Millenials are such easy marks.

Modern day viewers of a classic cartoon were triggered by the recent airing of a Charlie Brown Thansgiving.  Originally aired in 1973, I’m sure creator Charles M. Schultz didn’t even consider the optics of the backyard scene.

The Peanuts gang is on one side of the table, seated in regular chairs.  Franklin, the token negro I suppose, is seated alone on the other side.  The gang sit in regular chairs while Franklin is relegated to sitting in a lawn chair.  This is CLEARLY racism, no matter how subtle.  It doesn’t matter that back then table furnishings didn’t HAVE six chairs, only four.  A closer look shows that the chair Linus sits in is a different color than those of the gang.  And the chair that Marcie sits in has a solid back as opposed to the spindle back chairs of the gang.  Is Marcie being snubbed for her nerdiness?

Comments tagged to the article ranged from sarcasm about the quantity of sugar-laced treats in front of Franklin being a sort of reparations to snowflakes affirming that their “wokeness” will keep them from watching the cartoon, yes CARTOON, ever again.

Triggered by a cartoon that is 45 years old.  Likely older than their own parents in many cases.  I can think of another group that are easily triggered by cartoons.  ISIS.  Just publish a Mohammed cartoon and watch the buildings burn.  But then, the triggered that go violent (Antifa) are a lot like ISIS.

While we’re at it, why don’t we ban reruns of I Dream of Jeanie?  After all, she is kept captive in a small vessel and forced to wear flimsy, revealing clothing to please a military man.

Beverly Hillbillies is all about shaming a family for their awkward “southern” awkwardness.  And making Ellie Mae wear those short shorts and depicting her as so naïve is clearly sexist.

I don’t remember seeing any black people in the Dennis the Menace show.  I guess they were all kept working in the cotton fields.

Hawkeye from M*A*S*H is a total womanizer.  Foisting himself on all those nurses—after getting them drunk on hooch in his hooch.  Why, he’s the original Harvey Weinstein.

See how slippery this slope is?  It’s a damn cartoon with an embedded wholesome message, if you stow your hyper-sensitive social justice warrior righteousness for a minute.  Get over yourselves and put away your hashtags.  Snowflakes.

https://comicbook.com/tv-shows/2018/11/22/charlie-brown-thanksgiving-racist-franklin-scene/

Nike.  Believe in profits.  Even if it means sacrificing your soul.

A few weeks back, Nike decided to put the face of the NFL National Anthem protests on their new marketing campaign.  It was a picture of the hapless and less than talented Colin Kaepernick with the caption, “Believe in something.  Even if it means sacrificing everything.”

The timing of the ad was bad as it was a scant week before the anniversary of the 9-11 attacks.  The uproar was instantaneous.  The NFL protests Kap started never has had the legs I think he hoped for.  Not nearly as many fellow (former) players joined in his protest as I think he hoped for or planned.  Sort of like the kid who invited 30 people to his birthday party and not one of them came.  They just aren’t that in to you.

The patriot sector of the country responded with a flurry of hilarious and fatally pointed memes that continues even today.  Memes of Elizabeth Warren—“Believe in something.  Even it is only .1024 percent true.”  Of Bruce/Caitlin Jenner—“Believe in something.  Even if it means cutting off your dick.”  Of Bernie Sanders—“Believe in something.  Even if it means sacrificing someone else’s everything.”  A Doberman—“Bark at everything. Even if something isn’t there.”

Then there were the serious ones.  Like Pat Tillman with the original slogan.  Of Robert Beaman with the original quote.  The serious people saw the ad as a direct affront to national pride and patriotism.  These do really did sacrifice everything for something they believed in.  No greater lover, and such.

I watched the stock.  I thought the marketing ad was a foolish thing.  Nike was going to tank.  People and investors would flee.  But I forgot that the dollar is more powerful than pride.  The stock dropped almost three dollars over the weekend.  The investors were dumping it.  But then by September 21, the stock had rebounded to higher than it was when the ad came out.  People with money sold high, not because of a sense of duty or outrage, but because they saw a money making opportunity.  The same people bought back in low.  Those people knew that the public, the cattle, have about a three day attention span.  They’ll forget.  They won’t care after the initial fervor is over.

Investors are savvy even if it means having no morals or values.  I think the whole thing might have just been market manipulation.  A means to an end.  Dollars over decency.  Profits over patriotism.

Idolizing a mediocre player who defames and disrespects the national anthem proves it.

Kap was not that great a quarterback.  He never had a QB rating in the 100s. His best year, he had, what, 5 wins?  After two flailing seasons, I think he saw the writing on the wall and decided he needed another venue to remain relevant.  Pissing off half the country is a good way to do that.

Whatever you think about his police injustice topic, be it true or not, disrespecting the flag is not the way to fix it.  The guy has millions of fans, however misguided they are.  He has a large following on Face Book of 1.2 million.  His Twitter account has over 2 million followers.  (Though how many are fake/robots is unknown.)  If he called for a press conference they would come.  He has exclusive media and social media attention.

This is the place to draw attention to your cause.  After kneeling during the anthem, what did he do?  Nothing.  No marches, no donations, no civil disobedience.  No fund raisers, no pressers.

Makes you wonder how important his cause is to him, no?

When phones act smarter than their owners

We, as a society, have become overly dependent on our smart phones.  They are more powerful than the early generation(s) of desktop computers we all used to own.  They are faster, store more in memory, have more function than all but my last laptops.  And as is human nature, we’ve allowed these small devices to take over many areas of our lives; particularly decision making.

At the Denver Airport, I watched countless people, (literally, I’ve lost count), walk past 8 (EIGHT) signs, the smallest of which are 2 feet by 5 feet.  Then they walk past the 5 flashing, scrolling, eye-catching signs on the train.  They come up to me, and I’m often standing directly under one of the signs, to ask me if “this train goes to Union Station.”  It is the same way at Union Station only that the destination is reversed.

People have opted out of the thinking business.  They have abdicated their course of action decisions to other people.  And I blame the smart phone.  So afraid to accept the answers provided by the little device, they ask overly obvious and idiotic questions to other people so as to affirm what they refuse to believe.

But it goes much deeper than that.  The phones have made people demand to be catered to or pampered by others, particularly those they see as being in the service industry.

I had one woman ask me if I knew where (name the hotel) was when we got to Union Station.  I told her that I had no idea; that I had never heard of the place.  She stopped, and looking and sounding exasperated, said, “Well, how am I supposed to get there, then?” I said, “I don’t know.  Maybe hire a personal assistant.”

A man on the train tries to explain why he has no ticket to ride.

Him: “I thought I could buy the ticket on the train.”

Me: “Did you buy your ticket from Logan to Denver when you sat down in seat 12D?”

Him: “No, but there weren’t any signs where to buy a ticket.”

Me: “Yet you walked by 6 ticket machines, 8 signs on the platform, and 5 on the train itself.  Then you look up from your phone to ask me if this train was going to Union Station.  So signage isn’t the issue here, is it?”

Then, while riding, almost everyone is nose deep into their phone.  Most of them scrolling their FaceBook page(s), Instagram accounts, or Tinder swiping, further numbing their minds. And if not that, they have headphones in blocking themselves off from the world—and my instructions.

I’ve had people watch me check fare tickets the entire length of the train, and then look at me with an incredulous look on their face when I get to them as if they have no idea why I am standing before with a scanner/counter.  They didn’t hear ANY of the five or six announcements made to get tickets prepared for inspection because they are absorbed into their own little bubble.  And again, it is usually the smart phone.  (I think I am the only person left on the planet who still uses an iPod.

Another example:  A man in his 20s approaches me and asks the usual idiotic question about if this is the train to Union Station.  He has ear buds in his head and barely looks up at me as I answer.  I notice in his hand he has a Region Discount ticket.  It is a half priced ticket.  I ask him the 4 qualifications for being eligible and he is not.  I tell him to go back to the machines and simply buy another Region Discount ticket.  (It would equal $9.00)  He returns with a Regional ticket, having paid full price for it, and wasting the original $4.50 he spent.  Why?  He wasn’t paying attention to my instructions as it was less important than whatever Buffy or Dirk had posted on FaceBook.

This isn’t going to get any better.  The coming generations would prefer to not be engaged, thinking that others who “are working” will simply cater to their needs and protect them from harm or misguided actions.  They willingly pull back from having to think, reason, or decide.  Having never had to do these things, what will they do when they MUST act, or choose, or decide?  If I’m around, I’ll tell you what.  They’ll do exactly what I’ll tell them to.  Or I’ll pummel them into submission.  They can then post it on social media.