Every so often, my wife tells me that I’m living in the wrong times. Because of my old-fashioned beliefs, she claims that I would have been better off living during the 1800s. Whenever she comments about this, I remind her that I spent the better part of my early years at my grandfather’s (Tom Williams’s) house, and since he was born in 1898, that’s probably where I picked up a lot of my beliefs.
I’ve written before about how my grandparents lived next-door to my parents’ house. During the years that I was growing up, my grandfather owned a coin-operated laundromat. He was semiretired at that time and worked 20 to 30 hours a week at the laundromat. The rest of the time, he was home.
During the 1960s, I spent a lot of time in my grandfather’s living room, watching his favorite television shows with him. The heroes in those shows were always men who were smart, tough, bold, and decisive — virile warriors who always practiced and lived the virtues of honor and courage.
During those years, the movie studios released several Westerns that starred John Wayne. One such Western was McLintock, a 1963 comedy that starred John Wayne and Maureen O’Hara. In the movie, Wayne’s character was a wealthy rancher, George Washington (“GW”) McLintock. His wife, “Kate,” was played by O’Hara. For a reason unknown to GW, Kate moved out of their house and separated from him. She then became a snobbish diva in the local community, insisting that she be called by her formal name, “Katherine.”
After living on her own for two years, Kate returned to GW’s home at the same time their daughter returned home from college. Kate then announced that she was going to take their daughter back to the state capitol to live with her. At one point, Kate embarrassed GW in front of the local townspeople and GW grabbed her, turned her over his knee, and then spanked her bottom with a small coal shovel. The townspeople cheered when they saw Kate get what they felt she deserved.
McLintock was a box-office success and was more popular than several of the other movies John Wayne had starred in. I thought about Wayne and his role in McLintock last week when the “news” about Bruce Jenner was being forced upon all of us.
I was a fan of Bruce Jenner during the early- and mid-1970s. I remember watching him win the gold medal in the decathlon during the 1976 Summer Olympics. At that time, the winner of the decathlon was considered the “world’s greatest athlete” because he had to compete and excel in 10 different track-and-field events, including the long jump, shot put, high jump, discus throw, pole vault, javelin throw, and four sprints at different distances.
After the Olympics, Jenner was featured on the front of the Wheaties box as a member of the coveted “Breakfast of Champions.” He also appeared in Wheaties commercials and as a guest on The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson.
So where is this former famous athlete now? He recently announced that after taking female hormones for several years and going through numerous cosmetic surgeries, he is now a woman. Of course, in addition to changing from a man to a woman, he is promoting his new reality television show, I Am Cait. The “Cait” stands for his new female name, “Caitlyn.” The reality show premieres in July on the E! network. Last week, in conjunction with the promotion of the new show, Vanity Fair magazine did a cover story on Jenner. The cover of the magazine showed a picture of Jenner as a woman who is dressed in a corset.
Four of Jenner’s six biological children, Burt, Cassandra, Brandon, and Brody, have all refused to participate in his new reality show. During his Vanity Fair interview, Jenner said that he was “terribly disappointed and terribly hurt” by his children’s decision. Despite the fact that Jenner is reportedly going to be paid $500,000 to appear in the show, he told the magazine:
I’m not doing it for money. I’m doing it to help my soul and help other people. If I can make a dollar, I certainly am not stupid. I have house payments and all that kind of stuff. I will never make an excuse for something like that. Yeah, this is a business, you don’t go out and change your gender for a television show. Okay, it ain’t happening. I don’t care who you are.
Bruce Jenner is 65 years old. He was born in 1949. He is considered a baby boomer because he was born between the years of 1946 and 1964. Since I was born in 1957, I am also considered a baby boomer.
The baby boomers came of age during the 1960s and 1970s. They generally thought of themselves as members of a special generation who were dramatically different and more enlightened than their parents and grandparents. A large number of them indulged in illicit drugs and took advantage of the “sexual revolution” that came about as a result of the widespread availability and use of the latex condom and the newly invented birth control pill.
Many of them were the hippies who resented and disparaged the type of man that was represented by John Wayne in his movies. They told us that they were sensitive, vulnerable, peace-loving individuals who could teach us how to “make love and not war.” Despite their so-called sensitivity and loving nature, they demanded that they be allowed to murder their unborn babies because they had a right to control their own bodies.
As they grew older, the boomers were put in charge of running our schools; corporations; newspapers; television stations; courts; and local, state, and federal government offices. They also “took over” Hollywood and produced a number of movies and television shows that promoted their new (perverted) lifestyle.
Now, more than 60 years after the “dawn” of these special children, they are promoting the psychological disorder that Jenner suffers from as a new civil rights revolution. And they have a new name for those of us who refuse to participate in their revolution: “Transphobe.” Very clever. Very evil.
I have an idea for the producers of Jenner’s new “reality” show. Bring in a John Wayne-type character — a real man — who turns Jenner over his knee and spanks Jenner’s bottom with a coal shovel. The ratings and viewership would go through the roof.
God help us.
2 Comments
DEAR HARRY AND GEORGETTE –
OH, MY! I’M REALLY RELIEVED THAT I ENTERED OUR C.S.J. COMMUNITY IN 1944, AT AGE 18. WHILE I’VE TAUGHT & COUNSELED CHILDREN AND TEENS FROM THE LATE 1940’S TO 2006, I WAS ABLE TO STAY “COOL, CALM AND COLLECTED” WITH THE GRACE OF GOD, IN MY CONTACTS WITH THEM AND WITH THEIR FAMILIES, DURING THE CULTURE CHANGES AND STRUGGLES THEY WENT THROUGH, TRYING TO COPE WITH LIFE. THANK YOU ONCE AGAIN FOR RELAYING YOUR EXPERIENCES. GEORGETTE, KEEP ON CHIDING HARRY! IT’S GOOD FOR HIM THAT YOU SUPPORT AND CHALLENGE HIM. {:>)= LOVE TO BOTH OF YOU! SISTER ROBERTA
Hi Harry. Aunt Lila would shake her head and say “The world is going to hell in a hand-basket”. Can you imagine what Jidu would say? 🙂