It's not that Blue cities are hostile to "moral values," it's just that their "moral values" are hostile.
Even when couched in seemingly unassailable post-ironic "humor."
From gift postcards and refrigerator magnets at a trendy boutique in Seattle's oh-so-fashionable Fremont neighborhood, consider these incisive takes on men (those pigs!), relationships, family and home.
*"She knew how to please a man, but mostly she chose not to."
*(Accompanying a picture of a woman with four parakeets perched on her shoulders and arms). "She didn't need a man - she had all the peckers she could handle." (Just brilliant).
So....that about covers men. Now, mothers.
*I saw my mother yesterday...Thank God she didn't see me." (At least this one acknowledges the existence of God).
Hearth, home and family.
*"I have a kitchen because it came with the house."
*"I take my children everywhere. But they keep finding their way back home."
Dear me, yes. Children are quite bothersome that way. If only we could push them into the ocean on melting ice floes, as Eskimos do with their aged.
Posted by Matt Rosenberg at November 23, 2004 09:04 AM
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I myself would never purchase such silly postcards/magnets. I'm not terribly offended by them, but their tone does tend to rub me the wrong way.
However, I don't think that these messages are unique to blue cities or even cities in general. In fact, I associate these types of "humorous" messages more with annoying plaques and signs that you can buy in country stores throughout the mid-west. "Hilarious" things like:
"Wife and hunting dog missing.
REWARD FOR DOG"
I think there is a whole class of people who find this type of thing funny. But I don't think it is a red or blue issue. I know both liberals and conservatives who like such things. I personaly think they are stupid (the signs, not the people).
Posted by: Andy at November 23, 2004 10:47 AMI think you have a point on the commercialized spousal gibes cutting across political lines, but I think kitchens and children (perhaps in that order, admittedly) are a bit more revered in the Vast Heartland.
A more serious point is that in Blue urban enclaves, the joking, "who needs a man" shtik reinforces a troubling reality of smaller and no families, and increasingly "childless cities" such as SF and Seattle, where the increasingly atomized social mileu undermines traditional notions of community.
Posted by: Matt R. at November 23, 2004 10:59 AM