# Could Bill Cosby have said this? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 11, 2011, 2:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-bill-cosby-have-said-this/599295 "2011-10-11T14:23:41Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![a35362](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3da27b/32.png) [@a35362](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/a35362)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2011, 2:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-bill-cosby-have-said-this/599295/1 "2011-10-11T14:23:41Z")
This is something that was forwarded to me; no idea if it’s for real (FWIW, Wikipedia says he’s 74 now, not 76). I know he’s said a couple of politically incorrect things in the last few years, but he sounds awfully bitter. "I’m 76. Except for brief period in the 50’s when I was doing my National Service, I’ve worked hard since I was 17. Except for some some serious health challenges, I put in 50-hour weeks, and didn’t call in sick in nearly 40 years. I made a reasonable salary, but I didn’t inherit my job or my income, and I worked to get where I am. Given the economy, it looks as though retirement was a bad idea, and I’m tired. Very tired. I’m tired of being told that I have to “spread the wealth” to people who don’t have my work ethic. I’m tired of being told the government will take the money I earned, by force if necessary, and give it to people too lazy to earn it. I’m tired of being told that Islam is a “Religion of Peace,” when every day I can read dozens of stories of Muslim men killing their sisters, wives and daughters for their family “honor”; of Muslims rioting over some slight offense; of Muslims murdering Christian and Jews because they aren’t “believers”; of Muslims burning schools for girls; of Muslims stoning teenage rape victims to death for “adultery”; of Muslims mutilating the genitals of little girls; all in the name of Allah, because the Qur’an and Shari’a law tells them to. I’m tired of being told that out of “tolerance for other cultures” we must let Saudi Arabia and other Arab countries use our oil money to fund mosques and madrassa Islamic schools to preach hate in Australia, New Zealand, UK, America and Canada, while no one from these countries are allowed to fund a church, synagogue or religious school in Saudi Arabia or any other Arab country to teach love and tolerance… I’m tired of being told I must lower my living standard to fight global warming, which no one is allowed to debate. I’m tired of being told that drug addicts have a disease, and I must help support and treat them, and pay for the damage they do. Did a giant germ rush out of a dark alley, grab them, and stuff white powder up their noses or stick a needle in their arm while they tried to fight it off? I’m tired of hearing wealthy athletes, entertainers and politicians of all parties talking about innocent mistakes, stupid mistakes or youthful mistakes, when we all know they think their only mistake was getting caught. I’m tired of people with a sense of entitlement, rich or poor. I’m really tired of people who don’t take responsibility for their lives and actions. I’m tired of hearing them blame the government, or discrimination or big-whatever for their problems. I’m also tired and fed up with seeing young men and women in their teens and early 20’s be-deck them selves in tattoos and face studs, thereby making themselves un-employable and claiming money from the Government. Yes, I’m damn tired. But I’m also glad to be 76… Because, mostly, I’m not going to have to see the world these people are making. I’m just sorry for my granddaughter and her children. Thank God I’m on the way out and not on the way in." ---
**Author:** ![IvoryTowerDenizen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ivorytowerdenizen/32/17937_2.png) [@IvoryTowerDenizen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IvoryTowerDenizen)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2011, 2:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-bill-cosby-have-said-this/599295/2 "2011-10-11T14:26:42Z")
Snopes says no. Wrongly attributed to Bill Cosby. The part that pinged my “not Bill Cosby” meter was that part about earning a reasonable salary. By anyone’s standards, Bill Cosby had earned a huge amount of money that I can’t imagine him minimizing. > **[Bill Cosby and "I'm 83 and Tired"](https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/im-tired-2/)** > > Opinion piece by Bill Cosby details political and social issues he's tired of? ---
**Author:** ![a35362](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3da27b/32.png) [@a35362](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/a35362)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2011, 2:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-bill-cosby-have-said-this/599295/3 "2011-10-11T14:29:08Z")
Aha! Didn’t think to check Snopes! Thanks very much. ---
**Author:** ![postcards](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8e8cbc/32.png) [@postcards](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/postcards)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2011, 2:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-bill-cosby-have-said-this/599295/4 "2011-10-11T14:35:19Z")
When it comes to statements like this (and just about any lament that people post on Facebook, whether it’s attributed to a famous person or something about congressmen getting their full salary as a pension) I just Google the first sentence or two. Truth be found. ---
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2011, 2:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-bill-cosby-have-said-this/599295/5 "2011-10-11T14:49:59Z")
No, Bill Cosby doesn’t write ignorant right wing glurge. Nor did George Carlin or Andy Rooney. If you ever see anything attributed to one of these three, they never fucking said it. Guaranteed. ---
**Author:** ![PunditLisa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/4af34b/32.png) [@PunditLisa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PunditLisa)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2011, 2:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-bill-cosby-have-said-this/599295/6 "2011-10-11T14:54:43Z")
Bill Cosby has said some “in your face” comments to African Americans, about taking care of their children, IIRC, but this would have been big news. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2011, 2:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-bill-cosby-have-said-this/599295/7 "2011-10-11T14:59:45Z")
Bill Cosby didn’t write that. Robert Culp did. ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2011, 3:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-bill-cosby-have-said-this/599295/8 "2011-10-11T15:01:45Z")
Yeah, it’s now standard to attribute your favorite rant to Bill Cosby, Andy Rooney, George Carlin, Kurt Vonnegut, or any of a half a dozen other people who are known for their more or less clever statements. Perhaps this means that you should just ignore any E-mail in which these people are quoted, since it’s unlikely that they actually said what they’re quoted as saying. Perhaps you should check everything in an E-mail with Snopes. Perhaps really you should just ignore E-mail that consists of nothing but a quoted rant. ---
**Author:** ![Duke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e8c25b/32.png) [@Duke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duke)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2011, 3:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-bill-cosby-have-said-this/599295/9 "2011-10-11T15:03:42Z")
It’s not Bill Cosby, and you can tell that from _the first two words_. Cosby isn’t 76 years old, he’s [74](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_cosby). ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2011, 3:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-bill-cosby-have-said-this/599295/10 "2011-10-11T15:07:24Z")
To actually answer the question asked, of course he _could_ have written it. But he didn’t. ---
**Author:** ![JoelUpchurch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f05b48/32.png) [@JoelUpchurch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JoelUpchurch)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2011, 3:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-bill-cosby-have-said-this/599295/11 "2011-10-11T15:14:37Z")
was this even written by an American? I don’t recall anyone ever referring to “National Service” instead of talking about what service they were in. An American would say, “Except for brief period in the 50’s when I was in the Army, I’ve worked hard since I was 17.” Or something along that line. ---
**Author:** ![ShibbOleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/848f3c/32.png) [@ShibbOleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ShibbOleth)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2011, 3:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-bill-cosby-have-said-this/599295/12 "2011-10-11T15:16:55Z")
All the original quote needs is a “You kids get off of my lawn!” ---
**Author:** ![cmkeller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmkeller/32/118_2.png) [@cmkeller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmkeller)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2011, 3:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-bill-cosby-have-said-this/599295/13 "2011-10-11T15:17:33Z")
Bill Cosby has definitely ranted against what he sees as wrong with the African-American community, which may have fit in a little with the income-distribution portion of the quote, but I’d never known him to make any public comments about Islam and foreign policy. ---
**Author:** ![a35362](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3da27b/32.png) [@a35362](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/a35362)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2011, 3:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-bill-cosby-have-said-this/599295/14 "2011-10-11T15:23:23Z")
The person who sent me (and others) this sent me a similar glurgey e-mail awhile back that was supposedly from Ben Stein talking about his religious faith and suggesting that we have all the problems we do today because we have invited God out of our lives or somesuch. She _knows_ I’m an atheist. At least she never talks about this stuff with me (I think she thinks she’s just helping out in passing this stuff along from wherever she gets it; it doesn’t originate with her) and she’s not sending it just to me; she sends it to everyone in her “Let me share this with you” mailbox. Sometimes it’s cute baby animal photos. ---
**Author:** ![billfish678](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7bcc69/32.png) [@billfish678](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/billfish678)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2011, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-bill-cosby-have-said-this/599295/15 "2011-10-11T15:25:13Z")
> [@cmkeller](#): > > Bill Cosby has definitely ranted against what he sees as wrong with the African-American community, which may have fit in a little with the income-distribution portion of the quote, but I’d never known him to make any public comments about Islam and foreign policy. IIRC he ranted a few years ago about just that (and personally I thought his points were right on (not that there aren’t plenty of whiteys doing the same stupid shit)). The shit hit the fan. Al Sharpton, Jesse Jackson and plenty of others of their ilk had a fit and demanded an apology. And, again IIRC, Cosby responded by ranting again and basically saying “hell no, you are not getting an apology so suck on it”. ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2011, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-bill-cosby-have-said-this/599295/16 "2011-10-11T15:25:26Z")
> [@Duke](#): > > It’s not Bill Cosby, and you can tell that from _the first two words_. Cosby isn’t 76 years old, he’s [74](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bill_cosby). Yes…the OP pointed that out already. ---
**Author:** ![Lemur866](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lemur866/32/434_2.png) [@Lemur866](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lemur866)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2011, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-bill-cosby-have-said-this/599295/17 "2011-10-11T16:07:43Z")
> [@JoelUpchurch](#): > > was this even written by an American? I don’t recall anyone ever referring to “National Service” instead of talking about what service they were in. An American would say, “Except for brief period in the 50’s when I was in the Army, I’ve worked hard since I was 17.” Or something along that line. A lot of older people talk about “when I was in the service”, but I’ve never heard them say “national service”. ---
**Author:** ![Duke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e8c25b/32.png) [@Duke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duke)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2011, 4:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-bill-cosby-have-said-this/599295/18 "2011-10-11T16:08:39Z")
> [@Mahaloth](#): > > Yes…the OP pointed that out already. My excuse: I’m old. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![It\_s\_Not\_Rocket\_Surgery](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/it_s_not_rocket_surgery/32/312_2.png) [@It\_s\_Not\_Rocket\_Surgery](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/It_s_Not_Rocket_Surgery)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2011, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-bill-cosby-have-said-this/599295/19 "2011-10-11T16:21:40Z")
> [@a35362](#): > > The person who sent me (and others) this sent me a similar glurgey e-mail awhile back that was supposedly from Ben Stein talking about his religious faith and suggesting that we have all the problems we do today because we have invited God out of our lives or somesuch. Except [Ben Stein really said those things](http://www.snopes.com/politics/soapbox/confessions.asp). In fact, most of the glurgey quotes that were supposedly from Ben Stein are listed on Snopes as “correctly attributed”. Yuck. ---
**Author:** ![a35362](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3da27b/32.png) [@a35362](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/a35362)\ **Post date:** [October 11, 2011, 4:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-bill-cosby-have-said-this/599295/20 "2011-10-11T16:32:40Z")
Yes, I saw that. But that’s Ben Stein. I was upset by the idea that Bill Cosby would talk that way. I have no such expectations about Ben Stein. 😃 [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/could-bill-cosby-have-said-this/599295.md?page=2)