You Suck at Craigslist

YSaC, Vol. 447: Does this make Mickey the philosopher king?

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drmk

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Can of Plato toys! – $3

Lots of different little plato toys!

447a447b

Plato toys! Hooray! Finally, a way to teach children about one of the world’s greatest philosophers!

The toys obviously represent Plato’s virtues: justice, wisdom, courage, and moderation. (I’m going to guess that the dog doesn’t represent wisdom — it doesn’t look too bright.)

That would mean that the tin is Plato’s cave — which is particularly apropos, given that the point of Plato’s cave allegory is that the world of sensible objects is impermanent; what’s more impermanent than Play-Doh? (Unless you leave it out and let it harden.)

Thanks for the submission, pointyjess!

Comments

56 responses to “YSaC, Vol. 447: Does this make Mickey the philosopher king?”

  1. Yuan Chengzhi Avatar
    Yuan Chengzhi

    There is, of course, a Dutch toy company with this name, but I’m not sure these are their toys…

  2. neverfirst Avatar
    neverfirst

    Just think, these toys might have been played with by Socrates, Plato’s teacher. Why didn’t Plato save these to hand down to Aristotle and then to Aristotle’s pupil, Alexander the Great. Imagine what they would have brought then. Maybe $3.25.

  3. kelli Avatar
    kelli

    This would go great with my Roger Bacon bits, Thomas Hobbes horse, Kierkegaard dog, and bobby Socrates

    1. mudslicker Avatar
      mudslicker

      I like the concept of Kevin Bacon bits SO much better…hehe…

      See, I said there was a Kevin Bacon joke in there somewhere! *smirk*

      1. lareina Avatar
        lareina

        If you hit ‘pause’ at the right places on the ‘Hollow Man’ DVD, you can actually get a very decent look at Kevin Bacon’s bits.

        ….or so I hear, anyway.

        1. Meredith Avatar
          Meredith

          Ewww, no…if you like the whole “minus the epidermus” thing, then yes, you can see Bacon bits…but it’s all the muscley, veiny, blood flowing part.

          And it looks like the mini size.

      2. Tacomagic Avatar
        Tacomagic

        6 Degrees of Kevin Bacon to Plato:

        Plato was from Greece
        Milton Katselas’ parents was also from Greece
        Milton Katselas Trained George Clooney
        George Clooney was in “Oceans 11” with Brad Pitt
        Brad Pitt was in “Sleepers” with Kevin Bacon

        Hah!

        1. mudslicker Avatar
          mudslicker

          You make the mind boggle Tm…kudos!

    2. lost_compass Avatar
      lost_compass

      I’m glad to see you didn’t put Descartes before the horse.

      1. dan Avatar
        dan

        Ow.

      2. lareina Avatar
        lareina

        Ba-dum-bump tsshhh.

    3. LurkRealClose Avatar
      LurkRealClose

      Don’t forget Schrödinger’s cat. Except when it’s not there, of course.

      1. kelli Avatar
        kelli

        I no longer have Schrodinger’s cat. I opened the box.

  4. mudslicker Avatar
    mudslicker

    I’m not sure Plato really had the kinks on the concept of *plastic* worked out in his Theory of Forms.

    But I do believe there is a Kevin Bacon joke in there somewhere.

  5. Tacomagic Avatar
    Tacomagic

    So I’m guessing these are leftover from an experiement where a child was chained to a wall and only allowed to see the world around them as depicted by these toys…

    That child of course later went on to become Gumby.

    1. Dave and Ferret Tribe Avatar
      Dave and Ferret Tribe

      That child of course later went on to become Gumby a politician.

      FIFY.

  6. Irregular Fractal Avatar
    Irregular Fractal

    Funny, I was thinking they’d look something like this.

  7. PrincessLuceval Avatar
    PrincessLuceval

    “Death is not the worst that can happen to men,” said Plato. Having one’s name mixed up with modeling clay may be worse.

  8. Colleen in MA Avatar
    Colleen in MA

    If those toys are thrown around in a forest and there’s no one around to hear them, will they make a sound?

  9. Lo W. Avatar
    Lo W.

    If these are the Plato toys, I’m curious to see the Nietzsche and Sartre toys, particularly Nietzsche’s “God is dead” action figures and the Sartre and Simone de Beauvoir existentialism house (like the Barbie Dream House, except in France, and less pink, I’m guessing).

    1. dan Avatar
      dan

      The Sartre toys are just an empty, grey box. There are no toys.

      Then later, you die.

      1. jackie31337 Avatar
        jackie31337

        That reminds me of a joke: Why did the French existentialist chicken cross the road?

        To die. In the rain. Alone.

  10. MoxieHart Avatar
    MoxieHart

    That pink toy in the upper left corner kind of looks like Baby’s First Bong.

    1. Lo W. Avatar
      Lo W.

      Your mind is cleaner than mine. I was afraid it was a junior “marital aid”.

      1. Isaac Avatar
        Isaac

        … quite the interesting new twist on the old Play-Doh Fun Pumper, Lola…

        Or was that not the name of the toy? (Preliminary Google-fu suggests that my memory may be faulty.)

  11. LurkRealClose Avatar
    LurkRealClose

    Assuming these are actually Play-Doh toys, when did Play-Doh start needing toys? When I was a kid, Play-Doh just sat there and waited for me to do something with it. It didn’t need toys to entertain itself.

    Harumph. Kids, today. *shakes head*

    1. neverfirst Avatar
      neverfirst

      Wow, old person. I have a 20 year old kid and they had Play-doh toys back then. And what about the Play-doh extruder -I’m pretty sure I had one in the early seventies. Play-doh doesn’t need to wait for anyone – Play-doh has an entourage.

      1. nix.skrib Avatar
        nix.skrib

        Hey!
        I’m in high school and have no concept of Play-doh toys.
        Then again we made out own Play-doh.
        And only watched PBS as children.
        I don’t see where along that line I would’ve been introduced to the toys for a product that we made at home.

    2. Lo W. Avatar
      Lo W.

      We played with the Play-doh barbershop (Play-doh hair grows out of their heads! then you cut it off! clamp the hair in a mold for styling! etc.) in the late ’70s. Play-doh has had an entourage and accessories for longer than I want to think I’ve been alive.

      1. LurkRealClose Avatar
        LurkRealClose

        Perhaps I am not old so much as my parents were cheap. Think of all the fun I could have had with Play-doh toys. Oh, the humanity.

        1. nix.skrib Avatar
          nix.skrib

          Think of all the lead you could’ve ingested from chewing on your Play-doh toys from China.
          What a deprived childhood.

      2. SoundsLikeVla Avatar
        SoundsLikeVla

        I liked to pretend the “hair” was brain ooze that I was squeezing from that weird girl doll’s head and the mold that pressed her hair into a “set” was a brain suction device…but I wasn’t ever a “normal” girl (as my mother often lamented). (And yes, I had these toys about 26 years ago.)

    3. Meredith Avatar
      Meredith

      Um, hello!!!!! The Play-doh flower basket, remember people?

      “A tisket
      A tasket
      A flower making basket”

      TELL ME you have this rumbling around the recesses of your brain. You just forgot what it was singing about.

      1. Steven Avatar
        Steven

        I had managed to get it out of my mind years ago. Thanks putting it back.

  12. Norm Walter Breck Avatar
    Norm Walter Breck

    I wonder if the converse has ever occurred– a parent of a young child excitedly responding to a craiglist ad offering a “Play Doh Set”, only to find out it was a collection of books from a Greek philosopher?

  13. queensbee Avatar
    queensbee

    more like play-duh.
    My fave joke: andre descartes walks into a bar. (Come on, suspend the disbelief) and the barkeep asks: “would you care for some wine, monsieur?” and Descartes says: “I think not” and disappears.
    Other than that, i got nuthin. but i hate being in exile all day because my office has severely restricted what we can read on the interwebs….

    1. MoxieHart Avatar
      MoxieHart

      I like that very much. I told my roommate and she stared at me though. I am a bit of a geek.

    2. isaac Avatar
      isaac

      Make it René Descartes, the philosopher, instead of some random French dude named Andre, and you’ve got a joke!

  14. Maureen Avatar
    Maureen

    Clearly these toys are meant for Aristoddlers.

  15. Barb Avatar
    Barb

    You are appealing to a VERY narrow audience with Plato comments, I must say. “You Suck at Craigslist” a site for geeks? Aah, the irony.

    1. Cled Avatar
      Cled

      This is geek machismo (geekismo?). Sort of “We are geeky and we know it. We don’t have to prove it anyone.”

    2. drmk Avatar
      drmk

      Actually, I prefer to think of it as appealing to anyone with intellectual curiosity. In my head, if someone doesn’t get a reference, they do a little research to figure it out. Then, they get a double bonus — they’re amused, AND they learned something that day!

      And why is “You Suck at Craigslist” being full of geeks ironic? Are you using that word in the Alanis Morissette not-really-ironic-just-bad-luck kind of way, or are you saying that there is some sort of connection between being a geek and sucking at Craigslist? Because I think just the opposite: I think if you’re geeky enough to enjoy YSaC, you’re also geeky enough to not suck at Craigslist.

      On the other hand, if this has gone over your head and you’re just looking for lowbrow humor, it’s in here as well. I even make poop jokes.

      1. nix.skrib Avatar
        nix.skrib

        Sometimes I feel a touch of dread when I venture on to this site. It makes my reading list grow steadily longer.
        It’s really more of a contributer than history, chemistry, and l.a. Combined.

      2. Irregular Fractal Avatar
        Irregular Fractal

        So when are we passing our new course through University Governance?
        You Suck At Craigslist: A deconstructivist perspective on the cultural implications of and learning opportunities afforded by a 21st century sales-and-barter website

        1. Maureen Avatar
          Maureen

          That’s “deconstructionist” said the language geek.

    3. mudslicker Avatar
      mudslicker

      If you’re going to use a venue such as Craigslist, I expect that the very basics of reading, writing and arithmetic should be mastered (and if you don’t have the basics, know that the very computer you’re using can provide you with all of these). Is it too much to ask to:

      1. Know what it is you’re selling/buying/rambling on about.

      2. Know how to: spell it and punctuate your thoughts.

      3. Be able to count the drawers.

      If this makes me a Greek, then long live Sparta!

  16. Katy Avatar
    Katy

    “Better a little which is well done, than a great deal imperfectly.”

    Even Plato realized an unsupervised Craigslist is a bad idea.

  17. Windrose Avatar
    Windrose

    Oh, come on, people! It’s surely time for a sing-along!

    I-manual Kant was a real pissant who was very rarely stable!

    Everybody!

    Anybody? (crickets chirping) Sigh, Tough crowd. 8)

    http://www.metrolyrics.com/the-philosophers-song-lyrics-monty-python.html

    1. Shark Blank Avatar
      Shark Blank

      *mumble mumble can’t remember* … was a boozy beggar who could drink you under the table!

  18. Windrose Avatar
    Windrose

    Toys, philosophers, and many many really good comments. This ad has it all!

    1. weeping wanda Avatar
      weeping wanda

      I’m not even going to try to top the 3-year-old classic snark above. My tummy hurt from laughing too hard whilst having my bacon and eggs.

      1. Brer Fox Avatar
        Brer Fox

        Yes, Today’s philosophy lesson is good medicine.

      2. Windrose Avatar
        Windrose

        mmmm, bacon!

  19. Brer Fox Avatar
    Brer Fox

    Being dull does not stop one from reflecting.
    Being bright is not a prerequisite to illumination.
    Ears do not make you listen.
    Eyes do not make you see.

    Do you have bad earsight?
    Do you not see what I’m saying?

    These are not the toys I am playing with.
    If I were a philoceraptor, I’d be playing with my food.

  20. Brer Fox Avatar
    Brer Fox

    Time for a [matt] For the toymaker’s information: These toys do not fit any human hands except for the babies and toddlers who should not be given small toys to play with. Parents aren’t supposed to give their babies tiny toys that they can swallow or choke on or stick in their ears and up their noses. So why make these things? Huh? What were you thinking? Maybe you were thinking these would be great toys for a pet squirrel or chipmunk. remember the six T’s. (Take Time To Think Things Through). Making toys designed to fit the hands of the only ones that should not ever have those toys is [adjective]![/matt]

  21. Windrose Avatar
    Windrose

    Thanks for the snark, Wonderful One and oh wicked wanda! Punchity Punch Punch!

    Good Morning, Lu-Tze!

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