One of the ways we continually educate ourselves is by consuming pop culture. And just so you don’t think this present time has a lock on truly ridiculous ideas expressed in music, dig this award-winning turkey from 1962, sung by Jack Jones: Lollipops and Roses.
Do you believe these lyrics? “Make it her birthday each day of the week…” On Dec. 31 she’ll be 365 years old. But even more preposterous, “One day she’ll smile, next day she’ll cry,/ Minute to minute, you’ll never know why…” Sounds like she’s more than ready for the rubber room. Can you imagine living with somebody like that?
So much of our music, our movies and TV, our books, teach us an awful lot of pazoo about how we ought to relate to one another. Do you really think nobody actually picks up on this teaching? No one’s influenced by it? Well, bunkie, there’s a whole advertising industry that’s betting that you’re wrong. And a whole public education industry, too, for that matter.
The only reason nobody gets a degree in Being a Dope is that nobody needs one.