Cults of Personality

I admit that I first heard Living Colour's song "Cult of Personality" as wrestler CM Punk's entrance music.  The song is about charismatic people who trick other people into following them, their charisma often masking their true identities as ruthless dictators.  The 20th century was awash in the cult of personality.  Here in the 21st century, a lot of people have decided that a much-maligned US president was destined to join the ranks of the cult of personality.  But the thing is, the US presidency is somewhat...immune from what Living Colour was singing about.  There're just too many checks and balances in place.  No matter how big the personality and no matter the character of the cult, the system keeps the president within reasonable confines.

But that doesn't mean the cult of personality has nothing to do with the presidency. 

I'm here to argue that the most surefire way to win the presidency is by cult of personality.  Simply put, the biggest personality invariably wins on election day.  It doesn't matter how the personality is defined.  The biggest, the best, the most easily defined personality wins.  I defy you to name an election outcome that contradicts this. 

Within living memory, Kennedy famously bested Nixon because he was better on camera, and a whole mythology soon followed, even if he became incredibly contentious, capped off by the assassination that has become his chief legacy.  Johnson (who in personality was pretty much exactly the equal of the current president, although media coverage greatly diverges) didn't have to worry about campaigning, since he essentially acted as Kennedy's surrogate until he decided he wouldn't run again, at which point Nixon no longer had a problem of rivals.  Then the Democrats found their next surrogate Kennedy (Carter, followed by Clinton, followed by Obama).  Republicans had a movie star(ish) in Reagan (H.W. Bush slipped in one term essentially riding his coattails), and then W. Bush won over a robot with a lockbox (and later, too late, an environmental messiah complex).

Reasonably, the current president had no real competition.  His rival in the election was the Clinton with no personality.  It'd've been a far different story if Clinton had run with Clinton (just imagine!).  Instead we have an endless bemoaning of the (latest) end of the world.  And yet, the presidency remains the same as ever, and...will anyone figure out how these elections are really won?

If history proves anything, no.  But campaigns can produce counterfeit cults.  Isn't that really the whole idea? 

We Bare Bears, Cupcake ATMs

Discovered We Bare Bears a little while back.  For anyone who's seen it, We Bare Bears becomes a cult-like obsession.  Grizz.  Pan Pan.  Ice Bear.  Mostly Ice Bear.

Anyway, so in one episode the bears temporarily (very temporarily) work at a cupcake ATM.  A cupcake ATM is something you find in the yuppy quarter of your average city.  (More on this in a bit.)  Basically it's a kind of vending machine for cupcakes.

I ended up finding a cupcake ATM here in sunny Tampa a few months back.  Last weekend I actually took the opportunity to have a cupcake from it. 

In the We Bare Bears episode, there's a ton of customization available.  At the Sprinkles cupcake ATM, there wasn't.  It was, as far as I could tell, just the flavoring of the frosting.  I don't know if cupcake ATMs simplified in the years since the cartoon version, or if the cartoon version was a horrible lie, or if the Sprinkles (that's the name of the yuppy bakery where you can also, y'know, go inside and order normal-style) cupcake ATM was itself limited in comparison.

The cupcake I got (black & white! like the cookie that made Seinfeld sick!) was delivered, as in the cartoon, in a box.  The (black & white!) frosting was great.  The cupcake was dry. 

Again, I don't know if that's standard.  I mean, cupcakes being kept in boxes, waiting to be ordered.  Not a lot of people using the cupcake ATM that day.  The novelty of it (and I'm a guy who loves novelties) was more than enough to interest me.  I saw some people taking pictures with it.  (The cupcake ATM, I mean.)  You kind of expect the cupcake to dry out.  Is everyone else okay with that?  I guess?  Yuppies like dry baked goods?  Or maybe that's why there wasn't a lot of actual business at this particular cupcake ATM?  I sat near it for at least an hour, waiting for a movie, reading Stephen King's The Langoliers.  (No crazy people tried to stab me due to vivid childhood trauma.)

Still, on the whole?  Ice Bear approves.

Replacing the last post that was last available as an update.

Gosh, the last time I actually posted here was a pretty depressing thought.  I started a new job soon after that and, rest assured, things have generally improved for me.

As for whether or not I begin blogging here again, I honestly don't know.  Even though it's my original blog, I began to associate it with negative thoughts and decided to sort of abandon it.  But my blogging here hasn't always been terribly frequent.  Maybe I'll just start doing random poetry and stuff here.  We'll see.