Grumpy old men for grumpier times

The world went and got itself in a bad mood.

While consuming the ageless film, Grumpy Old Men, a thought ran through my head. Everybody, or mostly everybody, is embracing this grumpier side of their personality these days. Frowns, extreme judgement, insults, mean faces, and more frowns fill the air everyday. Witnessing a smile requires a moment to step back and appreciate it all over again.

While former Shawshank prison librarian Brooks was right about people getting themselves in a big hurry, they’ve also become quite vile lately. Take a popular Cardinals Facebook page, Cardinals Nation 24/7, for example. The moderator, Chris Lollis, is a good dude and just wants to create content for readers to keep up with the team and bring different perspectives together.

However, most posts are greeted with the highest degree of cynicism and negativity. If there’s a negative vibe to the post, the reaction from readers is worse. Every take, opinion, or article is jumped on. Readers roast Chris for posting blogger content, but turn around and sneer at The Athletic and other paywall-blocked content. While it’s well known that making sports fans happy is nearly as hard as making women happy, one would still wish to see a tiny bit of humility. No. There’s none.

As someone who uses pages like Chris’s to push his content and has to dip his toes in those waters, it’s upsetting and getting worse. Every other thing on Facebook is crap right now. The only reason to stay on there is to share content and post updates for my mom to see. Is there a substantial change in the hate department since Donald Trump took over for Joe Biden in office? Yes, but it was there before the election.

I don’t know what can defeat it. People reacting poorly to an opinion or jumping all over cool, easygoing moderators like Chris who like having an active page. Another Cards page owner, Mick Lite, jumps into comments and spars with readers of his FB posts. As in, he responds with sports-related takes and tries to reason with them before making a joke about the commenter being in the wrong. Most of it is amusing. Sometimes, one wants to know why all of that crap has to exist.

If you’re wondering what I’m getting at ultimately here, that makes three of us. I’m on coffee cup #1 and it’s Monday morning, the dawn of anything could happen and you better be ready for it. My wife is out of town, the pets are nearly running me over, and finding focus isn’t always easy. So, sitting down to rant and bark about the decaying communication in the world is what I do.

In the essence of Crash Davis, we’ll call this a howl at the moon post. A collection of gripes, maddening realizations, and facade-reinforcing takes. A collective whine zone with a giant soapbox. I find it heartbreaking that an 11-year-old girl this past week took her own life because bullies at school told her that I.C.E. would come for her family soon. Why do that? The bullies’ parents should answer first. Your kids are an embodiment of you and what you taught them. If they’re shit, you’re shit. The price of reproducing in these modern times.

The bullies are multiplying. The day that I climbed over all of that bully torture due to my stuttering was a success that doesn’t get celebrated enough, but it’s still there if I slip up while speaking. It never drove me so hard into the ground that I would take my life, but I’m not in the same situation as that girl. Her life is wildly different, so I have empathy for her family and situation. See how easy that was? I went from “that’s not my problem” to “it is for millions so sympathize, asshole” in seconds.

There’s too many bully types out there, prowling on the young and weak who don’t have a house and future to walk home to. They’re out there and becoming harder to overcome and control. Again, I won’t bring up politics here but I will say that in the month and change since Trump has been in office, the hate and bullying has risen.

Aside from planes falling out of the sky, there’s more bad things happening. Maybe it’ll stop. Maybe it won’t. I’m just here to tell you that I’m sick of it.

I’ll quote another great movie line about the state of the world. From the late Michael Clarke Duncan in The Green Mile:

“I'm tired of never having me a buddy to be with, to tell me where we's going to or coming from, or why. Mostly, I'm tired of people being ugly to each other. I'm tired of all the pain I feel and hear in the world every day. There's too much of it — it's like pieces of glass in my head, all the time.”

I’m tired of it, too, John Coffey. (Like the drink, just not spelled the same.)

Many people asked me what I would vote for in the next election: Democrat, Republican, or Independent. I’d vote for someone who doesn’t make people stand against each other. They did that a lot during Trump’s first term, Biden’s term, and now Trump’s second term. It’s been this way for nine years almost. I want it to stop. We need to stop thinking in terms of parties. Why do we separate leaders of the free world into “parties?” The only ones having a party are them.

For now, I’ll mind my own business and keep watching Grumpy Old Men. We can learn something from a 1990s comedy. In the film, two different men who had been friends their whole life feud and battle over a woman, only to have them become better friends in the end. Jack Lemmon and Walter Matthau’s characters didn’t exactly love each other like ride-or-dies, but they had each other’s backs when the chips were down… even if they were ready to roast each other. If we can get there as a nation, things will be better.

Be like John Gustafson and Max Goldman.

Thanks for reading and stay tuned for the next post. If you don’t like political chatter on this blog block, just stay subscribed. Once in a while, I have to howl at the moon.