Life, 1917-03-29 · page 12 of 42
Life — March 29, 1917 — page 12: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
This page satirizes intellectuals and "thinkers" from poor neighborhoods. The article claims they're distinguished from ordinary people by thinking processes that begin "well below the hair-roots," and mockingly calls them "highbrows." The top illustration titled "MISSING THE LAST CAR" depicts a well-dressed couple (likely meant to represent pretentious intellectuals) in an awkward social situation—missing transportation, suggesting their abstract thinking makes them impractical. The lower cartoon "IF IT LOOKED THE WAY IT FEELS" shows a figure in an exaggerated pose, humorously illustrating the disconnect between physical reality and subjective perception—a jab at philosophical or overly analytical thinking. The "Catholic Taste" dialogue below mocks lowbrow humor preferences, reinforcing the page's theme of ridiculing different intellectual classes.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
516 Those Who Think HOSE Who Think are to be found in small segregated groups, chiefly in the poorer quarters of the town. They differ from their fellow creatures in that their thinking processes begin well below the hair-roots. They are frequently termed “ highbrows,” a term of derision signifying that their heads are not shaped like that of the ape. Poverty and hard luck promote the thinking habit, save in the case of stock-brokers, who are as far removed from thought when the market turns and rends them as when successfully manipulating a corner in something or other. Those Who Think are so deep- ly concerned with worthier matters that they have never been known to corner anything except the thinking market, and this they hold in the hol- low of their hand. To find the sort of literature that ap- peals to this class, we must seek the second-hand book-stores_ in those regions of poverty whose ignorance and degradation bring tears to the eyes of professional almoners and salaries to their pockets. Here are displayed the works of the most distinguished scientists, philosophers, historians and poets that the world has produced. To ask for one of these books in a Fifth Avenue book-store would send the clerk to the cellar to look for it and stay for the moment the great incom- ing tide of best-seller buyers, Those Who Think abhor the musical comedy that is without either comedy or music. When lured by treachery to a Broad- way farce they weep silently at the spectacle of human folly exhibited by the audience, in comparison with which the antics of the players look like an intellectual effort. There is optimism in the philosophy of Those Who Think, but it is not of the “cheery” brand that would keep the world just as bad as it is for all time to come. Thinking breeds honest hates, and by these alone can society be regenerated. Hatred of the wor- thiest kind would drive the money changers from the Temple, but cheery optimism would offer them an extra , cighth of one per cent. to rer Those Who Think are the only sons in town who have a clear and MISSING THE LAST CAK keen sense of humor. Green whiskers, the comedian who falls down, dialect of the “begobs” and “bejabbers” variety all leave them cold. But true satire that is always aimed at mean- ness, pretense or wrong-doing is part of their common tongue. James 1. Ford. A Catholic Taste OTHER says bh and to give ten cents some castor oil in soda water.” Cum Very well, What flavor will you have? “Give me a little of everything.” 1 IT LOOKED THE WAY IT FEELS