The Toxic Tik Tok Primer. (For seniors)
By Jay Johnson
I don’t know if any of my readers are Tik Tok users. Demographics might indicate a low probability. As a geezer representative I downloaded the APP when it was getting trolled by the President. I figured if he was against it… it might be something that I liked. If you do not know what Tic Toc is, and don’t want to spend the time to find out, here is a brief indoctrination.
Tik Tok is a content driven platform for short videos that loop for up to a minute. You can follow a particular account or just scroll through a feed called “just for you”. An algorithm based on the type of videos one watches to conclusion, sends more of that genre to your feed. From my observation there are only a few types of TikToks The one thing they all have in common is the desire, yes even the oft repeated request, to “like and follow” their videos.
There are a lot of “karen videos” and other “live to tic toc”, camera in your face when you are behaving badly, sagas. There are women who are trying to get attention with sexy stories and garments, but with the TikTok sheriff taking lots of videos down…. it is mostly PG for language content. There are plenty of jokesters, daredevils and Amazing event observers offering their videos. With filters and editing buttons to click on, that would make a scrapbooking Granny salivate, it can be a very creative endeavor.
One of my favorites, therefore, one I get fed a lot, is “story time”. A selfie, usually taken in the front seat of a car, featuring the “self” telling a story. It can be a joke, anecdote or God forbid a “Karen” story. If watching a video of a person acting badly is not disgusting enough, hearing the victim recount it is one step below. But there is a pattern to no matter what type of “Story Time” you are fed. For those who have never Tik-ed nor Tok-ed nor do they plan to… here is my take on the average Tik Tok“Storytime” video.
Imagine me reciting this in bad lighting sitting in the front seat of my JCW.
So…. (90% of the people start with So) So, this is Storytime. So (sometimes it is So, Tik Tok)…. no more interruptions.
So I was just waiting in line at this Whole Foods here behind me. I bought a few things to cook but it was not a full shopping cart. This Karen is in line behind me wearing a mask that did not cover her nose. I am trying not to turn her way and certainly did not want to engage her in conversation. She said, “You don’t look like you are in a hurry.”
I said, “Not much to hurry about with this Covid madness,”. She said something in her mask and under her breath that I did not understand. I went back to minding my own business which seemed to upset her.
“Are you in a hurry or not?” There was an edge to her tone suddenly.
“No more than anyone, I guess? We all want to get back to the safety of our own home.”
She said, “Well since you don’t seem to care. You should let me go and check out ahead of you.” I looked in her basket and it was over flowing with lots of groceries. Now we all have been in line at the store and the person behind us has two items to our basket full and we invite them to go ahead. It is only courtesy. But, Since she offered no reason for her impatience I made the call that it was not necessary to Let her go ahead of me. I did not reply hoping this would end the conversation. She muffled another comment.
The new protocol is to wait on the 6 foot marker until the cashier say something like “next”. I was watching the person ahead of me pay and wrangle paper sacks out the door. There was a moment as the cashier readied herself for the next customer. I could feel the Karen’s shopping cart start to move.
The cashier said, “Next”. And before I could even start to push my cart, Karen has pushed around me and gone into the check stand.
“Excuse me… Mam I think I was next in line.”
She quickly said loudly, “Oh no you weren’t”. The cashier looked at her. And I said,
“Yes I was.” Upon hearing the exchange the guy who was behind her who was now behind me said,
“He was definitely ahead of you Lady,”
“No he wasn’t”, she blasted, Others chimed in with several affirmations that it was indeed my turn.
“Well, since he doesn’t care, my time is valuable” as she began to move to the credit card scanner, a rebellion started to brew. People were saying this it wasn’t right, who does she think she is, and such.
“What is this a dem-wit liberal convention of Trump haters…”
The cashier who was Latina said, “I think he was ahead of you Mam and he doesn’t have that much stuff…”
Karen cut her off with “Of course support the libertards. And you are not even a citizen. Go back to where you came from…” Which caused a stir and people started defending the cashier. At that she picked up a can of tuna held it up like it was a baseball and she……
Oops out of time…. Like for part two.
As you were,
Jay
Jay Johnson is a ventriloquist and actor, best known for his role on the television show Soap. He played Chuck Campbell, a ventriloquist who believed his puppet Bob was real and demanded everyone treat Bob as human. He has also appeared extensively on television as a ventriloquist, actor and celebrity guest on game shows. He hosted two series of his own, So You Think You Got Troubles (1983) and Celebrity Charades (1979).
Jay Johnson: The Two & Only! written and performed by Jay Johnson, opened on Broadway to rave reviews at the Helen Hayes Theatre on September 28, 2006. The show earlier had an acclaimed off-Broadway runs in New York and was also performed in Cambridge, MA, and in Los Angeles. It can now be streamed on Amazon Prime.
The Massachusetts performance garnered the New England Critics Award, and in Los Angeles Johnson received the 2006 Ovation Award for Best Solo Performance. Jay Johnson: The Two & Only! deconstructs and demonstrates Johnson’s lifelong obsession with the art of ventriloquism. The show is a Valentine, not only to the art, but also to his mentor and friend Arthur Sieving, who created Johnson’s first professional puppet. The show is aided and abetted by a cast of ventriloquated characters, including his Soap alter ego, Bob. Johnson won the 2007 Tony Award for Best Special Theatrical Event for the show. He is the only ventriloquist to ever be nominated and win an American Theatre Wing Tony Award or an Ovation Award. The show is available on DVD HERE. This article is from his blog The World is a Stage. He also has a lot of videos on You Tube.
IMAGE via Dreamstime
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