The Ladybird Book of The Policeman updated by jokester

Charles says: "Modified children's book, to reflect humorously on modern times." Link

[#1 posted by Xopher , June 2, 2008 10:58 AM]

I love this.

Wow. Fixed the typo before I could report it. Curses foiled again and all that.

[#2 posted by Daemon , June 2, 2008 11:19 AM]

Hmm. Down at the bottom, one of the other sample books refers to ASBO. I looked it up... turns out to be a freakish UK law whereby if somebody does something antisocial (say, graffiti) the court can make it illegal for them, and only them, to, for example, carry spraypaint.

Apparently they are open ended in terms of what behaviors the court is allowed to ban, and the course is allowed to accept hearsay as evidence.

[#3 posted by Garconniere , June 2, 2008 11:35 AM]

i thought it was quite amusing until they kept on resorting to transphobic jokes every time a woman is in a scene... i never knew that big dogs named Blackie hated transvestites.

i do love old children's books, but 1940s-50s "getting to know your changing body" ones will always be my favourite. full of laughs and no need for doctoring!

[#4 posted by historyman68 , June 2, 2008 11:36 AM]

No two people are not on fire.

http://www.homestarrunner.com/sbemail84.html

[#5 posted by Enochrewt , June 2, 2008 11:39 AM]

Some of this is hilarious, like the police dog specially trained to find lorrie drivers dressed as women. And the 66 foot tall policeman. Some of it's heartbreaking, like the picture posted above and the post-op transsexual policewomen and her being teased by others.

[#6 posted by Stefan Jones , June 2, 2008 11:49 AM]

Anyone have any ideas on how to remove chewed-up spat-out bits of carrot from a keyboard?

Anyone?

Bueller?

[#7 posted by Takuan , June 2, 2008 11:51 AM]

on a completely random note; my choice for official BB Comments theme song:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SceUX2HOHeU

[#8 posted by Brand Logician , June 2, 2008 12:35 PM]

Witty.

[#9 posted by Anonymous , June 2, 2008 12:47 PM]

i'm pretty sure this is a bit of banksey guerilla art similar to his paris hilton cd thing. i saw it for sale on ebay a little while ago and i'm sure it has his signature/tag on one of the pages there, although i can't see it on this copy

[#10 posted by ployntabs , June 2, 2008 1:22 PM]

I like the way it puts a human face on law enforcement.

[#11 posted by amoebaboy , June 2, 2008 1:52 PM]

i saw this on b3ta a few weeks back, love it !

[#12 posted by mellowknees , June 2, 2008 3:59 PM]

this is freaking brilliant, and I only wish I had thought of it first.

[#13 posted by Modusoperandi , June 2, 2008 5:10 PM]

On the one hand, it's amusing and lightly satirical.

On the other...could you be a cop? I couldn't. All they take is crap from people (even the good cops). "If I hear one more person try to weasel out of a moving violation..."

[#14 posted by LYNDON , June 2, 2008 5:14 PM]

Bit of trivia - an actual policeman in New Zealand was briefly suspended for forwarding this around in May:
http://www.stuff.co.nz/4507633a10.html

[#15 posted by License Farm , June 2, 2008 7:35 PM]

This is similar to Jason Yungbluth's ZOGG, remixing a kids book into something more depraved.

[#16 posted by rosethornn , June 3, 2008 12:14 AM]

#3

I didn't find it particularly transphobic. The dog bit maybe, but I think the Barbara one was sympathetic if anything. It highlighted transphobia in the police; that was the joke, afaik.

[#17 posted by Simeon , June 3, 2008 2:26 AM]

There's a site where you can buy blow ups of the artwork in the old Ladybird books:
http://www.ladybirdprints.com/

[#18 posted by Garconniere , June 3, 2008 9:24 AM]

rosethornn, yeah, i agree in the first case. obviously the intent is humourous barbs at the sorts of homophobia/sexism/transphobia that happens in the military... but in the case of the one with the dog it just comes off as "ooo hahaha men who dress up as women are dangerous haha blackie bite its face off!"

at least to me.