For a tale of irrational panic, it's hard to beat James Thurber's account in "My Life and Hard Times" of the Great Easter Flood of 1913, in which the residents of Columbus, Ohio, somehow got the idea an upstream dam had failed, releasing floodwaters that were about to engulf them. Thousands of people hit the streets and stampeded. We're only superficially rational in a pinch.
I ran across this reference in the comments section to an Althouse piece about anti-Trumpers who find the prospect of his second term "literally unthinkable." "Who are these people," some of them wondered, "who support Trump?" One commenter mused, "Oh, I don't know, a bunch of deplorables, about 60M, give or take." He thought it was odd so many anti-Trumpers never seemed to have met one, there being, you know, quite a few around. Another commenter suggested that the right response on the morning after Election Day 2020 would be to run outside shouting "Go East! Go East!" in the manner of the terrified residents of 1913 Columbus.
While we're waiting for the collapse of civilization, here are two enchanting images. First, Kurt Suzuki in a MAGA hat at the prow of the Titanic shouting "I'm King of the World!" with the Racist-Homophobe-in-Chief embracing him fondly.
I assume Mr. Suzuki is looking to be traded to a team in flyover country. Speaking of which, here is a gem from Twitter: a small storm of derision triggered by some poor schmuck who posted a snapshot aerial view of farmland, with the puzzled comment that it was pretty, but he had no idea why it looked all patchworky and rectangular like that--thus demonstrating once and for all why we have the Electoral College. One commenter suggested the strange look was because flyover country doesn't get broadband reception and is permanently pixilated. Another mourned the necessity to chop up the ground like that just to grow food, instead of producing it in grocery stores the way they did in her blue-model city.
9 comments:
Wait until he gets a load of the circular green spaces created by the rotary-arm irrigation systems in the desert regions of states like Wyoming. They look like alien crop circles from a plane. He'll freak.
Tex, from having read the comments I'm almost 100% certain that the pixelated explanation and the "shame it's chopped up instead of made in a grocery store" were sarcastic responses.
What you're describing is an example of "Poe's law" (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poe%27s_law). The idea that you cannot come up with a parody exaggerated enough that it is distinguishable from something a zealot (or in this case, an idiot) might actually post. Though I personally have to believe that the pixelation explanation was out there enough that no one actually would ever believe it.
Oh, they were clearly sarcastic, and very good sarcasm, too. And Grim, someone actually did start talking about the puzzling circle shapes, too--but he seemed serious.
The best comment may have been the first: "Dude, delete your Twitter account."
It's worth remembering that only TWENTY percent of Americans are "on Twitter."
I'm not--and frankly, my dear, I don't give a damn.
Another commenter suggested that the right response on the morning after Election Day 2020 would be to run outside shouting "Go East! Go East!"....
I'm still waiting for a number of them to go nort' like they promised to do if Trump were elected that first time.
Eric Hines
I’m on Twitter, to my sorrow. It’s a work requirement. What a nasty place.
I'm not on it. I just see amusing things when they're reported elsewhere.
I recently read that Thurber story to my granddaughters.
I'm on MeWe under my pen name, for professional reasons. It's a rather quiet neighborhood. Which is just fine.
LittleRed1
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