Glutton for punishment
I'm a reasonably intelligent guy - most us here are - but
occasionally, I get suckered into a political discussion,
especially around election time. For those that don't know
me, I'm a transplanted American - you can probably tell from my
infrequent US-style spellings and punctuation. (I've been in
the UK for 21 years, but I still haven't lost my accent.)
As you probably know, the US is on the cusp of a pivotal election. Now that we have our first left-leaning President since Jimmy Carter and our first minority President, the political right has gone on attack. The Democrats are likely to lose their majority in the Senate and possibly even the house.
The "grass-roots" Tea Party movement is leading the charge, hyping President Obama as a Marxist, a Muslim, a poor leader and ineffective, blaming him for the economy, the debt, and even the porous border with Mexico (letting in evil wetbacks, murderers and drug dealers who are ruining our economy and stealing jobs), and they even say he's not legally President (they dispute the validity of his Hawaiian birth certificate). Yes, this is the TEA PARTY: a group that has Sarah Palin as their poster girl. Do you believe it? Sarah Palin! The same Sarah Palin that makes Dan Quayle look like Einstein.
For those of you who don't know Dan Quayle, he was VP under George H W Bush, Sr, known for sticking his foot in his mouth even more than George W Bush. There are similar listings of his famous quotations: http://www.quotationspage.com/quotes/Dan_Quayle/
Here is one of my favourites and one of his simplest:
"The future will be better tomorrow."
Anyway, where was I? The proponents of the Tea Party maintain that they want to get back to the Constitution, but many have little idea of what is actually in it. They call themselves Patriots and want to decrease the interference of the Federal Government in their lives, cut taxes, rescind all the financial bailouts and the health care bill. Interestingly, there is also a Facebook page documenting how poor they are at spelling in their campaign signs.
Now, it isn't my purpose here to say whether they are right or wrong, but you can probably already tell where I fall on that subject.
Recently, I've gotten suckered into discussions with Tea Party advocates on friends' sites on Facebook. (A lot of my "radical" school friends are now ultra-Christian and right wing.) I just can't believe how they swallow what the teabaggers spout: The health bill is evil and socialist. (People have only themselves to blame if they can't afford health insurance.) All it does is force insurance companies to provide a minimal level of affordable insurance to everyone, regardless of pre-existing conditions. It also forces all Americans to purchase health insurance. That part was added to pander to the insurance industry, so they can make a killing on it. Obama is also supposedly allowing Mexicans to cross the border to sell drugs and steal our jobs. He hasn't actually changed any existing laws, and successive Republican administrations have been equally ineffectual. (I suspect it is because American companies benefit from the black-market economy of migrant workers.)
Okay, it is easy to agree or disagree on those subjects, but produce a fact that turns a teabagger's argument on its head, and they start calling you names. Yesterday's statement of the day was, "I never argue with an idiot." Today's was, "I don't give a rats ass what they do to the price of wine, thats a pussy drink, anyway. Real men drink Slivovitz, and wash it down with nothing but a shirtsleeve."
That's only a small part of the abuse that I received. I just don't see how supposedly intelligent people lap this up. I can see its attraction in rural uneducated white America (the Tea Party is an almost completely white phenomenon), but intelligent people should be able to see through massaged statistics and spurious slogans. One guy, yesterday, countered my set of US Government Treasury figures with set of graphs from the blog of an openly conservative journalist. Today's imbecile (Did I just call him that? Shame on me!) pointed me to the blog of another conservative journalist who, incidentally, had a photo of himself with Margaret Thatcher boldly positioned. Where do they find these wacko blogs?
What am I saying here? I'm sick of being abused. I'm sick of people being stupid. I'm sick emotive language that says nothing. I'm sick of closed-minded people that always have to be right and don't even listen to opposing arguments (la-la-la-la-la).
(I'm sick of drawing this blog out until I find something witty to say.)
Damn, I'm just plain, bloody sick.
(But you already knew that.)
As you probably know, the US is on the cusp of a pivotal election. Now that we have our first left-leaning President since Jimmy Carter and our first minority President, the political right has gone on attack. The Democrats are likely to lose their majority in the Senate and possibly even the house.
The "grass-roots" Tea Party movement is leading the charge, hyping President Obama as a Marxist, a Muslim, a poor leader and ineffective, blaming him for the economy, the debt, and even the porous border with Mexico (letting in evil wetbacks, murderers and drug dealers who are ruining our economy and stealing jobs), and they even say he's not legally President (they dispute the validity of his Hawaiian birth certificate). Yes, this is the TEA PARTY: a group that has Sarah Palin as their poster girl. Do you believe it? Sarah Palin! The same Sarah Palin that makes Dan Quayle look like Einstein.
For those of you who don't know Dan Quayle, he was VP under George H W Bush, Sr, known for sticking his foot in his mouth even more than George W Bush. There are similar listings of his famous quotations: http://www.quotationspage.com/quotes/Dan_Quayle/
Here is one of my favourites and one of his simplest:
"The future will be better tomorrow."
Anyway, where was I? The proponents of the Tea Party maintain that they want to get back to the Constitution, but many have little idea of what is actually in it. They call themselves Patriots and want to decrease the interference of the Federal Government in their lives, cut taxes, rescind all the financial bailouts and the health care bill. Interestingly, there is also a Facebook page documenting how poor they are at spelling in their campaign signs.
Now, it isn't my purpose here to say whether they are right or wrong, but you can probably already tell where I fall on that subject.
Recently, I've gotten suckered into discussions with Tea Party advocates on friends' sites on Facebook. (A lot of my "radical" school friends are now ultra-Christian and right wing.) I just can't believe how they swallow what the teabaggers spout: The health bill is evil and socialist. (People have only themselves to blame if they can't afford health insurance.) All it does is force insurance companies to provide a minimal level of affordable insurance to everyone, regardless of pre-existing conditions. It also forces all Americans to purchase health insurance. That part was added to pander to the insurance industry, so they can make a killing on it. Obama is also supposedly allowing Mexicans to cross the border to sell drugs and steal our jobs. He hasn't actually changed any existing laws, and successive Republican administrations have been equally ineffectual. (I suspect it is because American companies benefit from the black-market economy of migrant workers.)
Okay, it is easy to agree or disagree on those subjects, but produce a fact that turns a teabagger's argument on its head, and they start calling you names. Yesterday's statement of the day was, "I never argue with an idiot." Today's was, "I don't give a rats ass what they do to the price of wine, thats a pussy drink, anyway. Real men drink Slivovitz, and wash it down with nothing but a shirtsleeve."
That's only a small part of the abuse that I received. I just don't see how supposedly intelligent people lap this up. I can see its attraction in rural uneducated white America (the Tea Party is an almost completely white phenomenon), but intelligent people should be able to see through massaged statistics and spurious slogans. One guy, yesterday, countered my set of US Government Treasury figures with set of graphs from the blog of an openly conservative journalist. Today's imbecile (Did I just call him that? Shame on me!) pointed me to the blog of another conservative journalist who, incidentally, had a photo of himself with Margaret Thatcher boldly positioned. Where do they find these wacko blogs?
What am I saying here? I'm sick of being abused. I'm sick of people being stupid. I'm sick emotive language that says nothing. I'm sick of closed-minded people that always have to be right and don't even listen to opposing arguments (la-la-la-la-la).
(I'm sick of drawing this blog out until I find something witty to say.)
Damn, I'm just plain, bloody sick.
(But you already knew that.)
17 Comments
laws. An abridged version - He didn't understand why the UK wouldn't allow its citizens to bear arms (other than we're a bunch of pussies). I said it's because we don't need guns - they cause more problems than they solve. Him: then how do you protect yourself? Me: You know? It's never come up. Him: It's just a matter of time. Me: Paranoid, much? Him: Not paranoid - just prepared. (Yeah, that scared me, too...). Me: I wouldn't feel safe with a gun in the house - hell, I wouldn't feel safe with a gun in my street. What if a kiddie got hold of it? Him: Then that's the parents' silly fault. Me: Uh, wtf? How can you say that when so many kiddies die from getting hold of daddy's gun? Doesn't that scare you? Him: No, because I will teach my kid good gun handling. Me: Okay - but what about everyone else? You'd better be damned sure they all teach their kids about good gun handling, too... it doesn't have to be your kiddie or your gun, after all. Why would you want something that is only designed to kill other humans in your house - especially if there are children around? Him: Are you questioning my right to bear arms? Me: I suppose I am. What are you frightened of? Him: I'm a true American patriot. I know my rights. When I get screwed by my government, I will be here, ready to protect what is rightfully mine! Me: Oooooooookaaaaaayyyy.... *backs away slowly...*
In my experience, most (if not all) Right Wing Americans are well and truly nuts. I don't think I have ever managed to have one conversation with one about politics that didn't descend into farcical name calling and outrageous claims about 'how socialism will be the death of America'. I don't even get their problem with healthcare reform - OBAMA IS TRYING TO MAKE IT SO EVERYONE CAN HAVE THAT HEART OPERATION! Everyone! Not just the rich guy! And isn't that a good thing? Last time I checked, being poor wasn't a sin / doesn't make you a bad person. So why shouldn't poor people be allowed access to decent healthcare? What makes me laugh is they then spout off about being good Christians.... uuuuuh, excuse me?!? How does that work? Can we just look at Jesus and what he did for, you know, 5 minutes? He helped the poor and healed the sick and fed the starving... you know, all of those things YOU DON'T WANT TO HAPPEN IN YOUR COUNTRY? Excuse me whilst I despair...
The beginning of that post should read:
I feel your pain. I once got into a 'discussion' (read 'nasty argument') with a right winger over gun laws.
Now, I never did agree with the invasion of Iraq and my friends knew I didn't. On this occasion some instinct caused me to mutter non committal responses. Shortly thereafter my friends declared we had to go; which was news to me. As we were driving away they told me they were seriously worried that we were about to get the shit kicked out of us or worse as my less than enthusiam and being a Brit was not going down well.
So much for the land of the free.
Mobilizing a revolution would be almost impossible, since the hard right wing (the most likely "patriots") are so spread out. The hard right currently makes up only small portion of the population. There is no real focus for them to mount any kind of rebellion, unless it came from within the military, which isn't likely.
There haven't been any major regional issues since slavery to tear the nation apart.
I remember Dan Quale, LOL There's an ass from the past.
Do you watch 'Family Guy?' The episode when Lois stands for election? Priceless.
The Right Wingers don't much like 'Family Guy', I'm guessing...?
The Special Forces of SteveF's people have recently wiped a lovely girl of ours from off the face of the earth with a carelessly lobbed grenade when all she set out to do was bring peace to the people (and especially the women) of Afghanistan!
Isn't it always the way that America - the new land we founded - calls on the Mother Country for support whenever it runs out of moral steam? And don't they all too often kill us with 'friendly fire'?
To SteveF I would say: Go peddle your US politics and your objections to the Tea Party elsewhere. We have enough worries trying to get published, Okay?
The on-line survey claimed he was far LEFT WING by US standards. As in, even he thinks they're crazy. I guess that kinda paints a picture of what the rest of my country thinks of them. I've never had to deal with Right wing Americans because... well frankly they don't come to New Zealand.
Which reminds me- I heard the George W. didn't even have a passport before he became president, that he had NEVER travelled overseas. Is that true?
What a very strange world we live in.
@Amarantha Firstly, what they do affects us, as noted in your second paragraph. Secondly, the Special Forces were sent in at the request of the UK, as they were in the area. Everyone involved knew the risks. Because she had escaped during the confusion, she had fled to an area she wasn't expected. Anything can happen in such a melee. Friendly fire happens, and if one country has 90% of forces in an area, they are likely to be the ones who fired. They have killed their own, too.
This is my blog, and I can write what I want in it, just as you may write what you want in yours. You don't have to read it. Most of mine will be about writing, but sometimes one must get something off one's chest.
It is a vast country it is amazing that many people can be managed at all.
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