Fifty years ago there was a radio, then a television show called People Are Funny. It was a quiz show of sorts, but when the contestant failed to answer the question as a penalty they had to do something foolish — like wrestle in jello, play with spaghetti, or try to register at a hotel claiming a trained seal was their girlfriend.
It occurs to NewMexiKen that we have turned into a fulltime People Are Funny. Perhaps that silly program placed subliminal messages in our mothers’ minds while they were pregnant. As a result, we now have Fear Factor, Jackass, or news stories like the one that follows, where reality is stranger than any stunt.
A Bad Week for…
Censorship, after prudes demanded that the owner of a Tennessee gardening supply center cover up its collection of classical-style nude statues. Owner Angie Langford fashioned velvet bikinis for the $99.95 lawn ornaments, and now customers are flocking to the store and buying them up. “They are pulling up the tops and looking underneath,” she said. “They wonder what we’re hiding.”
From The Week Magazine.