49
submitted 1 year ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

In the 2020 primaries, Donald Trump said that Mayo Pete looks like Alfred E. Neuman (which is devastatingly accurate), and Pete countered that he'd never heard of Alfred E. Neuman and it "must be an old person thing." That was incredibly weird to me, because I'm younger than Pete Buttigieg and I know who Alfred E. Neuman is.

It seems like there's three possibilities: One is that Pete does know who Alfred E. Neuman is, and his retort was simply try-hard and pathetic. Another possibility is that Pete does not know who Alfred E. Neuman is because he's been such a careerist psycho his whole life that he knows nothing but the most basic of pop culture references and whatever his staffers tell him about. The third possibility is that I'm unusual in my age cohort for knowing Alfred E. Neuman. My friends and I read Mag Magazine as kids, but we were nerds, and it may have been well past the heyday when Mad was a universal cultural touchstone for kids.

(page 2) 40 comments
sorted by: hot top new old
[-] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago

Zoomer here, had no idea, but I'm not American

Was more of a Dennis the Menace kid

[-] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)
  1. grew up on MAD, so shrug-outta-hecks
[-] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago

I know who Alfred E. Neuman is, but I didn't know the name until much later, he was the ”Mad cover guy” to me as a kid.

I was a kid in the 90s so that was probably after the heyday of Mad, but Pete is older than me so he probably should've known. It's possible he's just a weird nerd though and not in a good way: I remember him saying in an interview that he used to have a RATM poster on his wall, but he didn't even listen to them, he just liked the look of the poster.

(appropriate, because he looks like the kid on the cover of Evil Empire)

[-] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago

I do but I have the cultural cache of someone twice my age.

Although, Cartoon Network had a MAD cartoon around 8-10 years ago that wasn't a huge hit, but IIRC they used Al in some of the title cards and interstitial segments between cartoon skits.

[-] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Yes but only because of the Animated Mad TV Show. Despite being literally a collection of parodies about pop-culture, it was ahead of its time.

Source: Am Gen Z in early 20's

[-] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

20 and same, i just recognize the face from the cartoon network show i vaguely remember

[-] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago

Bootyjuice assuredly saw this magazine cover when he was a teenager, if nothing else.

[-] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago

The MAD charecter. On the front page of MAD magazine.

[-] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago

I did not know they had a name.

[-] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago

Of course. There was even a mad cartoon that was airing on the cartoon network when I was a child

[-] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago

I didn't know who Alfred E Neuman was until the Buttigieg thing. Not sure i knew what Mad Magazine was either. Am 25

[-] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago

I'm over 30, and no. Nor Mad Magazine before adulthood, and even then its just in references.

[-] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago

Millennial, never really read Mad but was vaguely aware of it. I know of Alfred E Neuman though.

[-] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago

I know who Alfred E. Neuman is and I'm 28. I've even still got some old issues of mad magazine lying around my house.

[-] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago

Isnt he some kind of physicist?

[-] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago

I am two months older than that guy and either he is lying or he never went into a grocery store as a child

[-] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago

I didn't recognize the name until you mentioned Buttigieg and then I remembered "oh, the mad magazine kid"

[-] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago

As a millennial, I've read Mad Magazine and Cracked before when I was a kid, but I always saw him as "the Mad Magazine mascot." I think I only learned the dude's name from Wikipedia. It's not like the magazine itself goes out of its way to spell out the dude's name. And besides that, I mostly skipped to Spy vs Spy and those fold-ins.

And damn, the dude who came up with the fold-in lived to be over 100 and he stepped down at 99 year old. What a trooper.

[-] [email protected] 3 points 1 year ago

Mid 30s here, I never remember his name, I have to look it up every time.

[-] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago
  1. Loved MAD when I was younger. Been hoping to dig up my old stash one of these days, if only I knew where to find it in my parent's basement.
[-] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

Yee, add me to the tally, he's the mad magazine mascot.

[-] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

Didn't recognize the name, but did recognize from the pictures people posted in here

[-] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

I'm younger than him and remember buying them at the grocery store.

[-] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

Yeah dude. Feel like I learned it as a bit of trivia later on though. I did see some Mad Magazines growing up though.

[-] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

Mad magazine guy, right?

[-] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

Yes, under 30, not a particularly old cultural taste either. I just didn’t get any of the jokes at the time

[-] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

I don't recognise the name.

[-] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

No idea who he is. I was born in the mid 90s. Looking him up now

Edit: yeah I’ve heard of mad magazine but that’s really it, never was part of my experience growing up. I think the first possibility is probably the right one though, a rare instance of Pete being right

[-] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

I read Mad magazine in the library, so yes, I know.

[-] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

Don't know who that is. Late 20s

[-] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

I’m an elder millennial and I have known who Alfred E Neuman is for most of my life despite not reading Mad magazine regularly (always felt like more of a Gen X/late Boomer thing). Obviously the Simpsons referenced Mad a lot, and MadTV was the greatest sketch comedy show on Saturday nights.

For what it’s worth, I think that was Mayo Pete trying to insult trump in the weakest way possible, and it was an utter failure.

[-] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago

At first I thought Neuman sounded familiar, but after looking it up I have no idea who that is. Must be an old person thing.

[-] [email protected] 1 points 1 year ago
load more comments
view more: ‹ prev next ›
this post was submitted on 30 May 2024
49 points (100.0% liked)

askchapo

23062 readers
253 users here now

Ask Hexbear is the place to ask and answer ~~thought-provoking~~ questions.

Rules:

  1. Posts must ask a question.

  2. If the question asked is serious, answer seriously.

  3. Questions where you want to learn more about socialism are allowed, but questions in bad faith are not.

  4. Try [email protected] if you're having questions about regarding moderation, site policy, the site itself, development, volunteering or the mod team.

founded 5 years ago
MODERATORS