Some of you may actually believe the hype lathered on by self-serving politicians that our economy today is the worst since the great depression. This is hooey of course just like everything else you hear a politician say as he tries to divert you from the tax burden he stuck you with. We have had several ‘bad ‘economies since the depression and I am not thinking about the 90’s. Remember that we are not just cantankerous coots, we are cantankerous OLD coots. We lived through the oil embargoes, odd-even gas buying days and sanctimonious Jimmy Carter. So just to help you keep some perspective in these dire days, listen to this rant from the good old days of 1976. Pardon the French subtitles.
Forget what your mother told you.
Here at Cantankerous Old Coots we believe in letting your feelings out. Maybe your mother taught you to be nice. She may have told you “If you can’t say something nice, don’t say anything at all.” Well, we say forget what your mother said. How far has your mother’s advice got you anyway. We say, if you feel it, then let it out.
Permit No Time Bombs
The way we see it, those bottled-up emotions are time bombs, wreaking havoc on your health and well-being. Keeping quiet just lets that pressure build up and, even worse, encourages those fools causing all the upset to keep doing what they are doing. Keeping quiet not only makes it bad for you now; it makes it worse in the future.
Niceness is Phoney
All this niceness is phony anyway. You know what people are really thinking. It’s what you are thinking but just not willing to say. They may tell you that you are looking good and that your new grandchild is so cute but you know the truth. Old age never improved anybody’s looks and that grandchild is a wrinkled mess, even if they do say he resembles you. Wouldn’t it be a relief not to have to pretend that you believe them? Don’t you think they deserve the same honesty from you? Of course they do. Do yourself and them a favor and just let it out, tell them the truth.
Like this
“Joe, you old scoundrel, you are even fatter than the last time I saw you. You get any bigger and I’ll have to get you a wheelbarrow to lug that belly around.”
“Sally, you old fool, whoever told you that pink was a hair color? You look like you got your head caught in a cotton candy machine.”
“Dick, you blithering idiot, what makes you think that combing those two hairs over your bald spot will turn you into Fabio?”
Do everybody a favor
You see the point? Friends do not let friends make fools of themselves. So do yourself and them a favor, let it all out. Trust us. You mother was a fool.
Hello sheep. Following up on Ralph’s post from last week, I have decided to not just rewrite the fabulous Coot’s lessons, but to start over on the road to uniformity, conformity, and the bland whiteness of looking at a world with the wool pulled over your eyes. So to speak.
Today I would like to start off with a little bit of conformity. If Ralph, Bob and I cannot be your guides to Cantankerousness, then we will have to be your shepherds. And, just a warning, sometimes it takes the stick in order to get an unruly sheep to behave. Ralph even sent me this picture of him teaching his sons the conformity lesson.
So conformity tells us that we should all be the same. Everything should be nearly identical in our beige lives under the blue sky. You. Over there in the pink shirt. Go put on the grey uniform. You. Over there with the uncombed hair. Report for haircut and style. You. Over there thinking that this is a joke and not really serious. Get over here and prepare to be beaten into line.
There will be no free thinking anymore. Previously we have tried to put out lessons and articles that allowed you all to make up your own minds and look at the world freely and go your own way. Not anymore. You will go our way. If you try to go your own way, we will bring you back and make fun of you on Twitter. If you try to think something different than what we want you to know, we will come over to your house and show you what an electric cattle prod is for.
I hope Heather wants to think differently, because I would love to go to Scotland. So for now, all of you out there, prepare to follow the norm. Prepare to follow us. Prepare to actually be a sheep and follow. You will never get off of the treadmill and your view will never change. Enjoy the sameness.
Related articles
- Long Live the Sanctimonious Old Sheep! (cantankerousoldcoots.com)
What’s up?
It seems natural to start this blog with a bit of explanation. Cantankerous Old Coots does evoke an image but beyond that, what would encourage a reader to come back? Everybody probably has experience with a cantankerous old coot and most likely it was a family member – someone you couldn’t avoid and someone you didn’t seek out. In my life there was my grandfather and my father-in-law. Family events were always fun.
Blessed Relief
Sanity in a crazy world
The goal here at COC is to create a small corner of sanity in the craziness of our lives where it is safe to scream, point fingers and shout “That’s crazy!”. Here is a place where you can make hamburgers out of sacred cows and send sleeping dogs running frantically into the ongoing traffic. Here we can say that the Emperor has no clothes – and that he isn’t very well endowed to boot. So join in. Vent and enjoy the unbridled cantankerousness of saying what you really think for once. If the chips are falling, it won’t be here. Comment, offer to guest post and encourage the committed coots to free their hidden curmudgeon.
The Coots News Service does bi-coastal one better this week. CNS is going bi-continental with a news story from our home in California and one from Venice Italy where we will be vacationing for the next few weeks. (Can’t be sure about CNS for this interlude. Bob says become a foreign correspondent and deduct the trip. I’m not sure. It is a vacation for Pete’s sake and maybe Bob will actually have to to some work around here. You will just have to wait in eager anticipation. Even I don’t know.) Both stories are bad news but let’s start with the one close to home. It’s an example of just how looney things can get in these modern times . Usually looney and California are associated very closely together but parts of California are more prone to looniness than others. What stands out with this story is that the town considering this new ban is located in the most conservative county in the state. If there is reason and principal anywhere in California, it ought to be in Placer County.
Rocklin California is upper middle class suburban lifestyle personified in a county that consistently votes conservative. That the City fathers would even consider a city-wide smoking ban just demonstrates how far the demonization of smoking has gone and how insane the anti-smoking people are. The issue was initiated by a woman who claims that her house is infiltrated with second hand smoke from her neighbors who just happen to smoke in their own yard.
It is, of course obvious that this woman is a nut job of monumental stature. She clearly has lost any ability to reason or use logic. She has been indoctrinated by the health wackos about the dangers of second hand smoke to the point of obsession. What is terrifying for the future of California is that elected officials are paying any attention to her. The woman is a laughing stock and should be publicly ridiculed. Instead they are considering infringing on property rights by criminalizing smoking on your own property. Is this America or the Soviet Union? Will we let crazy people control what we do? Apparently the City fathers in Rocklin will not protect us from loons.
CALIFORNIA TOWN CONSIDERING TOTAL OUTDOOR SMOKING BAN — EVEN ON PRIVATE PROPERTY
On the other side of the pond in Venice, Italy where my wife and I will be spending the next two weeks, City fathers are happy to welcome more airline connections with Marco Polo Airport. Venice is highly dependent on tourists to keep itself above water but enough is enough. In high season, the city is overrun with people trying to see all the sights. It is hard to see how adding more will make the economy better. At some point, people will say no more and go elsewhere. Already the city is trying to get control over the huge tour ships that dock in Venice. Why encourage more planes?