Cartoon 844: Great Marketing

At the turn of the previous century Americans were caught up in the majesty of the West. It was popularized through painting and later photo graphs. Soon the human element cropped up. First it was the lawlessness popularized in pulp fiction. Outlaw heroes were the center piece. One of my favorites is by a very popular 1930s western fiction author Zane Grey and his novel “Robbers Roost”.

The pulp fiction instilled the mystical idea of a free roving independent life of the cowboy. In reality their life was different. To eat they had to work and it was a time when strangers were not welcome. Strangers were viewed as robbers because of no visible means of support. Fresh in people’s minds were the horror of marauders after the Civil War.

Instead of being rovers they settled down working on farms for food and shelter. There was very little money about. When there was not enough work they moved on. It was a hard subsistent life. There was nothing glamorous about it.

If we had a time machine and went back to those times, we would find it exceedingly amazing that this life could be idealized. If we used the time machine and traveled in to our future, we might be equally amazed if today’s analog, the migrant worker, were idealized.