I keep going back for more, because I can’t believe that people can say these things, let alone think them.
Let’s be blunt. I can believe that people think these things but not stupid enough to voice them.
Let’s be brutal. I can’t believe you can be on the Far Right and be this unable to even see how stupid what you say sounds.
I mean, seriously. Be a flaming conservative. Hate people by the train-load full. But no finesse in at least pretending otherwise to the world? Do you have to Rambo deliver your stupid?
I’m admonished from time to time to be gentle, to be kinder, to be more willing to assume that people are NOT the image that they so studiously work to portray. Forgive me if I don’t have time for niceties. It’s the looks, acts, talks, walks, lika. . . . Am I supposed to assume otherwise? Why are you entitled to the benefit of the doubt?
I had two fairly long conversations this week with idiots. I am not gonna quote verbatim because that would be boring, but I’ll give you a good idea of what transpired. Names have been changed to protect the children of these bastions of extreme stupid.
One of the “discussions” involved immigration. Peggy Sue was against all that stuff. Peggy Sue said the key word was “illegal”, in fact Peggy Sue just made the whole process simple,
“They are illegals,” she said in exasperation, “they have entered the country ILLEGALLY.”
“So, what’s that mean to you? I mean illegal is a word that describes some state of mind you have. It’s illegal to drive over the speed limit, to not pay your fair share of taxes, to litter. What does entry across the border without papers mean to you?”
“THEY CROSSED ILLEGALLY,” she shouted.
I get that, besides breaking a law, which we all do, why does that bother you so much? You see I see the term “illegals” as a code word for (a) they are brown and I don’t like that, (b) they will take our jobs, (c) they will change our way of life. I see that as racist, coming to you from Fox Noise and their hate machine.
After a few hours, I got this response:
“I’ll make this clear. They are breaking the law, and it’s important to know who crosses our borders because they may be carrying diseases to infect our children, they may be criminals, or they may be terrorists. I’m not a racist. The only racists are liberals playing the race card,” she suggested in her best recall of what Fox said.
Tens of thousands of children are born in this country every year. Do you know which ones will be criminals or get diseases, or become terrorists? If you get a new neighbor do you know this? Your neighbor is not legally required to vaccinate their children. Why do you impose this on others? Did you know that South American countries on a whole have better rates of vaccination than this country? Are there ANY verifiable reports of terrorists crossing the southern border? Do you worry about the northern border ever?
Jack Sprinkle popped in at that point with “you’re wordy. You baffle with bullshit.”
Thanks Jack, that certainly enlightened the fly on the wall.
“Typical liberal. If you disagree with them it’s because you watch Fox News!” shouted Peter Pooch. And then to emphasize the point, he added, “I watch Fox and I’m proud of it.”
Later, we gave thanks for Thanksgiving, brought to us by all those hard-working migrants across the land who pick your food so you can celebrate. Thank you Jesus, for this food. Jesús, the worker, says da nada.
Peggy Sue scrunches up her forehead, denoting that she’s thinking hard, and asks, “they don’t celebrate Thanksgiving do they?”
FACEPALMS ALL AROUND at that one. Yeah, Peggy Sue they do. Oh triple sigh.
We move on to Ferguson.
Peter Pooch is all to excited to discuss this one.
Michael Brown is described as “a criminal, a thug, a giant, or better yet Giant Thug, a 6’5″ 270 pound charging cigar stealing police attacking criminal “. It’s all summed up this way:
“Giant Thug robs store
Attacks police officer
Gets shot for it
Cop was in the right”
Um except for the fact, that the Officer was the same height, so giant is perhaps a bit much. Except that he was never convicted of a thing, so “thug and criminal” is not correct. Except that there is conflicting evidence as to whether he attacked the officer. Your conclusion that the “cop was right” is your conclusion, not the facts there.
Peter Pooch was not done, “I will take the word of a police officer over a known criminal any day of the week.”
No doubt you will, and that disqualifies you Pete from sitting on a jury anywhere in the US of A. Got that?
It got worse:
If the black community wants to get ahead in this world they need to learn about education they need to learn that the leaders they have now such as Rev. Al have been lying to them for many years There may be some racism in this country but it’s very little compared to air to 50 years ago we have black senators black congressman black police officers black fireman black politicians by the way have a black president which it entire group of white people voted for There are more black racist than there are white racist these days
I gotta hand it to ya Pete, you don’t miss a beat of the Fox News distortion. And the African-American community thanks you for all that good advice on how to be white. I’m sure they will have family discussions and implementation strategies soon employed now that they understand how to be as you wish them to be.
African-American friends I have don’t listen to L Sharpton and And they teach their children to respect the laws of this country they teach their children to get an education and they teach their children to have respect for themselves I don’t riot and they don’t loot and I don’t attack police officers they have respect for each other for themselves for the walk
Which I take to mean that Peter Pooch’s African-American friends, are just like him. I can imagine them all calling Michael Brown a “giant thug”. But then I snap back into reality. African-American “friends” my ass.
As I was telling my husband, I’m not a really nice person. I sorta like poking sticks at caged animals if you get the metaphor. But it’s awfully sad too. Knowing that racism is so much a part of our daily lives still. At least in large parts of our country. Such conversations no doubt occur down here in New Mexico, but in much more isolation I believe.
I don’t meet many in my daily life here.
There are so many errors. The conclusion that is held by so many uber right wingers that liberals and Blacks are the real racists today, because they don’t understand what the word racist means. Pretending that whites are the new “oppressed” “race”. Pretending that racism can be masked by “criminal” and “disease” and “illegal”.
Going about daily lives sanctimoniously, because you are “Christian” and “good” and “law-abiding”. Manipulating the world to reflect how you want it to be because it is what you envision as safe.
Life is mean, ugly, dirty, and freakin’ complicated. There are no answers that are definitive about most anything. There are things that are better or worse than some alternative. Life is unstable. It always was always will be. If you find a place of quiet, where life is serene, consider yourself lucky. Seek out good people and cling to them for the crazies are numerous and will drive you insane otherwise.
People are people everywhere and every time. There are not bad people, only bad situations that some find themselves in. Some of the fault is theirs, a lot of it is not. You’re not better just different. God favors no one. You don’t have any right to anything, you have only the privilege of certain advantages. If you spent half the time helping others attain your advantages instead of trying to protect your stuff, we’d all be better off by twice.
If it sounds like hate, it usually is. If you start using the word them, you are hating somebody. Stop it.
Get over yourself. You’re gonna die and be forgotten, in probably no longer than three generations.
Smell a flower. Drink a glass of wine. Watch a sunset. Smile at a stranger.
And get over yourself.