My tech maven friend Ed Bott has a bunch of phrases about stupidity which he uses to describe tech problems and attempts to explain and resolve them, though he doesn't limit their use to just tech. That's just their foundation where the phrases sprang from. But they fit pretty much everywhere you roam in life. Two that he uses a lot are “There’s still a lot of stupid left.” And “Never bet against stupid as the cause.” But perhaps his most all-encompassing may be "Peak Stupid is an illusion. There's always more stupid just around the bend." On a long list of really stupid things that the far-right has tried to make issues of, near the top of the list is their trying to make an issue of Dr. Seuss (who, unlike Dr. Jill Biden, did not even earn his degree, but made it up, the same as Theodore Geisel made up the name "Seuss"...), Mr. Potato Head, the Muppets and Pepe Le Pew. Apparently these are part of "Cancel Culture" -- the far right's latest phrase du jour, never mind that it was the right-wing that tried to cancel French Fries and call them Patriot Fries instead -- and the work of "The Left." Of course, none of these things are actually "cancelled," they're all still widely available. And "The Left" had nothing to do with the decisions on how to handle them. They were all corporate decision, in one case the decision of the family that oversees the Dr. Seuss legacy. With Mr. Potato Head (I can't believe I'm typing this in the middle of a pandemic...), the toy wasn't even gotten rid of at all, but just repackaged under a single "Potato Head" brand, so that the accessories for Mr. and Mrs. Potato Head could be included in the same box. In two cases, with Dr. Seuss and Pepe Le Pew, the companies took out of circulation material that really hadn't sold for many years -- in some cases, many decades -- the same as any company does when a product doesn't sell. Although the books and films, in fact, are still available to read and see! And the Muppet shows are all available to watch -- it's just that Disney+ streaming channel put a disclaimer in front of them, so that a parent has to give permission to their child to get access. And this is only for The Muppet Show that Disney+ has the rights to. Not "The Muppets," not anything else to do with The Muppets -- toys, clothes, vitamins, movies, Sesame Street, and all manner of every other kind of merchandise. And again, "The Left" has nothing to do with these corporate decisions. They were business decisions. All for perfectly understandable reasons, whether one agrees with them or not. And who knows, maybe one day those decisions will be reversed. And Disney may sell the rights for those TV shows to someone else. But as stupid as trying to make an issue of Dr. Seuss, Mr. Potato Head, the Muppets and Pepe Le Pew, that doesn't come close to comparing to how insanely stupid it is to make an issue of them during a pandemic when over half-a-million Americans have died. And what makes it so utterly foolish is that it shows that the far-right has nothing else to talk about. Because you'd think that during a pandemic and economic disorder and political insurrection and a $1.9 trillion COVID emergency relief bill, there would be something in there to talk about...rather than Dr. Seuss, Mr. Potato Head, the Muppets and Pepe Le Pew. But when that emergency relief bill has a 76% approval among all Americans -- and 60% approval among Republicans -- and every Republican official in the Congress voted unanimously against it, then it seems likely that the GOP actually doesn't have anything serious to talk about. Which is why all they can talk about is Dr. Seuss, Mr. Potato Head, the Muppets and Pepe Le Pew. Bottom line: when all you can talk about during a pandemic and economic breakdown is Dr. Seuss, Mr. Potato Head, the Muppets and Pepe Le Pew...then you are telling the world you have nothing to talk about. Seth Meyers did a wonderful "A Closer Look" segment on his show about this the other day. Here it is.
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AuthorRobert J. Elisberg is a political commentator, screenwriter, novelist, tech writer and also some other things that I just tend to keep forgetting. Feedspot Badge of Honor
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