Weird McLuhan Citing #23: Rich Helms

Rich Helms is a Canadian software developer who likes to dress up like Professor Snape and blogs about himself in the third person -- as in, " 'It's never been done' is a call to action for Rich," and "That’s Rich Productions is the brainchild of Rich Helms, a writer and the owner of a computer firm."

He also has a thing for cars, which he blogs about under the category -- I know, I was afraid to click on it, too -- "Active Adult." He's written numerous articles on automobiles, including "The Psychology of Car Buying," from 2001. It begins:

Marshall McLuhan, in his 1964 book Understanding Media: The Extensions of Man, wrote “… the car has become an article of dress without which we feel uncertain, unclad, and incomplete in the urban compound.”

A car as clothing? While the function is different, the reasons why we buy what we do are similar. Like clothing, vehicles serve a basic function, but practicality is often far down the list when it comes to criteria for our choices.

Hats off to Helms. Only a man who blogs about himself in the third person would have the balls to open a post entitled "Some Interesting Facts On Automobiles" with a quote from McLuhan.