Friday, March 7, 2008

Cy-Fair Houston Chamber of Congress

The Chamber of Congress of the Cypress Fairbanks region (the Houston metro area) hosts an annual event known as the Chamber Herd. As near as we can figure, "young people" raise animals, then the Chamber buys them and passes the meat (their website carefully points out that it is "processed" meat—no whole carcasses rotting in the sun for these folks!) on to "local ministries."

Well, sure. It all sounds above-board.

The bovines in the graphic could be loving caricatures of actual members of the Cy-Fair Houston Chamber of Commerce (CFHCC). They're just so specific, so reflective of the individuality suicidefoodists like to say is uniquely human.

The bull on the left—doesn't he remind you of your old boss, the one who would occasionally make the tamest dirty jokes using that splendidly courtly language? The longhorn in the center is a dead-ringer for your father-in-law—that guy can be a little… particular, but he'd lend you his last dollar. And surely you recognize the cow on the right—it's your grad school mentor. Always talking department politics, and with that wicked sense of humor!

We've seen Ironic Aggressor Sublimation before—it's a theme we find fascinating—but the CFHCC has taken it to a new and disquieting place. Why would they wish to 1) individuate animals who are treated as nothing more than commodities to be auctioned off to the highest bidder, or 2) identify with chattel by presenting it as not so different from themselves? (They're all just members of the herd, after all!)

And while we're asking questions, why are the cowboy boots wearing hats?

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