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Nov. 10th, 2003 05:59 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
hafoc
There is-- or, by now, if sanity has set in, there once was-- an electronic device known as the Singing Fish. I don't have to tell of its horror, since my friend Den has done so ( at http://www.phraser.org/tt/tales/fish.shtml ) far beyond my poor abilities.
What boggled me about them wasn't that someone invented them. LSD can do strange things to the brain, after all. I wasn't even too surprised they sold. You can sell ANYTHING if you package it properly. After all, they used to shrinkwrap horse droppings, up at Mackinaw Island, and sell them to the tourists. They'd even ship them to your friends. If you were sending one to an enemy, they'd include a fork.
No, what really boggled me about them was they were so successful they spawned (pun intended) a school of imitators. For example, the folks got one that had a little Santa hat, a little bell on its tail, and sang only Christmas carols.
Then there's the Jesus fish. Certain people driving around with a chrome JESUS fish on the trunk lid of their car. Which led unbelievers to come up with the DARWIN fish, generally similar to the JESUS fish except it has a hand, and holds a wrench.
The Jesus people retaliated with a big chrome fish marked TRUTH eating a small chrome fish marked DARWIN. If this was meant to indicate that the straight Darwinistic theory of evolution has been rendered obsolete by later discoveries, and has therefore been replaced by more advanced theories of evolution, it's an unusually clear-headed statement, for them. But somehow I don't think that's what they meant to say.
I was reminded of this when I encountered another example of an ongoing bad idea in the parking lot at Wal-Mart this evening.
About a year ago, give or take, certain stickers began to appear on the rear windows of pickup trucks. They were of Calvin, from the comic strip Calvin and Hobbes, grinning over his shoulder at you as he peed on a Ford symbol, if the pickup was a Chevy, or a Chevy symbol if the pickup was a Ford.
Over the past year, or century, or whatever, this has grown to Calvin peeing on any symbol you can think of, auto companies, political parties, the word LIBERALS, Jesus fish, Darwin fish, what have you. Until I begin to visualize a Calvin Pissing On It Kit, with a Calvin and a whole packet of symbols for him to pee on. Letters and graphics to make up your own, too, in case the premade ones don't suit your fancy.
But today...
This truck bore a sticker three or four times taller than the previous ones. It wasn't Calvin any more; perhaps somebody finally enforced the Calvin copyright on them. Just some nondescript redneck kid, grinning over his shoulder at you as he pissed on a little toy car with the number 88 on it. The kid was wearing a baseball cap bearing the number 32.
I don't know what it's about. I could probably figure it out, but I don't WANT to know. I don't CARE what message the owner of that truck is trying to shout to the world.
All I've learned from it is that ideas are so scarce in America today that if you have one, a thousand other people will copy it. Even if it's the most idiotic idea to come along since... since...
Aw, forget it. Words fail me.
What boggled me about them wasn't that someone invented them. LSD can do strange things to the brain, after all. I wasn't even too surprised they sold. You can sell ANYTHING if you package it properly. After all, they used to shrinkwrap horse droppings, up at Mackinaw Island, and sell them to the tourists. They'd even ship them to your friends. If you were sending one to an enemy, they'd include a fork.
No, what really boggled me about them was they were so successful they spawned (pun intended) a school of imitators. For example, the folks got one that had a little Santa hat, a little bell on its tail, and sang only Christmas carols.
Then there's the Jesus fish. Certain people driving around with a chrome JESUS fish on the trunk lid of their car. Which led unbelievers to come up with the DARWIN fish, generally similar to the JESUS fish except it has a hand, and holds a wrench.
The Jesus people retaliated with a big chrome fish marked TRUTH eating a small chrome fish marked DARWIN. If this was meant to indicate that the straight Darwinistic theory of evolution has been rendered obsolete by later discoveries, and has therefore been replaced by more advanced theories of evolution, it's an unusually clear-headed statement, for them. But somehow I don't think that's what they meant to say.
I was reminded of this when I encountered another example of an ongoing bad idea in the parking lot at Wal-Mart this evening.
About a year ago, give or take, certain stickers began to appear on the rear windows of pickup trucks. They were of Calvin, from the comic strip Calvin and Hobbes, grinning over his shoulder at you as he peed on a Ford symbol, if the pickup was a Chevy, or a Chevy symbol if the pickup was a Ford.
Over the past year, or century, or whatever, this has grown to Calvin peeing on any symbol you can think of, auto companies, political parties, the word LIBERALS, Jesus fish, Darwin fish, what have you. Until I begin to visualize a Calvin Pissing On It Kit, with a Calvin and a whole packet of symbols for him to pee on. Letters and graphics to make up your own, too, in case the premade ones don't suit your fancy.
But today...
This truck bore a sticker three or four times taller than the previous ones. It wasn't Calvin any more; perhaps somebody finally enforced the Calvin copyright on them. Just some nondescript redneck kid, grinning over his shoulder at you as he pissed on a little toy car with the number 88 on it. The kid was wearing a baseball cap bearing the number 32.
I don't know what it's about. I could probably figure it out, but I don't WANT to know. I don't CARE what message the owner of that truck is trying to shout to the world.
All I've learned from it is that ideas are so scarce in America today that if you have one, a thousand other people will copy it. Even if it's the most idiotic idea to come along since... since...
Aw, forget it. Words fail me.
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no subject
Date: 2003-11-10 03:25 pm (UTC)The Meaning...
Date: 2003-11-10 10:29 pm (UTC)