"I couldn't possibly fail to disagree with you less."
4 October 2003The new alphabetical orderAs an actual registered Democrat with a current subscription to Mother Jones — yes, really — I get regular mailings from the activist Left. One operation with which I was unfamiliar is Syracuse Cultural Workers, which bills itself as a "Peace and Justice Publisher Since 1982", and whose catalog arrived here yesterday. Most of the contents were pretty predictable — T-shirts, posters, buttons, books like How Wal-Mart Is Destroying the World — but one particular poster caught my eye. It's called The Alternative Alphabet Poster For Little And Big People, it appears to be an SCW exclusive, and here's the pitch: Features words ranging from basic elements of a child's life to concepts likely to be met with puzzlement. It reflects respect for the Earth and all its creatures; for its variety of cultures, histories and peoples; for principals [sic] of justice and freedom; for wonder in the sky above and the soil below. A is for Africa, B is for Bicycle, and so forth. Twenty-five of the twenty-six entries seem at least defensible, and they did come up with a reasonable X word (Xylem), but I'm puzzled by E: Echinacea? TrackBacks if any: It makes perfect sense to me--they're all causes that the left champions. Africa (humanitarian efforts for developing countries), Bicycle (gas-less transportation), Xylem (plant parts, i.e. the environment), Echinacea (an herbal supplement--health nuts are also known to be liberals). Posted by: sya at 10:07 PM on 4 October 2003I know what it is (you can't go three feet into Walgreen's without hitting a shelf full of the stuff); I'm just surprised that they couldn't come up with something better than a mere herb. |