Family – Page 3 – GrumpsReport

This Thanksgiving

November 21, 2019 Grumps America, Family, Society & Culture

A week from today our family will be gathered together at our house to celebrate Thanksgiving. In chaotic times such as these there are two ways the gathering can go: either we’ll all use the occasion to whine and vent our frustrations or we’ll compartmentalize them out and reflect on the half-full cup. I’m hoping the latter will prevail.

Today’s Wall Street Journal had an article that I’ve clipped and will share with our family this year, and every year going forward. It’s entitled “When the Next Generation Has to Step Up on Thanksgiving”. It focuses on the baton-handoff that must occur as the family patriarch and matriarch age and are unable to host and manage the mayhem that always attends the holiday. But it also offers wisdom for every Thanksgiving. If followed, the chances of having the half-full cup scenario has a good chance of materializing. I highly recommend the article.

As for giving thanks and gratitude. Today I’m going to share a personal anecdote describing a seminal moment in my upbringing. It informs what Thanksgiving means to me.

THE CAIRO INCIDENT

In 1967 (I was 15) my Mom and Dad and I took a trip to Greece and the Middle East. It was on our stop in Cairo that I had an experience that was one of those “I’ll never forget” moments that shapes a life.

We were walking out of the Nile Hilton hotel where we were staying. As we exited the doors onto the sidewalk a group of kids, 5 or 6 as I recall, came up to us begging for food or money. Ragtag, dirty, with pleading eyes, the group included a couple of teenagers.

This was the first time in my life I had ever been solicited by someone my own age. I had seen plenty of panhandlers before in Paris, in New York and elsewhere, and groups of little kids swarming around tourists, but never before had I experienced direct eye contact with kids my own size and age.

I expected my father, a veteran traveler and tourist who had been subjected to similar circumstances countless times during his worldwide travels, to simply keep walking. Instead, he turned back to the doorman of the hotel, handed him some money and asked him to personally ensure that these kids were fed a proper meal. The doorman, shocked and hesitant, reluctantly promised he would. As my dad turned to the group he pointed to the doorman, who explained to them what he was going to do. One of the teenage boys then turned not to my father, but to me, clasped his hands in prayer-like fashion, nodded his head and uttered in Arabic “Shukran” or “Thank You”, then put his arm around his little brother, who did the same. Later when we returned the doorman recounted how he had sent to the hotel kitchen for “guest lunchboxes” and distributed them to the children.

Irrespective of whether or not these kids were putting on an act, I was so taken aback and moved by the incredibly sharp contrast between my life and theirs that I vowed never again to complain about the food on my plate or the comforts I enjoy.

And so to this day, and for the rest of my life, I will be grateful for the privilege and opportunity of living in freedom in this greatest of all countries and for the incredible wealth we have: to include the feast of food, family and friends at Thanksgiving.

Would That Be So Bad?

October 25, 2019 Grumps America, Economy, Family, History, Morality, Politics, Reason, Religion, Society & Culture, Values

With the world falling apart in front of us and Leftists assaulting every sacred and historically treasured traditional value while asserting that the dismantling of our culture is “progressive”, what if we challenged the notion that “there’s no going back”?

What if we were to withdraw our troops from all of our foreign bases and let Russia and China fight it out for hegemony and see what it’s like to be the world’s policeman, getting bogged down in endless wars and, unlike us out of largesse, squandering their resources on attempted world domination?

What if we were to perfect Reagan’s original Star Wars Strategic Defense Initiative, i.e. reproducing the Enterprise’s “shields up”- and photon torpedoes capabilities so as to negate or obliterate anything our adversaries could throw at us?

What if we were to withdraw to secure borders and become completely self-reliant and self-sufficient as we have with oil? Suppress the horror and revulsion that leaps to mind when a 55” flat screen television suddenly but temporarily costs $3,000 again instead of $500. Instead, imagine “Made in the U.S.A.” instead of “China” or “Mexico” on just about everything we buy and consume. And Bass Weejuns were once again made in Maine.

What if we were to withdraw from the United Nations and establish a new organization of free, democratic countries and emerging nations that subscribe to our federalist-constitutional-‘meritocratic’ approach to government and society?

What if we were to roll back the welfare/nanny state and restore an “everybody needs to pull their weight” culture? What if we were to dismantle the safety nets and nanny protections that have made all of us soft-in-the-belly and turned Millennials and Gen Z into snowflakes? How bad would it be if they had to actually work hard and produce things of real value?

What if we were to reduce the size of the Federal government by half? Would we miss having six different departments massaging the same numbers and producing meaningless (and misleading) reports that cast them in 6 x 6 different ways?

What if we were to eliminate abortion-on-demand, restore marriage to what it is and has been for thousands of years, and truly “eliminate welfare as we know it”? Would families matter again? Would “taking care of one’s own” be so bad as they, and their communities, came together to help one another out of necessity because the government handout offices would be closed?

What if continence and self-control, a restored respect for one another in male-female relationships were restored. What if the natural consequences, including stigma attached to divorce, abortion, broken families, of immorality were to come back? Would these constraints on our “anything goes so long as it feels good or doesn’t interfere with what I want at the moment” approach toward life be destructive or beneficial?

What if were to eliminate tenure and “retire-after-twenty-years-with-rest-of-life pensions-and-100%-healthcare-benefits-coverage” and restore the teaching profession to the noble one it once was? What if we taught kids to read using common sense phonics instead of “whole word” recognition. What if we went back to teaching arithmetic and insist there are right and wrong answers rather than “good tries”? What if we only gave real winners trophies? And what if we could once again celebrate victories instead of falling over backwards to ensure that losers’ feelings weren’t hurt? What if we were to show the movie “Rudy” to kids instead of some documentary on turning algae into fuel?

What if we once again started the school day with the Pledge of Allegiance, and allowed assemblies and the start of sporting events to be opened with prayer? And allowed the Star Spangled Banner to be sung at public events?

What if we didn’t reprimand kids for sitting “indian style” on the floor instead of “criss cross applesauce”?

What if we were to celebrate nuclear families again instead of “non-traditional” families? And what if we were to put the “boys” and “girls” or “men” and “women” signs back on bathroom doors?

Would that be so bad?

As I’ve mentioned in previous posts numerous times, our society seems so hell bent on meeting the needs of the few that we overlook, neglect and harm the many.

Real Men Don’t Eat Kale

October 21, 2019 Grumps Family, Society & Culture

As the barbs, insults, name-calling and bitter incivility continue to spiral out of control today, I continue to predict that ultimately the conflict will not be between Left and Right, not between Liberals and Conservatives, not between Democrats and Republicans, not even between Secular Progressives and Traditionalists, but between Mars and Venus, i.e. men and women.

With apologies to Bruce Feirstein, whose 1982 best selling book, “Real Men Don’t Eat Quiche” sold several million copies, I submit an update…

I can’t pinpoint when it all started, but I think it was about the time that men started wearing cologne. Not Old Spice after shave, mind you, but Hai Karate, Brut, English Leather and other scents to cover up how we smell. Gone was spray Right Guard; in came a million varieties of anti-perspirant/odor eliminating sprays, gels, powders, roll-ons…all guaranteed to turn the armpits of your white tee-shirts into a brownish/aluminum-ish mess. I guess that was back in the late 50’s or early 60’s.

Today, there are men who actually utter the words “duvet”. No self-respecting man should EVER use that word!

And no Real Man eats avocado toast…

Or kale…no kale…

Or orders vegetables on his pizza, except bell peppers, onions or garlic.

Or drinks blush/rosé wine…

And Real Men don’t get caught dead buying scented soap in a dispenser! Give me a bar of LAVA or lye soap I can roll around in my hands!

Navy blue sweaters are ok. So help me…if I hear a man say he has bought or says he’s wearing a periwinkle sweater, I’ll barf.

Real men actually set the thermostats in their homes using the interval timers. Women, whose body thermostats are fundamentally deficient, must have up or down control…

Real Men grill, they do not sautée.

Real men eat steak, burgers, fries, and drink beer. Fine wine, red or white, bourbon or scotch whether single malt or blends are just fine. Real Men do NOT drink apple-tinis!

Real men do not drive hybrids or all-electric cars.

Real men do not own dogs that hop when they bark (those aren’t dogs, they’re hors d-oeuvres). Real men own Golden Retrievers, German Shepherds, Labradors, Bernese Mountain Dogs, German Shorthairs… and for Pete’s sake, Real Men refuse to acquire or own designer dogs (which are basically mutts) like Maltie Poos, and Lhasa Poos, Sheltie Poos…as far as I’m concerned, they’re all poo!

And real men support the 2nd Amendment whether or not they own guns themselves.

There’s only one convention of modern man that I’ll allow…it’s ok to put the toilet seat back down in a public, (say restaurant) restroom if it’s also used by women. But if it’s a guys only toilet (to the extent they still exist..groan…), leave the damn seat up ok?

All that said, there’s nothing wrong with being a GENTLEMAN. Be prepared to be scowled at if you hold a door open for a femi-nazi, but do it anyway. And yes, you should give up your seat to an elderly man or woman on the bus. You know, all the rules we were taught growing up. Real Men still follow them.

One of the best quotes I’ve ever read on manhood comes from Garrett J. White:

“A man who is more concerned with being a good man than being good at being a man makes a very well behaved slave!”

Fist bump Garrett…

Considering Homeschooling

September 26, 2019 Grumps America, Education, Family, Government, Society & Culture

The Leftist indoctrination and brainwashing of our children has intensified to the point where parents who love them and care about our Nation’s future should seriously consider homeschooling, private or parochial schools. Not every family can afford private or parochial schools, however, so homeschooling may be the only realistic alternative.

Making the decision and committing to homeschooling would represent a tectonic shift in a family’s life to say the least. Dual incomes and $1000 iPhones has replaced living within our means, the traditional norm of father providing for the family, mother tending the hearth and nurturing the children, and the schools educating and preparing our youth to become productive achievers in our society.

Homeschooling would decidedly alter the current paradigm. Your taxes would still be paying for those teacher retirement benefits (largely), your income would drop and costs will rise, but it may be the only way to counteract the destructive ideology that has infused the curriculum and that is the real driving force tearing our country apart and causing our country’s decline.

I’ve only begun to research this topic, but virtually everything I read about the practice, in terms of preparing children for the world they face and equipping them with the tools they will need to survive in their future, is positive, even laudatory.

Mom usually takes on the homeschooling challenge and not all of our daughters and daughters-in-law are either educationally or emotionally able to do so. But for those who are, though it may mean abandoning or putting their careers on hold and running a different race than the one called “keeping up with the Jones”, it could be the most rewarding and fulfilling occupation of their lives. I don’t think it’s an overstatement to suggest that a generation of well-taught-through-homeschooling or private schooled kids could save the future of America.

One of the websites I found to be a useful introduction and guide to homeschooling is Mary Ann Kelley’s The Home School Mom. It lists many of the benefits of homeschooling, among them:

Academic flexibility. Homeschooling can work whether a child is ahead, behind, strong-willed, creative, challenging, quiet, gifted, or active.

Meeting current needs now. You can prioritize a child’s mental, emotional, behavioral, and physical health.

Meaningful learning. Avoid teaching to the test, testing mania in general, and arbitrary minimal standards.

Foster less peer dependence. Less early exposure to drugs, alcohol, sexual activity, and bullying.

Build a sense of safety. Parents can take their own steps to keep their children physically safe, and children can feel secure. (Grumps note: this also means safety from indoctrination and brainwashing!)

The full description of benefits can be found here.

I might add that taking on the responsibility for educating one’s children would of course force parents to become more educated themselves, and lifelong learning for us adults is a good thing too!

The education lobby will weep, wail and gnash their teeth, of course, and as the homeschooling trend continues to accelerate the assault by the Leftist-infused teacher’s unions will be ferocious. But consider these facts taken from research done by Brian D. Ray, Ph.D of the National Home Education Research Institute (NHERI) and published in January of this year:

“There are over 2.3 million homeschool students in the United States. That is, there were an estimated 2.3 million in spring 2016, and this was up from one estimate of about 2 million home-educated children (in grades K to 12) during the spring of 2010 in the United States. It appears the homeschool population is continuing to grow at an estimated 2% to 8% per annum over the past few years.”

“The home-educated typically score 15 to 30 percentile points above public school students on standardized academic achievement tests.”

As I wrote earlier, I’ve barely scratched the surface of this subject, but as a grandfather increasingly worried about my kids’ and grandkids’ future, as well as the future of America , I urge everyone to seriously consider abandoning the current educational rat race and provide the second most important thing (love comes first!) parents can provide their children: a sound education.

Bot-Speak

September 17, 2019 Grumps Family, Society & Culture, Technology

We’ve gone from handwritten invitations on personalized stationary to “I’ll have my people call your people so we can do lunch,” to “I’ll have my bot sync with your bot and we can Facetime.”

Emails, and now texting, have replaced real interpersonal communication with what I call bot-speak. For the uninitiated, bots, short for robots, are bits of software that perform automated tasks across the internet, including sending messages meant to sound and act like humans. Bot-speak has warped relationships, particularly among Gen Z, into superficial digital encounters.

A sign of the decline of a great civilization is a breakdown in language leading to a breakdown in meaningful communication leading to miscommunication leading to misunderstanding leading to conflict. The ambiguity of message frequently created by the abbreviated/truncated language of texting has caused countless avoidable arguments, hurt feelings and destroyed relationships.

Texting has become a shield or filter for real communication.

Here’s a typical exchange.

Guy: Wanna get together?
Gal: R u asking me out?
Guy: Y let’s meet at Starbucks
Gal: Dunno, time?
Guy: 10
Gal: 10 mins or 10 o clock?
Guy: 10 o clock
Gal: AM or PM?
Guy: AM
Gal: K.
Guy: look fwd c u there

What’s really going on here is the guy doesn’t have the courage to actually speak to the gal face to face. Texting allows him to be arms-length removed from the interaction and shields him from having to make eye contact or risk bumbling his words when he asks her out. Result? Superficiality: increased depersonalization, reduced interpersonal communication, increased isolation and distance between people.

OMG, what r u talking about?

Aside from depersonalization and isolation, Bot-speak can test intergenerational relationships. One example:

Grandma: How’s that new munchkin of yours doing?
Gen Z Daughter: She’s the bomb
Grandma: I don’t understand. The bomb?
Gen Z Daughter (already impatient): She’s fine grandma.
Grandma: Is she sleeping through the night yet?
Gen Z Daughter: GTG
Grandma: GTG?
Gen Z Daughter: Good to go.
Grandma: Good to go?
Gen Z Daughter (now really impatient): Yes, she’s sleeping through the night.
Grandma: And eating well?
Gen Z Daughter: G2G
Grandma: You mean GTG?
Gen Z Daughter: No, G2G, got to go g-ma (grandma) have doc appt shortly
Grandma: Oh, ok, LOL.
Gen Z Daughter: What’s funny about a doctor’s appointment?
Grandma: I was just wishing you the best. Doesn’t LOL mean Lots of love?
Gen Z Daughter: ROFL No. It means Laughing out Loud.
Grandma: What does ROFL mean?
Gen Z Daughter (now exasperated): Rolling on the floor laughing
Grandma: You or the baby?
Gen Z Daughter: Really G2G g-ma TTYL
Grandma: Let me guess, talk to you later?
Gen Z Daughter: Y XXOO
Grandma: Now XXOO I understand!

Walking down memory lane a bit, I remember when we all were convinced word processing would make us more efficient, save us time, improve productivity. Wrong. The ability to easily correct typographical and grammatical errors caused us to spend inordinate amounts of time re-writing. Spell checkers and grammar checkers often caused confusion rather than correction.

We were also taught that email would improve our lives. Wrong. It allowed us to transfer responsibility for a task to someone else while thinking we’ve “dealt with the problem”. Recycled problems have only made us less efficient.

The result of all this communications technology, including Bot-speak, is sloppy and lazy language, an inability to write coherently, or even SPEAK coherently. Nevertheless, it’s here to stay. I don’t see a return to correct grammar and diction anytime soon. But I’m going to keep trying to help my children and grandchildren actually answer their phones and listen to their voice mail messages, eliminate Bot-speak except for the most informal communication, and banish “like” from their vocabulary unless it’s used as a simile.

My dad used to say, “Engage brain, open mouth, speak.” He constantly warned against both speaking before opening my mouth (i.e. mumbling) or opening my mouth and speaking before engaging my brain. He was also fond of quoting, “It is better to keep silent and be considered a fool than to speak and remove all doubt.” Both are wise sayings today.

PS, here’s a dictionary you might find useful, culled from the website of a young girl who, thankfully, is speaking up against Bot-speak to her own generation. I’ve edited the list, including adding some abbreviations I’ve encountered that she hasn’t!

AFK = Away From Keyboard
ASAP = As Soon As Possible
ASL = Age, Sex, Location (also, American Sign Language)

BRB = Be Right Back
FOMO = Fear Of Missing Out
GG = Good Game
GJ = Good Job
GREE = I Agree
GTG = Good To Go
HMU = Hit Me Up
I’d’v’e = I Would Have
JOMO = Joy Of Missing Out
K = Ok
KK = oKay, cool
LMAO = Laughing My A** Off
LOL = Laughing Out Loud
NCD = No Can Do
NP = No Problem
OMG = Oh My God
OTP = One True Pair
ROFL = Rolling On Floor Laughing
TTYL = Talk To You Later
TTYT = Talk To You Tomorrow
TY = Thank You
TYVM = Thank You Very Much
Y = Yes
YW = You’re Welcome
WTG = Way To Go

Common Slang Expressions
A Stan = Stalker or fan
Bomb = Awesome
Bye Felicia = Bye forever (from the film “Friday”)
Ditto = Me too
Dope = Cool
Extra = Trying too hard
High Key = Loud and proud (opposite of low key)
Lit = Cool
Ship = Belong with each other (as in relationship)
Wack = Lame (e.g. a lame excuse)
Woke = A reference to how people should be aware of current affairs
Yass = Yes

Social Score Manipulation

September 9, 2019 Grumps Education, Family, Reason, Society & Culture, Technology, Values

I was alarmed by an article I saw recently regarding how Silicon Valley, i.e. the tech companies, are trying to build a social scoring system similar to the one created by the Chinese to control their population. A social “score” would, essentially, label you on how well you adhere to political correctness.

Think of the consequences of the following: Some twenty something kid develops a computer program that collects every bit of data on you from the internet, including privacy-invading captures of emails, texts, voice mail messages, credit reports, and of course Facebook and Instagram posts. An algorithm (basically, a complex series of equations and instructions) then decides whether the dossier it has compiled on you adheres to the social orthodoxy prescribed by its mostly Leftist creators. You are assigned a score which, if insufficiently high, could prevent you from obtaining insurance, a mortgage, a car loan, weapons to defend yourself and your family (nor just firearms but think, pepper spray!). Continue down this path and medical care could be rationed based on your score. Your ability to obtain a drivers license, or fly on an airplane could all be impacted by your ‘score’. So too could your ability to check into a hotel, or get your kids into a private school, camp or music program. How about your internet speed being throttled up or down based on your number?

This is Silicon Valley tyranny of the highest order.

Artificial intelligence…what the computer geeks call computer programs that mimic human thought processes through complex “if-then” rules, is just that…ARTIFICIAL. It’s not REAL intelligence! It’s data manipulation, whether the data is valid or not, whether it’s true or not, whether it represents reality or not, whether it is complete or not. While the geeks would argue its totality represents who you are, I submit individual human beings cannot be represented by a set of numbers.

Instead of real human beings using real intelligence, computer programs are making assessments based on monte carlo simulations of the propensity of an individual to be or do certain things. It’s unadulterated nonsense. People aren’t average. People are individuals, but the Leftist gurus of Silicon Valley would have you believe they can categorize you and collect people into pens like livestock. They use terms like “community” and “social justice” to connote egalitarianism, but it’s really manipulation, brainwashing and population control to achieve the Leftist utopian dream.

And we’re letting it happen. The fact that I’m typing this on a laptop and that I’ll use an intenet connection to first save it in a cloud repository, then publish it on this website in the hope that people, especially my family, will read it some day and be positively influenced by it…is a trade-off. I have no illusions that there are computer algorithms that are mining my posts for key words and phrases that already categorize me at least as a neanderthal but at worst, as a old white guy white supremacist. And the thought that the government and commercial institutions would ever adopt policies to allow or deny me freedoms or products and services based on where I fall on this social scoring spectrum, is unsettling to say the least.

It used to be we’d gather our families together for Sunday dinner and at that table learn the wisdom of our elders. The patriarchs and matriarchs would instruct and seek to influence us, and by example, teach us about the world, right and wrong, how to conduct ourselves, how to find happiness in our lives.

Today, we write blogs, and emails, and texts. Our conversations are about movies and sports…in some families politics is no longer an acceptable subject, and if one member of the family is either agnostic or atheist, religion too is a subject off the table.

We are so paranoid about offending even our own family members that in a sense, the Left has won. My children can’t discipline their kids for fear some social worker will show up their door and haul them into some judicial hearing on child abuse! Have the thought police so intimidated us that we have abrogated our responsibility to impart our values to our children and grandchildren to Sesame Street, the Leftist indoctrinators in their schools and colleges?

Some of us “old people” say, “It’s their world, and their problem.” I, on the other hand, ask, “Will we stand by and watch our kids’ world devolve into an immoral and totalitarian cesspool without speaking up, without using every opportunity to point out the craziness, the manipulations and fallacies of the demagogues and those who seek to impose their will on and exercise power over us?”

We can either choose to be silenced and cower, or stand and fight for the traditional values that have proven throughout history to be the greatest driving force of mankind’s prosperity.

A Lost Generation

September 2, 2019 Grumps Education, Family, Religion, Society & Culture, Values

Once again someone has said it far better than I. Cal Thomas has hit the nail on the head. He describes in eloquent and persuasive terms what I have been saying, often sub-optimally, about the deterioration of traditional values, especially in today’s twenty-somethings…

In his piece entitled “Lost Generation abandoning traditional values” Thomas accurately describes the problem our nation faces from the attitudes of Generation Z. He cites a Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll as lending credence to this assertion and then goes on to summarize, beautifully, everything I’ve been trying to say. Some excerpts from the Cal Thomas article:

“There are people in every generation who believe the generation following theirs is either going to the dogs or will ruin the country.

The founders and subsequent generations — perhaps excepting the Gilded Age and the horrors of slavery — mostly believed in the virtues younger people either now reject or approach with indifference.

How can this be? What has happened between the World War II generation, which gave so much so their children and grandchildren might enjoy the blessings of liberty, and the current generation, which seems cool to what once seemed to matter most?”

Generalizations are always problematic, but I have lived long enough and witnessed the general decline to make some.

Prosperity is one explanation. People who make more money than previous generations and possess a lot of stuff seem less inclined to participate in community (how many of us know our neighbors, who are here today and move tomorrow?). Stuff and the personal satisfaction of achievement lead to a decline in one’s need for God — too much money, too little purpose.

Politicians become a god-substitute and politics their religion. Creeping secularism has affected theological truth to the point where people can believe whatever they want — or nothing at all — and escape correction. Heresy, even apostasy, has infiltrated many churches.

Then there is culture. Younger people are exposed to what we collectively call “media” more than any previous generation. Most of what constitutes culture proceeds from a singular worldview that denigrates, or does not promote, patriotism, belief in God and values previous generations not only took for granted, but instilled in their children.

Unrestricted abortion has cheapened how many young people view the value of human life. For growing numbers of the young, marriage has become passé as children witness the pain of their parents’ divorce and decide that living together without a formal, legal or spiritual commitment is better than risking the cost and pain of ending a marriage. For some, children are viewed as a financial burden and an intrusion on adult lifestyles.

Sociologists and historians will tell us these things are cyclical, like weather. That has been true in the past when spiritual revivals often followed a fallow period of faithlessness and a focus on self. I’m not sure that cycle will repeat with younger people, given what they are taught at public schools and in liberal universities.

The values that shaped and sustained America through economic downturns and wars had to be taught and instilled in the next generation. Today’s younger people, as reflected in the poll, seem intent on making their own rules (if they can be called rules) and creating their own gods.

They will eventually learn the impossibility of it all as their substitutions will fail them. The question is can America survive when our moral, spiritual and patriotic foundations are destroyed? If you don’t love your country, what’s the point of having one?”

To illustrate precisely what Thomas is talking about, following is a sample of the comments to his article on the comment blog Reddit. THIS is what we’re up against. Profanity has been edited by me.

“AutoModerator🤖 Bot • 13h (Note from Grumps: Gotta laugh…as if the following warning is heeded…)

As a reminder, this subreddit is for civil discussion.

In general, be courteous to others. Attack ideas, not users. Personal insults, shill or troll accusations, hate speech, any advocating or wishing death/physical harm, and other rule violations can result in a permanent ban.

If you see comments in violation of our rules, please report them.

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aethsyn • 13h

F*** traditional values.

pegothejerk • 13h

They mean conservative values, traditional American values include genocide, cheating, broken treaties, protesting, rampant immigration, wars, poverty for most, etc.

I’d say those things are still here. The youth just isn’t into their bull***t religious dogma, rhetoric, and manipulation.

teyhan_bevafer • 12h

Same author, earlier column:

God designed norms for behavior that are in our best interests. When we act outside those norms—such as for premarital sex, adultery, or homosexual sex—we cause physical, emotional, and spiritual damage to ourselves and to our wider culture. The unpleasant consequences of divorce and sexually transmitted diseases are not the result of intolerant bigots seeking to denigrate others. They are the result of violating God’s standards, which were made for our benefit. — Cal Thomas, “Immutable Morals”

What a f***ing sicko. Perfect for FOX

MSgtJohnCWoods • 12h

Now I’m curious what insane, kinky s**t he’s into.

Continue Thread

Kkooopp • 9h

Haha. Pedophile priests shaming us regular sinners.

casualphilosopher1 • 12h

I wonder how his fellow Fox News columnists feel about that. I don’t think many of them follow his standards.

-2

VioletBeauregard:flag-va: Virginia • 13h

Gen X, Millenials, and Gen Z are “rejecting traditional values?”

More accurate headline is “Every generation younger than Baby Boomers is sick of patriarchal bulls**t.”

BilltheCatisBack • 12h

I take offense. I am a Baby boomer hippie flower child and my generation really started the rejection of the traditional values. “ The times they are a changing. “

Continue Thread

gringostroh • 13h

F**k Cal Thomas.

TedCruzsAnalFissure • 13h

In his flabby face

Taman_Should • 12h

“But muh traditional values!” they said, when slavery was abolished.

“But muh traditional values!” they said, when women got suffrage.

“But muh traditional values!” they said, when schools desegregated.

“But muh traditional values!” they said, when Martin Luther nailed on the church door.

1991560SEC • 12h

I wonder why people are turning away from Christianity? Maybe because their “God” is a disgusting hateful p**k and so are his followers? Jesus and his kind ways and teachings about the poor and decent are dead to these a**holes. Look in the mirror Cal, YOU are the f**king problem.

__Parallax__ • 11h

Modern “christians” have more in common with the pharisees and money changers than they do with the disciples of christ

heyhey922 • 13h

This article is basically just Fox News crying over that millennials are entirely lost for the GOP and Gen Z currently look exactly like millennials.

jratcliff63367 • 13h

Traditional values of hate against people of color and the LGBT community? Yeah…let’s hope so…

Tylorw09:flag-mo: Missouri • 12h

Where my country hatred gone?

Cobrawine66 • 12h

I’m happily abandoning “traditional values”.

archerjenn:flag-tx: Texas • 13h

F**k Fox News.

None of these things sound bad to me.

Boleen • 13h

Traditional American values such as Trump’s cheating on all three wives?

segvcore • 13h

Cal Thomas! I’d forgotten about that sick f**k. Surprised he’s still around, not surprised that Fox pulled him up out of their gimp box.

Ill_Try_To_Be_Civil • 13h

Yeah, I thought he was dead. He was exhausting and odious 20 years ago.

poloniumpanda:flag-us: America • 10h

Says the party that sacrifced all they claimed to stand for to fellate trump and the Russians.

AthaanShadar • 13h

Enlightened generation abandoning traditional american racist values

grandtheftdragon:flag-id: Idaho • 12h

The fruits of traditional values abandoned us. What incentive is there for people under 35 to view “traditional values,” (whatever that is codeword for) to hold up in the same light as our forebears?

StopTheAltWhite • 12h

Yeah, it’s called “crony capitalism eating up all income in America for the 1%.”

NormP • 12h

A Fox News pundit talking about having values.

milqi:flag-ny: New York • 11h

Wow. This entire piece reads like an angry grandpa on too much hooch.

prodigalpariah • 11h

Racism misogyny and xenophobia?

mclumber1 • 13h

Cal, don’t you support a guy who likes to “grab em by the p***y”?

Tylorw09:flag-mo: Missouri • 12h

And who has been divorced 2 times!

Let’s read about Cal’s views on divorce…

tehmlem • 12h

If there’s a lost generation it’s the boomers who took the values they were taught and warped them into a hateful, bigoted parody. Who abandoned freedom of expression, equal rights, and the highest standard of living in the world in favor of tradition, exclusion, and deprivation.

Ssider69 • 10h

News flash….every generation changes their values. I’m not yet an old guy…but hardly young. I don’t think my peers would have shown up in large numbers to face off against neo Nazis (I often wonder exactly what it is those “boys” are so “proud” of). For that matter a HS student standing up to the jeers of very powerful adults in order to speak out against mass shootings in schools (btw, the grown ups that insulted this kid must be real proud of themselves…way better than popping a toddlers balloon!)

And that is patriotism. It is the act of trying to make your nation a better place.

schoocher • 9h

GOP traditional “values”:

Patriotism: We all work together for the benefits of multi-nat corporations and the super-wealthy.

Religion: There is no god but my God and not other way to worship him then with my ingrained belief system of hate, intolerance, and greed.

GhostBalloons19:flag-us: America • 9h

Traditional = Conservative which is a world view based on hate, fear and the status quo. So yeah.

Amartist19 • 13h

What values? Racism? Bigotry? This country doesn’t seem to have any.

shelbys_foot • 13h

Seems to me they’re rejecting the New Gilded Age and the horrors of Trumpism.

hotbrownrain • 13h

Props for choosing greed as the primary cause but beyond that Cal Thomas is a f**king chump.

deviltrombone • 13h

“Cal” is Nadsat for “s**t.”

dogswontsniff • 9h

Ah yes the hack from the newspaper. Smug, ignorant, intolerant ass.

LucidCharade • 3h

[…]traditional American values like slavery, segregation, and internment camps. Those Ni****s and Japs should have known their place beneath us white men!

I finished that thought for you Cal, no worries. This one is free of charge.

●

ComradeGibbon • 2h

TIL: Cal Thomas is still alive.

●

ViskerRatio • 13h

Note that the ‘traditional American values’ they’re really talking about is valuing other people by participating in a community rather than merely pursuing self-absorption and narcissism.

And that should be worrisome for anyone. Not just from a “keep off my lawn” standpoint of old fogies, but from the younger generations who are going to fritter away their youth on pointless pursuits while not establishing the relationships they need to sustain themselves in old age.

-24

MSgtJohnCWoods • 13h

valuing other people

By caging children, blocking health care access, institutionalizing racism, demeaning women and stripping their autonomy….

Continue Thread

ME24601:flag-pa: Pennsylvania • 11h

valuing other people by participating in a community rather than merely pursuing self-absorption and narcissism.

*As long as said people fit one’s preconceived notion of who belongs to said community

The younger generation, meanwhile, wants to bring more people into the tent rather than force them to stay apart.”

While there are those who argue, “It’s their world, let them have it,” I choose to at least speak up, like Cal Thomas, and warn of the potential collapse of our country and our civilization. It’s spitting in the wind, perhaps, but I’d rather go down fighting in the hope that in some small way a remnant of the time-honored, proven principles I call traditional values will be preserved in my children and grandchildren.

Educational Indoctrination

August 29, 2019 Grumps America, Education, Family, Reason, Society & Culture, Values

What is happening in our schools is beyond shocking. A whole generation has been brainwashed to believe things we and our parents would have written off as lunacy.

A firsthand account by a public school teacher in Gross Pointe, Michigan of what’s going on in the halls, academic lounges and in kids’ heads these days alarmingly summarizes what we should find frightening if we care about our children and grandchildren. The article, entitled “Worse Than Ever: Government Schools After 35 Years“, by Lawrence M. Ludlow (American Thinker, August 15, 2019) describes what he found upon returning to the classroom after a hiatus because the local high school was unable to replace a retiring Latin teacher.

The first clue was the difference between the certification process in 1982, when he previously taught, and 2018. In his own words: “The 1982 certificate only listed the courses I could teach. In contrast, the 2018 version had a 300-word “Code of Ethics” that amounted to a profession of faith in collectivism, egalitarianism, state schools, and diversity (typically limited to superficial things like skin color and gender, not ideas).”

His next exposure was to the students themselves, who were woefully deficient in English grammar much less ready to study Latin. In what was supposed to be a superior school system, many students didn’t bring books to class, complained incessantly about homework, expected to receive high grades regardless of proficiency and performance and the Principal was instituting a process whereby students would not be compelled to take any more than one test in a day! And this kind of education was supposed to be college preparatory!

The warping and rewriting of history, the Leftist brainwashing on the topics of socialism versus capitalism, communism versus democracy, globalism versus nationalism, nepotism versus meritocracy, redistributionism versus self-reliance, moral relativism, collectivism versus individualism, the blatant promotion of gender dysphoria, group identity, victimology and outrage culture…THIS is what’s being taught to our children and grandchildren in elementary and secondary schools and on college campuses today. (I will leave for another time the attack on boys and boyhood, men and manhood.) Oh yes, occasionally the three R’s are thrown in, but increasingly, this kind of harmful, Leftist nonsense permeates every subject.

It’s no wonder that home-schooling is taking off. It’s no wonder the competition for private school slots is cutthroat. And despite ever increasing spending per capita, it’s no wonder “Johnny [still] Can’t Read.”

Where does the fault lie, and who’s responsibility is it to fix this problem?

As regards fault – I chalk this up to the natural impact of what I call the “fat and happy syndrome.” Briefly, I submit that the Boomers, recipients of the peace and prosperity won by the Greatest Generation and not having to struggle through a Great Depression, allowed boredom, indolence, envy, drugs, moral depravity and many other societal ills to infect a “fat and happy” population. “Free Thinking”, “Free Love”, anti-establishment rhetoric and the abandonment of God or thousands of years of right and wrong moral yardsticks resulted in a new educational approach. The result, “New Math” (remember?) and now, the Common Core panacea. In short, the hippies took over academia.

Regrettably, George Bernard Shaw was right. “Those who can, do; those who can’t, teach.” With exceptions, for example shop and trade-school teachers who pass on truly useful skills and learning, academicians are so caught up in complying with the orthodoxy established by teacher union leadership, publishing or perishing the “proper” material in the case of college professors, or crushed by the collective mob if they try to deviate from the dogma, that there is little chance of a return to the basics.

As for the solution. Somehow, and by smarter people than I, we must eliminate the ability of teacher unions to impose their Leftist canon on our system. Whether we do this by abolishing teacher unions altogether (and ALL government employee unions by the way) or through some other means, we must break up the monopoly and MAKE OUR EDUCATION SYSTEM GREAT AGAIN.

I also suggest that those parents who can place their children in private schools do so. If unable to do so, I urge them to strongly consider home-schooling. Something like 2 million school-age kids are being home-taught today, with extraordinary results as compared to public schooling, and that figure is growing exponentially.

Finally, I urge parents to demand that their children reduce their obsession with social media and technology and create opportunities for them to interact in healthy ways with one another. Supervised play dates for the youngsters, organized sports (left me emphasize here the importance of competitive TEAM sports), participation in interpersonally engaging, non-technical social activities like music and theater, science and outdoors clubs for adolescents.

It’s been argued that our ability to influence our children ends about the age of 8. While that’s debatable, those of us who have raised children know that somewhere around the onset of adolescence we become the enemy and what we say is far less important than the current “meme”.

Yet judging by what I see in college and twenty-something, even thirty-something age kids today, when reality bites and they’re forced to become increasingly self-reliant…they become receptive to guidance and influence once again. All of sudden they discover that their parents have grown up. (As an aside, there is nothing more heartwarming than hearing our own words coming out of the mouths of our older children as they instruct their younger siblings, or their children!)

I urge us to find ways of resisting the temptation to become our children’s friends as they morph into grown-ups and, hopefully, adults, but rather continue to set an example for them, teach them correct principles, and help them understand what was right and what was wrong about the subject matter they were just exposed to over the previous 12-16 or more years.

If they haven’t learned them already, teach them about skepticism and critical thinking. Teach them the manners, decorum and civility that they didn’t receive during their ‘formal’ education. Teach them self-reliance and how to rise on the basis of merit, not political maneuvering or nepotism. Teach them about determination and perseverance. Teach them thrift and self-discipline, and teach them by example whenever possible, the difference between Right and Wrong, and Right and Left.

I submit that the blatant Leftist indoctrination of our children and grandchildren in today’s schools and colleges (whether public or private) is the REAL DOMESTIC TERROR threat in our country. May we who believe in Traditional Values be strong enough and wise enough to arm and teach our loved ones how to fight this scourge.

Celebrating the Male Chauvinist Pig

August 22, 2019 Grumps America, Family, History, Morality, Politics, Reason, Religion, Society & Culture, Values

Compared to “misogynist”, “racist”, “homophobe”, “angry white male”, “supremacist, “PSM” (Pale, Stale, Male)… these days excoriating a traditional man as a “Male Chauvinist Pig” seems kind of quaint!

Back in the 60’s, while some of us were working our butts off, obeying the laws, seeking to get ahead, providing for our families, treating everyone with respect irrespective of their color, creed, religion, and holding doors open for women, others shed their steel capped shoes for birkenstocks, grew their hair long, wore tie-dye with beads around their necks and smoked dope. With the latter celebrated in song, dance and Hollywood, it’s no wonder that women eventually began to look with derision at limp-wristed washouts and loser men abrogating both their responsibilities and, well, their manhood.

Forced or at least compelled to pick up the slack, women, many whom really were discriminated against, took what has always been a battle – the “Battle of the Sexes” from a cold war to a kinetic one. What started in the early 1900’s as a demand for voting rights has now turned into vicious misandry.

Look up male chauvinist pig and you find it refers to men who think that women are inferior, objects to be used or kept like pets. The definition is now used by militant feminists as depicting ALL men, but particularly white men. And while we old white guys can laugh it off much as we do all the other Leftist hysteria and political correctness, the assault on men has now permeated pre-K and elementary schools, where normal boy behavior is denigrated and labeled “toxic masculinity.”

Nicholas Chauvin, of course, was a legendary soldier in Napoleon’s army who was famously supportive of his emperor and his country. Chauvinism, therefore, meant patriotism but in the 60’s morphed into a pejorative label referring to bigotry or bias on the part of any man.

I believe actual MCP’s in our society are few and far between. Of course one can always find examples of men who treat women as inferior and exhibit truly reprehensible behavior, but the vast majority of men whom I’ve seen and encountered throughout our country, (and I’ve traveled widely) treat women with respect, dignity, sometimes even reverence, and always have!

Does the row of hard-hat construction boys with open lunchboxes ogle and smirk and occasionally whistle at the women walking by? Yes, and it’s more than just bad manners, but it isn’t male chauvinist pigism! Do the vast majority of them head home after work, help their wives get dinner on the table and the kids with their homework afterword? Yes, in my experience, that’s precisely what they do.

Boyhood is and has been under attack for some time. “All boys, especially white boys, are rebuked for their masculinity. They watch as girls are told they are special. They are told they are privileged, guilty, and must atone for their sins as if they are themselves were white supremacists. The expectation for white boys is that they should get in line behind girls, children of color, and illegal immigrants.” – Noel Anenberg, August 16, 2019, American Thinker, “Ideology, the Schools, and Murder: The McInerney/King Case“

Should women look at every man as a potential rapist or molester? Should men never again compliment a woman for any reason? Shall men allow themselves to shrivel up and just sit quietly in a corner while feminazis (my preferred term for the small minority of loud, bitter, militants who have hijacked the noble feminist agenda), foment their warped ideology and escalate a battle that has resulted in anti-patriotism (e.g. the Women’s Soccer Team) and, for example, female quotas for football teams and military combat units?

I think not.

Not too many years ago I held open a door for a woman who nastily said as she came through, “I can open it myself.” Should I have slammed it in her face? I felt like it, but no, in fact, we traditional men are going to have to suck it up and ride out this war, picking our battles and alternating between fighting and diplomacy, between stiffening our spines and quietly acquiescing, between speaking out against the male-bashing drivel and just staying quiet and letting the feminazis spew their venom. I’m heartened that traditional women are increasingly throwing down the BS flag on radical feminism and pushing back with “You don’t represent ME!”

In short, if holding to traditional views of gender roles, civil, polite and well-mannered manhood is being a Male Chauvinist Pig, please feel free to call me one!

Courtesy Matters

August 18, 2019 Grumps Family, Morality, Society & Culture, Uncategorized, Values

It’s tough to be courteous to vile people, and the Left are becoming increasingly, unbearably vile.

Yet, we need to try. If we’re ever going to restore civility and traditionalism to our country, we need to respect what our parents taught us about courteousness.

I have a complete repertoire of lawyer jokes and have more than once repeated the old joke about how 5,000 dead lawyers at the bottom of the ocean is, “A start.” But there’s one thing we can learn from lawyers, particularly trial lawyers. Watch any law-themed series on television or better, attend a jury trial in a real courtroom, and you’ll see the attorneys act (99% of the time) with professionalism and courtesy towards the jury, the plaintiff, the defendant, their counsel and the judge. How they do it in the face of the distortions, spin, deflections, etc. that are thrown around by each side; how they can be civil when the integrity of witnesses, particularly, are impugned so viciously albeit courteously, is extraordinary. The performances may be part of the theatrics of litigation, but they’re instructive nonetheless. Often, the attorney who makes the best impression is the one who wins the case, and courtesy is an integral part of the act and how they make that impression.

Many years ago I was recruited to serve as the CFO of an obscure tech company. Seeking a ground floor opportunity in the post Y2K, burgeoning tech world, I responded to the offer to talk to them. One bright, sunny morning I visited its headquarters in Manhattan and was ushered into a conference room to await the CEO.

As I stood looking out the window over the Manhattan skyline, a young fellow came in and began gathering up some used styrofoam coffee cups and arranging and stacking some coasters that sat on the highly polished conference room table. He had on an open collar, rather wrinkled plaid shirt, jeans, and he had hair down to the middle of his back tightly pulled back on his head and gathered in a pony tail with a rubber band at the nape of his neck.He went about his business sheepishly, almost furtively, without speaking.

Having turned to see who had entered the room, I offered a pleasant “Good Morning” and then proceeded to help him gather up the cups and tidy up the room. He held open the garbage bag while I tossed in some of the debris from an earlier meeting, and he thanked me as he completed his task and left.

The whole incident took no more than perhaps 60 seconds, and I thought nothing of it. A minute or two later the CEO came in, dressed in a suit as was I, and we sat and had a straightforward and frank conversation about the company’s needs, my qualifications, etc. – everything you’d expect from a standard executive interview.

And then the CEO said, “You know, I’d like you to meet the President of the Company who is really my partner and co-founder. Do you have a few more minutes?” I of course replied, “Certainly,” and the CEO left, returning a couple of minutes later with, you guessed it, the man who previously had come in to tidy up the room.

I am convinced to this day that the judgment about hiring me to become the Company’s CFO was made in that two minute interval when the CEO left to fetch the President. And I am also convinced that the pivotal trigger moment which sealed the deal had nothing to do with the interview, but everything to do with the simple courtesy I extended to the President in that little interchange before the interview started.

A wise man was once quoted as saying, “The true greatness of a person, in my view, is evident in the way he or she treats those with whom courtesy and kindness are not required.” Joseph B. Wirthlin

Most of the time, simple courtesies aren’t recompensed with a job offer, or even acknowledged. Yet, a kind word, treating others with respect and dignity no matter what their station or role in life, is the right thing to do.

Courtesy matters.

Category: Family

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