As nearly all decent and civilized people might agree, if all the primitives on Skins's island were suddenly to evaporate into thin air, nothing left behind them to remind us they had once been, the world would, little if at all, note their absence.
Of course, there are exceptions, such as the drek primitives--of which there's only four, the skumbag primitive, the Die alte Sau, the high fructose corn syrup primitive, and Ms. Ed the unappellated eohippus--whose evaporation would lead to the betterment of humanity as a whole, a cleansing of the earth of a gangrenous stench.
But generally, among the first-tier primitives, the second-tier primitives, the third-tier primitives, the unterprimitiven the faceless lynch mob, the abbandonado primitives, and the les risibles primitives the laughable ones, if they were gone away, the world would shrug its shoulders and move on.
If Pedro Picasso or the sparkling husband primitive were to evaporate, who would care?
One would however miss the non-primitives, those who ended up on Skins's island by random chance or accident, who really don't belong there, and who despite their best attempts to adapt to a hostile environment, don't.
I've been watching the primitives for a very long time now, and as with anyone else watching the primitives, I've developed a certain fondness for some of them, such as say, for example, my fellow alum Skins or the buzzy one.
Their Quixotesque endeavors to inject sense and sensibility into the primitives fail, and fail abysmally, but one has to admire them for their stoic tenacity; their courageous attempts to hang on despite all overwhelming odds. Truth of course is a powerful weapon, but even Truth can be overrun by the sheer mass of Hate, ignorance, selfishness, self-delusion, and paranoia.
And hence we come to Gloria Swanson ("Tangerine LaBamba").
Disclosure: I do not know of the primitives off of Skins's island; my own observations and amusement derive only from the confines of Skins's island. How the primitives are on other web-sites, or their own web-sites, or elsewhere on the internet, or in real life, I voluntarily remain ignorant, because franksolich is a nice guy who adheres to the rules of good clean sportsmanship.
Skins's island is the playing-field, and the playing-field has boundaries.
Further disclosure: Fat Che is the one exception, and for very good reasons.
And hence I know Gloria Swanson only from seeing her interact with the primitives on Skins's island, nowhere else. I have no idea what she looks like, never having gone anywhere where she might have posted a photograph of herself, other than that Gloria Swanson is very old, having been around since God was a boy.
The "picture" that emerges of Gloria Swanson--a picture painted with words--is that of a strikingly attractive woman who has always taken care of herself, despite the ravages of Time; sort of like a kinder softer Nancy Reagan.
No Grace Goodhue Coolidge, Gloria Swanson, but when compared with the femme primitives on Skins's island, obviously a sui generis, no one coming even close.
Gloria Swanson alleges to be an attorney, and a professional writer, and has been at least acquainted with mid-level celebrities such as William McAdoo, Nicholas Longworth, and Aimee Semple McPherson--and despite one's best attempts to poke holes in all that, no holes can be poked.
DUmmies lie; all the time, DUmmies lie.
Which is why Gloria Swanson is not a DUmmie, instead being a non-primitive.
Her ideology sucks, of course, but as a person, Gloria Swanson is the real thing.
Her frailties actually make Gloria Swanson all the more endearing--the well-kept-up older woman trying desperately to adjust to a new set of eyeglasses, the gracious backing-down in face of the ferocity and venom of Grandma (the "hippywife" primitive), the genteel pursuit of younger men.
The last is a mystery to some; why Gloria Swanson would chase after a chubby flaccid boy-man of indeterminate sexual preference who happens to be manager of her apartment complex. There are many other younger men, franksolich among them, much better looking, and who know how to treat women of Class and Distinction and Wit with the respect and admiration they deserve.
What is one to make of Gloria Swanson?
Gloria Swanson is allegedly undergoing chemotherapy--no evidence exists to the contrary, despite one's best efforts to find it--and is soon to surpass Doug's stupid ex-wife in posting on Skins's island, as if in a frantic, frenzied, desperate attempt to leave her "mark" in this time and place.
Methinks Gloria Swanson tryeth too hard, and in the wrong place.
In the first place, Gloria Swanson despite her political ideology that has crippled her, retarded her, has already left her "mark" in this time and place; a not unimpressive record of accomplishment, compared with the imaginary feats of the primitives.
The Bostonian Drunkard, for example, hasn't done shit with his life, when compared with Gloria Swanson.
In the second place, Skins's island, brimming with coarse uncouth primitives, is the last place one can hope to instill courtesy, manners, style, taste, and class.
