Figure 1 – Mannequin violence, “to the victors belong the spoils.” (c) DE Wolf 2016.

I think that I may have been spending too much time thinking about the Cthulhu mythos. As a result I reacted to this innocent scene at the mall this morning as if it were something much more than it is and produced the, I hope not too gruesome, image of Figure1. It is meant, really, to be a study in incongruity. The mannequin world is a reflection of our own world. It is a sad place of our own creation where mannequins appear more and more disembodied and depersonified, first hairless, then faceless, and finally headless. So perhaps it is not too surprising to see, or is it imagine, a scene of mannequin war and violence. “to the victor belong the spoils.”

The phrase seems to beg a Latin origin or etymology, but in fact refers, in fact, to the nineteenth century political “spoils” system in the United States, where the victor was rewarded with the political spoils – that is all of the choice political appointment which he could bestow on his friends. It appears to have been first uttered by New York Senator William L. Marcy, referring to the victory of the Jackson Democrats in the election of 1828,