A Sign Of The Times? McDonald's Promotes Going 'Latte'
SCI FI BUFFS MIGHT BE FAMILIAR WITH THE MOVIE "The Lathe of Heaven,'' based on a 1971 novel by Ursula K. Le Guin, in which whatever the protagonist dreamed becomes reality, sometimes with unimaginable consequences. I only found out the name of the movie a few weeks back when I went in search of the flick that blew my mind. Because the guy dreamed that there would be an end to racism, and when he woke up, everybody was gray.
I've been thinking about that scene during this most recent presidential campaign, in which everybody feels they need to "take sides." Who knew that having a successful black candidate would bring out such vitriol from both blacks and whites. Just stop by any comment section on the campaign at AOL, Newsweek or The Huffington Post and you'll get a heaping serving of mistrust, suspicious, anger and outright racism. The fingerpointing is endless and tiring and, yes, sometimes even justified. But wouldn't it be nice if it would all just go away? Wouldn't it be nice if we could all just get along?
So here's a proposal: the only way to rid ourselves of racism is to promote interracial marriage. I'm thinking this is the wave of the future. And here's my proof: McDonald's likes the idea too. Because in a billboard not too far from my home promoting iced lattes, the fast-food monster with the megamillions advertising budget subtly suggests that we all would be beautiful if we mixed vanilla and coco. (And Asian and Hispanic. Everybody is invited into the mix!)
The billboard shows a cup of iced latte and hints at its origins: "If vanilla and coffee had a baby in Antarctica." Meaning mixing vanilla and cocoa would create this creamy caramel color, which Crabby thinks is actually so much better than the gray imagined in "The Lathe." And, speaking literally and generally, aren't biracial babies some of the most beautiful babies in the world? (Yes, we know, every baby is figuratively beautiful; but let me make my point.)
Shiloh Jolie-Pitt's got nothing over Tiger Woods' gorgeous toddler Sam. Ditto Suri Cruise. 
And in my own family, one of the best looking offspring is a biracial nephew who is gorgeous, whipsmart and witty. (Russell, when are you getting your butt to college?) And, by the way, aren't Barack Obama and Tiger Woods both ideal and timely poster boys for the practice?
As McDonald's goes, so goes a nation. Would McDonald's playfully allude to biracialism if the's time had not come? Doubt it. If this is what it'll take to eliminate racism, I say let's dive in those muddy waters, even if we can't foresee all the consequences. We are all in dire need of drastic change. And after we fix the racism bugaboo, we'll have to figure out how to eliminate that other pesky problem called sexism.
Posted June 19, 2008
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