rosedale: Brian Tesla may not have read the magnificent trilogy of Ken Follett either, but his analogy and those of Jonathan Swift in his day are both spot-on in  my view.  Add the Boston Tea Party if you wish.  The comment is not so much ridiculous as biting, satire, sarcasm, a wake-up call - and very much invited, by me.
See my Bobbsey-twins stuff for a  parallel.  You'll laugh, of course, but I hope will have been given grist for your thought-mill.