Poor taste marketing

TPP is late to this issue; so what?  In one sense Urban Outfitters marketing a bloodied Kent State University sweatshirt almost deserved no comment, so utterly tasteless is this idea. Who in bloody hell would order one?  If you actually remember the event at Kent State that spurred this product then you are over 60, and if you think such a shirt if clever, then you never gunna grow up. It does occur to TPP that all discussion about militarization of the police, Kent State is what happens when you let the military take care of something that should have been a police problem. Innocent people get shot. This was the event that produced the anti-war national student strikes across the country that disrupted TPP's senior year. Nothing like having to cross picket lines to take organic evolution to make you think about what was important. People too young for the Vietnam War era wouldn't get the "message" Urban Outfitters was selling, so what demographic were they aiming (sorry) at? The whole thing boggles the mind. In protest the administration building was occupied immediately; ended up playing cards with the undergraduate dean, which seemed pretty non-violent. So this still just leaves one big question: what kind of person of what age actually thought this was a pretty good idea? TPP's boycott of Urban Outfitters will continue, as will his boycott of HoJo's. So don't risk his fiscal wrath.

How to bring me down

A beautiful, although dry, Saturday is happening outside. What could possibly bum me out so bad?  It's been quite a long time since TPP thought about any of this, but a review of the new book "Kill anything that moves" was depressing.  The Vietnam War was a war fought by my generation; friends died over there, but we all knew that what was happening to the Vietnamese was even worse, much worse.  But you hate to keep thinking about horrible things.  If this book is true, and no reason at present to think it isn't, then this war was ever worse than our worst impressions.  How can TPP not read this book?  TPP narrowly missed getting drafted; he was just a few weeks to young and was not draft age until after he was in college, and then a couple of years later, he won the draft lottery.  Lucky.  Nonetheless Vietnam was burned into your brain, and a lot of people turned to drugs to stop thinking about it.  Still books like this have to be written and read least we forget, and least we ever begin to think it wasn't so bad.  Crap.  It was.