In the mix

Instead of “instagramming (our) breakfast and tweeting (our) First World problems,” former U.S. Senator Alan Simpson wants us to use our mad social media skills to pressure congress to lower the national debt. Simpson issues this curiously lighthearted call to arms during a YouTube video produced by The Can Kicks Back, then dances Gangnam Style with the organization’s mascot, a well-kicked, red, white and blue can.

Kick Back’s slogan, “The debt is too damn high,” evokes 2010 NY gubernatorial Zeitgeist candidate Jimmy “Facial Hair” McMillan’s campaign slogan, “The rent is too damn high.” You remember McMillan. He looks like a black Wizard of Oz. He’s also the subject of a fascinating documentary, “Damn!”

So what do you get when you cross a Korean pop god with an elderly Wyoming Republican, a giant recyclable mascot and a man who once joked that he always wears gloves because, if he decides to choke somebody to death, he doesn’t want to leave any fingerprints?

Doubtful that it’s a new era of fiscal responsibility, but what was that thing Simpson said about First World problems? That we should stop tweeting them? True. And honestly, folks, unless it’s something super-exotic like hedgehog or ostrich egg scrapple, nobody cares what you’re having for breakfast, either.

Quibble: McMillan’s slogan emphasizes the word “damn,” but Kick Back’s slogan emphasizes the word “too.” (“The rent is too damn high,” as opposed to “The debt is too damn high.”) McMillan got it right. Placing the emphasis on “too” suggest that there are lesser degrees of “damn high” that might be acceptable, which makes no sense. Unless there’s such a thing as “just about right damn high,” there can be no “too damn high.” The emphasis should be on the “damn.”

I have spoken.