Tuesday, February 21, 2006

Themes of War by Chelle Stockman

  Looking back through history 40 years up till now, we should be able to make the connection that poverty can lead to drugs and drugs can fund terrorism.  In fact, President Johnson declared "War on Poverty": President Reagan declared "War on Drugs": President Bush declared "War on Terrorism."  

It occurs to me that to sell war to people, you need a theme, one that appeals to the altruistic nature of people; a theme which we the people will invest in, and a clever marketing strategy.  

The next theme we choose should be something we can all engage in, something that winners and losers can share,  Their rewards could be the publicity they receive to satisfy their need for attention they aren't otherwise getting.  To find such a theme, all we have to do is to attend the many public schools across America, glance at the covers of magazines at grocery stores, and watch television.  That war could be labeled The War against Clothing.  

Participants uniforms will be underwear under underwear under tattered wear worn by males strutting their stuff like peacocks in gangsta-glow shirts and caps gone awry. Imagine the Victoria's Not-So-Secrets gals teaming up with the Tattered and Torns and the Goth-Chic walking dead amongst the Ghetto-Glam Clans as they seek any attention they can get chanting "My Space Rules!" This theme will provide all the necessary components of a really good war such as cover-ups and exposures while headlines might read, War On Fashion: How the Criminally Clothed Shop for Accessories; or, The Bare Necessities of War: a Booming Business.  I mean if we have to lose a war, we can at least be admired for our winning style.  

 Just one note to all, we are no more the wars we wage than we are the clothes we wear but impressions can have a lasting impact.  

By Chelle Stockman  

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Consider the uniforms my generation has worn.  We gave up the "little dab that'll do ya" for tie-dye, denim and bandannas.  We followed the gospel according to "The Mother Earth News" and wore flannel and suspenders.  Then many of us became not so young Republicans and we adopted the uniform of polo players on our golf shirts and gave up our jeans with the four letter name for ones that looked european.

We dropped out and looked for love.  We stayed out but grew our own.  We joined in until we had taken over.  We looked the part of all of these.  But what do the uniforms of today tell us about the ideas and ideals, the hopes and the dreams of wearers?

Where do they think we are going?  Where do they think they want to take us?

Larry

Anonymous said...

Sire aka Larry,
I couldn't have said it better.  You sure posed a great question.  I'll search for that answer by first going to my youngest son.  Perhaps he will be able to articulate where their generation hopes to take us in our twilight years.  

love ya my friend and miss ya too--chelle