Wednesday, December 06, 2006

Thought of the day

If there is one thing I learned from Tom & Jerry cartoons as a child, it was from the episodes with the lesser-seen and probably unnamed dog. The dog would appear early on in the episode, probably having been roused from a midday nap by Tom chasing Jerry all over the house and adjoining yard. Then he would reappear just as Tom had caught Jerry to start chasing Tom around, thus saving Jerry from death by being eaten by Tom. Jerry would often end the episode by high-fiving the dog.

This taught me that "the enemy of my enemy is my friend", which is a remarkably nuanced and cynical life lesson to be soaking in when you're four years old, but so much the better.

If there are two things I learned from Tom & Jerry cartoons as a child, the second would be that being at the top of the food chain kicks ass.

Current Music: Marvin Gaye - Mercy Mercy Me (The Ecology)

2 comments:

Peter Lynn said...

Top of the food chain? Wait--do dogs eat cats?

Dickolas Wang said...

Good question. I asked Yahoo Answers, and didn't find an answer in either direction. I did, however, find that a very common question is "Why do dogs eat cat poop?"

Jowen and I both imagine that a hungry wolf would eat a cat. If dogs don't eat cats, then they're just kind of assholes, really, for keeping on chasing them around.

In any case, it's a useful metaphor.