The Soaring Flying Post Legacy

Posted by Maggie March 7th, 2007 at 05:02pm In High School Musical Please Stop It

We have a joke around here at TiFaux, and that joke is the incessant commenting on the Soaring Flying High School Musical post. It’s not even that amusing of a post. I’m kind of embarrassed by it, frankly. But I’m more embarrassed — and fascinated — by the reaction it’s gotten.

I know drawing attention to it will only make it stronger, but I can’t help it. And admit it — aren’t you a little curious how big it can get? Will it reach a hundred comments? Two hundred? When will the madness stop?

Here’s the story: Apparently if you google the words lyrics from the big number from High School Musical, this post is the first thing that comes up. So we at TiFaux are graced with the nation’s — and the world’s — fairly stupid youth.

Am I being harsh? Hard to say. When I was ten years old there was no internet to speak of, and even when I was fourteen there was no such thing as “blogging” or “comments,” so it’s impossible to know what I would’ve been like as a kid in the internet age.

But honestly. There’s no way we were that stupid.

It’s one thing to believe that somehow, this little blog is in communication with actor Zac Efron. We as adults know that the world doesn’t work that way; maybe kids just want to believe that he’s out there, waiting for him. I guess I can understand that.

It’s another thing entirely to leave your phone number in a comment on a blog in the hopes that Zac Efron will now call you. Please, don’t do that. Just don’t.

[You will note that we x'd out the numbers. No matter how stupid they are, I'm not going to be held responsible for some kid getting kidnapped.]

Not all of them are native English speakers, which means that they may not be great at grammar. That doesn’t mean they’re stupid — it’s the content of the posts that worry me, not the spelling. Writing a comment that just lists the lyrics of the song: That’s stupid. Asking Zac Efron for his MSN: That’s stupid. Calling everyone else on the post stupid: Also stupid, even though that’s what I’m doing now. (The comment-observer has become that commenter!)

It almost makes you nostalgic. Ah, to be a kid again. Too impatient to bother spelling out whole words. Quick to anger. Eager to love. Full of opinions, and the conviction that the world wants to hear them. It’s almost touching, if it weren’t kind of also scary.

I’ll leave you with my favorite of all the comments. There are so many priceless gems, it was hard to choose one. But this one stood out — for its simplicity, for its directness, for the fact that it’s in all caps. Enjoy!

Anonymus [sic]: “EVRY1 IS GAY CEPT ME.” [sic]

Poetry, isn’t it?