Controversial take but I think Cole has possibly fabricated exaggerated many stories that involve Barboh oh granted, I still think Barb was a horrendous mother, extremely selfish, mean spirited, insane, abusive and manipulative and all round terrible indidvidual who parasitically leeches and abuses anyone she can clamp down in a relationship and sucks them dry to be her slave and drain money from. But some of the stories like When Bob had a gun and accidentally fired it nearly killing him, and weird shit about ‘beatings and ‘cold showers’ all sound incredibly hazy and unlikely. Remember as we say here all the time and even after recent events, Cole himself is a pretty Unlikable indidvidual too, a pretentious Film critic and narcissistic and untalented douchbag with delusions of grandeur almost as big as his half brothers. I mean it’s for more respectable goals but his similar egotism towards his family although he’d never admit to it is uncanny.
Back to the point, even though There’s no doubt Barb and Bob were almost certainly shitty and abusive Parents to him, hence why he’s had almost no interaction or attempt to connect even after 20 years and this years recent horrible events. I can’t help but feel Cole, through a combination of ego and slight manipulation, has somewhat bullshitted a lot of the stories he tells about being raised by the two. I’m not saying his hatred for them is unjustified, but the lengths that he talks about them beating him and lying and manipulating him constantly were probably exaggerated to make him sympathetic towards the public and his online persona and make him look even more like a victim to fuel his already massive ego.
Like the gun story from the 60s I’m almost sure is bullshit, Bob may have been a ‘bureaucratic fuck’ In Cole’s words but I doubt the man was a gun toting Confederate Flag,bible thumping Red state Texas stereotype like he pictures him to be. He did work in a respectable position in a factory job, served in the Korean War and was even cultured in a way with his massive record collection and attempts to educate his awful younger son on his amazing adventures around the world. The whole gun scenario seems so far fetched and out of character for Bob, he wasn’t a good parent either, he enabled so many of Chris’s delusions and was overall a close minded individual who was probably pretty cruel to Cole throughout his upbringing, but as been said countless times he was absolutely a better parent and person than Barb was and I just can’t picture him ever doing something so reckless.
Ultimately, I completely understand Cole wanting nothing to do with Barb as she clearly did enough emotional damage that there relationship can’t ever be repaired, and to acknowledge his literal Motherfucker Half-Brother after this event after his years of being a lolcow will definitely enter the floodgates for weens and trolls like never before. I can’t help but feel he Is a little bit of a douche for giving her the cold shoulder after his only living connection and mother has literally just been raped by his deranged brother and mind and body are literally rotting away to die. He doesn’t have to love her, he can even loathe her, but doing the right thing and perhaps making sure she’s safe and will never be harmed again after all she’s been through just seems like the right thing to do, be the better man. She is still his mother after all. It’s just seems cruel really.
