This was purely by accident, as I was searching for something that I never found — a common saying from the past that was something like: Americans can't understand any message that won't fit on a T-shirt. Or: Any political philosophy that can't fit on a T-shirt might as well not exist because Americans are not terribly intellectual and have a short attention span.
That question came up in the context of writing a post this morning that contained the quoted sentence: "Intellectual curiosity has been replaced by ostentatious consumption, quality by quantity and political activism by slogans that fit on baseball caps."
In the comments Fernandistein reacted to that quote:
That is a standard and ageless "I'm better than most people" statement, but I wonder if the emitter of those words was intellectually curious enough to know that baseball caps didn't exist until around 1900, and that acronyms were almost non-existent until the 1940s, and that the slogan he refers to is actually more complicated and effective than the slogan of his probable hero.The link on "probable hero" goes to the "F" section of Wikipedia's list of political slogans, so I'm not positive which "F" slogan is being pointed at, but I believe it is "Forward," and the "probable hero" is Barack Obama.
And samanthasmom said:
Baseball caps are better than campaign buttons. They keep your head warm or cool and shade your eyes from the sun. We've just become more practical with how we wear our slogans.That got me thinking about the old T-shirt line, which was itself something that would fit on a T-shirt, but I guess it wasn't snappy enough to remember verbatim. And the internet won't help me. I found a huge page of "T-shirt Quotes" at BrainyQuote and they all seem to be somebody saying it's stylish to wear a T-shirt.
"I've always thought of the T-shirt as the Alpha and Omega of the fashion alphabet," said Giorgio Armani, which can't possibly be true, though it might be "true" within the fashion designer mentality, which is ridiculously nonliteral.
But I stumbled into "Star Bores." Who was everyone sick of in 1991? Of course, I did the normal 2019 thing and searched the text for "Trump." I scored:
Remember Faith Popcorn — the futurist? Remember futurists? "Donald Trump had no business in the spotlight." That's great. Especially the "had"... all the way back in 1991.The futurist we barely remember was talking about a man whose stardom seemed to be in the past. She had no inkling that 3 decades later he would be the biggest star in the world. Futurism ain't what it used to be. Or maybe it is, because futurism used to be wrong. I can see that now. Hindsight is 2019... and quite hilarious:
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TL;DR
I actually bought one of Faith Popcorn's books. I don't think that was her real name.
Popcorn? Is she related to Corn Pop?
And I think the old quote was about bumper stickers, rather than t-shirts.
"Born as Faith Plotkin,[4][5] she later legally changed her name to "Faith Popcorn."[4] She was born in New York and spent her early childhood in Shanghai, China, before returning to the United States. She attended the High School of Performing Arts in New York City,[2] followed by New York University.[4] Accepted into NYU Law School, she decided instead to go into advertising in the early 1970s, which she said she considered to be more glamorous.[6]"
She could have been Ann's law school classmate. Althouse knocked down to number two in the class!
@David Begley
Talk about a short attention span!
If you clicked the link on her name and read the first 6 words, you'd know her original name was Faith Plotkin.
The oldest political slogan came about because the Sanhedrin guys argued with Pilate to write on the cross's sign, "This man claimed he was King of the Jews." But Pontius said that would not fit on the sign so they left it written, "The King of the Jews."
"Americans can't understand any message that won't fit on a T-shirt. Or: Any political philosophy that can't fit on a T-shirt might as well not exist because Americans are not terribly intellectual and have a short attention span."
Ann - you've created another opportunity for yourself. That... right there --->on a T-shirt = you're rich!
here's something that would fit on a t-shirt (or, a LONG bumper sticker)
Dow opens at record high as stocks soar on US-China trade optimism
That Damn TRUMP! Now he's MAKING DEALS with the Chinese!!! IMPEACH !! IMPEACH!
“Intellectual curiosity has been replaced by ostentatious consumption, quality by quantity and political activism by slogans that fit on baseball caps.”
Interesting. In our family people sometimes have descriptive nicknames. My Portland son, a senior administrator at a large, oh so progressive university, and a Democrat activist of sorts carries the byname “incurious,” although we don’t share that with him. The rest of us are normals and we’re sure he wouldn’t find it funny.
Faith Plotkin? Was she that beautiful Mississippi singer later called Faith Hill.
Re: acronyms almost nonexistent until the 1940s.
INRI and SPQR come immediately to mind.
Speaking of baseball caps, a famous philosopher once said: "The future ain't what is used to be."
"they left it written, "The King of the Jews."
INRE for short
INRI that is
...so I'm not positive which "F" slogan is being pointed at
I would guess From each according to his ability, to each according to his need
The guy who said "One word: plastics" was pretty much on the money.
Interesting.
Thanks, Althouse.
"Faith Popcorn?" Didn't Joe Biden drive her futurist bullying ass out of the neighborhood?
The corporate beast, in whose belly I worked for many years, fell in love with Faith Popcorn back in the day. Her grasp of the future reminded me of Criswell Predicts.
Ann, are you looking at the wrong medium?
"message that fits on a bumper sticker" gets a lot of hits.
Ann:
I rarely click through as I trust you to pick out the best stuff. But oddly enough, I read the whole NYT piece by Marty before I saw it on Althouse blog.
There was one thing foretold by the futurists: Donald Trump’s worldwide “negative Q” rating must now be the highest of any person since Stalin.
The perils of futurism: watching HGTV, "Popcorn Ceilings" have gone down in popularity over the years.
"INRI that is"
I always have trouble remembering whether it is an "e" or an "i" when it is a crossword puzzle answer.
Like Mattman above, the line I remember is about bumper stickers.
Another viewpoint on t-shirt messages.
"The 1960s was an era of big thoughts. And yet, amazingly, each of these thoughts could fit on a T-shirt."
P. J. O'Rourke
I lost all faith in Popcorn years ago, but I believe in Corn Pop.
That's hilarious. Trump had a bottom barrel Q rating. Personally, i can't remember anything about Trump prior to his POTUS run - except the Apprentice and his feud with Rosie.
When did people start walking around with Nike stuff or Corporate advertising on their shirts and Caps? Seems like the 80s but i could be wrong.
I’d have more sympathy for Scorsese if he made better movies. But even his good ones, like The Aviator, are filled with the kind of CGI and pop-flash-bang that fill comic book movies. And some of his movies are such crap. Gangs of New York was a kind of comic super villain bit of shit.
Here are some philosophy-based t-shirts emblazoned with the Wisdom of the Far East!
Personally, i can't remember anything about Trump prior to his POTUS run.
Most Americans outside New York City were introduced to Trump through his twice-yearly appearances on David Letterman's show beginning around 1986-87. He was a guest something like thirty times, and it's fascinating to see his gift for self-deprecation and charm as a younger man.
My lovely wife and I had a habit of mocking Faith Popcorn. Any time we tried to formulate some prediction about the pop culture future, we'd assume our "Hope Nacho" character. I recall Popcorn being somewhat older, even back in the 90s, so we probably don't her of her any more because she's dead. [Googles "Faith Popcorn"] Turns out Popcorn, nee Plotkin, is still with us, and her age remains a secret. (I suspect we don't hear of her because she's either out of the futurist racket or her last 1,200 "predictions" have been disastrously off. She predicted, back in '06 that we'd be hugging more and have more physical contact with others. Boing!)
Mr Trump's low Q rating was in part due to Spy Magazine, which during the 80s, ragged on him mercilessly. Pretty sure those scamps invented 'short-fingered vulgarian.'
Kierkegaard: "Life can only be understood backwards; but it must be lived forwards." He got that right. Faith Popcorn not so much....Bill Cosby seems to have peaked. Donald Trump was a late bloomer in the celebrity world.....Perhaps Donald Trump's low Q rating is the key to his success. He fits the stereotype of the overbearing tycoon. We like to dislike such men, but they're decisive and have a center of gravity
Trump's Q rating dropped because of his divorce. He had to put off his political plans for ten years, till 1999. Although what he tried then was hopeless, and he dropped out.
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