On Today' Alley Oop - 3 October 2020

Somebody has to do it and I guess today it has to be me. I've already cleaned out the cat's litter box so reviewing today's Alley Oop shouldn't be that bad. But shoot me if I have to do the Little Stupe tomorrow. I can see how Wootie gets tired of saying how dumb this strip is day after day but today's episode isn't even smart enough to be called dumb.

So what do we have in today's strip (https://www.gocomics.com/alley-oop/2020/10/03)? Young Einstein showing off his new machine that destroys "all forms of art and culture (emphasis added)". And not only right now but in the past! Quite a tall order there, Al. But, Geeze Louise, Joey. You shouldn't throw around words that you only have the vaguest idea of what they mean. "Culture is the characteristics and knowledge of a particular group of people, encompassing language, religion, cuisine, social habits, music and arts." In other words, if you destroyed all forms of culture, civilization would vanish and we would be nothing more than human apes. Not even that, really, because apes have social customs. I suspect that Joey thinks that art and culture are the same but they aren't. Here is another definition: "Culture is the characteristics and knowledge of a particular group of people, encompassing language, religion, cuisine, social habits, music and arts. ... Thus, it can be seen as the growth of a group identity fostered by social patterns unique to the group."

Then you have the idiocy of Albert not knowing that his machine caused the problem that brought our intrepid heroes to see him. Not to mention him working on it for fifty years, a good forty after his parents died. But to what end? Why would he want to destroy all culture or, even on a smaller scale all art? When characters lack motivation for their actions, it destroys any sense of believability. It's not as if he wants to take over the world as some befuddled version of Doctor Doom. Maybe he just wants to get off the damn farm and see the world but we will never know because developing characters and their motivation is far beyond Joey's limited skill set.