CSotD: Of Superheroes and Lesser Creatures

Given the number of narwhal references already in social media, we’re bound to get a flood of narwhal cartoons as soon as everyone gets back to work.

But it wasn’t Thanksgiving in the UK and so Bob Moran gets out front with a cartoon nobody’s going to match anyway.

Moran’s depiction of these everyday Superheroes is appropriate to the moment, and The Guardian has a brilliant write-up on how people rose to the occasion:

Thomas Gray, 24, was among the group who tackled the killer to the ground. He stamped on the terrorist’s wrist to try to make him release one of two large knives he was carrying.

Gray, a tour manager, said: “I was brought up on rugby and the rule is ‘one in, all in’. I did what any Londoner would do and tried to put a stop to it.”

And the narwhal tusk was on the wall at the Fishmonger’s Hall across the street; instead of watching horrified through the window, a chef grabbed it and ran into the fray.

Not only a brilliant cartoon and a shining moment for London, but a good riposte to those who argue that, if people can’t get AK-15s, they’ll find another way to kill.

He did find a way, true, but it didn’t work nearly as quickly, as long, or as well, did it?

And, while the attacker — a convicted terrorist — perhaps shouldn’t have been out on the street, one of the people who stopped him was a convicted murderer who also would not have been there in a more punitive society.

This really is a fascinating story, and Moran’s Superhero cartoon is far more fitting than the silly narwhal gags I’m sure will follow.

 

Meanwhile, back in the US of A

Retail does take me back to my days as a recently divorced single dad, when I was faking it financially and trying not to let it affect the kids.

But Cooper is right about the panic, and he didn’t even mention the whole thing of mailing presents to distant family, which that lost week really impacts: It’s buy-it-wrap-it-send-it time, folks.

And it’s a lot easier to go for that idea of buying nothing on Black Friday when, like Coop and Donnie, you don’t have any money to spend or anybody relying on you.

Sort of like refusing to eat foie gras on humane grounds instead of because you can’t afford it.

 

So I’m not apologetic about going with the Buy Local thingie instead, which I did, though I’d add that buying local doesn’t mean shopping at the local Wal-Mart or K-Mart or Grumbel’s.

Mom in today’s Pardon My Planet was local, and dispenses well-earned guilt for the most part, though Vic Lee cleverly avoids showing just what business Mom was in.

If it’s “Mom’s Diner,” I’m in, because chain food simply isn’t as good. I eat local, which is no sacrifice.

While, if it’s a store, a lot of locally owned stores seem to be boutiques full of pricey stuff I don’t need.

Anyway, when it comes to bargain-hunting:

(A) I haven’t seen many real doorbuster bargains on Black Friday the way I did a few years ago and

(B) Retailers are desperate enough that discounts are like buses — if you miss one, you can just wait for the next.

 

Joy of Tech salutes Cyber Monday with opening lyrics I totally adore, followed by an admirable parody of how we snap to attention and salute when called upon by the Great Commercial Zeitgeist.

To resist Cyber Monday is blasphemy.

Though, if it really is “Cyber Monday” and features electronic stuff, my choices for shopping “locally” are Best Buy, Staples and BJ’s, so I can’t summon much guilt over going on-line instead.

Plus I can write off most electronic gear as business expenses, so a good price on the brink of Dec 31 isn’t a bad inducement, though the “next bus” theory still obtains: When my computer self-destructed in October, I was able to hunt up some awfully good prices on a replacement.

 

All in all, I don’t have a whole lot of sympathy for Christopher Weyant’s couple, particularly if they’re Christians.

By which I mean, Christmas isn’t like Passover or Hannukah or Ramadan or any of those holidays that wander around the calendar. I’ll grant you that the late Thanksgiving may have screwed up some people’s exact timing, but you’ve had all year to anticipate this week.

And it gives me a chance to preview a rant I expect to develop at length later:

You don’t have to be a sucker for things like Black Friday and Cyber Monday. You don’t have to leap into them, nor do you need to break an ankle self-righteously leaping away from them.

On the other hand, if you insist on taking the Mongo defense — that you are only a pawn in the game of life — you might as well go ahead and self-identify as a Millennial or a Boomer or Gen X or any of the other commercial brands stamped upon the rumps of Madison Avenue’s docile herd.

 

And while I’m grousing …

I got a chuckle out of this morning’s Dog Eat Doug, but also a flash: I’m old enough to remember when hauling amps and gear for touring rock bands was how you got a tour T-shirt.

Of course, I’m also old enough to remember when you had to at least visit the hometown, if not the bookstore, of a college to get any of their gear.

But playing temporary one-town roadie for a rock band was like when kids used to haul water for the elephants to get into the circus for free, and a tour T-shirt was really something to prize.

Of course, that was back when the music paid the bills, before selling stuff at concerts was how bands made their money.

Today, we stream the music for free and buy the shirts, which seems completely bass-ackwards, but there ya go.

We are but helpless tools of the Over-The-Counter Culture.