1300 Sponge Bear

As you no doubt know, when we give animals or inanimate things human qualities it’s called anthropomorphism. We morph them into human-like beings. Sometimes it gets a little unsettling.
I recently saw something a kid had bought from an ice cream truck. It was square. It was on a popsicle stick. It was Sponge Bob Square Pants. I’m all for kids embracing cartoon heroes. Especially those with good moral values. But I’m not at all comfortable with kids eating them.
I’m okay with gummy bears and Pepperidge Farm fishes. But when you know the character, it gets a little, shall we say, cannibalistic. I remember liking cartoon characters when I was a kid. I don’t remember wanting to eat them.
Oh sure, Rocket J. Squirrel teased the taste genes of my Kentucky ancestry. And who wouldn’t like a big slice of Bullwinkle, but still. I don’t remember an ice cream made from Mighty Mouse. Or an Under-Hot-dog.
And Sponge Bob Square Pants ice cream is bad on so many different levels. Are we teaching kids to eat pants, or sponges?
I saw something even worse a couple of weeks ago. The town of McCleary had its annual Bear Festival. A fun community event, part of which is a gathering in the main park on the final day for traditional bear stew. Bear stew I can take or leave, but what was odd was the McCleary Bear Festival poster. It showed a big pot of bear stew, and stirring the stew was a smiling cartoon bear in a chef’s hat.
A bear stirring bear stew.
It was a little bit creepy. I wonder if his name was Hannibal.
I only hope the one in the pot wasn’t named Smokey.
America, ya gotta love it.