We hear the word all the time. "Clueless". According to Merriam Webster:
Full Definition of CLUELESS
1: having or providing no clue (a clueless case for the police to solve)
2: completely or hopelessly bewildered, unaware, ignorant, or foolish (clueless about what they want)
Often, we misuse the word to describe people who simply refuse to know or believe something. Example: Most Republicans are clueless about climate change.
Nope, they're not. They simply prefer campaign cash, partisan approval, and other benefits they get from the pretense of cluelessness. We do them a favor by going along with the ruse they're trying to sell.
Join me under the cheese curl for a very old example of real cluelessness that will bring a smile.
But First, A Word From Our Sponsor:
Top Comments recognizes the previous day's Top Mojo and strives to promote each day's outstanding comments through nominations made by Kossacks like you. Please send comments (before 9:30pm ET) by email to topcomments@gmail.com or by our KosMail message board. Just click on the Spinning Top™ to make a submission. Look for the Spinning Top™ to pop up in diaries posts around Daily Kos.
Make sure that you include the direct link to the comment (the URL), which is available by clicking on that comment's date/time. Please let us know your Daily Kos user name if you use email so we can credit you properly. If you send a writeup with the link, we can include that as well. The diarist poster reserves the right to edit all content.
Please come in. You're invited to make yourself at home! Join us beneath the doodle...
|
Decades ago The Lawrence Welk Show (yes, I'm going there) realized that their gray-haired audience wasn't going to get any larger. To expand more viewers, they tried to attract younger people (or prevent the inevitable dismay when parents and grandparents tuned in to view the show) by adding some popular music to their program.
One of those popular music choices became an incredible embarrassment because they were truly clueless.
I'm sure they thought it was a modern spiritual, but the Brewer and Shipley hit, One Toke Over the Line, was anything but that. It was, in fact, a song about smoking marijuana.
Let me take you back to 1971 to watch a true example of "cluelessness" (make sure to listen to the introduction and Welks comment after the song):
For this uber-conservative show jam packed with religion, patriotic jingoism and symbols, and what they promoted as small-town family values, the reaction to what they thought was a gospel song must have been shocking. It seems that they didn't realize what the song was about (actually clueless), but liked the catchy tune as well as the Jesus and Mary references. Most of all, they probably loved the fact that it didn't sound like that godless rock and roll music.
This was a show that was so old-fashioned conservative that none of the Lennon Sisters was ever shown below the shoulders when they were "in the family way". Apparently, seeing a pregnant woman was considered too much for their audience. Viewers always knew there was a "bun in the oven" when one or more of them were carefully hidden behind fences, bushes, or some other obstacle when they performed on the show. And there was always at least one of them "hidden" every single week since those 4 sisters were literally baby-making machines.
Laughable, yes, for us without a head full of gray or graying hair. But the old folks just ate it up and faithfully tuned in week after week. The show was so popular that Welk took the show into syndication after network cancellation. It became a mainstay on independent television stations and reruns are still available in most television markets.
Enjoy your leap back in time for a moment of real cluelessness. Use that word carefully in the future.
And now, for what you REALLY came for: Top Comments, Top Mojo, and the Picture Quilt.
How incredible is this? For an explanation of How Top Mojo Works, see mik's
FAQing Top Mojo
Top Pictures for yesterday. Click any image to be taken to the full comment. Thank you jotter for the awesome image magic!
Could use a few more pooties, but I thought there would be more Leprechauns for sure.