1970s Cracked Magazine accurately predicted 2009

Cartoon Brew ^ | 01/05/09 | Jerry Beck

[raccoonradio]

This post is slightly OT, as I am discussing print cartoons, not animated cartoons. I received several old issues of Cracked Magazine over the holidays and I couldn’t help noticing how one humor piece, predicting life in the 21st Century, was surprisingly accurate.

“Today’s Swinger is Tomorrow’s Square”, illustrated by John Severin, appeared in the 1974 annual Super Cracked (It was most likely a reprint from a 1970 issue). In it, the writer predicts that young people will embrace the “skinhead” look, home computers (”Electronic Home Teacher”) and even the ipod: as “electronic brain stimulators” and a “musical computers” that young people are hooked on.

It’s not a stretch to think Bill Gates read Cracked, though I’d like to think Steve Jobs was a Mad man. I couldn’t find a Cracked index online - is there a Cracked historian out there who knows what issue this piece originally appeared in?

[CORedneck]

Kind of funny. I use to get Cracked magazine along with MAD as well back in middle school and H.S. I still remember some funny things such as an ad parody for some product such as one to get a man to start to wear nice clothes, drive a fine automobile and listen to beautiful music (Muzak kind). I am the epitome of being the opposite. I weat jeans & t-shirt, listen to rock such as RUSH, The Doors and drive a P/U truck or a Subaru WRX Turbo. No fine car like a Buick.

[Kevmo]

This is fantastic.

Pinging sling for his not-a-ping ping list.

[ScreamingFist]

LOL! Good post! The more things change, the more they stay the same.....

[meowmeow]

Where are the flying cars!? I was promised flying cars!

LOL!!!

[meowmeow]

I remember the very first thing I ever saw in MAD. I was about 7 years old and at the Dr Office:

World War III is coming
We hope that we survive
So that we can fight in
World War IV and V.

As a little kid that worried about being nuked by the commies, that gave me perspective that I have carried every since.

[Skooz]

B-U-M-P everyone’s accusing me

[knarf]

OK .. is it ME, or does the word 'slicks' in the RACING cartoon look like it begins with the letter "d" ... ?

[raccoonradio]

yup I remember that

[raccoonradio]

yeah it does! Odd!
Am reminded of how there used to be a theatre in the Boston area called the Flick and their logo in newspaper ads almost made it look like the F word...

[exit82]

How about: “Why Should Only Saturn Have Rings?”

Or my favorite: “Don’t Make Fun of Uranus!”

[Slings and Arrows]

Add my voice to the flying car lobby.

[the_devils_advocate_666]

I found it interesting watching James Bond’s Goldfinger this past weekend and seeing the “homer tracking screen” in his Austin Martin DB5. Sure seemed similar to the GPS devices available in today’s cars.

[BenLurkin]

......and they show plenty of “respect for disrespect”.

[bootless]

“Free the Moon From the Earth’s Tyrannical Pull” sounds SO TRUE.

I wonder if we can get Protest Warrior to carry that sign at some Earth Day rallies this year.

bump for later

[Clintonfatigued]

“I especially enjoyed the prediction for school.”

And I hope that prediction comes true. It’s bad enough that our generation had the kind of schooling that it had, and the following one had even worse schooling. But the growth of homeschooling makes me hopeful.

[Larry Lucido]

I never realized iPods were supposed to be that big!