Culture: It Isn't Green Unless You See Green

TORONTO, ONTARIO - When I went through my audio commentaries from twenty years ago to pick out essays that would seem significant this year, I ran across some that had no news value, but were simply amusing enough to be shared with everyone on the Internet. Take this one, my "Highlight" report from Sunday, 12-August-1990:

It isn't green unless you see green. That sounds like a wonderful piece of philosophy that could guide one through a lifetime. It isn't green unless you see green. This axiom etolls the virtue of comparison--don't make a judgment without thinking about similar judgments in the past. It isn't green unless you see green. The advice could save people from passing judgment too early on various important matters. Decisions of what is brilliant, revolutionary, evolutionary, beautiful, useful, ridiculous, or interesting could all be made correctly by being compared with other things of these descriptions. It isn't green unless you see green. New works of art or science might be recognized as significant if compared with significant works of the past. It isn't green unless you see green. It sounds like a maxim developed by a great philosopher...

It might sound like a great piece of philosophy, but "it isn't green unless you see green" was not written or orated by a great intellectual. My aunt Meri, not known for being a philosopher, was showing everyone a new accessory in her bathroom. Due to the lighting in the room, the dispenser really did not look green. In fact, it almost appeared to be blue. However, when she placed a lush green towel next to the device, sure enough, it looked green.

Though I was nearby, I paid little attention to this demonstration until the statement which you've already heard too many times in this report was uttered. By the time she had enunciated the sentence correctly and I understood, she had said "It isn't green unless you see green" as many times as I have in this report.

Now, before you go off and criticize this report as being too boring and repetitive, compare it with something that was really boring and repetitive. After all, it isn't green unless you see green.