Ever watch a cartoon when the little character dashes off a
cliff but remains in the air...? A classic bit which always has the same
punchline. He suddenly looks down, realizes he's in mid-air, and
plummets.
There's a lesson in the joke. We take certain things
in life for granted. When suddenly they're not there anymore, trauma.
Say like today's report by the US Census Bureau. For the first time in
our history there were less White births recorded than non-White.
America has reached the expected tipping point when it begins to become
an increasingly multi-ethnic culture.
The consequences of this
will be mixed. Minorities, college professors, bleeding-heart-liberals,
and gays will approve. White evangelicals, gun-toting Rednecks,
Skinheads, and Sarah Palin will gag. The halls of Congress, radio
call-in programs, and Twitter will light up.
But leaving that
blaze behind, I'm thinking here of some other and simpler examples of
life without what we take for granted. Smaller moments which
nevertheless will have real consequences. Imagine with me an America in
which:
* There are no TV commercials >> When do we get a bathroom break?
* There are no campaign ads >> Who do we have to hate?
* There are no show business award ceremonies >> How can we live without celebrities?
* There are no more research teams studying coffee >> What can we panic about?
* There are no more UFO sightings >> What secret government conspiracies are left?
* The Chicago Cubs win the World Series >> What noble existential suffering can I still count on?
Just
like that crazy cartoon character without anything beneath him to count
on, earthlings like me dread the day. But then "dreading" is what
earthlings are good at. I plan to plummet with dignity...!
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