aggle-rithm
Ardent Formulist
While making breakfast this morning, I was thinking about the old '60s television series Batman, with Adam West in the title role. The show was a work of genius, offering two completely different viewing experiences to two different demographics. To the adults, it was a tongue-in-cheek, goofy, campy spoof of the comic-book genre. To us kids, it was deadly serious.
I mean, how cool was Batman when he whipped out a can of Bat Shark Repellent upon being attacked by a shark as he hung from the Batcopter ladder? And talk about smooth...did you see him dance the Batusi? Move over, James Bond!
And, when he refused to rid himself of a deadly-looking bomb, fuse sputtering ominously, because it would endanger a mother duck and its babies, I wept!
In most cases, adults were kind enough not to spoil it for us. "Yes, Batman is very cool," our dads would tell us, chuckling to themselves. I could imagine a kid getting into an argument with his father about whether Batman was a serious TV show or not. The kid would point to a mountain of evidence...there was no laugh track, as there was on "funny" shows. It wasn't taped before a live audience, like I Love Lucy. The Dynamic Duo fought crime, just as the cops did on Mannix and Mod Squad. They faced real, life-and-death situations, like being turned into surfboards or being hypnotized by the Super-Instant Mesmerizer.
But, the adults would counter...just LOOK at it! It's a JOKE!
I'm sure very few such arguments actually happened, because the kids just wouldn't understand the concepts of campiness and parody.
Which brings me to the truth movement...
They have MOUNTAINS of evidence! Operation Northwoods! Thermite traces! "Pull it"! No bodies at Shanksville! Etc., etc.
Whereas most people look at these arguments and say...just LOOK at it! It's a JOKE!
But the truthers don't see that it's a joke.
So, the question is: Why don't we be nice like our parents were, and let the truthers believe what they want to believe?
Answer: Because they're supposed to be adults.
I mean, how cool was Batman when he whipped out a can of Bat Shark Repellent upon being attacked by a shark as he hung from the Batcopter ladder? And talk about smooth...did you see him dance the Batusi? Move over, James Bond!
And, when he refused to rid himself of a deadly-looking bomb, fuse sputtering ominously, because it would endanger a mother duck and its babies, I wept!
In most cases, adults were kind enough not to spoil it for us. "Yes, Batman is very cool," our dads would tell us, chuckling to themselves. I could imagine a kid getting into an argument with his father about whether Batman was a serious TV show or not. The kid would point to a mountain of evidence...there was no laugh track, as there was on "funny" shows. It wasn't taped before a live audience, like I Love Lucy. The Dynamic Duo fought crime, just as the cops did on Mannix and Mod Squad. They faced real, life-and-death situations, like being turned into surfboards or being hypnotized by the Super-Instant Mesmerizer.
But, the adults would counter...just LOOK at it! It's a JOKE!
I'm sure very few such arguments actually happened, because the kids just wouldn't understand the concepts of campiness and parody.
Which brings me to the truth movement...
They have MOUNTAINS of evidence! Operation Northwoods! Thermite traces! "Pull it"! No bodies at Shanksville! Etc., etc.
Whereas most people look at these arguments and say...just LOOK at it! It's a JOKE!
But the truthers don't see that it's a joke.
So, the question is: Why don't we be nice like our parents were, and let the truthers believe what they want to believe?
Answer: Because they're supposed to be adults.