My wife got a taste of this rhubarb on Facebook. She took umbrage with the mean-spirited comments that some of the FB'ers had posted. Her interaction with JG is particularly depressing. Even when confronted with his boorish behavior, JG did not feel the need to retract or apologize and he just kept on with his angry, mean, name-calling ways.
This was class warfare alright – between the classy and the classless.
The format places the initials of the poster first followed by their comment.
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BJ
Don't like gay marriages? Don't get one.. Don't like cigarettes? Don't smoke them.. Don't like abortions? Don't get one.. Don't like sex? Don't have it.. Don't like drugs? Don't do them.. Don't like porn? Don't watch it.. Don't like alcohol? Don't drink it.. Don't like guns? Don't buy one.. Don't like your rights taken away??? Don't take away someone else's! Pretty much sums it up.
LJ
So simple
JR
Don't like democrats but we got them hmmm
LPS
Don't like thinking... be a Republican -- or join the Tea Party.
JR
Don't like the constitution be a democrat if you like high taxes
AD
Don't like Republicans but we got them hmmm.
AD
Don't like the constitution or the country to be for everyone be a Tea Partier.
LPS
I just want the rich guys to pay their fair share and give up the breaks Bush gave them...Those of us in the lower brackets never get breaks.
JR
We will trickle down takes time
LPS
been waiting 30 years --since Reagan When does it start? I only have about 20 years left.
LJ
LPS you be so smart!!!!
CB
Don't like thinking..be a Republican? Really? Are Democrats so much smarter and enlightened? There are no intelligent Republicans? Right...Republicans can't have a differing opinion than a Democrat without being insulted. Is this 2nd grade? Wouldn't it be more constructive to deal with issues than character assassination?
BJ
"The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few or the one." ~Spock
SMJ
Case in point... When you over simplify the things that are important to people you marginalize them. When you marginalize them it is the fastest way to both alienate them and mobilize them against you. Try talking to people beyond your comfort zone and looking for common ground even when it is your hardest and most exhausting choice. Most importantly, strive to listen even more than you desire to be heard.
LPS
Now THAT's a smart response. Patience works for me.
JYR
Dont like the way things are going? Take the fucking discussion off facebook. Or any other platform. Have intelligent civil discourse face to face and thoughtfully consider each others opinion. This is the worst (and Im also guilty of this from time to time) place to try to 'convince' the other side of your opinion.
JYR
and take a civics lesson. read your non revisionist, non palin/bachmann/santorum history
LPS
Thank you.
MR
Politics... -steps outside-
JG
@ CB; no, there are no thinking GOPers left -- the Christian Right and the Tea Party has driven them to extinction. I'm not in the business (literally) of trying to convince Republicans that they are wrong or idiots just for giggles, but instead crushing them as a political party. The Fundies and lunatic Libertarians with their selfish and morally bankrupt Lord of the Flies philosophy has set this country down the path to ruin. It is not over simplification to say that the GOP is full of stupid, ignorant, racist, homophobic, misogynistic, war mongering, hypocrites.
CB
@JG; Wow. I'm a Christian. I'm on the right. I think there are many valuable ideas being moved forward by the Tea Party.
But I guess that makes me a stupid, ignorant, racist, homophobic, misogynistic, war mongering, hypocrite. This makes it easy for you. You don't have to engage any ideas. Just call a name, turn and walk away.
Is your behavior considered progressive and enlightened? Why is it considered progressive to dismiss via demonization rather than agree to disagree and try to understand what may have caused the conservative to conclude what he has concluded? Do you believe there are any good conservatives?
Liberals frequently extol themselves as intelligentsia that are capable of nuanced thought while noting that conservatives are simpletons who see everything as black and white. Your comments don't seem to support that story line. Not a lot of compassion, nuance or deep thought there.
If you resort to name calling or character assassination when your ideas are assailed, you confirm that you are not interested in sustaining a conversation, but rather demagoguery.
I think you are probably a good person who simply has different values than I have. You think I am some sort of barbaric, horrible person. If I am a mixture of the names you called me, then I truly would be horrible. And if you want to walk those comments back and say that is only the leadership, then you are only left with thinking I am profoundly stupid or deluded if I support conservative ideas. Either way, you have a very dim view of those on the other side of the aisle.
Is dismissing the decency of those you differ with intellectually engaging or is it an intellectual retreat? Is announcing that no discussion shall occur on a matter intellectually stimulating or is it demagogic? Is dismissing the character of those you disagree with as stupid, mean spirited, selfish, greedy, hateful, nativist, racist, sexist, homophobic, xenophobic, Islamophobic, bigoted, intolerant, fascist and hypocritical an attempt to avoid thoughtful interaction or contempt for their decency?
You don't need a great deal of thought to argue from a position of name calling. You just need to point out how bad those on the right are. After all, one doesn't need to engage in meaningful conversations with Ku Klux Klanners, neo-fascists or environmental despoilers. Are there any names that could be used for those on the left? Or does it just go without saying that all the evil and stupid is on the right?
It's easier to just dismiss all of those you disagree with as stupid. A Republican president doesn't have to be thoughtfully challenged. Just call him a monkey, a lackey, a cretinous penisless worm, a 9-11 conspirator, Presidunce, Duh President, Oaf of Office, Flubya, Dumbya and DUHbya. (All names used by the left.) And print bumper stickers that say Buck Fush.
A bigot is defined as a person who is obstinately or intolerantly devoted to his or her own opinions and prejudices; one who regards or treats the members of a group with hatred and intolerance. You might spend some time in introspection contemplating this word and its meaning.
MR
-pokes head in- ... hello BJ's friends.
JG
CB, the problem is that the GOP has allowed itself to be taken over the Fundie crowd that, contrary to the Constitution, seeks to to implement social policies that would deny fellow Americans fundamental rights. Republican economic policies (the L Curve and allowing "free-market capitalism" aka "fat cat capitalism" to run unfettered, aka "fat cat capitalism") have nearly destroyed the economy on the whole, and have savaged the middle class. Republican foreign policy has gotten us into two wars we cannot win. The libertarian God Squad nexus is the most dangerous political alignment in our nation's history, short of the assholes of the Confed States of America (who are the progenitors of the post-1972 Republican Party). Are there good conservatives? Sure, but their voices are drowned out in the current GOP. I stand by my comments that GOPers are selfish (the very nature of Libertarianism), nativist (look at the immigration issue), sexist (nothing like making fun of the FemmaNazis), homophobic (we must preserve the "sanctity of marriage" and discriminate against our fellow citizens), stupid (generally GOPers have lower levels of education than Dems, so stupid is probably wrong, but ignorant and intellectually lazy will work), Islamophobic (the Muslim Center blocks away from Ground Zero), and bigoted (I've heard Republicans in private within the last week use the words "nigger" and "faggot"). I started as a Republican way back in the day, and I have seen the moderate wing of the Republican Party destroyed. The GOP is on a path of self-destrcution, and because its leadership is all those things (selfish, etc), it's doomed.
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