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Yes, yes, yes, I know that children do not equal money (except, you know, statistically). It’s still funny, especially because these stickers drive me bonkers. “Look at me!” the stickers seem to shout. “I’m a cisgendered able-bodied person in a heteronormative socially-sanctioned relationship with an appropriately structured nuclear family unit! I feel the need to proclaim my privilege with a set of pseudo-personalized stickers, because my luxury minivan is not enough of a status signifier for the strangers driving past on the highway!” Of course, even in the comic version, man + woman = the norm, although I suspect that was chosen for contrast more than anything else (the comic would’ve been a different sort of commentary had the cartoonist chosen to swap out additional standard-issue family members).
It’s also funny because, every once in a while, when friends/acquaintances/coworkers email me unsolicited pictures of their children, I get the urge to respond with an unsolicited picture of my paycheck, or something equally inappropriate and totally unrelated to whatever it was we were emailing about. It’s one thing if I ask, “So, how are the kiddos?” and get a photo in response; it’s another thing entirely if we are discussing, say, the political climate in Uzbekistan and the response is something like:
“I don’t know about those Uzbeks, but aren’t my kids just too cute?!”
Yes. Your kids are cute. And so is my paycheck (zing!). But let’s have appropriate segues, okay? There’s no excuse for non-sequiturs in email communications.
I see your point, but I still think they're kinda cute. My kiddos like drawings/pictures of themselves, I imagine they'd love public sticker representations too.
ReplyDeleteTrue, true. And actually, now that I think about it, I suppose the same can be said about adults - we love pictures of ourselves! Or at least, the more narcissistic of us do. But the thing with these is they are meant to represent families, not individuals. Go peep the Sociological Images post, they explain it a lot better than I do.
ReplyDeleteStick figures have rights too, you know. The rear end of our car has a "country" sticker which is my husband's initials and a sticker ad for our favorite Italian restaurant.
ReplyDeleteI was talking with my husband today about how money has attained mythical status and is in fact the only thing left that people truly believe in.
Stick figure protest! They're signs could say something like "down with protests!"
ReplyDelete