All in the Family featured the curmudgeonly Archie Bunker. Archie was television’s most famous grouch, blunt, blustering, straightforward and untouched by the PC crowd. He was the archetype of the conservative male. Michael desprately tried to reeducate him, but he persisted in his breviloquence.



Looking back at the last 40 years, we realize: ARCHIE WAS RIGHT!

2/28/2013

Fred

I've been a reader of Fred Reed since I first discovered him on the net.  At first I read every little brain dropping he had.  Fred's writing was a lot like a favorite newspaper columnist I used to enjoy, Mike Royko.  Except Fred is a southern boy and not a Chicago city slicker.  Plus he's not dead yet, all of which make him a better writer.

If I have one criticism of Fred Reed, it's that for a blind man, he sees things almighty clearly. 
With this came feminization. The schools began to value feelings over learning anything. Dodge ball and freeze tag became violence and heartless competition, giving way to cooperative group activities led by a caring adult. The female preference for security over freedom set in like a hard frost. We became afraid of second-hand smoke and swimming pools with a deep end. As women got in touch with their inner totalitarian, we began to outlaw large soft drinks and any word or expression that might offend anyone.
 
 A pretty astute observation on the root cause of gun control and the moral free fall America finds it's self in, no? 

My childhood was a lot like Fred's, playing outside all summer, blowing stuff up with firecrackers, and shooting friends with BB guns.  As a boy shooting and fishing and ridding bikes was about all we needed.  Life was perfect.  Then my dad moved the family to the big city.  After that, I started to see the fall of America, although I didn't have the vocabulary or understanding to call it that.

I guess that's why I don't read much Fred these days.  He jogs my memory.  I go back to those care free days of froggin.  The adults were grown up and didn't see a bogey man behind every non-politically-correct phrase.  We didn't need 3,000,000 people employed by the DOUT (Department of Useless Twats) to tell us what we needed to do, or not do, or how to not do it.  You could buy the car or truck you wanted.  It didn't cost 50% of your paycheck for health care.  There was a good chance your kids could do better than you.

7 comments:

  1. Fred was a little abrasive for me. I found his hatred for Republicans and Bush a little repulsive. Of course he was mostly right, but I didn't see that at the time.

    He's pretty good at skewering people. Didn't like it when it was me.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Anonymous10:27 PM

    Waterboy,

    thats just evil.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Anonymous11:21 PM

    Fred lost his effing mind a few years back. He's too bitter about life to think clearly. And besides... his generation did all the damage.

    In rural American (and that starts about 50 miles from DeeCee) you can still just sit in your back yard and shoot your 1911. Some things are better, some things are worse. I can remember back in the 1970's when NOBODY could get a carry permit. I also remember 55 MPH speed limits, and 85 MPH speedometers. I remember when the EPA started, and OSHA, and the advent of the 1.6 gallon toilet. These days, carry permits are easier, speed limits are back in state hands, speedos are whatever the manufacturer thinks will sell cars, the tide is turning on the EPA and OSHA, and toilets... well, ya got me on that one.

    -Bill

    ReplyDelete
  4. WaterBoy11:45 PM

    Hey, at least I used the Engelbert Humperdinck version. It could have been the original pop release.

    And yes, I remember Engelbert Humperdinck. I am that old.

    ReplyDelete
  5. WaterBoy11:46 PM

    Now get off my lawn.

    ReplyDelete
  6. "And yes, I remember Engelbert Humperdinck. I am that old."

    I remember him too but I don't encourage people to listen to him. Somethings are better left in the past. Like the pussy cat song.

    If I remember correctly he was the first of the pop stars women would would pull off their panties and throw them on stage for.

    ReplyDelete