Order of the Bath
Europe has launched the Golgafrinchan Ark 'B'.
Welcome aboard, fellow telephone-sanitisers.
If you’re looking for an explanation of ‘Why?’, Douglas Adams nailed it thirty years ago in ‘The Hitch Hikers Guide to the Galaxy’: we are Europe’s ‘Ark B’.
Like much of Douglas Adam’s writing, it’s hilariously funny when you see them play it out, and very un-funny indeed when you realise that it strikes too close to home: so let me summarise the story.
Golgafrinchum is a magificent planet of philosphy, art, science and poetry, whose guiding geniuses discover that society consists of three distinct populations: the Thinkers - philosphers, scientists, artists, poets, Leaders; the Do-ers - farmers, engineers, skilled tradesmen and workers; and a useless ‘middle third’ of marketing excutives, management consultants, hairdressers, salesmen and telephone sanitisers.
The middle third are a drag on society and the Thinkers have a brilliant idea: start a series of scare stories - plagues, angry gods, giant mutant star goats - and there’s a co-ordinated media campaign insisting everybody has to leave…
Fast-forward to Book Two in the series.
…Our protagonists - the Hitch Hikers of the story - find themselves aboard Ark ‘B’, a giant space ship carrying a frozen hibernating cargo of millions of advertising executives, hairdressers, telephone sanitisers and salesmen; the ship is captained and crewed by blithering idiots and programmed to crash on arrival.
Oddly enough, nothing was ever heard of Ark ‘A’ and Ark ‘C’, carrying the Thinkers and the Do-ers: there are rumours that they were all wiped out by a virulent disease lurking on a dirty telephone.
I’ll ruin the story if I tell you where they are going to land.
It’s hilarious: read the book, Ark ‘B’ is one of many, many funny things in there; and it’s suddenly very unfunny when you recognise the crew and passengers of Brexit Britain.
Greetings, fellow telephone sanitisers, marketing executives, and bankers.
This is a copy of my post here, on Dreamwidth, which has
comments. OpenID will allow you to comment there from your LiveJournal session: contact me if you have problems.
Welcome aboard, fellow telephone-sanitisers.
If you’re looking for an explanation of ‘Why?’, Douglas Adams nailed it thirty years ago in ‘The Hitch Hikers Guide to the Galaxy’: we are Europe’s ‘Ark B’.
Like much of Douglas Adam’s writing, it’s hilariously funny when you see them play it out, and very un-funny indeed when you realise that it strikes too close to home: so let me summarise the story.
Golgafrinchum is a magificent planet of philosphy, art, science and poetry, whose guiding geniuses discover that society consists of three distinct populations: the Thinkers - philosphers, scientists, artists, poets, Leaders; the Do-ers - farmers, engineers, skilled tradesmen and workers; and a useless ‘middle third’ of marketing excutives, management consultants, hairdressers, salesmen and telephone sanitisers.
The middle third are a drag on society and the Thinkers have a brilliant idea: start a series of scare stories - plagues, angry gods, giant mutant star goats - and there’s a co-ordinated media campaign insisting everybody has to leave…
Fast-forward to Book Two in the series.
…Our protagonists - the Hitch Hikers of the story - find themselves aboard Ark ‘B’, a giant space ship carrying a frozen hibernating cargo of millions of advertising executives, hairdressers, telephone sanitisers and salesmen; the ship is captained and crewed by blithering idiots and programmed to crash on arrival.
Oddly enough, nothing was ever heard of Ark ‘A’ and Ark ‘C’, carrying the Thinkers and the Do-ers: there are rumours that they were all wiped out by a virulent disease lurking on a dirty telephone.
I’ll ruin the story if I tell you where they are going to land.
It’s hilarious: read the book, Ark ‘B’ is one of many, many funny things in there; and it’s suddenly very unfunny when you recognise the crew and passengers of Brexit Britain.
Greetings, fellow telephone sanitisers, marketing executives, and bankers.
This is a copy of my post here, on Dreamwidth, which has
comments. OpenID will allow you to comment there from your LiveJournal session: contact me if you have problems.