Keep Calm

So, today I log onto etsy and what do I see on the front page but yet another one of these posters. These posters originated in the UK during WWII, kind of like our Rosie the Riveter and Uncle Sam posters from back then.



Which I am totally sick of, but apparently nobody else is because these things sell like hotcakes at around $20.00 each. (Damn, why didn't I think of this first!) There are currently over 1400 keep calm things listed, some shops sell nothing but these posters and are doing pretty well at it.

This reminds me of the 1966 poster which EVERYBODY and I mean EVERYBODY had in their bedroom next to their Jimi Hendrix and Janis Joplin posters (black light of course) in the late 60's, early 70's. Pop culture at it's best. Yes, I had one of these posters.


If you don't want a print of the keep calm sentiment suitable for framing, you can wear it out to lunch or to work on casual day in the form of a t-shirt.


Or around your neck in yet another scrabble tile pendant.


But, if you want to really express your opinion on the state of the world today, here you go.

The Latest Etsy Fad

Keep Calm and Carry On. From what I understand this sentiment originated in England during World War Two advising people to go on about their business while the bombs were falling. For some reason it has become the latest fad and is all over etsy, 22 pages of keep calm stuff right now. I'm really tempted to make some pendants and get in on the dollars rolling in, but I really don't like to follow the crowd that much. However, times are tough and sales are slow, so you just might see some of this in my shop, too. Now you can combine two etsy fads into one and put this on your scrabble tile pendants!

Well, I was trying to upload a picture of one of the many etsy keep calm and carry on things, but somethings up with blogger and it won't let me upload, so...just go to etsy and type in keep calm and carry on and you'll see what I'm talking about.

I guess it's so popular because we are being bombed by bad economic news every day?

I was watching my favorite evening news guy Brian Williams last night and he had a story about how food pantries and meals on wheels are feeling the pinch with empty shelves due to people not donating as much food as usual. They're having to cut back on the food they give to people in need and the meals they deliver to seniors. They showed one woman in her 80's who depends on her daily meal and sometimes doesn't even have enough money to buy a loaf of bread. The other night there was a story about heating costs in the winter. A man in his 80's using his entire social security check to pay his winter heating bills of upwards of $650.00 each month.

On the other hand, there was the story about how some of the bailout money that's been given to the large finance companies has been put aside so that their employees can get their bonuses this year. We're not talking about little bonuses, either, they said that the average bonus was in the one hundred thousand dollar range. One hundred thousand dollars. Think how many meals on wheels or heating bills could be paid with that one hundred thousand dollar bonus that some people will be getting this year. From our tax dollars.