So it’s likely that the tattooed rocket scientist in England with the cheesecake shirt who has been denounced all over the world as a one-man army barricading women from STEM careers was using his television time to promote his friends’ small businesses. Harry Baldwin explains:

Elly Prizeman, who made the shirt, makes her living doing laser tattoo removal. Her husband did Taylor’s tattoos.

Also, I’m guessing Shirtstorm Guy’s inspiration was President Obama’s favorite, Mohawk Guy:

[Bobak] Ferdowsi became a media “sensation”, or “meme”,[8] when during the August 6, 2012, landing of the Curiosity rover on Mars, he wore an unusual mohawk hairstyle that was seen on NASA TV’s live broadcast of the event. He was seated in a prominent camera position and his mohawk unexpectedly became an iconic image of the landing.[9][10][11][12] Ferdowsi explained that he wore a new haircut for every mission and the mohawk was chosen by his team by popular vote.[13] When President Barack Obama called to congratulate the team, he noted the popularity of the “Mohawk Guy,” saying “it does seem NASA has come a long way from the white shirts, dark-rimmed glasses, and pocket protectors. You guys are a little cooler than you used to be.”[14] Ferdowsi said in another interview that he did it to help lighten the seriousness of the workplace and “If my mohawk gets a few more people excited about science and this mission, that’s awesome.”[6] Ferdowsi took part in the Second inauguration of Barack Obama (January 2013) marching in the parade alongside replicas of Curiosity and the Orion spacecraft, along with other NASA scientists, as part of the agency’s official Presidential Inaugural Weekend.[15] Ferdowsi also took part in Obama’s State of the Union address on February 12, 2013, where he was seated in First Lady Michelle Obama’s box “to highlight President Barack Obama’s call for more visas for skilled immigrants in the fields of math, science and engineering.”[16]

Commenter Muhry says:

mohawk guy should consider himself lucky that native americans are either less influential or less sensitive (no doubt more the former), after all he appropriated indian culture. i’m guessing he won’t be wearing an afro for his team’s next mission.

You know how in about every other Simpsons’ episode, there’s a scene where the good citizens of Springfield assemble to hear reasoned discussion, but then some random thing somebody says suddenly catalyzes them into an insane mob demanding a billion-dollar monorail or whatever?

I always thought it would be kind of fun to live in a world like that, where random crowd dynamics could ricochet into nonsensical swings in mood and decision-making.

But of course, I reflected, we didn’t live in that world, because we hardly ever got together anymore and listen to speeches. It wasn’t like it was 1858 and going to listen to five hours of political speechmaking was the hottest ticket in Central Illinois.

But now, thanks to social media, we’re all living in that world. Mohawk Guy is the coolest dude ever, Shirtstorm Guy is the New Hitler. It’s all random.

And, it turns out, our new Random Mob Hysteria World is more of a drag than it looked like on The Simpsons.