![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
choco_froshA couple of weeks ago, Grace brought home several boxes of Girl Scout Cookies. Very welcome, but it got me thinking that they’re a very odd institution.
Institution is indeed the word. They were a part of my childhood: one of the very few non-homemade baked goods I consumed. As such, my brother and I viewed them as unambiguously Of The Good.
Now, of course, I’m much more ambivalent. I’m not going to get into the whole issue of the economics of Girl Scout Cookies. I’m more going to reflect that it’s odd that they should be marketed by Girl Scouts.
Here, an outsider would think, is an organization that, if any, would be devoted to old-fashioned American values like thrift, self-reliance and baked goods. And not Giving In to The Man.*
But no. GSC’s are mass-produced, bearing only a token resemblance to normal baked goods; and, certain rumors to the contrary, girl scouts are not involved in the production process in any way. They are, unquestionably, produced by The Man.
Surely, if we are to have progress in this country, we need to teach our young people to stand on their own feet, and bake their own cookies. Fight the Man! With cookies!
Of course, having the cookie-baking done by girls is not exactly progressive, either. I would therefore like to propose: Boy Scout Cookies! Made locally by real boy scouts, from all-natural ingredients. Other baked goods available on request.
[Boy Scouts of America does not condone the inclusion of controlled substances, wildlife, or cub scouts in their products.]
Ahem. The second odd thing about Girl Scout Cookies…
…is that even within the present definition, they mean different things to different people.
For both Grace and me, they are part of our childhood; but for her, the term evokes Samoas, whereas for me, GSC’s=Thin Mints. It’s an odd cultural phenomenon.
Also: what’s up with naming them after obscure South Pacific ethnic groups? Now I’m wondering whether there’s some obscure island group near Tonga called the Timmint archipelago.
* The Man in general, that is. Not![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
sen_no_ongaku
Institution is indeed the word. They were a part of my childhood: one of the very few non-homemade baked goods I consumed. As such, my brother and I viewed them as unambiguously Of The Good.
Now, of course, I’m much more ambivalent. I’m not going to get into the whole issue of the economics of Girl Scout Cookies. I’m more going to reflect that it’s odd that they should be marketed by Girl Scouts.
Here, an outsider would think, is an organization that, if any, would be devoted to old-fashioned American values like thrift, self-reliance and baked goods. And not Giving In to The Man.*
But no. GSC’s are mass-produced, bearing only a token resemblance to normal baked goods; and, certain rumors to the contrary, girl scouts are not involved in the production process in any way. They are, unquestionably, produced by The Man.
Surely, if we are to have progress in this country, we need to teach our young people to stand on their own feet, and bake their own cookies. Fight the Man! With cookies!
Of course, having the cookie-baking done by girls is not exactly progressive, either. I would therefore like to propose: Boy Scout Cookies! Made locally by real boy scouts, from all-natural ingredients. Other baked goods available on request.
[Boy Scouts of America does not condone the inclusion of controlled substances, wildlife, or cub scouts in their products.]
Ahem. The second odd thing about Girl Scout Cookies…
…is that even within the present definition, they mean different things to different people.
For both Grace and me, they are part of our childhood; but for her, the term evokes Samoas, whereas for me, GSC’s=Thin Mints. It’s an odd cultural phenomenon.
Also: what’s up with naming them after obscure South Pacific ethnic groups? Now I’m wondering whether there’s some obscure island group near Tonga called the Timmint archipelago.
* The Man in general, that is. Not
sen_no_ongaku
no subject
Date: 2007-03-23 01:38 pm (UTC)Now I'm realizing they pretty much all taste of petroleum byproducts.
-g