Hello! Do you like vintage comics in which problems like communism, war, land mines, sex, gun safety, drugs and finally distance learning are addressed? In this case, have a look at http://www.ep.tc/problems. And as said, the problem of distance learning is addressed, too. See the issue http://www.ep.tc/problems/the-mailman.jpg Best regards, Mac Juli
That wasn't distance-learning-as-a-problem. That was distance-learning-as-a-solution. And in its original form, it was of course an AD - bought and paid for by ICS. Clever presentation - in comic form because it was aimed at relatively uneducated people who could benefit from a high school diploma or career-related program - people who would read comics, which were at their comfort level. I'm glad they're making a collection of it though. Maybe they should get a public service award? Some of the finest cartooning and comic art ever produced is in old-style correspondence school ads. Gone now. I miss it. Nowadays it's all sterile commercial art or degree-oriented, trying to look like the hallowed halls of Colleges and Universities - or space-age technical labs, depending on what they teach. Dull...
Hello! What disturbed me probably the most was the fact that Mickey Mouse used to be a dealer of something comparable as Meth in Africa - and Africa was depicted not quite accurately either. https://www.erowid.org/library/books_online/mickey_mouse_medicine_man/mickey_mouse_medicine_man.shtml *headdesk* Best regards, Mac Juli
Uh...yeah, I think so. I read it all. Why -did I miss something? Is the mailman the local meth dealer? Is he doing things he shouldn't with Mrs. Sholl - or, God forbid - Andy? I still can't see the problem here. The ad is simplistic but would find a home easily in the early 50s. The outcome looks 100% positive - Mr. Sholl gets a good job, Mrs Sholl is happy and no more fights for Andy. Ok - it doesn't always work that way - but nobody said it did.
Yeeah, it is of course distance-learning-as-a-solution; but it was presented among all the other highly problematic topics... https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/DontExplainTheJoke
I see what you mean - I never read this or any others besides the ICS ad. This is what happens when really dumb people (like the person who made the strip) take a bad idea and run with it. I can see how today people would think Peppo was something like meth - but I think it has its ancestry in the "tonics" available mostly in the Southern US since the 1920s (or earlier). The main ingredient in most was alcohol. I can remember one - "Old Doc Hinkley's" that was 96% - 192 proof - the strongest alcohol can be as it will always absorb 4% water from the air - or so my High School chemistry teacher told me in 1958. How do I know about these things? Blues History. Early Bluesmen worked in "Medicine Shows," where they performed for the crowd that showed up to hear the pitch and buy the "medicine." Later, these "medicines" were pitched by blues stars on their radio broadcasts - usually on Black stations like the famous WDIA in Memphis. B.B. King at one time promoted one called Pepticon and somebody famous - maybe Sonny Boy Williamson, I forget - promoted a competitor, called Hadacol. Or maybe I've got them backwards. Another famous Bluesman, Lightnin' Hopkins, made reference to a popular headache remedy in the 50s - BC powders. His line "I'd better take a BC - to take care of po' me" got laughs on one of his hits, from Southerners who were familiar with the powders. The racist and inaccurate depiction of Africa and Africans was stereotypical at the time - wouldn't have caused a ripple in white society and I doubt many cared about the reaction of others, back then. This is 60+ years ago - we were all racist as hell then - England, Canada, US - you name it. We tolerated everything. Sad but true. I was there.
Hello! Well, guess we got a case of value dissonance... https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/ValuesDissonance Best regards, Mac Juli
A minor one at most. The chemical composition of Peppo, perhaps. I think we're agreed on the main point - this thing is a racist and inaccurate depiction of Africa and Africans. Like they say on the page: "Across every period of Earth's history, just about anything has been or can potentially be justified, or at least rationalized."
Hello! True, we agree and we have agreed. I have meant that there is a value dissonance between them (the authors and audience in the 1950s) and us today. Best regards, Mac Juli
And early Blues Women -- many of them. I shouldn't leave that out. Another thing - it seems some of those "tonics" contained alcohol - others had narcotics / illegal drugs. So maybe "Peppo" was some kind of speed after all. IIRC, Benzedrine inhalers were pretty common, back then.
I remember that I have read that performance enhancing drugs were quite usual these days and available without prescription over the counter. Including all sorts of amphetamines, and yes, including Benzedrine. Dammit, I grew up in the 90s (born 1980), it seems I have missed something
WDIA "You could hear it all over the airwaves You could hear it all over the south Red hot and blue outta Memphis Music make you hush your mouth Maybe my mama knows something About that music they play She's the "Mother Station of Negroes," WDIA Blue hot Williams* is-a spinnin' them platters Johnny and his friends listen in His daddy, he'd like to stop 'em, keep the boy from livin' in sin. When kids come together through music The old folks don't know what to say. Johnny's got his ears on 1070 for WDIA WDIA It seems to his dad the whole world's changin' His music should take half the blame And now his boy's thrown down his law books Will music hurt the family name? Johnny grew up to be a musician, Leadin' a nine piece band Rockin' like the Duke covers Dixie Messed up his ol' daddy's plans. Drivin' late night after four sets The gas radio starts to play Johnny flicks the dial to 1070 for WDIA WDIA WDIA WDIA" (The Long Ryders) * "Blue Hot Williams" - I think this refers to "Professor" Nat. D. Williams - a popular WDIA personality, who held advanced degrees and was a full-time College Professor in Memphis. -J.
A memory slip - by me. Mr. Williams did hold Bachelor's and Master's degrees, but he was not a college professor. He taught in the Memphis High School system for 42 years. A remarkably accomplished man, as you can see here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nat_D._Williams
Hello! Johann, I think from your posts you may have a knack for languages. The site "Comics with problems" has even a comic to learn Cherokee: http://www.ep.tc/problems/37/01.html! Best regards, Mac Juli
Nice! I see they're using the standard Cherokee Alphabet - invented by one man -Sequoyah (George Gist) in the 19th Century. Among my couple of hundred books on Native Americans and Canadians, I have a couple on the Cherokee Nation, but I don't yet have one on their l anguage. I believe their language is an Iroquoian one, which puts it in the same family as Mohawk, Oneida, Onondaga, Cayuga and Seneca, which are spoken (to varying extents) around here - there is a Six Nations - Iroquois Reserve about 20 miles from my door. I've been there often and I also took some Mohawk Language classes at a local Native Centre a few years back. Learned some beadwork too. Very instructive indeed. The sixth Nation is the Tuscarora people - but I don't know how closely their language is related. I believe the first Tuscaroras arrived here after they were stripped of their ancestral lands in um... the Carolinas, I think. I'm not sure exactly when - possibly the 1790s. Natives here offered them a new home. Native peoples have an incredible amount of valuable cultural learning, which non-natives in general are completely unaware of. Nia:weh (Thanks, in Mohawk)
Amphetamines were around in the 90s - but you didn't miss any legal ones... Benzedrine inhalers were pretty common in the 1940s but were clamped down on later. Around 1948 in kindergarten, I can remember stealing my teacher's inhaler once in a while . . .
Yeah, right. I think I really lost it, there. Been reading too many mini-micro-MBA threads. Me go read a book now.
