Ouch. Get a good look at the power falling into the hands of the average person. There was a time when people would make toys like this Mark Foley action figure and at most their township might have become aware of it through the town paper. But now, with the power of the net and inherently social websites like eBay, on which this one-of-a-kind toy is being auctioned (Link), the simplicity of something like this cuts through every editorial, every lengthy blog post, and every television news special report to distill the situation to it’s most basic element; the thing that will remain with the voters.

For anyone who wonders why people like Henry Jenkins pay attention to “funny books” (aka comics… aka graphic novels), I’d submit that it’s this kind of clarity. Toys and comics are media. Powerful media. I’ve already forgotten most if not all the news stories I’ve read about the Foley Mess. I’ll not forget this and I suspect not many will. Imagine what would happen if the urban vinyl creators started getting political.

{Image Copyright © 2006 spectrstudios}