Gullibility

Allow me to take you back to a simpler time— 1983. How did we manage our lives without the internet? I find it hard to believe we watched TV without the ability to “fast forward” i.e. skip commercials. Today, I can watch a prerecorded football game in 60 minutes vs 3.5 hours in real time back then..

In that era, one of the most popular pastimes was listening to our favorite D.J. on FM radio. Just like the rest of the country, at that time, Milwaukee’s population was obsessed with acquiring a Cabbage Patch doll. Not just for little kids, but also for teenagers, the wife, Grandma, and themselves.

Here’s the essence of what happened :

“Thirty-five years ago this month, parents who were desperate to procure a Cabbage Patch Kid doll for their hopeful child found themselves wrapped up in a viral-spiraling prank. It happened after WKTI radio morning-show hosts Gene Mueller and Bob Reitman joked on air that later in the day a pilot – named Jack Daniels no less – would fly a B-29 Bomber over County Stadium (the home of the Brewers before Miller Park) and airdrop 2,000 Cabbage Patch Kids.

The DJs went on to encourage people to show up at the stadium with a baseball mitt – to catch one of the dolls, of course – and a credit card. Anyone who caught one of the dolls would hold up their credit card for the pilot to photograph and bill them later.

20-30 people showed up. For all the detail, click below.

https://onmilwaukee.com/articles/cabbage-patch-doll-craze

I got a first hand taste of the fervor as the operations manager for a national department store chain. Boy-oh-boy, was I popular.

Now we fast forward to November of last year. American voters were asked by one of the candidates to help him “make America great again”. Approximately 75 million voters believed we, as a nation, had already achieved “greatness”. Unfortunately, 1.5% more Americans voted for the “current occupant” and a greater level of greatness.

Among the “current occupant’s” many promises, the lowering of the price of a dozen eggs was prominent. Au contraire’ , the current average cost of a dozen eggs has more than doubled. If you consider this a minor problem, take note of inflation rising now the same as before the election. You probably noticed the stock markets tanking. And, the “current occupant’s” obsessions with tariffs is triggering trade wars which will increase costs to American consumers for thousands of products.

By far, the worst product of the “current occupant” is the chaotic and cruel assault on thousands of government employees. I sure you’ve all seen enough of it without my elaborating. A close second would be “pardoning” the morons who assaulted the nations Capital with a flippant 2 word “f-ck it”.

The Cabbage Patch hoax found only 50 to 60 consumers gullible enough to show their credit card to a B29 Bomber.

The hoax that is the “current occupant”, found over 75 million voters gullible enough to believe that America’s greatness would depend on his occupying the White House.