Guns, guts and grandmothers

Granny robs bank to get medicine money  blares the CNN web site.  Can you think of any other bit of obnoxious stereotyping that would slide by as unremarked upon as this one?  I wonder why it matters that she had children or not and more about why it matters if her children had children.  I’ve yet to see anyone’s parental status pointed out when they’re accused of some crime, unless it’s a crime against their offspring. Why is their children’s parental status of interest?

Think about it, if some 80 year old movie star drives a race car, if an octogenarian test pilot who has been the subject of books and movies flies a fighter plane, or an aging astronaut returns to space or an aging president goes skydiving, we will hear about Paul Newman,  General Yaeger, Senator Glenn or President Bush.  That’s because in these contexts, names like Granny and Grandpa are terms of disrespect we’re reluctant to use to describe people we admire. You don’t call the Queen of England Granny unless your last name is Windsor.

Oh, isn’t it cute and funny that Grandma’s got a gun?  You can still get away with that while other presumptuous and bigoted stereotypes may land you in trouble and that’s the root of the problem.  Who else are we going to look down on now that it’s harder to pick on Blacks and Gays and Hispanics?  

So listen up - If you were born yesterday and thank that makes you somebody and you want to call me gramps, you’d better either be smiling wider than the grill on a ’52 Buick or you’d better be a certain three year old from Illinois, ‘cause Grandpa’s got a gun!