Cartoon Heroes

It began with a Twitter post several days ago.

"A lot of profiles in FB are turning into cartoon characters!"

The post didn't pique my curiosity at first. I was too floored reading juicy revelations from the Wikileaks. Julian Assange did a good job shaming the most powerful country in the world (at the expense of being jailed for his dirty disclosures) that to miss reading the gist of the diplomatic cables is tantamount to losing a cache of lessons in Global Politics.

It was only the following day that I did notice the change in Facebook. People had switched their profiles to cartoon characters.

There is a campaign going on right now. It says,

"Change your facebook profile picture to a cartoon from ur childhood and invite ur friends to do the same. Until monday (December 6) there should be no human faces on facebook, but an invasion of memories. This is for violence against children."

The idea sounds interesting, but the cynic in me called for a little spin. Instead of posting my favorite childhood cartoon character, why not put the picture of an "mature" heroine instead.

grind yer hips babe!

For those of you who don't know, Striperella was a TV series based on Pamela Anderson.  The superheroine/secret agent works as a stripper, while secretly protecting the city from capitalists dogs. She has a stockpile of special gadgets with questionable usefulness, but her intention to help others was clear from the start. The series was lame by geek standards, but what set it apart from other cartoons was its adult content.

I do not wish to spoil the fun and taunt the meme planners with a cartoon that represents everything they are against. So I picked another character which I find adorable.

when pigs fly

I know only a handful of people who watched Invader Zim on Nickolodeon. Zim was this annoying green alien sent by the almighty tallest (out of annoyance) to a backwater planet called Earth. He had a robot sidekick named GIR who disguised himself as a puppy. In the rest of the episodes, GIR served as a comic relief to the usually dark and twisted series.

Told Mami Athena what was happening on Facebook. I said it was fun seeing everyone changing their profiles to their favorite cartoon characters. "It was for a cause," I explained, but instead of getting an approval, she questioned the purpose of the campaign.

"How will the switch of profile stop deranged people from committing violent acts to kids?"  I was cornered.

"It might discourage individuals from turning violent to their own kids??"  It was a lame defense.

She apologized for being pragmatic but she has a point. A campaign will remain a campaign unless concrete actions are taken. Even when everyone on Facebook changes pictures to show their childhood character, unless new laws are passed, nothing will ever change.

"Sorry to say this kiddo, but you were duped to doing something that means nothing but pa-cute."   

Since the Patroness of Giggling Dogs doesn't have an FB account and my wish to catch up with everyone on social media has already defied my penchant for individuality, I went on to replace GIR with a cartoon superhero that best describes my childhood.

In the spirit of fun.

stand above the rest

We are what we're supposed to be
Illusions of your fantasy
All dots and lines that speak and say
What we do is what you wish to do

Aqua

Cartoon Heroes