We can’t keep mining obscure references at this rate.

Our approach to humorous-reference-extraction is simply unsustainable. There is just a finite supply of obtuse-but-gettable jokes out there, and at some point in the near future we will achieve “peak nostalgia”. Arcane pop-culture trivia production will steadily decline while demand continues to soar, and economics 101 tells us that this approach cannot continue unabated.

We must immediately implement a policy of sustainable reference mining. First off, the wholesale strip-mining of long-running TV series must end immediately, lest we lose these precious resources forever. Although these shows are chock-full of precious reference gems, at what cost do we extract them? Do we want our children to live in a world full of nothing but baseless references? Or can we ensure that they inherit a healthy, balanced dynamic between original content and semi-ironic trivia nodding-to?

If the logic of this argument doesn’t convince you, maybe an appeal to your basic sense of human dignity will. Pay a visit to a reference mine sometime. You’ll see brave men and women, their faces covered in SNES dust, coughing up meme clots, their arms covered in cat-joke scratches… It’s truly horrifying. We all fill our shirts with lighthearted gags and don’t even think twice about it, but when you stare into the faces of those reference-miners…

It gives you a sense of the human cost.

Wear this shirt: At gala events on Qo’noS

Don’t wear this shirt: In shame-faced dishonor.

This shirt tells the world: “I’m willing to withstand a few diarrhea jokes for the sake of this reference.”

We call this color: Gettin’ some asphalt

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