CSotD: Ageism, Political Correctness and Great Expectations
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In 1979, our seven-year-old's best friend's parents were going through a divorce, and we worried about how it would effect him. He knew kids of single parents, but this was the first time he'd seen a marriage break up. So when "Kramer vs Kramer" came out that year, we took him to see it because we thought it might spark some conversations to help him through the crisis.
Or whatever.
Barry and Anita just happened to get there first. Other couples in our circle began to fall like freakin' dominoes, and by the time we split five years later, it was regrettable-but-normal. And as it became more common in our somewhat tight circle of parents, we started to see how common it had been all along in our kids' wider circle of friends at school and in the neighborhood.
It wasn't that it didn't happen. It was that people didn't talk about it. And then they did.
Thank you, Ted and Joanna Kramer.
Not to say it didn't hurt to have your parents split. But the schools had "banana splits clubs" for children of divorce then, where they could get together and talk about it.
I don't think that happens anymore; being a divorced kid still isn't fun, but it's no longer a lonely thing.
Kids accept the possibility as a given, though it's like living on a busy highway: You know dogs get run over all the time, but you still don't want it to happen to your dog.
Specific to Phil Hands' cartoon, there's a kid in my circle now who was a complete pain-in-the-ass when he was five. Now that she's seven, she's a nice kid who is fun to be around. Somewhere in between, during a bath, he said to his mother, "I think I was born wrong." Mom had the good sense to recognize that, yeah, he probably was.
And I'm sure they have issues with adults who don't get it, particularly those with some authority over things, but the school has been cool about — nice that the transition happened before an age-related switch of schools that would have happened anyway — and those of us who know the family personally couldn't be happier.
Point being that you are officially an Old Fart when you think of your perspective as the default and it is no longer the default. It can be simple: I made a reference to Hopalong Cassidy the other day and then realized how freaking over-the-hill you have to be to know who that is.
But it also applies in the context of Phil Hands' cartoon: Not only are you an Old Fart when you obsess and argue over stuff you think is abnormal but which was only hidden and repressed, but, worse than that, you're in significant danger of also being a bigot.
To wit:
(Curtis)
Mrs. Nelson is portrayed as one of those old battle-axes who doesn't get it on several levels, but has the kids' best interests at heart, and here's a good example: She uses the term "politically correct," which is a hostile dog-whistle of a phrase meaning, "I really hate being required to treat people who aren't like me with respect."
Which seems funny, given that she is one of the people who would not be respected by the majority of people who use the term "politically correct," but, then, if you think no women or African-Americans think that way, well, that's kind of on you, because there's all varieties of diversity.
I'm old enough to remember when Catholics weren't "Real Americans," and, meanwhile, if Donald Trump is too savvy a politician to dump on Jews, that doesn't mean his followers consider them "Real Americans," either.
Witness the whole "War on Christmas" thing, which — unless you truly believe there is some atheistic plot in combining Christmas and New Years into a catch-all greeting — is simply a way of rejecting Hannukah and them as celebrates it.
Anyway, as I said, Mrs. Nelson may be a grump, but, as has been often demonstrated in the strip, she has the best interests of the kids at heart.
And she's got the right approach: Let school be school.
Schools must close for Christmas not for religious reasons but because there are enough Christians in nearly every community that you wouldn't have enough kids in class to make it worth anyone being there anyway.
Same thing happens on other religious holidays in communities with a critical mass of students (or teachers or bus drivers) of that persuasion.
So here's a modest proposal: For those who think Christmas is the only holiday this time of year, how's about we close the schools Friday, December 25, and then open'em back up again on Monday, December 28.
And, no, you don't get New Year's Day off. You're the ones who insisted it isn't a Real American holiday.
Or, of course, we could go full-Christian
like Real Americans should.
Meet the New Hope, same as the Old Hope
(Norm 4.0)
I haven't bought tickets to "The Force Awakens," in large part because I am officially an Old Fart and not only have I not been able to make it through any of the prequels, but, watching it as a parent, I saw the "Return of the Jedi" as a prolonged toy commercial.
Kasdan wrote the screenplays for that and for "The Empire Strikes Back," a film which raised the important question "Why would a civilization capable of making land cruisers and tie-fighters build slow, clunking, incredibly top-heavy gun emplacements that could be brought down with simple trip-wires?"
Hey, I'm all for willing suspension of belief, but you gotta work with me a little here.
But, okay, parts of "Empire" were excellent.
Still, the dude wrote "Return of the Jedi."
And I have evidence, dammit, that Michael Jantze was not entranced by that masterpiece, either.
So I'm a bit mystified by his faith in Lawrence Kasdan, who has written screenplays for some monumentally mediocre flicks.
I liked Raiders, yes. Beyond that …
The dude wrote "Return of the Jedi." I rest my case.
Jeez-Louise, it's like getting excited about "Godfather IV" because they brought in the guy who wrote "Godfather III."
Even that overly-polite curate didn't ask for more eggs.
Mike Peterson has posted his "Comic Strip of the Day" column every day since 2010. His opinions are his own, but we welcome comments either agreeing or in opposition.
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