Is There A Little Bennie In Your Future?People have a fascination with the grotesque. To be taken out of one's comfort zone has been a high priority among the human race for thousands of years. This can go a long way to explaining the popularity of things such as roller coasters, bungee jumping, horror films and Jesse Helms. This brings us to the subject of Side Shows. Years ago there were several travelling Side Shows criss-crossing this great nation of ours, bringing the locals a taste of the unusual, the bizarre, the freaks, geeks, and other outlandish wonders from around the world. In the years before television reduced our collective attention spans to that of a lobotomized chipmunk with A.D.D; Side Shows were riveting people to their seats and making them squirm. Over the ensuing decades, in our politically correct times, the grotesqueries of the side show fell into disfavor. We had to have our entertainment as slick and sanitaized as Mr. Clean's ® shiny dome. |
