I Wonder

I wonder if Prince's death will lead to a rational conversation about rampant addiction to prescription pills like Percocet and Oxycontin. They're a lot easier to acquire than heroin -- just look at the report that Prince went to Walgreen's four times in a single week to get more. Who are the doctors who wrote those scrips? On the other hand, considering how much money the big pharmaceutical companies that make those pills spend on advertising on television and print, I doubt most media outlets will be inclined to rock that boat.

I wonder how Donald Trump's most fervent supporters reacted to one of his top aides saying in essence that, until now, Trump has just been playing a part and that the vile and uninformed things he's spewed are not a reflection of how he really feels. I don't believe the claim for one minute, but considering millions of people have voted for Trump because they consider him a straight-shooter, if they discover he's been lying, will they change their minds? Have any of them ever heard of Lonesome Rhodes?

I wonder how many companies thought they'd help their brands by exploiting Prince's death on social media. For example, Cheerios tweeted an image of the words "Rest In Peace" on a purple background with a Cheerio as the dot over the letter I. The folks at Hamburger Helper posted one, since deleted, saying "A glove can only take so much sadness" (sounds like they confused Prince and Michael Jackson until you remember that the logo for Hamburger Helper is a glove -- because so many people make dinner with their hands covered?). Meanwhile, the 3M company changed its logo to purple, with a tear. Did anyone feel the urge to buy more Cheerios, Hamburger Helpter, or Post-It notes in Prince's honor?

I wonder what happened to the Apple Watch. There was a lot of hype when it was first released, as with any other Apple product, but I don't see many people wearing it. Perhaps the problem stems from the fact that most of us abandoned the entire timepiece-on-our-arms concept once we had smartphones-in-our-pockets (i.e. we stopped wearing a watch years ago, and the idea of wearing one that doesn't do much more than our iPhones has no appeal to us). Instead of Apple Watches, I see a lot more wrists adorned with FitBits which, as you know, have virtually ended America's obesity problem.