8 Comments

I was happy just reading this column!! Especially seeing the still shot of the gear head! What a great smile! He made me smile just looking at him :) I especially loved your last paragraph as well. So great

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Once in a while, I gotta remind myself that life's about more than grousing :).

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Right? It's easy to get into grouse mode for me so I also have to remind myself occasionally :)

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I watched that video when you posted it and was touched by his unadulterated happiness and positivity, I'm sure that is a big factor in his large number of followers. Happiness as an objective is a great thing to be reminded of. Thanks!

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Nowhere is this dichotomy more glaring than in commercials.

Commercials then: jingles, sexy people smiling, regular less-than-sexy people hugging, Pizza Rolls.

Commercials now: "Suffering from side effects of your Schizo HIV Sciatica? AstraZeneca may be able to help..." or "Celebrate (x) culture by hating (y) culture, endlessly."

The solutions aren't especially difficult, but it takes the first and most important step of removing those whose miserable thumbs are on every scale.

Thanks for another clear diagnosis! If only the patient's ears weren't filled with the lamentations of the woke, their eyes bedazzled by the bonfire of the vanities.

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Reminds me of a lyric from a Billy Joel song: "I'd rather laugh with the sinners than cry with the saints."

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I get so nostalgic when I watch D&C. My teen years were in the '70s and my time in high school was a cocktail of one part Dazed stirred with one part Fast Times. It was all about having fun, being active, sneaking a beer or smoke, listening to music on the radio, mostly harmless vandalism, and paradise by the dashboard light. Of course we did our school work and some of us (like me) held fast food jobs to fund our pursuit of happiness. I'm not thrilled that I'm in my 60's now but I wouldn't have wanted to grow up in any other time.

I actually feel sorry for kids today. Turning 16 and getting a driver's license meant freedom and independence. The last thing I would have wanted is to be tethered to an electronic device that tracked my every move. The beauty of leaving the house and driving off was that nobody knew where the hell you were. And while I may have differed when I was 16 about having access to porn, I think it was a much healthier human experience to have to figure things out by trial and error rather than having all the mysteries of life exposed to me by a single video. Where's the fun in that?

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I just saw a bit somewhere talking about how so many of today's kids, despite being highly educated, smart, and capable, are scared to death of actually trying to do stuff on their own. They've learned to fear failure and to fear stepping out on their own.

It's really sad, but it does seem the obvious (and foreseeable, in hindsight) result of helicopter parenting.

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