Poking fun at slogans

I find slogans an almost irresistible target for mockery. This morning, I saw an article in Google News or Google Search Results that had an odd summary. The headline looked interesting, but the summary said

Melissa lives the tech-driven life she writes about. She's always on the hunt for the next gadget that will wow us with its design.

I went to the article, but discovered that this text actually isn't in the article. I puzzled about this until I found the Google Authorship page. If you follow those guidelines, even if your Google Profile isn't public, Google will wreck the results of searching for you replacing helpful summaries with your sloganish byline. It made me desperate to want to tweet the following version:

Melissa lives the tech-driven life she writes about. She's always on the hunt for the next gadget that will fill the empty place where her soul used to be.

Luckily it was 10 characters too long to post at Twitter, or I probably would have posted it. But I don't even know her! I certainly don't bear any ill will towards her: I like gadgets too! But that slogan just cries out to be made fun of.

I am similarly tempted by the excellent twitter feed Yes, You're Racist, which routinely retweets ignorant statements on twitter where people say something like "I'm not racist, but [something really racist]". This is a great public service. I even replied to one recently. At the same time, I have an intense temptation to poke fun at the idea by linking "I'm not a racist, but…" with something totally not racist, like

I'm not racist, but injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.

or

I'm not racist, but freedom is never voluntarily given by the oppressor; it must be demanded by the oppressed.

These are both quotes of Martin Luther King Jr (except for the "I'm not racist" part.)

Slogans and mockery: Maybe that's what makes me like twitter so much. It's not really long enough for serious dialog, but it's perfect for cheap shots.