Watney's party seven
It's a bit of a dreadful admission, but once or twice in the mid seventies I wandered into the newsagents can came back out with comics about freaks in pervert-suits. Two things remain in my head about those things. One is the number and nature of the adverts attempting to persuade small boys to buy boxes of cards (The number and nature of the cards in the box was never specified) which they could sell to other people and thereby claim the sorts of things that appeared to appeal to seventies American boys: X-Ray watches, five-wheeled bicycles or hats with legs.
From this I deduced several things: In America, everyone is taught to sell useless things to everyone else they know from the moment they can walk under their own power. Success is measured in the amount of useless tat you can foist on other people, and you are rewarded with bizarre objects that have a subtext of Manliness (the rubbish version thereof that involves hitting people and shooting things). Women are either chattels or attracted only to men who can kick sand accurately.
The other thing that stuck in my head is 'Grit'. No-one I have spoken to since has any idea about it.
From this I deduced several things: In America, everyone is taught to sell useless things to everyone else they know from the moment they can walk under their own power. Success is measured in the amount of useless tat you can foist on other people, and you are rewarded with bizarre objects that have a subtext of Manliness (the rubbish version thereof that involves hitting people and shooting things). Women are either chattels or attracted only to men who can kick sand accurately.
The other thing that stuck in my head is 'Grit'. No-one I have spoken to since has any idea about it.