Print This Post
The Effects of Inflation on the Holidays
October 14, 2007
I don’t know what you feel about the issue, but this man clearly had strong emotions:
Man attacks inflatable ghosts, pumpkin
Fri Oct 12, 10:16 PM ET
A woman says a neighbor attacked her inflatable Halloween lawn display of three ghosts and a giant pumpkin, then apparently smashed his head through her window in a fit of rage.
State Police said officers found a drunken John Odee, 43, inside Dawn Garcia’s house in the Hudson Valley town of Lloyd on Thursday night, arrested him after a brief struggle and charged him with burglary.
Garcia told the Middletown Times Herald-Record she heard hollering and swearing and looked outside to see Odee struggling with the giant pumpkin. “He was enraged. I could see that,” she said.
When she yelled at him to go away, Odee charged the house. She fled through the back door with three of her children and heard window glass breaking. She called 911 from another neighbor’s house. Police said Odee used his head to smash a window to get in.
“What made him do that, I don’t know,” Garcia said. “We had the same decoration up last year and it didn’t bother him.”
Odee was being held at Ulster County Jail in lieu of $25,000 bail Friday night. A corrections officer said inmates could not come to the phone. The officer did not know if Odee had an attorney.
Lloyd is about 90 miles north of New York City.
I understand that during the Winter Holiday season (PC Alert!) people tend to go overboard. There is almost an expectation of tackiness and a reward for the person with the most lavish of tackiness.
Neighborhoods get together and decide they will all spend huge sums on decorations and on electricity just so that others can drive by and say “oh my gosh.” It is a small reward for so much work, but I have a basic understanding of the logic behind it.
But what is with the new trend to decorate lawns with huge inflatable decorations for any holiday? Is there anyone out there who has thought to themselves, “I just can’t get into the holiday spirit. If only I would see a huge inflatable figure in my neighbor’s lawn, then I would be in the right frame of mind.”
I would say that this is clearly a case of the tyranny of the few on the many. This is a phenomenon of a free society. I would ask my readers in other societies, especially ones with less freedoms that in the US of A, if they have this type of problem. Is bad taste tolerated? Is demonstrative activity like this tolerated with the shake of a head, or is it dealt with (as the man in the story clearly tried to do)?
I doubt there are giant blow-up figures of Chairman Mao in people’s lawns in China on their holidays. Yet we get huge depictions of Uncle Sam.
Do Hindus or Muslims allow huge blow-up figures of religious items on their neighbors’ lawns as we do in both Christian and Jewish themes?
I would ask my psychiatricly trained readers to explain to me what is the inner struggle of someone who would put a giant turkey on their lawn. Are the people who mix religious and cultural metaphors struggling inside? Is Santa and Nascar on your lawn a sign of a personality disorder, or just of low IQ?
Finally, I would call on any epidemiologists out there to start a study of the use of such ornaments and the possible correlation with an insect-bourne encephalitis. It may be the only logical explanation.
So here is to you, Mr. Odee. Yes, you were a drunken idiot when you did it, but you lived out the fantasy of many of us. Yes, you stuck your head through glass and you are going to pay a large fine, but you will forever stand as an icon to those of us who are far less mystified than the Garcia family as to the true rancor these objects cause.
Perhaps one day we will all inflate a giant figure of Mr. Odee in our lawns to commemorate this day.
(2 votes, average: 5 out of 5)
Loading ...
Posted in Humor, Personal Musings
Loading ...
content rss
October 14th, 2007 at 1:45 pm
There are folks who don’t appreciate subtlety. They would never concede that “less is more”. Nor would they get the subtle humor and wit that Rob, Zoo, Sid, and others on this blog demonstrate. So, perhaps, to them the blimpy lawn ornamentation is expression of their sense of humor. Not witty nor subtle, but garish.
There are neighbors who don’t know their neighbors and who don’t communicate very much in the ‘hood, except by these seasonal decorations. They are trying to say something to passers-by or to neighbors. The message isn’t all that clear to me.
Dr. Rob seems to believe that they are saying they are getting themselves in the mood to celebrate a holiday . . . and an outward show of some kind of symbolism is in order.
Third, I always wonder at the Amish, who are no-frills. Not even any flowers to border their walks in the summertime . . . No decorations. Plain. No extravagances. Just the basics. Just the facts. (Or maybe their interior celebrations are lavish, but the English will never know.) I wonder at the contrast.
I admit to liking a lighted tree, a single candle in each window or perhaps a row of luminaria down a long driveway at Christmastime. My favorite Christmas card is the lion lying with the lamb . . .
The (most) genuine symbolism is a problem,yes.
If someone collected the money spent on the decorations in the neighborhood, another uninsured person could have a basic health insurance plan, I’ll betcha.
October 14th, 2007 at 1:52 pm
Gosh - Very well put, CAK. I have to say that I agree with your statements and I had not thought of this being a “garish sense of humor.”
Regarding the Amish, I do think there is balance to celebration and restraint, of which we only know the balance ourselves. The problem I have with these people and their lawn decorations is that it is not just a case of personal expression, it is a case of doing so in a way that your neighbors must see and deal with in a major way all of the time. It is not about subtlety, it is about consideration, to some extent.
October 14th, 2007 at 4:26 pm
I would have to say it depends on the specific circumstances. Perhaps some of these folks with the 30 foot tall inflatable vampire Tigger in their front yard have a 5 year old demanding its presence and they just can’t say no to his adorable little scrunched up face. Or perhaps they are morons. Maybe both.
I can’t say it bothers me too much right now, and I am surrounded by such monstrosities in my upper middle class suburban neighborhood where the only thing people want to know about you are which subdivision you are in, what you do for a living(I usually tell them I’m in the escort arrangement business and walk away) and where you go to church. The reason I’m presently okay with these behemoths is that they never fail to make my daughter laugh with both delight and glee. And it is quite pleasing to hear my daughter break out into an unaccompanied part song for three or more voices, popular especially in the 18th century.
October 14th, 2007 at 4:31 pm
Hogwash! I can’t say too much right now but I am presently working on a story on this very subject. I can reveal that there is nothing benign about these creations and the jabberwocky that fools like this Clay Jones fellow come up with to rationalize their existence. I smell a rat, a great big Hallmark rat. I’ve said too much…..
October 14th, 2007 at 6:30 pm
What a bunch of Scrooges! Technology has improved, since the 50’s people! We now have the ability to have inflatable figures on our lawns. I wouldn’t waste my money on it, but live and let live. I remember when they invented glasswax for windows. It was the newest and best way to decorate.
Lets not forget that the drunken neighbor was drunk. On another occasion it might have been her rose bushes he attacked. Bless you all.
October 14th, 2007 at 6:45 pm
Humbug. I think that people have the right to do it; I just don’t want to be their neighbor. I have just as much right to hate the fact that these giant inflatable things are strewn over lawns in my neighborhood.
October 14th, 2007 at 8:48 pm
Rob,
I’d keep that kind of talk to a minimum if you know what is good for you. Hallmark may be monitoring these comments. Dern, I’ve once again said too much…..
October 15th, 2007 at 12:52 am
Put his head through the window… Hmm. Must be a surgeon. Saving his hands….
I can handle most pumpkins, but some of them really piss me off.
October 15th, 2007 at 7:35 am
Oh, I dont care what kind of decorations people put in their laws. I get just as frustrated seeing all these political signs in peoples yards. I mean do they think that just because they want Joe Blow for city councilman that to display a hugh sign in their yard, is going to make me run right out and vote for the guy?
I can deal a lot easier with a neighbor who puts things in their yards that make children smile and laugh, than what I could handle having a violent crazy drunk for a neighbor.
October 27th, 2007 at 8:20 pm
I am not crazy about them but they do bring smiles to children and some adults too. OK, I’ll admit that I did recently chuckle at a funny inflatable pumpkin. I honestly would rather see the happy things then the hideous death scenes some people think is awesome to fill their yards up with for Halloween. Maybe I am a killjoy but I like things that represent life and not death.
I do love Christmas lights and enjoy looking at how people decorate. We do white lites on the bushes out front and on a pine tree and wreaths on the doors with garland on our split rail fence with red bows. Also single white candles in the windows. Also because older son loved March of the Wooden Soldiers we have a couple of plastic wooden soldiers by one of the doorways.
Ever read John Grisham’s book called “Skipping Christmas”? Hilarious!
Imagine the energy that would be saved if no one used Christmas lites.
I remember when people didn’t decorate until the middle of December or later and now some start before Thanksgiving.