I Wonder

Things which make me wonder:

I have heard several commercials in recent weeks which seem to feed from our societal addiction to acronyms and miracle cures.  Most of these "conditions" have been well known for years, but apparently a catchy acronym was needed to sell a new drug(s)  which, if it doesn't kill you with the several dozens of side effects just might ease whatever the rest of mankind has just quietly suffered in silence for so long.

 The most recent was a commercial for the problem some individuals have exhibited when using opiates for pain management. while the issue has been around for about a century, we now have a catchy name  - OID! (opioid induced constipation. Why? So a drug company can name your symptoms, so you can then ask your Doctor to prescribe their new drug.  

In the same fashion, we have in the past several years, "catch-phrased" any number of long standing well known medical problems, each with its own "NEW DRUG" and (in smaller font) numerous side effects.

Movantik! (possible side effects, tears in the intestinal lining)

Relistor! (same side effects as above plus opiate withdrawal and diverticulitis)

Amitiza! (mood changes, swelling of limbs, problems breathing, nausea, vomiting, headache and trouble sleeping)

OR -  you could eat a diet higher in fiber and drink more water, add some olive oil to your diet, and maintain a healthy electrolyte balance - side effects - essentially none!

OR - you could break your opiod addiction!

Of course we have already seen  AFIB, PAD, etc. All with "new" treatments, all with "new" side effects, and all with names picked by advertising agencies to be catchy, easy to remember and easy to tell your doctor you want, not because you've done the research, but because you've seen the commercial.

Another thing I wonder about: Do pickup trucks  run better when their advertising has some sort of  semi-patriotic/cowboy/country song associated with them? Are they even better when the singer is obviously trying to reprise Bob Seger's "Like a Rock,"  but lacking that talent, simply screams raspy nonsense instead?  Also, why do all truck commercial voiceovers  sound like Sam Elliot? Does Sam even own a truck?  Does Bob  Seger?

A quickie: If you walk all the way around Vin Diesel, is he actually three dimensional, in contrast to his acting which exhibits only one?

Based solely on observation of local auto dealership TV advertising: Is it actually mandatory to use your children and /or your dog in your commercials? As a corollary to that issue, why doesn't someone, anyone, tell certain dealers that they  should consider paying professionals to do their commercials, vice doing  it themselves and speaking and looking like inbred hicks?

At what exact time in what exact motion picture  did some producer and/or director  have this idea? "I know, let's take the script and insert "fuck" every seventh word for every second adult in the cast?"  I think it was somewhere between Tropic Thunder, and "The Heat."  I loves me some Melissa McCarthy, but dang girl, we all know the word, you're  being scripted to use it as punctuation.  

It's not the word which I find offensive, it's the redundant gratuitous use of it. As an example of when it's funny, try Mel Brooks' "History of the World", where it's used exactly once (The Roman Senate scene) or Animal House where it is hilarious, as in "Hey, you fucked up; you trusted us!"  A classic example of the overuse of an individual swear word may also be found in the Southpark "Shit" episode.

 

I also wonder how Faux news viewers can complain about "liberal media bias"  when most of the ones I know freely acknowledge that they absolutely never watch any other news source than Fox. What is the sound of one hand clapping? How does one compare with only one example? Oh, but wait, I forgot - these persons are being told -  by Faux - of the dreaded liberal bias, so they are spared having to actually use critical analysis to make up their own minds. 

These and other conundrums make me wonder.