cat bin lader and globalizing culture

Cat bin lady and globalizing culture

I entered a stream of messages about Osama bin Laden and the jokes started coming at me.

6 hours ago: Cat Bin Lady is actually a second cousin of Osama Bin Laden. They don't see each other much as he disapproves of her extremism SnoozeInBrief (48 followers)
4 hours ago: It can't be a coincidence that Cat Bin Woman and Osama Bin Laden have the same middle name, can it? SamB_UK (98 followers)
3 hours ago: Every time I see a headline about the #CatBinLady I almost always accidentally read it as "Cat Bin Laden." journohoff (460 followers)
3 hours ago: @journohoff accidentally as it may be, "Cat Bin Laden" is quite an appropriate way to call that evil, evil woman. OneFineJay (1333 followers)
3 hours ago: RT @RezinaChowdhury: Lol! RT @grimbold: Who is least liked - Osama Bin Lady or Cat Bin Laden? maxsmith333 (14 followers)

I was not reading for 6 hours, but the messages had been posted 6 hours, 4 hours and 3 hours before I started reading.

"Cat bin lady" and I am lost. Because I do not know who she is the jokes lose much of their bite. And that is the way it is with jokes. They assume you are part of the culture. You do not have to be told; you already know.

So, what do you do when you are culturally deprived -- as I was.

Google it!

Turn to the culturally ubiquitous answer machine and it will fill you in.

If you do not know who the lever for these jokes about bin Laden is this is what I learned. Cat bin lady is a 45 year old woman who lives in England. She tossed a cat into a trash bin, and, unfortunately for her, she was photographed by a CCTV that someone actually looked at. Then the fur began to fly -- as the saying goes. And in the contemporary world fur flying makes you a global celebrity.

The people making the jokes knew who cat bin lady is and they assumed that anyone reading their Twitter message would also know. And that is what global culture is. It is the sharing of the presuppositions or context that it takes to make a joke. When that becomes the order of the day the global culture has become just culture.