Weekend Open Thread: Despicable Swooning Edition

Happy Friday Boys and Girls. Before we get going on this weekend’s Open Thread, I want to add some context to the theme. It is a delicate matter when memes deal with a tragedy, but the assassination of United Health CEO Brian Thompson.

Brian Thompson went from Jewell, Iowa (population 1,200) to leading 140,000 employees and overseeing $280B of revenue at one of the world’s most important companies. His mom worked as a beautician, his dad at a grain elevator—they were probably really proud when he graduated… pic.twitter.com/vX6JT2N30j

— Robert Sterling (@RobertMSterling) December 11, 2024

The last bit is a little over the top. I am sure he had quite a few flaws as we all do, but he did not deserve to be killed, and it accomplishes nothing. No ifs, ands, or buts. It was a despicable act, and the sleazebag Trustafarian who shot him in the back should not be treated like some sort of folk hero.

What the CEO killing should make people realize is there are a segment of people in our society that will absolutely celebrate the death of you and your family if you happen to be part of the wrong class, have the wrong job, or belong to the wrong identity group. These people are…

— AG (@AGHamilton29) December 12, 2024

Yet treat him like a folk hero many do. What is even worse is he has attracted a Ted Bundy-esque cult following of swooning women.

Which is beyond terminally stupid.

What is literally dumber is that it wasn’t that long ago that women online were bragging about how they would rather run into a bear than a strange man in the woods (google it), and they are all lit up over a literal dude who (allegedly) killed someone.

The class aspect mentioned by AG Hamilton above has caused me conflict because the line between dark humor and schadenfreude is morally ambiguous. I had no problem pillorying the “Idiot Squisher” Titanic victims, as they earned their Darwin Award voluntarily. I was a little more conflicted with the “Orca Uprising”as the memes had a very “eat the rich” vibe, and which was definitely the case in many memes about the assassination.

I find nothing funny about those, but there were some memes that were amusing and yet don’t glorify a meaningless murder…

He looks familiar.

The funny ones are mostly McDonalds related.

Most, but not all.

Burger King’s social media game has always been strong…

That is probably about enough of that.

Moving on to the KNIFE Magazine Events Calendar…

It is a small, one day local show, and the last one of the year.

Last week, our “musical guest” was Cheryl Crow, as I have been on a bit of a college nostalgia kick lately. I wasn’t a huge fan, but I have been sharing the background music from my life, and she was popular when I was living in the dorms. The second song was “Picture”, which sis a duet with Kid Rock. Which leads to tonight’s guest, Ty Stone. Watch the video, watch for Kid Rock, and I will explain in a minute…

Ty (not his real name) went to Kenyon with me. We had a couple of classes together, and had several mutual friends. We spent more than one afternoon in a Mather or McBride dorm room sharing beers, listening to music, and doing the sort of things that college students do during their down time. I can still picture him sitting with a guitar on the Quad.

So, the Kid Rock connection…. If you couldn’t tell, Ty comes from Detroit. After college, a friend of Ty’s saw Kid Rock at a Pistons game, and happened to have a physical demo tape (yes, that long ago) with him, so he took a chance and passed it to Kid . As I remember the story, Ty didn’t believe it when Kid Rock called him on the phone, and almost hung up on him. The other cameo in the video is Uncle Kracker, who was Kid Rock’s DJ.

While Ty obviously never became a household name, he had a better run than most. He got to chase a dream. He is a Detroit boy who got to open for Kid Rock at Comerica Park. I can’t imagine how incredible that must have been. He has retired from music, and is actually a lawyer, I believe in Nashville. I haven’t talked to him in a few years, though I am sure I will reach out on Facebook and send him this post along with a “thinking of you”. He’s a good guy.

Last week’s theme was college football related, and with the playoff brackets being announced, the meme’s were flowing…

The best part of it all…No Alabama.

The SEC doesn’t do rivalry right. I hope that Bama punches the skunk-weasels in the throat. Not that it erases the Game, which will be rubbed in our faces for another year. But a playoff run into January would certainly take the sting off a bit.

It has been a phenomenally amusing week in Knoxville. It was actually the perfect shot in the arm after a week of mourning. Vol Twitter represents, and the most amusing thing I have seen is that tOSU is being referred to as “Yankee Bama”

Tennessee has been on a heck of run of late. Both Men’s and Women’s Hoops are off to blistering starts, they made the playoff, and they won the College World Series last year.

So it is good to be a Vol fan, which they don’t fail to remind you at every opportunity.

Vol Twitter is something to behold. But Buckeye twitter gets a few licks in.

And Vol fans can step on the occasional rake as well…

As they say though, Vol Nation travels well…

and thanks to a presale code leak will be well represented at The Shoe. That said, this might be a bit overly-optimistic…

Funny though.

Buckeye fans are just happy it is a night game…

Someone from the NCAA or Fox forced them to delete it quickly, but the internet is forever.

tOSU is technically a touchdown favorite, next Saturday but I am stocking up, just in case…

This game is a coin flip, Our O-line is down an elite LT, and the literal best Center in the country. Their D-line is elite and deep. The other matchups are fairly even across the board. But we are alive for the moment.

Frankly, I feel like I am playing with House Money. Since I am not nearly as emotionally invested in this as I am in the Game, and legitimately have a rooting interest in the Vols. After 18 years in Knoxville, I have been to a dozen or more football games, and scores of basketball games. I hung on every pitch of the College World Series. The only other time our programs have played was 1996, where UT upset favored tOSU.

If we win, it begins to redeem this underachieving season. The 2021 recruiting class leaves with no Game victories, no B1G titles, and a lot of ambivalent feelings. If the Vols win, I will be in Knoxville for one heck of a party.

But it is more than just a game, and I need to take a moment to recognize a Volunteer fan who is doing something amazing…

Y’all wanna make this little man’s day before the game?@beyondthesnap was created just for this. Who thinks we should shower a Buckeye’s Christmas on little man?

I’ll do it if y’all are with me. Let’s show this family what a Tennessee Volunteer is about. https://t.co/m4itUbBHHz

— Capt’n Cornjuice (@BoCamaro) December 10, 2024

More Here…

As much trash talk as has been flying back and forth, it has been cool to see both sides coming together for this. Kudos to Bo for making it happen. They have raised more than $17k this week.

Makes me proud to call the Volunteer State home.

Of course, there has been more going on this week than football…

Apparently the South Korean government is eating itself, and their President declared Martial Law.

Things aren’t going super well in Syria either…

It is a mess, with Islamist rebels forcing Assad into exile in Russia…

It is a pretty significant blow to Iran as well, as the US and Israel have blown up pretty much anything left of military value before the rebels seized control.

If the hostages are released, the war will end.

After tonight, the only Iranian proxies still standing are the Houthis and the @nytimes

— Dovi Safier (@safier) December 8, 2024

But until then, the L’s will continue to pile up for those that would like to genocide the Jews.

Regular readers will recognize that I rearranged things a bit, since current events tied in, so I might as well really mess with things by moving up the musical reprise. Once again, Ty Stone…

How about a knife giveaway before I get to the non-themed memes of the week? This week’s drawing, from last week’s comments, is for a Richard Rogers designed Cinco, from CRKT.

Congrats Zach, as it was in The Game, you are the winner. I will send it to you in time to play with it while watching the TTUN play in Tampa. (Sorry, couldn’t help it).

Speaking of Zach…

And Rod, I still need to ship your Pilar out. I have been a slacker.

Next up is the CRKT Razel Compact. Designed by Jon Graham, it is a nifty little pocket fixed blade. It would make a great EDC.

Usual rules apply. Up to 5 comments or replies are your entries. If you are new to the blog, your first comments will be held in moderation until I can approve them. Good luck everyone.