I understand when someone does not pick up one of my many Simpson’s references. If that person is my age, they most likely had religious nuts for parents. As a thirteen-year-old, I was only permitted to watch the disrespectful antics of Bart Simpson because my parents were busy trying to reign in my older brother. And if I’m talking to an American considerably younger than myself, I acknowledge they were raised during a period of significant cultural decline. It’s not their fault they were stuck with shows like “Friends” or with movies like Episode I.
My larger concern is that our society is running out of viable means to connect with each other in meaningless conversation. (Forget meaningful matters; I gave up on that months ago.) I was chatting with a younger friend the other day. During the course of our conversation, she said the exact phrase, “blinded by the light.” Of course, I followed that up with “revved up like a deuce, another runner in the night.” I expected her to be impressed that I knew the actual lyrics. She was not. Instead, she merely looked at me like I had had a mini-seizure.
I made the determination to get younger with my next cultural reference. So, minutes later, when my friend mentioned that spending time with her family was her favorite stupid idea, I quickly followed with, “Oh? So you could say they are your favorite mistake?” This time she liked the coin of phrase, but still had no clue it was a reference to a song. Even after I asked her Echo device to play the song, she didn’t recognize it at all. (It was released in 1998! Okay, so that was still twenty-four years ago. I’m trying.)
What else was I to say? If I had referenced living it up while we’re going down, I’m positive she would have returned a blank stare. I could have quoted, “Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Wednesday…” but to no avail.
I suppose I could have attempted to steer the conversation toward a discussion on the flatness of the earth, but the internet claims that something like 90% of Americans believe the earth to be round! Russian troll farm anyone? I could have attempted something like, “Hey, how about that QAnon? Thank God that’s back, right?” But even that would have been risky. I read something the other day that said half of Americans don’t even think QAnon is really me. (I mean, of all the…I never.)
What is one to conversate about? “Did you hear about the record heat waves… (Forget that! The other person might think you’re alluding to climate change.) You bring up the price at the pumps, and there is a 78.3% chance the conversation gets political. We were all chatted out about the pandemic back in 2020. And stagflation has never been a solid conversation starter. With the increase in streaming services and the fragmentation and diversification of reading material, we’ll never experience a Harry Potter or even Lord of the Rings level cultural awareness phenomena ever again.
I suppose it’s time I surrender to the obvious truth. We’ve got nothing left except memes. If I say, “Ouch, that really hurt,” in a British accent, everyone knows that Charlie just bit me. Or you remember that one with the yammering twin toddlers? Of course you do. I’m mostly meme illiterate, and even I know about it. It’s time I face facts. It’s all we have left. The only surefire way to make a cultural reference that everyone will catch is to stoop to the lowest common denominator. That denominator used to be books. Then it was television. Now, Lord help us, it’s memes. May God have mercy on our souls.
If You Wish to Start Reading The Green Ones…
[Click here to start at the beginning.]
Thanks so much for taking the time to read these scenes of Boundaries, Season 2 of The Green Ones. I’ll be publishing FREE daily scenes from The Green Ones until…I die…or something terrible happens. Seriously, I’ve got over 100 scenes written so far, and I’ll be writing more until the story reaches its natural ending. You are totally welcome to read the entire story for FREE! If at any point you decide you would rather finish the story in ebook or print format, just click the buttons below and you can do that as well. If you enjoy reading the serial releases, BUT you would also like to support me as a writer (my kids need wine!) please subscribe to my premium content for bonus scenes, exclusives, and insider access to my process. And of course, I’d be grateful if you would share this post with any of your reader friends who you think would enjoy The Green Ones. Happy reading!