AUGUST 30th - Killer Bunnies and Mean Girls



On this day in 1979, papers around the country broke the story of Jimmy Carter and the “killer rabbit.” That April, Carter, an avid fisherman, had been fishing in his farm pond in Plains, Georgia when he noticed something swimming swiftly toward his skiff. A wild animal bee-lining for your vessel would probably freak most people out. But the level of fear would also depend on exactly what beast is headed your way. An alligator. Or a snake. Even a snapping turtle. They would all elicit some panic. But a bunny? Not your typical animal to strike fear into the hearts of the public. The bunny in Donnie Darko kind of freaked me out, but that was a suit. When I think rabbits, I think Velveteen. Or Easter. Hardly life-threatening. So I understand why people would feel President Carter may have over reacted. Don't want the Leader of the Free World fearing a bunny. That it is if you believe the tale as it was presented. All Jimmy actually did was swat the thing away with his paddle. Perfectly normal reaction. Sure bunnies are cute, but who wants a wet, wild wabbit flopping around in his boat? But when Carter’s Press Secretary leaked the story things started to take a more sensational tone. At some point the bunny became a “killer rabbit” and President Carter became a bit of a laughing-stock. Much of that has to do with his presidency and popularity. But it also demonstrates just how much politics and the media are like high school. The stakes are a little higher, as I doubt whether the fact that Tina the Cheerleader slept with her boyfriend Tommy the Jock’s best friend Paulie the Burnout would ever have national or international ramifications. But the fact that a simple story about shooing a bunny away from a boat helped destroy a re-election campaign screams of some Regina George underhanded conniving. Makes you wonder who actually runs the country. And also why would a bunny want to get in a boat?

This Day has been Marked.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

AUGUST 22nd - Don't Drink the Kool-Aid

On this day in 1911, somebody working at the Louvre discovered that the Mona Lisa was missing. The previous day, a Monday--meaning the museum was closed to the public, Vincenzo Peruggia, a maintenance worker, brazenly walked out of the Louvre with what would eventually become the most famous painting in the world. Vincenzo basically sat on the painting for two years until he was caught trying to “return” it to his homeland of Italy in a misguided demonstration of Italian patriotism. The theft itself is quite interesting, mostly because of the lack of planning and preparation that went into it, but equally intriguing is the part it played in making the Mona Lisa so famous. Many historians feel that the painting reached new heights because it was stolen. It kind of makes sense in that whole “you don’t know what you’ve got till it’s gone" kind of way. Not that I would suggest staging a kidnapping to allow your significant other to realize how much he/she loves you, because that’s jus
Read more

AUGUST 23rd - History of the One-Way

Image
On this day in 1617, the idea of the one-way street was supposedly introduced in London in the alleys near the River Thames. I’m not sure why London was on the cutting edge of traffic direction, though Albemarle Street, which is acknowledged as the first one-way street, was designated as such because the scientific lectures given there in the early 1800s were so popular. Why wouldn't they be? I can’t really imagine why a one-way street in 1617 would be necessary, but then I can’t really imagine what London in 1617 was like at all. I’m fresh out of people to interview too. Unless the Highlander is real. Just as well. Interviews take a long time. And the person inevitably goes off on tangents. Look, I’m sure the story of how you “accidentally” ingested psychedelic mushrooms while trekking across the Pacific Northwest in your hippie days and met your first wife, Wind Lover, is an incredible story, but I merely asked if you were currently married. It’s a yes or no question. Without the
Read more

OCTOBER 23rd - A Blink of the Cosmic Eye

On this day in 1977, American paleontologist, Elso S. Barghoorn, announced the discovery of some algae microfossils, complete with some super-scientific name and some super-scientific qualifiers, that were 3.4 billion years old. In layman’s terms--really freaking old. Interestingly enough October 23 was also thought, for a long time, to be the day on which the Earth was created. In 1650, church leaders interpreted that the bible documents Earth’s creation on October 23, 4004 BC. Also a long time ago. Not quite the 3.4 billion years of the first life-forms, or the 4.5 billion years most scientist believe the Earth has been around for. So old Barghoorn may have been giving a little nod there, as in “I’ll take your 5700 years and raise you a few billion.” In any case, it shows that we are here but for a blink of the cosmic eye. Stuff has been around so long that if you really start to think about it, you start feeling like you are watching first 30 minutes of The Tree of Life and wonderi
Read more