Pre-Cohn entertainment
Listening lately to some New Old Stock episodes of Fibber. These episodes hadn't been part of the usual distribution until recently. An interesting theme emerges. Wallace Wimple, the eponymous Wimp, had always shown what happens to Unwanted people. In these episodes he shows how to handle it.

What happens is this: Wanted Ones will occasionally treat the Unwanted One with a tiny bit of respect, maybe even halfway smile at you for a millisecond. You hungrily gobble up the hint of respect. The Wanted One then presents you with a job to do. You finish the job properly and diligently. The Wanted One takes the result.



tick-tick-tick-tick...



Nothing happens after that. No further communication, no thanks, no payment, no respect. The channel is immediately cut off. You are Unperson again.

= = = = =

This episode illustrates what happens. Wimp comes over when Fibber is expecting an Important Lawyer who may offer a Big Deal. Fibber is clearly disappointed, starts to push Wimp away, then realizes he needs an extra thingamajig to serve as a witness for the transaction. Fibber stuffs Wimp into a cabinet and tells him to listen and remember. The Important Lawyer arrives and leaves. Fibber and Molly sit around afterward discussing the results. Suddenly Wimp starts knocking and shouting in the cabinet. Oh. I guess the Unperson thing is still there. Let it out and get rid of it.

This episode shows how to handle it. Wimp shows up and Fibber is disappointed as usual, then realizes he needs a helper to hold the front door while he reinstalls it. Wimp obediently carries the door; Fibber fails to tell him about the footstool; Wimp falls and busts his teeth. Fibber tries to repeat the action. This time Wimp says "I may be a sissy but I'm not a pigeon. You carry it."

Those writers had real empathy for all human types, and tried to give USEFUL advice to all types.

= = = = =

I wish this material had been around when I was younger. I dimly grasped the natural Unwanted/Wanted division around 1963. At that time TV was the only entertainment. Earlier radio programs were not available at all. TV had already settled into its post-Cohn mode of enforcing NYC rules. Everything was seen from the viewpoint of the Wanteds. Unwanteds appeared briefly, performed their appointed task, then disappeared.

TV imposes the lethal myth that anyone can be Wanted if they Do The Right Things and Use The Right Products. Result: confusion, depression, and sometimes suicide when you bump up against the hardass unchanging laws of genetics. This result is, of course, wanted by the Wanteds. When Unwanteds take themselves out, the Wanteds are spared the trouble and expense of prosecuting and executing the Creepy Lone Wolf Terrorist.

= = = = =

Later: An illustration in this morning's news.

Cruz is not a nerd or a sissy, but he's certainly Unwanted. He's the type Brits call a 'swot', a determined overserious grinder. I don't think there's an equivalent American word. In any case, none of his colleagues like him or want him around.

His convention speech showed how to handle it. By refusing to endorse Trump, he was saying "I'm not your pigeon. You carry it." He knows this won't make him Wanted because nothing will switch Unwanted to Wanted. He has saved his soul, and that's the only thing that counts in the end.

Few hours later (6:30 PST): Cruz gets literal. "I'm not your servile puppy dog."

Labels: defensible spaces, Emersonian justice, Grand Blueprint

  ¶ 2:58 AM