Excisions: 5 (Happiness)

I mentioned in a couple of previous posts that I decided to excise a number of the memes that were going to be part of my book. It was sufficient for a meme to be excluded that I did not envisage being able to write anything of interest (to me) in the commentary on it. I have now set myself the goal of posting the excised memes here, in an occasional series, and trying to write something of interest (to me) about them, thus proving my decision to exclude them mistaken! Also, in this parergonal space around the book, I will write about the memes without the pretense that their maker is someone other than myself. I am curious to see how this affects the nature of my writing about the memes.

Look, I apologize in advance. OK? I mean, what else can I do? I’ve been writing this series of blog posts on memes I decided to cut out of the book, trying (perversely) to make a case for their inclusion. I’ve done four so far and I think I’ve been pretty successful at finding something of interest to say about them, some way in which they could have contributed to the book had they stayed in after all. And then I get to this clunker! I just can’t even! It’s awful and there is nothing to do with it here, nothing to be made of it. And as a result, I’ve ground to a halt on the whole Excisions series. Coz I can’t just skip it. I have to have a shot with all of them, in the proper order.

So, this is just an obstacle. I have to get round it, or over it, or through it. If the meme had stayed in the book, what could I have possibly written about it?

Well, there’s the obvious hatefulness of the whole “happiness is a choice” shtick. No! Happiness is not a choice! The concept of choice is used as a shtick to beat people over the head with. How Robin deserves that slap! Who could even? Not Batman.

And the other reason for the meme, that up-to-the-minute (as it was already probably not, even three years ago) expression “I can’t even!” It’s fine, but a distraction from the tone and the milieu of the Batman Meme Project. How did I even?

Well, that sucked!