Citizen Kang

Many days, there's a guy right outside my office building sitting on an upside-down bucket. He sits there with a large handful of tiny American flags, smiling, offering them to passers-by. He doesn't say much, and he doesn't have a "these colors don't run!" sign, or anything. He just hangs out with his tiny American flags.

And every time I see this little scene, all I can think of is the Simpsons' Treehouse of Horror special in which the aliens Kang and Kodos hijack the American electorate, and one of them intones, "ABORTIONS FOR ALL." "Boooo," says the crowd. "ABORTIONS FOR NONE." "Boooo!" "ABORTIONS FOR SOME... TINY AMERICAN FLAGS FOR OTHERS." "Yaaaaaay!"

I haven't ever asked the guy if that's the response he's going for.