Friday, April 17, 2009

McLuhan's malaprop.




A couple of weeks ago I wrote about the crazy carnivore who felt compelled to voice his opinion via a post it note on the back of car.

I thought that was a passing anomaly. But it appears I was wrong.

My daughter and I spotted this assertive fellow at a nearby intersection. What the writings lack in lucidity, they more than make up for in quantity. When this fellow ran out of paper to stick to his vehicle he took to scribbling his thoughts across the body of the truck.

Is there a populist trend going on here?
Or is it just looney people giving voice to their inner demons.

Perhaps Mcluhan was wrong.
Maybe the media isn’t the message. Maybe the media is the medication.

Maybe the best way to treat delusional people is to give them communication tools that will allow them to exorcise their misshapen thoughts on a daily basis.

Get it out of their system, as it were.

Tools that will enable them to speak freely. On anything and everything that troubles their twisted minds. From radicalized terrorists and greedy CEO’s, to the insanity of organized religion and Chicken McNuggets.

Oh wait a minute….

3 comments:

Anthony LoFranco said...

In the south they call it Folk Art. Some people even pay to own it. Yup.

McLuhan Prophecy said...

When all are blind save one- Is not the sighted one "Looney?" Tools never allow one to speak freely. WE shape our tools and then our tools shape us!
The aesthetic of communications is not about getting it out of the system, but understanding.

Rich Siegel said...

uhhhh, yeah...that's exactly what I was thinking.