Comments by Bobby Tony | Eastern North Carolina Now

He may well have fit into the old Reader's Digest MY MOST UNFORGETTABLE CHARACTER. Apparently he also had a good sense of humor about his accidental fame.

"The author and forager Euell Theophilus Gibbons once served as the folksy face of Grape-Nuts, the breakfast cereal that contains neither grapes nor nuts. The television campaign featured Gibbons delivering his now-famous “Ever eat a pine tree?” line, which catapulted him from darling of the back-to-nature movement to an unwitting victim of America’s pop culture. The script was penned, of course, by Madison Avenue pitchmen, lampooned by late-night comedians, and even parodied in later television shows and Grape-Nuts ads by Gibbons himself. (“You know, the other day I ate some goose poop I found on my lawn.”)"

www.adventure-journal.com

Commented: Sunday, September 23rd, 2018 @ 6:46 am By: Bobby Tony

BUT YOU CAN TRY!!

Commented: Friday, September 21st, 2018 @ 7:32 am By: Bobby Tony

If I could not laugh, I might cry.

Finding humor in the middle of chaos is a defense mechanism learned long ago and far away.

"It don't mean nothing!"

www.urbandictionary.com

Commented: Thursday, September 20th, 2018 @ 12:02 pm By: Bobby Tony

She too may have lost her chance. I notice her right hand is on his Bu!! Of course it would be inappropriate to comment on her attire which seems to advertise a certain gender preference on his part.

I have often wondered why they give only one of them a name tag.

Commented: Thursday, September 20th, 2018 @ 8:51 am By: Bobby Tony

Naturally, I have a story about voter guides. My wife still tells the story about my Dad sitting down and filling out the sample ballot for the family and handing it out. Since we were early in our marriage (1975) she chose not to engage in a political discussion. That may have been the last year she followed that advice. Later she asked me what to do and I told her take the ballot and vote the way you want to. It was not worth the discussion or potential argument which would not change anyone's mind.

While I have a pretty good idea how my wife has voted in our forty-three years of marriage, I cannot say with certainty because I have always believed that voting was a deeply personal decision and I also had faith that she was smart enough to make up her own mind. I am also wise enough to know when to follow my own advice to her from the first paragraph above.

For the record, I think there have been many elections where both of us could have stayed away from the voting booth and it would not have made any difference in the outcome of the total vote count.

Commented: Thursday, September 20th, 2018 @ 6:53 am By: Bobby Tony

Everyone you meet is either a blessing or a lesson.

I too have been the latter many times, hopefully I can add a few of the former to my list.

Commented: Tuesday, September 18th, 2018 @ 11:04 am By: Bobby Tony

This is going to sound extremely crass and patriarchal, but regardless of the facts of this particular case, the limits of social behavior have always been enforced by the female in social interactions. As one who has occasionally (?) veered over the line in social interaction, I can attest that a firm slap or stern verbal assault often set me back on the straight and narrow. The fact is that only two people will ever know the truth about this incident. I am also aware that now both the people involved in this drama will forever be damaged by the current climate much more than they were to the original incident if it occurred as described.

There is no excuse for inappropriate behavior, but history has taught us that failure to respond at the time of the violation only encourages continued behavior from the perpetrator. Two of the best examples of this are the Holocaust and Slavery. This is by no means an excuse for the behavior but it took a violent course to correct those societal excesses. Even years later, we are still suffering from the seeds planted by assuming the status of victimhood. Identifying as a victim often provides the excuse that one cannot prevent events that happen to them. There is a distinct difference between identifying as a victim and actually being a victim. Please do not take this as blaming the victim, it is merely an observation that lack of reaction only serves to perpetuate the abuse.

I am aware of only one case where a willing victim actually changed the course of history, and we are still trying to learn from that lesson:
“And I , if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me. “John 12:32

While I realize that it easier to say than to practice this principle, I often wondered how long Harvey Weinstein would have been able to get away with his shenanigans if the first aspiring actress would have raised holy hell at his first step over the line. I have no way to know if the current allegations are true, but I do know that they are a tactic used for the sole purpose of achieving a goal that could not be achieved by following the "advice and consent" principle under which judges are confirmed. Unfortunately, the Statues of Limitations does not apply to character destruction in a political battle. The purpose of this allegation is not the search for truth but a question of tactics, nothing more or less.

"Statutes of limitations, which date back to early Roman Law, are a fundamental part of European and U.S. law. These statutes, which apply to both civil and criminal actions, are designed to prevent fraudulent and stale claims from arising after all evidence has been lost or after the facts have become obscure through the passage of time or the defective memory, death, or disappearance of witnesses."

legal-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com

Commented: Tuesday, September 18th, 2018 @ 8:34 am By: Bobby Tony

I always thought that the first rule of comedy is that the comic must be funny.

Why such a simple premise has been lost on today's crop of comics is an indication that we all may take ourselves too seriously. At one time I found all these men funny to varying degrees thought I most likely disagreed with many of their political opinions: Mort Sahl, Lenny Bruce , George Carlin, Dick Gregory

Even Shakespeare had his critics then and now who did not find his play "As you Like It" particularly comedic, but at least he understood that not every performance is a masterpiece.

"All the world's a stage
And all the men and women merely players;
They have their exits and their entrances,
And one man in his time plays many parts ..."

Nobel Prize-winning playwright George Bernard Shaw, who thought As You Like It was a cheap crowd-pleaser, wrote the following: "It was in As You Like It that the sententious William first began to openly exploit the fondness of the British public for sham moralizing and stage 'philosophy'"

www.shmoop.com

Commented: Sunday, September 16th, 2018 @ 9:52 am By: Bobby Tony

The comment was extracted from a much longer article to myself as I tried to clarify my thinking on the subject. I will work on it and see if it passes my low threshold for publication.

"I write to clarify my thinking. After all the bars are not open that late!" Unknown

Here is a link to the article based on this comment.
beaufortcountynow.com

Commented: Tuesday, September 11th, 2018 @ 9:36 am By: Bobby Tony

Thanks for a great article and great comment section:

I have long held the belief that humans are basically incapable of separating the warrior from the war. My own experience indicates that most soldiers enlist or answer the draft not for a cause but because of some sense of patriotism or duty to the rule of law. However, once in the battle they fight for each other and not some esoteric nuance of philosophy. They fight for survival. It is most difficult for even soldiers to separate the warrior from the war because if the war was wrong they must admit that their participation in it was wrong.

World War II is one of the best examples that we have to show how a population must finally admit they were on the wrong side of history. Once they do that and admit to themselves and society, then they can put the events in proper perspective. It is also true that the artifacts of the losing side were systematically removed or placed in a proper historical context.

It is my belief that the confederate monument issue is nothing more than two political viewpoints arguing over the long held basic issues and assigning too much significance to the artifact. Dehumanization of the enemy is a propaganda technique used by both sides. If you are not with me you are against me.

I also believe that as a matter of practical techniques appropriating the symbols of the other side and re-define them in your own terms is often used by politicians and debaters. If you can successfully do that then you have neutered the opposition's symbols. If you can assign some extreme emotional content to the symbol then you can invigorate your followers.

Human nature tends to reduce everything down to a basic stereotype based on appearance. There is no better example than the recent memorial services of Aretha Franklin and John McCain. Both were hijacked by charlatans who saw a chance to "not let a 'crisis' go to waste!"

While I am in agreement with Diane, Stan and Alex on most of their points, I find it terribly disconcerting that we continue to place our faith in individuals rather than principles. Looking for a savior in the political arena is akin to looking for one in the pulpit. Both will end in despair, disappointment and perhaps damnation.

Commented: Monday, September 10th, 2018 @ 10:03 am By: Bobby Tony

Since it is a NC matter, I probably should not put my two cents in but my general feeling is that the best way to relieve courts and unburden prosecutors is to reduce the useless laws and prosecute laws that involve property damage, personal injury, abuse of rights etc. Allowing the judicial system to operate at the whim of appointed or election magistrates is fraught with political bias which defeats the intent of the law. I am not a fan of mandatory sentences but determination of guilt should not rest with prosecutors it should rest with the court system. Not bringing a case makes laws a mute subject and adds to the disregard for laws by a significant segment of the population.

A quick check of the purpose of law at numerous sites indicates: (Note minimally acceptable behavior)

"The law serves many purposes and functions in society. Four principal purposes and functions are establishing standards, maintaining order, resolving disputes, and protecting liberties and rights. The law is a guidepost for minimally acceptable behavior in society."

Commented: Friday, August 31st, 2018 @ 5:59 pm By: Bobby Tony

I have long though the JFK era was the rubicon where perception trumped principle in politics. The sixties were the final transition from radio to TV. Governing decisions with an eye to public opinion replaced leadership and carefully crafted persona were created by both the press and the political advisors, JFK being the perfect example of a manufactured image which bore little resemblance to the real man.

The Cuban missile crisis was a direct result of Nikita Khrushchev’s judgement that the elite in Washington were weak based on the Bay of Pigs fiasco. One can only wonder what course history would have taken had Fidel not been able to overthrow our corrupted puppet Batista.

Today’s apologists still try to lay the whole blame on LBJ, but we must remember he was still operating with JFK’s elitist whiz-kids of the Ivy League schools who were responsible for a good many of the “F-ups” of Vietnam. McNamara ran the war by the numbers and had no more of an idea about reality than he would trying to find the one “Chevy” in a parking lot full of Fords, and prior to his appointment as Sec of Defense he was the president of Ford

www.thecrimson.com

Commented: Saturday, August 25th, 2018 @ 11:01 am By: Bobby Tony

Here is a clip from the 2000 Blues Brothers sequel. Matt did not get a speaking line then either. I doubt most people even knew who he was on the second pass. Dan Aykroyd was exposed to the blues in Ottawa and became an aficionado. I may have to dig up a copy of both movies to refresh my memory. Atlanta had quite a few blues bars back in the 1970s where they would allow us honkies to enter without fear of problems as long as we had a brother to vouch for us. Somewhere along the way we seem to have lost that.

youtu.be

Commented: Monday, August 20th, 2018 @ 1:04 pm By: Bobby Tony

In spite of my being a dyed in the wool skeptic, I have always believed that given the true facts of a dilemma, the public will come to a logical conclusion. There have always been those who feel the need to shade the truth, but at the risk of falling into the "it is worse now than it has ever been" trap, I can't help but note that "it is worse now than it has ever been."

Both left and right of the political spectrum seem to prefer exaggeration, embellishment or outright misdirection to make their points. My faith in the common sense of the public to a large degree will be confirmed or shaken by the upcoming election which unlike the electoral college is based on the majority in each district and state when it comes to congressmen, governors and senators. We may be at the tipping point where everyone is trying to play the system without realizing that they are the system.

Commented: Monday, August 6th, 2018 @ 10:46 am By: Bobby Tony

Agreed. Reminds me of the phrase “ Just because I am paranoid, it does not mean they are not out to get me!”

One if my psychology professors once defined arrogance as the condition where most of the ego is above sea level rather than below it. In stormy seas a top heavy ego (arrogance)can tip over while a submerged ego provides ballast. I have alternated between the two extremes a few times myself; usually in times of high stress.

Commented: Thursday, August 2nd, 2018 @ 2:28 pm By: Bobby Tony

Apparently there is a secret list of things that you can identify as and still be within the Liberal acceptance world. I tried identifying as a Liberal in hopes of discovering the list but it did not set well on my stomach and I had to regurgitate and abandon that experiment. The search continues.

Commented: Thursday, August 2nd, 2018 @ 8:58 am By: Bobby Tony

I identify as a rich person, but it doesn't seem to be working out with my bill collectors.

Commented: Tuesday, July 31st, 2018 @ 9:45 am By: Bobby Tony