The Geico insurance company once had a popular slogan “So easy a caveman could do it.” Their silly commercials completely distracted people from realizing this phrase made no sense. First off, a caveman could not apply for Geico insurance. They wouldn’t even know what the hell insurance was. I can barely understand it. Let me get this straight, I give you money in case something awful happens to me and if it doesn’t, you keep the money? Why the hell would I bet on something horrific happening to me? The odds are decent, but that’s just a strange bet to make.
Second, cavemen did a lot of stuff that wasn’t easy. Hunting and killing a sabertooth tiger and surviving in the wilderness for generations while evolving into modern man, so easy a caveman could do it! Put anyone today in a caveman’s situation and they’d probably die pretty fast. A caveman’s life wasn’t all simple and easy. This slogan basically overestimates and underestimates cavemen simultaneously. That’s difficult to do. Usually when something proves two opposite points it’s complete bullshit and this is one of those rare cases.
Try raising two kids in the wilderness with no technology and then come back and tell me what cavemen can and can't do. |