I don’t know if it’s a side effect of the coronavirus or maybe from eating too much junk food during the quarantine, but I think a whole mess of folks have lost their ever-loving mind. I see stuff the major news networks are trying to cram down our throats, and I read absolutely insane hogwash on social media. I am convinced an increasingly large group of people in the great country of ours have simply gone cuckoo for Cocoa Puffs.
I could toss in my 2-cents worth on all the social unrest stemming from actions from a few bad apples in the police force, but I won’t. I’m not going to voice my opinion on police brutality, racial inequality or much else because, no matter what I say, someone with twisted Jockey shorts and insufficient gray matter will go ballistic and throw an illiterate conniption on social media. I might occasionally get riled up over some subject and voice my opinion, but I try to retain my civility and southern charm. But lately, after reading so many reports of utter insanity in the world of entertainment, music and sports, I need to vent and relieve some pressure. So, bear with me, and if you don’t mind, pull my finger.
First of all, what in tarnation are the folks at HBO thinking by removing “Gone With the Wind” from their movie selection? This is an American classic, a love story set during the Civil War. Sure, there are characters in the fictional story that might offend some folks, but, dang, it’s a movie about life on a southern plantation. Are all movies set in the Civil War era gonna get shelved because it might offend some folks?
Now, since we are no longer allowed to watch Clark Gable, Vivian Leigh and Hattie McDaniel, can l watch cartoons? What? Yosemite Sam can’t carry his six-shooters any more because it depicts violence. He’s a dadgum cartoon character. Even my seven-year old granddaughter knows Yosemite Sam isn’t real. And correct me if I am wrong, I don’t believe he ever killed anyone with those guns?
I know Elmer Fudd spent years trying to shoot that silly rabbit, but he always went home hungry. Did anyone take away his gun? And Sylvester never gobbled up Tweety, leaving entrails and feathers on that old lady’s doorstep like our cat used to do. I’m betting the folks at Warner Bros. Studios will soon require Wile E. Coyote to stop ordering stuff from Acme and resort to using live traps to catch that roadrunner. And will Foghorn Leghorn get canned because of his southern accent? If you ask me, it’s the studio executives who are looney and not the toons.
So,if I can’t watch Bugs and Friends, maybe I’ll go visit my grandchildren and watch Paw Patrol with them. Hey, where’s Chase, the police pup? What? He’s been euthanized because he might be a bad cop? He’s a cartoon animal, for Pete’s sake. He’s not Dirty Harry.
Well, if I can’t watch TV, I will sit on my deck and listen to country music. Let’s see if Lady Antebellum has any new songs. What? The band is now called Lady A because “antebellum” refers to an era when there was slavery. I can’t even listen to music without offending someone.
Speaking of music, at the University of Texas, some spoiled athletes wearing ill-fitted jockstraps want the school to drop Eyes of Texas as the school song because, get this, it was performed in a minstrel show back in 1903. Hey, if y’all don’t want free college education and play for the Longhorns, I bet you can go elsewhere and gripe on some other campus. I don’t hear hillbillies complaining about Rocky Top.
Okay, I’m done venting for now. Phew, I feel much better. I think I will fix myself a mint julep, plop down on my recliner and watch Outlaw Josey Wales. And if that offends somebody, well that’s just too bad.
