They came out at a news conference on April Fool's day, saying that they'd all sat around and tried to come up with something so extreme that the media would have rejected it. SPASM? Dancing Hippos? BAD RAP? My brother went by the nom de guerre of "Duane Neutron".It's not the Cacophony's fault that the public sometimes misses the joke. Such was the case in 1991 when the group organized a protest of the movie "Fantasia." One set of protesters, calling itself Sensitive Parents Against Scary Movies - or SPASM - decried the film for being frightening to small children. "Calorically challenged" people blasted the use of dancing hippos. And the Bay Area Drought Relief Assistance Program - BAD RAP - criticized Mickey Mouse for wasting water during his sorcerer's apprentice scene. Time magazine took it seriously. It cited the protest in an essay about America becoming a nation of whiners and complainers. Examiner columnist Rob Morse also got taken in, calling the protesters a "fringe pressure group."
And the media ate it up. What will they do next in San Francisco? was a story too good to check. I have video footage of Younger Brother on Entertainment Tonight saying how they simply couldn't believe that they could sucker the New York Times. And that was in 1991. Fast forward to today, and you still find the media are easy to sucker:
A story too good to check, at least for Andy Sullivan. You know, there was a really good blogger who used to go by that handle, too. Whatever happened to him?
5 comments:
As I stated in my blog,
'Newsweek, with tens of readers..."
I'm certain they're looking for more hardcopy sales.
Not to mention, his publically changing his mind only brings him some votes, and loses others...
And it doesn't change federal or state law.
Yeah, NW is not too bright...
Actually, at some early age — I forget when — the segment in Fantasia with Night on Bald Mountain scared the living daylights out of me.
Dancing hippos and toadstools and Mickey-and-the-Broomsticks it most certainly wasn't. The Bald Mountain/Witches' Sabbath animation planted the idea in me that Evil could swarm around you in a seductive, unstoppable, flowing way...
I was four when my parents to took me to see Disney's version of "101 Dalmatians". (I had a German Shepherd puppy at the time.)
I was five before I could reliably sleep through the night without Cruella DeVille nightmares. By the time I could sleep without clutching onto that dog all night, she was bigger than I was.
Anyhow, I hear there's a proposal to buy up a bunch of Newsweeks and donate them to barbershops in majority black neighborhoods. Works for anybody besides me?
Anyone know where I can buy a job lot of Dalmatian puppies?
I would l love to photoshop "Newsweek" off the cover, replace it with "National Review" or "The Weekly Standard," show it to an unsuspecting liberal and watch the fireworks. Then I'd laugh and laugh and laugh as I explained that the people who actually did the cover meant it as a compliment.
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