INT. FACEBOOK OFFICE
A 12-year-old boy sits behind a desk.
BOY: Hi there. I’m Mark Zuckerberg, founder of Facebook. I wanted to tell you about some of the exciting new features we’ll be rolling out in the coming months. You guys have enjoyed the “Poke” since the beginning. In 2007, we added the Super Poke. But for those times you really want to get somebody’s attention, we’re introducing the Ultra Poke.
I once heard a story… “Whatever blooms from the Baobab is given back to the earth, because the mighty tree never forgets its roots.” Like the mighty Baobab, McDonald’s and I will not be moved.
You’re not going to believe this, but the statement above is a direct quotation from the official McDonald’s website. First of all, it makes no sense. The tree gives back to the earth, and the speaker “will not be moved.” I don’t really get the analogy. And I really don’t get how McDonald’s factors into it. Does McDonald’s give back to the earth? Is McDonald’s impossible to move? Here’s my best shot: McDonald’s gives the speaker the strength of a mighty tree. But it’s certainly a confusing way to put it, not to mention a silly thing to say. Not only that, McDonald’s is equating itself with one of the most sacred trees in African folklore, known as “the tree of life.” That seems sort of disrespectful to the culture they’re pandering to, and gloriously ironic given how unhealthy McDonald’s food is and the high rate of obesity among African-Americans.
So basically, it’s not the best two sentences of marketing copy ever written. But the Baobab quote is merely the gateway to something even stranger: 365black.com, McDonald’s special website for black people. I promise you this is real.
One of my many vices is political blogs. I read a whole slew of them, several times a day (and lord help me, I even read the comments). I especially enjoy reading the progressive DailyKos, and the staunchly conservative RedState, to get two different perspectives.
So when they both publish nearly identical posts, the hairs on the back of my neck stand up.
The Harvard Classics Project is a very Overthinking It-type enterprise, in that it combines high culture and pop culture.
On the high culture side is The Harvard Classics. In the first decade of the 20th century, Harvard President Charles Eliot claimed that a five-foot shelf of books could provide “a good substitute for a liberal education in youth to anyone who would read them with devotion, even if he could spare but fifteen minutes a day for reading.” (Which leads me to wonder, was President Eliot implying four years of Harvard was a pointless waste of time and money?)
