[dumbunny]

My Tivo missed this one for some reason. Thankfully CN shows replays.

Another episode early last month was titled "The Itis" when it was a different episode, so your TiVo may have thought this one was a repeat.

I thought this episode was brilliant. It compared two social ills, added historical context, and then cleverly tied it to a Dr. Seuss cautionary tale. It was all really well done.

 

[dumbunny]

Care to expand on that issue? Thanks...

Sure. The tale is "The Lorax." Its narrative voice is "The Once-ler," who ruined a once-beautiful planet with his industrial, capitalistic greed. In "The Itis," Ed Wuncler (pronounced the same) wants to buy the land that the park is on at a low price, so he uses Grandad's restaurant to dilapidate the neighborhood.

Neither character is actively malicious; they simply choose not to care. This is a key point, since a malicious Wuncler (ie. a CIA program to introduce crack to the inner city, yadda yadda) would be too divisive -- it would dilute the message of personal responsibility that McGruder wants to promote.

 

[dumbunny]

The wife told me once that many races of color are more susceptible to the effects of a high saturated fat diet than caucasians. In college I averaged about 2 burgers a day, and I was constantly falling asleep in my afternoon math/science classes. I know now that heavy food wipes me out, but at the time ... I don't remember whether I fully realized it or not, but it sure would have been nice to have avoided those foods. The Itis can knock a guy right out of college if he's not careful.