2010 | 
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Early this morning something caught my eye that took me quite awhile to process. Anime Vice had reported that a state representative from New Hampshire named Nick Levasseur (D) had posted a comment to Facebook reading “anime is a prime example of why two nukes just wasn’t enough…..”
Now, at first I was kind of excited to be able to mix my passion for anime and my passion for politics together for a post. Especially when you think about just how big of a dumbass this statement actually makes this man sound like. But then I thought, nah… there’s no way that a member of the NH House of Representatives could actually be dumb enough to say something like this on a public forum like Facebook but it was there, confirmed by many other sites.
So I wrote to Rep. Levasseur and asked him directly if he wanted to comment on FacebookStatus-gate. In a reply sent this afternoon, Rep. Levasseur said the following:
I would like to deeply apologize for the insensitivity of this post. It was a poorly thought out comment, posted jest on my private facebook page. It was never intended to be viewed by anyone other than friends. This, of course, does not excuse the comment. This type of statement has no place in public or private discourse. It does not represent any true opinion, political or personal. My record in the New Hampshire House shows a commitment to equality and social justice. It is a record of which I am most proud. This comment is a disappointment not only to the people of New Hampshire, whom it has been my privilege to serve, but also to my own beliefs and moral code.
So in other words, you’re saying that it was a dumb joke and you’re sorry that you were overheard saying it on a public forum like Facebook? Are you sure you don’t want to try this one again sir?
Edited 3/27 to correct Levasseur’s position as member of NH House of Reps. Thanks to mortheil for pointing out the error!
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Nice. He is not, incidentally, a member of the US House of Representatives. He is a state representative; a member of the New Hampshire House of Representatives.
@Moritheil: Ah, that makes more sense. Thank you for the correction!
Pretty stupid to think facebook was safe. But it was just a joke. Really, taken with a sense of humor, its pretty funny. It seems like it got pretty blown out of proportion. So he doesn’t like anime, who cares. It doesn’t mean he was advocating the death of the Japanese people. It just means he was making a joke.
@Raechan: I do actually agree w/ you on that and I don’t think it’s necessary to get completely bent out of shape for a bad joke. I’ve told bad jokes. What I can do though is make fun of him for getting caught saying it on a public forum and then delivering a half ass non-apology. ^_^
Well, as an American I’d get kind of bent out of shape if some Saudi government official, for example, joked that Coca Cola is a prime example of why two airliners just weren’t enough.
You ever wonder why so many people consider Americans to be supremely and stupidly arrogant (even people who like us)?
Someones got to wonder, this is a politician.
How stupid can you be to say something to the effect of…
“anime is a prime example of why two nukes just wasn’t enough…..”
That means that to him, it is ONE of the reasons that a pair of nuclear attacks wasn’t enough, which implies easily that there is more reason to believe that there is a deeper problem with this man. The fact that a POLITICIAN is saying this means that this man didn’t really care to think about how this would look to the asian constituency(or the few white consumers, or easily offended people in general.)
In other words, its not that he doesn’t like it, its that he feels that its worth saying something extra offensive to get his opinion out there for the masses to know that Anime is ONLY one of the reasons that a country should have been attacked more.
Does Godzilla count as another? Akira Kurosawa? Or maybe Hello Kitty scares him and he has to check his bed every night so he doesn’t find her and a totoro with hacksaws.
@reachan @lbbryant what is possibly funny, in any context, about making fun of events where the american military killed hundreds of thousands of innocent people? it shows a complete disregard the other peoples’ lives.
Let’s get him to resign! 1,000,000 Otaku Signed this Petition to make him resign!
There’s nothing funny about what happened in Hiroshima and Nagasaki. It’s when we laugh at these atrocities that we open the door to repeating them. I’m not upset about the anime bit, just the part where he dares to joke about the 200,000 casualties.
@kay: I never said the bad joke was funny, just that it was a bad joke and we’ve all told one in our lives. Maybe not on the same scale that the Representative now knows quite well but it does happen.
@jim: I like the way you phrased your point and agree completely!
@Billy: It seems unlikely that he’s going to resign because a bunch of anime fans online signed a petition. If you really want him out of office, you’re going to have to convince the voters of his district that they don’t want him at their representative. But if you’re really upset, send a letter to him and the Democratic leadership at both the state and national level. Tell them why you’re upset and demand action against him.
As a long time fan of Anime, I still have to say this is funny. The problem with it is he said it on something that is visible. I laughed, someone got offended. Oops! Oh well…if he had said it with his friends and not on record, this conversation would never come up…I think they just do this kind of stuff to spur up controversy and get those of us that normally stay out of politics to comment and get involve. But honestly, I just thought the comment was creative and funny, just not said in the right place. I could see the responses to it right now. “dude…that’s messed up lol” “lol” “could be worse…they could have been the ones that came up with teletubbies” “OMG ThAtS So tRuE! ROFL!” and then the guy that got insulted “You sir are racist against the Japanese people! millions of people died and (blah blah blah)” which then spawned a bunch of people trolling and taking sides, which then made the news, which then makes it a national crisis…when will us as Americans learn to just take things as a joke and stop being so full of ourselves. Racism won’t die until people stop getting so worked up when someone makes a joke.
Rather than sign a petition, why not send Representative Levasseur a copy of Grave of the Fireflies. That way, he can realize, through anime, just how unfunny his “joke” was.
@lp13: I actually know at least two people who sent him a copy of Barefoot Gen instead tho Grave of the Fireflies might be a good choice too.
@TheInternet’sIntelligence You seem to be trolling now. While overt racism may have diminished (we can all use the same water fountains now) there is still racism in America and it doesn’t have a damn to do with jokes. In fact, its easy to hide racist behavior behind humor. Maybe when people stop hiding their prejudices behind ‘jokes’ will racism diminish.
It truly was just a really stupid joke. If he doesn’t like anime, he should have come up with a better way to convey his distaste.
Wow, that was incredibly stupid of him! And even if it was true that it was just a very bad joke, if he had even just a bit of human compassion for his fellow man, he would not have found it funny in the first place. Weapons of mass destruction are NOT the key terms in jokes — except for the inhumanely insensitive.
This is particularly clear to me after I sat next to an A-bomb survivor on my flight back from Higashi-Hiroshima to California. Just to think that that poor woman was suffering from various cancer-line radiation-caused illnesses for 40 years was a very sobering thought, one that shuts the door to seeing such ‘humor’ as anything other than inhumane.
@jim Nice! I’m an American and that kinda joke would crack me up! Although I prefer “The average American citizen is a prime example of why two airliners just weren’t enough.”
Also to all those people who find the idea of making fun of one of the most horrific events in history abhorrent, all I can say is, you poor poor fools. Take every opportunity to laugh at anything, because otherwise you just end up wanting to kill yourself and everyone else in this benighted and disgusting world.
Cheers! have fun and laugh or go mad, it’s your choice.