News
Briefly
Calendar of Events
Commentary
Opinions
Sports
Diversions
World News
Login
Letter Submission
Search
Archive
Publishing Policy
Classifieds
Mail Subscriptions
St. Cloud State University
College Publisher
Home
>
Commentary
Tragedy latest trend, hot commodity
By Joe Palmersheim
Published:
Tuesday, April 15, 2003
Joe Palmersheim -- Staff Column
Saddam Hussein may be dead in real life, but on eBay, the Internet auction site, he is thriving. Last week there were over 900 entries relating to Saddam, where one could buy everything from portraits to money to videos. Saddam fever has hit the site, and for the moment shows no signs of slowing down.
eBay is more than a mere auction site. It has its hand on the pulse of America by showing what's important and what's not.
For example, when the shuttle blew up in February, eBay was flooded with Columbia-related items. Everything from models to fake crash debris (which was quickly removed) was on the site. The bids for the official mission patch were going for hundreds of dollars. Now that everyone has forgotten about the importance of these knick-knacks, they are back down in value.
eBay showed me on that day what was on America's mind. Not that I needed to look hard: everywhere had special coverage of the tragedy, but to see this sort of thing on a commercial site was something that I found interesting. For a site that has no real mission outside of selling things to people around the world, it does a pretty good job of letting us know what is important.
The other example of this phenomenon was after the events of 9/11. I remember going there the day after, and typing in "World Trade Center," and the replies were in the thousands. Anything from the Center itself was going for a lot of money (which could be expected). The item that made the most impression on me was a poster of the towers from the 1980's that said "As close to heaven as some of us are going to get." Humorous back then, dripping with irony today. This poster was going for more than $150. But the darker, greedier side of capitalism also showed up, with things that had nothing to do whatsoever with 9/11 being sold. As someone who lost someone that day, I found that rather offensive.
Most of these items were not offensive, per-se, but the fact that the people who sold these items used a national tragedy to get attention to the fact they (the items) were for sale made me sick. The thing that completely drove this home was a pin of a wiener dog. I have nothing against wiener dogs; in fact, some of them are even cute. But who in their right mind would believe that a red, white and blue dog pin is really something created out of a spirit of patriotism and not just a shoddy attempt to cash in?
I am a complete eBay addict. I have bid on everything from Japanese robot toys to unused stationary from the Lusitania. I've seen good things on the site and I've seen absolute crap that no one in their right mind would want. Saddam is starting to become another example of the 9/11 syndrome on eBay. Actual collectibles that have value are fine, but there's some stuff on there that makes me scratch my head.
Kids can now be the first on their block to wear their very own Saddam t-shirt! Yes, you too can have a "Wanted: Dead or Alive," with the 'Alive' crossed out. Cute! I think I'm going to let my kid wear that one to school! Yeah!
Seriously, the amount of interest being shown in this one person fascinates me. With me being the eBay junkie that I am, I had investigated this whole Saddam thing years ago. Wanna know what I turned up? Nothing. Not one thing. Now, by the time this is published, there are 2,264 items on eBay relating to Saddam Hussein and I'm sure there will be many more. Just goes to show you what our priorities are in this country.
In the past month, Saddam has been reduced from an oppressive dictator to a no-show and now finally to a mere collectible, something to pursue in addition to those Precious Moments dolls that everyone's grandmother likes to have around the house.
So get Saddam and get him while he's HOT! I can see where this is going. Does anyone remember how, during the first Gulf War there were Desert Storm trading cards? Well, think where they are now. They are in closets all over America, gathering dust. Saddam Hussein- former dictator, current eBay commodity.
Forum:
No comments have been posted for this story.
Post a comment
Privacy Policy
Network Advertising
Article Syndication
