Entry 18:

You know, Doug, as I think about Skullbonia, I don't get much traction. It seems to fit into a concatenation of male aggro: heavy metal, skinheadism, the WWF, soccer hooliganism, stalk-and-slash movies, Mountain Dew (!). These kids are being marginalized--at least for a while--and people are making money from them. I'm not really upset as long as the kids stay dirty. It's when they shave and get into uniforms that I freak. Such anxiety is deep in displaced adolescent males, that's for sure. And it's been marketed for a while. You pick up the same racism and sexism and knuckleheadism in Punch and Judy shows, Grand Guignol plays, bear baiting, dog fighting--you name it, all the way back to "bread and circuses" of the Romans.

What's more interesting for me is, would this have been a story if the music park did not have such a great name? Whatdaya think? Would the Times have covered Springs of Dove Music Park if it had the same hi-jinks? Better yet, the expert source in the story comes from a very powerfully named group, the Southern Poverty Law Center. If you get a chance, you might take a look at the "Annotation" section of Harper's magazine for November 2000. Interesting piece called "The Church of Morris Dees: How the Southern Poverty Law Center Profits from Intolerance." It blew me away. About 10 years ago my wife gave them some money,  and they have been filling up the mailbox with the most never-ending direct mail marketing since.

So lemme have it, the political interpretation of commercialism.

Best,
Jim