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David McElroy

making sense of a dysfunctional culture

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Few things scare humans like the prospect of living, dying alone

By David McElroy · February 5, 2019

I never met Jimmy Grammer. As far as I know, we were never even in the same place at the same time. But I find myself wondering tonight who this man was.

This was his driver’s license photo, but I can’t say he looked very happy when it was taken. Maybe he was having a bad day. Maybe the camera operator pushed the button before he was ready. We’ll never now.

Jimmy Grammer was found dead last Tuesday at the age of 70 — in the cheap motel in a seedy part of town where he had lived since 2011. As far as anyone knows, he had no family.

Motel employees hadn’t seen him in a few days, according to the newspaper account, so someone went to check on him and found him dead in his bed.

Every time I see a story such as this one, I feel a shiver of dread. I look into the eyes of the dead man or woman and I wonder how this person ended up so alone in life. But it’s not just empathy for strangers, of course. Their deaths scare me.

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Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: death, family, fear

Changes are destroying culture, but we can build beautiful dream

By David McElroy · January 6, 2019

You were shaped by the dominant culture in which you grew up. You probably didn’t even think about that, but your values and way of living came together based on what you saw and heard.

Your family is your first dominant culture. For some people, the culture of a church or other religious group comes next. The next culture to dominate your life comes from media and (for most people) schools. Because of the way schools operate today, the school culture and media culture are almost the same.

Without thinking about it, you learn to look and talk and think and act like the people of your culture, for good or bad.

The dominant culture in this country is very sick today. That’s my value judgment. You might have seem similarly disturbing things. I’ve come to understand that if we don’t intentionally develop a culture in which we want to live — in our families and in the groups we join — we will default to becoming like the depraved dominant culture. And so will our children.

The bad news is that technology and various forms of media are destroying what’s left of Western culture as I’ve known it. The good news is that you and I can choose a culture — can build a culture — that we want for ourselves and for our children.

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Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: culture, development, family, ideas, real estate

I can’t help wanting to replay life with emotionally healthy parents

By David McElroy · December 13, 2018

When I was born, babies were kept away from families for awhile. Even the mother didn’t have a lot of time with the baby right after birth. For the most part, the babies spent their time in a nursery, separated from visitors by a huge sheet of glass.

I’m one of those babies in the nursery above. I’ve been told that I was the one on the front left, but I can’t be sure of that. The man you see reflected in the glass — the one in the short-sleeve dress shirt and tie — was my father. For days, he couldn’t hold his first-born child — and I’m told that he spent hours watching me, just like this.

My father could be a very loving man at times. Because I had to go so many years without being able to talk about his terrifying narcissistic side, you’ve heard me speak quite a bit this year — since he died in April — about the awful side of growing up with him.

But when I look at a picture like this from my baby book — with him longing to hold and love his new son — it breaks my heart, because it reminds me how much he wanted to love me and how much he wanted me to love him.

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Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: dysfunctional family, family, father, narcissism, parenting, parents

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This is the face of a man who’s thrilled that the This is the face of a man who’s thrilled that the weekend is finally here. It was a very long (and productive) week, but the time has finally come that I have time to write and read and think. Late Friday night, I’m at the McDonald’s near my house with a Diet Dr Pepper and a MacBook. For me, it’s like Cheers without the booze.
Donald Trump has figured out who to blame for the Donald Trump has figured out who to blame for the the D.C. Reflecting Pool turning green. The dastardly deed was carried out by a specially trained squad of Antifa cats trained by the Far Left. It’s not his fault. Arrest all the cats! #satire #parody
This was the sunset that faced me as I left Walmar This was the sunset that faced me as I left Walmart near my house just a few minutes ago. It was a beautiful light show for just a few minutes.
Here’s proof that reality and satire are indisting Here’s proof that reality and satire are indistinguishable these days.
This was the sunset I saw from the parking lot out This was the sunset I saw from the parking lot outside of the Walmart near my house just after the sun went down Friday evening.
This little parody was inspired by my trip to buy This little parody was inspired by my trip to buy gas a little while ago. Even at a no-name brand, the price was $4.09. If I remember correctly, it was $2.29 a gallon at the same station on the day the war started. I don’t know about you, but I’m tired of winning. 🤣
For the best and most sophisticated in lawn care, For the best and most sophisticated in lawn care, check out the sponsor of one of my upcoming YouTube video episodes. 🙃 #parody #threestooges
Have you felt as though you’re living through Grou Have you felt as though you’re living through Groundhog Day lately? Me, too. Here’s a quick-and-dirty political satire I made this evening for fun and stress relief.
About three minutes before sunrise, vibrant color About three minutes before sunrise, vibrant color is poking through the skies to the east of my back yard.
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Critter Instagram

I found a low-quality image Monday night of baby O I found a low-quality image Monday night of baby Oliver and Lucy on the bed together two and a half years ago. I loved the easy comfort they had with one another even back then, when Oliver was new to the household, so I did a lot of editing to turn it into an image worth sharing. Seeing this really makes me miss Lucy even more. The second photo of Oliver and Lucy is from May 24, 2025, about five months before her death.
I just caught a tiny mouse inside the house — and I just caught a tiny mouse inside the house — and I have to say that this guy is very fortunate that I caught him after the cats were all gone to the office. He was lucky enough to live long enough for me to release him outside, but if Alex had been around, he would have been dead by now. 😺
This is my current view as I look down toward my l This is my current view as I look down toward my lap. I was sitting in a chair in my bedroom when Oliver climbed into my lap. But because I was using my MacBook at the same time, the lap wasn’t good enough. He wiggled underneath the laptop until he had taken over my entire torso and forced me to put the computer down. He’s really good at getting the attention he wants.
From the CritterCam: I won’t be home for another c From the CritterCam: I won’t be home for another couple of hours, but it appears that Alex is already trying to get himself awake to be prepared for dinner.
Once again, Oliver has decided he owns my chair. I Once again, Oliver has decided he owns my chair. I’m not allowed to use my desk until he’s finished napping.
I seem to be boring Alex late Sunday afternoon. 😺 I seem to be boring Alex late Sunday afternoon. 😺
I have shorts on, so I’m glad Oliver “made his bis I have shorts on, so I’m glad Oliver “made his biscuits” on my tummy instead of on my leg when he jumped into my lap just now. 😺
From the CritterCam: Just after 9 a.m. Sunday, Ale From the CritterCam: Just after 9 a.m. Sunday, Alex seems to be considering whether to return to his bed.
When I pulled into the driveway late Saturday nigh When I pulled into the driveway late Saturday night, Sam was watching me from an office window — and when I got inside and walked into the office, he had turned around to watch me again. He’s an effective little neighborhood spy.
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It turns out that the radical far left has been training “Antifa cats” to sabotage anything important to Donald Trump. Everything he did was perfect. Honest. It was all the cats’ fault. Arrest all the cats! This is the latest of my ridiculous satirical shorts. Please go watch it. Then “like” it and subscribe. Please. I’m begging you. (Too much?) Although a couple of the previous videos have had views in the hundreds, most have still been seen by fewer than 20 people. So I seem to be having trouble letting people know that page exists.

Here’s the latest of my ridiculous parody shorts. It crossed my mind Tuesday to wonder what a slick and fast-talking car dealer might do right now to try to turn the high price of gasoline to his advantage. So I conceived of a fat and lovable character who tried to sell cars that don’t use any fuel — and then I started wondering if it would be funnier if all the characters were felines. Designing the King Cashpaw character took about four hours, but the rest took only another four hours, so this was a relatively quick piece that virtually wrote itself. I know it’s almost impossible for these parody videos to find a larger audience, but at least they amuse me — and there are 19 of them on my YouTube page now. The first few were very limited, but they’re getting more complex.

The Republican Party is dead. It still exists in name, of course, but it’s nothing but a shell. All that’s left are idiots and stooges and con men of the MAGA party. When Donald Trump is gone — which won’t be long — those populist idiots and pragmatic fools will have no one to follow. Democrats will thrive. They will take more power than ever and they will push the federal government further to the radical far left than ever. When that happens, don’t just blame Trump if you’re a conservative. Blame every person who has claimed to be a conservative and has given up on principles, character and everything else that Republicans once claimed to stand for. As someone who worked as a GOP political consultant for many years, this is disgusting and disturbing to me. Those who have enabled Trump to have almost unchecked power are going to be shocked when they see what they will unleash in the long run. It’s been plain all along what this narcissistic con man is. It’s your fault that you chose to pretend not to see what he really is.

We are ruled by the dumbest and most incompetent people among us — and we have a system which allows stupid and irresponsible people to force the costs of their idiocy onto smarter and wiser people. Can we get away with that? Yes, for quite some time. But we eventually reach a point at which the dumbest of the dumb — who are habitual liars and mentally ill fools — lead us to the disasters and destruction that some of us have seen coming for years. We are approaching that point. And yet most of the idiots around us still wave their rhetorical banners of support for the evil people who are leading us to ruin — and all of them point their fingers at someone else, never noticing that their own enthusiastic support of evil is to blame. When things finally fall apart, blame yourself for your blindness to the evil, not whoever happens to be in power when it happens.

I’ve been making some changes to the site lately and there are more changes coming in the days ahead, so don’t be surprised if you some small differences. This is not a wholesale redesign, but rather the addition of some features. Since they’re smarter than I am, I’ve put Oliver and Alex in charge of the technical work, which you can see in this action photo from the control room of our media complex. I recently added a series of landing pages for readers who randomly discover the site from an Internet search. I’ve also changed the YouTube link at the top of the page to go to the new YouTube channel for video essays that reflect things I’ve already published here. (Here’s a little bit about both of the YouTube channels I’m working on.) In addition, I’m trying to move away from using Instagram, so I’m experimenting with photo plug-ins that will eventually allow me to host the pictures — cats, dogs, sunsets, whatever — that I often take. So don’t be surprised to see more changes. Thanks for your patience. Let’s hope Alex and Oliver know what they’re doing.

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