The double standards that exist in this country in regard to President Obama — and really, other people of color — is just crazy-making. David Sirota has an article out pointing out just five examples, but there are SO many more. Read his whole article at the link above.
1. Joe Biden Is almost never called a socialist or a Marxist.
I know, right! I don’t remember any president in my lifetime being called “socialist.” Joe Biden is on the ticket with the President, but people aren’t railing against him as a socialist.
Despite a Senate voting record and presidential policymaking record that align him with moderate Republicans from a mere decade ago, Obama is regularly derided as a socialist, a communist or a Marxist. By contrast, Obama’s own white running mate, Joe Biden, has as liberal — or at times even more liberal — a voting record as Obama, but (save for the occasional Newt Gingrich outburst) is almost never referred to in such inflammatory terms.
2. Romneycare is Obamacare, yet the latter is criticized.
It’s all fun and games until the black guy does it. Then we’re dooooooomed!
Nonetheless, under the first African-American president, the very same healthcare model the GOP championed is now being held up by the GOP as a redistributionist boondoggle.
3. A white president would never be criticized for these statements about Trayvon Martin.
After the incident, Obama said “When I think about this boy, I think about my own kids, and I think every parent in America should be able to understand why it is absolutely imperative that we investigate every aspect of this, and that everybody pulls together.”
How dare the President speak compassionate words after a tragedy? And who does he think he is, saying anything about any possible investigation?
4. America would neither ignore nor laugh off a young black male relative of Obama publicly fantasizing about violence against a presidential candidate.
Oh my god, Fox would never talk about another topic. EVER. The nerve!
As I reported last week, Romney’s son, Tagg Romney, cheerily riffed on his fantasies about committing an act of violence against a sitting president of the United States…if a young black male relative of Obama went on a radio show and publicly said he wanted to “jump out of your seat (and) rush down to the stage and take a swing” at Mitt Romney” — it would be an instant national outrage, replete with headlines about an imminent race war and Romney’s desperate need for beefed-up personal security.
5. If one of Obama’s teenage daughters was unmarried and pregnant, it wouldn’t be considered a “private” matter.
Oh wait, Fox would stop talking about an Obama male relative wanting to take a swing at Romney for this. Ohhhh, just imagine the glee with which they would throw around terms like “ho,” “baby daddy,” and “welfare queen wannabe.”
When Sarah Palin was put on the Republican ticket in 2008, Bristol Palin’s pregnancy did not initiate a national discussion about the issue of teen pregnancy, unprotected sex or promiscuous fornication outside of wedlock. Instead, conservative leaders insisted it was off-limits as a topic…
Of course, the Obamas, knowing that this hypothetical daughter was pregnant, would never have exposed her to such treatment, because they would have politely declined a VP offer — because they have class — and because they don’t have access to white privilege.
There is a shameful ugliness in this country. Electing Barack Obama as President in 2008 didn’t cause it, but it sure brought the racism many Americans had hidden so well — even from themselves — to the surface. I, for one, am no longer willing to simply be embarrassed for these people, while saying nothing. I will look them in the eye and say, “I don’t know if you’re a racist, but what you just said was a racist/bigoted statement.” I’ll be willing to discuss why something is racist or bigoted, and how that sort of thing divides us as a country and as human beings, but I will not hang around for blustering denials or counter-accusations of racism — no matter who I’m speaking to. I will simply walk away, because I won’t have that sort of person in my life — no matter who they are.
The hate is not going away because we laugh at their ignorance and their stupid signs, but enough of us eject that sort of person from our families and circles of friends, it might have an effect. Enlightened ones are always welcome back.
This is our daily open thread — yeah, I haz a rant.
As I have often said before, racists simply do not understand why they are racist. Like many on the right, they suffer Projection and assume that everybody thinks as they do but is just unwilling to say it out loud.
Sometimes people just don’t think about it until they are called out on it. They are raised in a culture that makes racist jokes casually and it is just the norm, until someone actually is asked to think about what they are saying. I grew up in such a culture. I grew up in the panhandle of Texas, and even though I experienced racial desegregation in school, there were no shortage of ethnic jokes – (I think I even remember some of them, but I don’t tell them anymore, not for decades.)
My parents never spoke out against other races, most of this I heard from my peers growing up.
But I went to college and met all types of people and one day I made an ethnic joke and someone called me on it. I never said anything like it again.
That is why college feels so dangerous to the right, because if you
(Continued) can get to meet other people than those that exist in your little world, and you get exposed to other cultures and other ideas, you begin to question your own ideas and begin to see that people are pretty much people wherever you go — and deserving of respect — except for those people that want to legislate laws that take away hard fought for rights…. those people can kiss my backside.
That’s the key, LL — getting out of your home town and having contact with people outside of the circle of your friends and family. I meet far too many people who are proud that they’re rarely ever left their county or state.
I have been lucky to have lived all over this country. And I can’t imagine living in the same small Texas town that I grew up in.
Me too, and I know it shaped me in many ways — mostly positive. It opens the eyes to see the many variations of us, whether it be race, accent, traditions, or style; but it opens the mind to understand that although we are wonderfully different and diverse, we all want pretty much the same things for our children and families.
Guess who lost their job in 2009 as a result of a Bain Capital takeover?
I was employed by Accellent Huntsville until the plant was closed at the end of 2009. It just never occurred to me to check this until this morning and all I had to search was ‘Accellent Bain Capital’ and it was at the top of the list!
Its OK, House, Bain is about to take the rest of us over….. we’ll all be in your shoes soon enough…
If Bain takes us all over and all of our jobs go to China, then how does that help the American worker?
We’ll have more time on our hands?
More time to fight more wars….
I feel left out because I didn’t get one.
http://www.tampabay.com/news/politics/national/fbi-launches-investigation-into-fraudulent-florida-voter-letters/1258211
“What was the motive? Was it a statement or something done to influence the election?”
Seriously?
Ann Romney keeps the Bush tradition alive.
Those kids are now scarred for life.
http://www.news-journalonline.com/article/20121025/NEWS/121029835?Title=Ann-Romney-reads-to-Daytona-Beach-schoolchildren
And that woman wears the ugliest clothes…
Ugh….only 13 minutes into Atlas Shrugged II and I’m subjected to a “panel discussion” on Hannity’s Fox show….
What *are* you doing today?
John Sununu can’t open his mouth without embarrassing himself. Keep talking, John.
i could talk for hours about racism, my personal experiences, equality, the workplace, dog whistles, white “friends”, hope and change denied…etc…etc..
I have a thesis about America after 23 1/2 years here now.
America’s consciousness is defined by war – 4 of them to be precise.
1. Revolutionary War – that’s the gimme. Something new in the world emerged form this (well depends on if you view it as the ‘taxation without representation’ thing or as one set of landed gentry taking over power form another set – it’s probably something in the middle). It is the root of all conversations about ‘American Exceptionalism’. One thing I find remarkable about this war is that it did nearly no visible damage whatsoever to the British Empire, in fact the zenith of the British Empire came many decades later. If anything the revolutionary war came full circle and achieved closure in 1941.
2. World War 2 – the shining moment when the greatest generation and the country’s arguably greatest president (yes I’ll put him against Lincoln and Washington for the title) came out of the depression and saved most of the world (whatever parts it could) from fascism and in the process . I’m not going to argue much about this one – so much came out of this, the one ‘good war’ that the downsides are somewhat outweighed – besides the next one covers it.
3. Vietnam – when America discovered it neither had all the answers, all the power nor all of the good on its side and as a nation this war marks the split between those who think ‘my country right or wrong’ and those who say ‘no, wait a minute we could do better’. The country’s politics are divided by this fault line IMO, and the Vietnam War was still being fought in this country, as late as 2004.
4. The Civil War – depending on what you call this war defines what you think about this war which, well much could be said, is clearly still being fought right now – in this election. This war is not over.
missed a clause in #2 above – “in the process built perhaps the most egalitarian society the world has yet seen”
I agree, esp. about WWII and FDR. It was necessary, and if war can be done right, that one was done right. The Nam was and will always remain a tragic mistake, done for no reason other than politics, power, and money, all at horrible cost. As for the Civil War, I’ve long felt that the USA would have been better off to not have engaged, to simply have let the South go, and to never invite it back in. I still think that way, esp. when I look at all the red on the electoral map. Red equates with racial hate and bigotry, almost across the board.
Trouble is with the ‘let em go’ thesis is that the Missouri Compromise would have snaked its way across the west and north and there would have been no contiguous Northern American nation free of slavery. I think it was fight then or fight later – but the fighting was inevitable.
Agreed, Turtle.
We really are in a civil war right now, we just haven’t started shooting at each other (full time anyway).
November 7th, 5am – some cracker will loose off at few at Fort Sumter if Obama wins again.
I hope you’re wrong, but I won’t be surprised.
I thought Rudepundit called it what it was a few days ago …. As Sherlock Holmes said: when you have exhausted all the possibilities, whatever you have left, however implausible – must be the answer.
“Why would anyone who isn’t rich and greedy vote for Mitt Romney?”
Because they’re greedy, and think that being rich is the answer to their problems. They have a “lack mentality”, believing that the reason they have to work for a living is because they are supporting others who don’t work. I see this regularly, people with well paying secure jobs wasting time and resources, and bitching about “poor people”.
One of my neighbors is just such. He works for a public utility, complains about not being able to sell his house and the fact that he doesn’t have a desk job yet. He treats those less fortunate with obvious disdain.
I have found this to be true as well. These folks think the only reason they aren’t rich is the others that steal from them, and they’ve failed to correctly identify who is in fact stealing from them. And no matter what, they are never, ever happy.
GDP hits 2.0% That’s up from 1.3% in the second quarter. It also slightly exceeded expectations, which predicted growth of 1.9%.
too late
If Romney has momentum, it’s not in the direction that points to winning. There was a big spike after the first debate, but Obama has steadily been on the rise since then, and Romney, steadily on the decline.
http://fivethirtyeight.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/10/25/oct-24-in-polls-romneys-momentum-seems-to-have-stopped/
It is confusing, but the narrative still seems to be Romney closing in swings and ahead in national. Either these are wrong, or Americans really do deserve Mitt Romney.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/the-fix/wp/2012/10/25/post-abc-tracking-poll-romney-50-percent-obama-47/
One poll vs. an aggregation of polls.
You might want to read this:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/keith-thomson/how-gamblers–historys-mo_b_2011534.html
Nate Silver is the only one I trust.
We all knew racism still existed, the election of President Obama just made it obvious. I haven’t been on the internet because I’ve had a guest who needed to get away from her husband. He’s always been a quiet racist and rabid RWNJ. During the last debate he took to screaming “Somebody needs to shoot that g-d- n-word”. The inner racist has surfaced.
It’s a little weird…as soon as it becomes known that I support the President, I am lumped into the same category as a (n-word).
It’s like “there’s something wrong” with me; because I’m an older white man these racist slugs think I should support anybody but a black president.
I get some of this too, as well as shock that I don’t fit their profile of lazy unpatriotic liberal. Male racists comfort themselves with their belief that I’m probably just a stupid woman who hasn’t really thought things through.
Either way, you are supposed to get ‘to the back of the bus’ where you belong ….
I resent the assumption that, just because I share a certain age range and skin color, I must share the same racism/bigotry/hatred that infests their minds.
As the Doctor said in Dinosaurs on a Spaceship, “Don’t ever judge me by your standards.”
i mostly get hateful looks and snickers as i pass by….seriously
and i don’t mean the good chocolaty Snickers
My favorite is that they say we’re suffering from white guilt that’s why we voted for Obama. I don’t have anything to feel guilty for. My family was still in Europe during the slave trade years and when they got here they moved north and lived with all races.
Apparently, Ann Coulter doesn’t believe that racism exists… her recent book is all about the lack of racism in America…
I try very hard to maintain my own personal belief that Ann Coulter does not exist.
Heh. That’s a good plan.
Who?
I just call Coulter “Tom” now. “Her” official e-mail address is “tom@anncoulter.com”.
I don’t even know what species Coulter and Palin are. But I refuse to acknowledge them as white human women because I will not be in the same group as them.
In summer of 2008 while running the restaurant at an AZ high mountain lodge, we “learned” several things from guests, from fellow employees, from a lot of unexpected sources. Crows, e.g., a common critter in the forests there, were popularly known as “Obama chickens”; a ‘favorite’ joke made the rounds — Obama’s ‘solution’ for the economy: “I don’t know how to fix it, but I can nigger-rig it.” And that sort of crap was only the tip of the iceberg there, and everywhere else. Sadly, nothing has really changed in the four years since — except, perhaps, that racism has become even more open and pervasive than it was back then.
Take a quick look at birthers, at Donald Trump, Palin, and Coulter for very recent (i.e. within the last day or two) examples.
These recent comments just make me ill.
Wow, absolutely unhinged. I fear more for the life of our President now than I did four years ago.
The BIG problem with Rmoney and the GOBaggers is the conundrum of whether they’re stumping misogyny or racism
two shining diamonds in Mitten’s Tiara
I have to say there is some benefit to being raised in and near a big city where people meet all different ethnic groups and realize every group has it’s assholes.
The only worthwhile thing in Atlas Shrugged Part 2 is that the silent Teller, from Penn & Teller, has a line of dialogue.
Teller Speaks!
Mitt Romney snags the endorsement of …. apart from the usual ten-gallon hats with two-pint heads from the C&W world …. Meatloaf ?
Well Meatloaf, I guess you will be calling us to stop playing your music on Music Night now eh?
Dude, you are dead to us all now….
Have we been playing Meatloaf on music night…?
I think I did…. once….. I blame the Dogfish 90min IPA….
Consider yourself as having received a stern glance.
Well this girl that was hot for me when I was 16 was into Meatloaf. I was into her friend…. what a friggin’ chump I was …. Sarah, call me babe …and “… like a sinner before the gates of heaven I’ll come crawling on back to you “
I did Paradise By The Dashboard Light once, but it was mainly because of the brunette in the skimpy tank top.
I’d do the brunette in the tank top too… oh wait that’s not what you said… 😳
Another battle that is not yet over – Fallujah 2004
From the files of ‘stories the American media will never cover’
Mitt Romney is spewing great clouds of noxious, greasy smoke out of his face hole, while giving his major speech on the economy.
Stump speech on steroids, and proven lies — the crowd cheers.
Good god, I can’t take this anymore. Switching over to Ed’s repeat radio program.
I’ve had it with the political blather and the poll information. One is endless and the other is schizophrenic. I’ve already voted. I’ll get interested again on November 6.
To wit:
“Every day brings a dozen polls, national and battleground, each one a tealeaf to be read down to the finest grains. I have come to dread each day’s arrival of the recently Obama-unfriendly Gallup tracking poll. The latest news on the gap manages to penetrate even my most diligent attempts to avoid it. Upon seeing Romney up seven, I dig for analysis to tell me why it has to be wrong, and finding it, feel slightly better until I realize what I’m spending my time on.”
http://www.themorningnews.org/article/the-break-up
A Google Chrome browser extension that removes political content from your Twitter and Facebook feeds:
https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/unpoliticme/ecnbjncmlfdfdpnnbloliloehpcmjglg
what scares me is a really great tactic he’s now using everywhere he speaks.
it’s “You watch, I’m going to win this election!” or “We’re winning this election” or “We’ll win this” repeated several times…
he gets the crowd roaring each time….it’s sadly becoming a repetitive and positive thing for his campaign.
Makes me worry that the fix is in. If this election is stolen we should all march in the streets.
My list of people with questionable judgment is getting longer.. Can’t go to a Wynn Hotel, Won’t listen to Meatloaf songs – what has he done lately, again?, can’t go to a LiLo movie – oh wait, there aren’t any…
More Atlas Shrugged Part II folly:
Prominently displayed newspaper (created in CGI) reads, “Washinton D.C.”
Some text overlaying the picture identifying a location misspells ‘Valparaiso’ as ‘Valpariso.’
Yes, this is shit I have to look for.
May you escape with sanity intact.
This “Atlas Shrugged Part II” was made by wingnuts, it’s doubly ironic that the CGI efx were farmed out to South Korea.
I hope you have copious amounts of alcohol available later.
Is everyone up to date on Doctor Who? This is a short follow up to “Angels Take Manhattan.” SPOILERS!
Hey! I’m watchin’ Hartmann here!
But I am waiting for Christmas! And Oswin…
Watch when Thom is over! 😛
She won’t be Oswin, you know…
Ooh spolier…
Don’t watch it if you’re not up to date!
That was a ripoff of ‘Blink’!
But hey, if the Angels send you back in time, it’s the only way to communicate with the ones who lost you.
Hoping pachy has weathered the hurricane so far, all you easterners batten down the hatches.
Waiting for the candy industry to start whining about how Frankenstorm is going to ruin their economy, and how the child slave labor in Africa picking cacao is going to starve.
Oh, wait… they’re already starving.
Never mind.
We’ve stocked diesel, propane, and wine. We’re ready.
No worries here, thanks for thinking about me though. We had 20 minutes of rain this morning and gusty winds all day, but no weather warnings beyond higher than normal waves
I just saw on MSNBC that Maryland has declared a state of emergency ahead of the storms arrival. It seems crazy, but having grown up in Maryland I encountered more hurricanes there than here in Florida, but I’ve only been here about 28 years! 😉
Pennsylvania is going to get clobbered. New Jersey will be under water. As for NYC? I’m sure there will be flooding on the streets.
Romney had this to say about this morning’s announcement of 2.0% Q3 GDP growth:
“Today, we received the latest round of discouraging economic news: Last quarter, our economy grew at only two percent, less than half the 4.3% rate the White House projected after passing the stimulus bill. Slow economic growth means slow job growth and declining take-home pay. This is what four years of President Obama’s policies have produced.”
Alex Seitz-Wald fisks his record as governor:
“According to data from the Commerce Department’s Bureau of Economic Analysis, average real GDP growth was 1.5 percent per year in Massachusetts from 2002 to 2006. For each of the years Romney was in office, the economy grew 1.49 percent, 1.86 percent, 1.14 percent, and 1.43 percent, respectively.
And how did Romney assess the economic growth of the state under his leadership? “When we took office, the state economy was in a tailspin. Today, jobs are being created by the thousands and our economy is stronger,” he said in early 2006, his last year in office. So two percent was good then, but not so much now.”
Rmoney needs to decide if he’s standing in the orange grove or the apple orchard.
Nice Stellar’s Jay, fatherbob. 🙂
yeah…that’s a web-pic, but we see them at our place in Timberon on occasion…
A
Rat
In
The
House
Might
Eat
The
Ice
Cream
I don’t usually frighten easily with storms but Sandy is a different storm. This will truly be a Frankenstorm as three storm systems meet with one of the storms being a Nor’eastern which hang around and dump huge amounts of water. It’s suppose to start raining late Saturday night with the storm hitting the hardest on Monday and Tuesday (yes, 48 hours of heavy rain). I’ll keep in touch. If you don’t hear from me during the storm it will be because of power outage. I am a bit concerned this time. I just hope that there is no more tree damage.
http://epawablogs.com/tropical-storm-irene-vs-hurricane-sandy/
8:00pm Tuesday projections is right over where I live.
Be safe Cats. It does look pretty scary for your neck of the woods.
The good news is that I live on high ground and we have a Honda generator. The bad news is that our road will be totally washed out and my husband will need to refill the stone.
Outstanding.. do you know anyone that wants a country home in PA? We will be offering a “finders fee”.
May fortune smile upon you…
Getting through the storm safely and finding a buyer.
I’m sorry, I don’t. I know a lot of folks selling country homes in VA.
good thoughts coming your way..
Yikes, girl. Stay safe!
As long as the roof stays on, we will be okay.
Sounds like by the time it gets to you, it will be more rain than wind. The wind of a hurricane is dramatic, but it’s the water that does the real damage.
We’re not looking forward to it, either, Cats. I don’t want a snowstorm in the middle of a hurricane. Sounds like a very, very wet blizzard.
Didn’t we have enough last year? Hopefully it will remain as rain.
For some reason I get emails from the Baltimore Sun, and this afternoon I saw the ‘breaking news’ that they were already declaring a state of emergency. The news was accompanied by a map of the projected storm patch, and it indicated that the southern NY area would start getting hit between Monday night and Tuesday morning (2:am.)
I’m with you, Cats, we don’t need any more tree damage. The rain itself could finish the softening up of the soil, allowing tree roots on some of the local hillsides to tear loose. We have a lot of roadside trees in our area that already have quite a bit of their roots exposed.
I have to remember to buy some candles over the weekend!
And e had 3 days of rain which has probably moved your way so you’ll be getting it from both sides.
Harry Reid was involved in a car crash. Apparently he is in stable condition. 2 police cars involved.
He’s okay. Hopefully that continues to be true.
http://livewire.talkingpointsmemo.com/entry/report-harry-reid-hospitalized-after-car-accident
Wasn’t he in a horrific car accident years ago?
His wife and daughter were injured badly in a car accident a couple of years ago.
Damn, lightening strikes twice. I bet the wife and daughter are in a blue panic.
His wife and daughter I think were in that accident. Now that he’s finally shown us why he deserves his job I’d hate for him to be injured.
Was he driving or a passenger?
It’s only important for the WingNut spin
I have decided I no longer care about the wingnut spin. Some idiot yesterday was going on about Obama’s gay lover having been murdered. Not the hillbilly cab driver. Some black guy. You can’t talk sense to the crazy and stupid types.
This baby is a German shorthair pointer like my A-Jay but he was the big lug of the litter no the runt.
Are you getting another dog?
No and I don’t think the guy who is hand raising this little thing will ever give her up. She couldn’t compete with her 8 siblings and her mother pushed her off to the side.
Absolutely adorable. I hand raised three pups after my rat terrier had her leg broken when a car hit her. She wasn’t a great mom to begin with, but after her injury, she couldn’t deal with them at all. Broke my heart to give them away, but three old ladies in Louisiana were very happy to get them.
See that’s why I can’t have a girl dog. I’d never be able to give up babies and then I’d be on that Animal Hoarders show.
A girl dog can be fixed…er, broken. 😉
And here is A-Jay. Hard to believe they’re the same kind of dog.
Breaking: Delphi Auto (major Romney investment) buys factories in China after firing 25K US workers http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/10/26/1150732/-Breaking-Delphi-Auto-a-Romney-investment-buys-factories-in-China-after-firing-25K-US-workers
Don’t hold back, Wayne. 😉
Actually, I think Wayne did hold back a bit. 🙂
Heh, maybe it’s best to be concise. 😉
I had to. I only had 140 characters with which to work.
Just heard Meatloaf on the Ed Show. 😯
Sounds like someone’s strangling a fat drunken drug addict.
Oh wait…
I wonder what Simon Cowell would say about either one of their singing performances. Mind you, I’m just wondering. I don’t actually care what Simon Cowell says or thinks. I’m led to believe he once drove a contestant to suicide with his snide remarks.
http://current.com/groups/john-fugelsang/93942299_the-ann-coulter-60-second-karma-smackdown.htm
Funny, and a treat for MST3K fans.
As seen on the Ed Show about one minute ago
I’ll have to catch it online. After listening to a few seconds of awful Meatloaf, I had to take a shower. 😀
Update on Harry Reid:
That’s good.
OMFG, my fundygelical brother-in-law just posted this on my FB wall:
I just cannot believe it.
It went downhill from there. I am just shaking with rage right now. I really really hope my sister didn’t know what her asshole husband was up to this evening, because that would further deteriorate our relationship.
The ‘man’ has a yellow and cruel streak.
Real class
actasshole.And now he’s harassing me via text. Unbelievable. I can’t even remember the last time I spoke to the asshole, and out of the blue he attacks me.
Does he drink alcohol?
Not that that is any excuse to being cruel and a total ass.
I think he drinks German wines and beers, but I don’t know how much. He’s one of those entitled assholierthanthou creeps who think they know everything and can say anything they please to anyone. Why he decided to come after me tonight is a mystery to me.
I am so fucking done with my stupid family, at least for while.
It sounds like you have a birthday coming up. If so, Happy Birthday, my friend.
If your BIL is so religious, why doesn’t he have faith that God, who they insist blesses America because the Founding Fathers said so, will make sure the election “goes the way the country NEEDS it to go”? How does he know that his God doesn’t want Obama to win a second term? What is his evidence for this viewpoint?
Also, if your BIL doesn’t make more than $250K per year, then his taxes are not going to go up under Obama and he has nothing at all to worry about. And if he does make more, then he already makes enough that he won’t miss the 4% increase on the amount over $250K that he makes. You should insist that he prove you wrong on that point or go take an early trip to the Hell in which he believes.
IMHO (and I admit I’m not a “people person”) it sounds like there is no real relationship to worry about saving here, so why not go whole hog and fight back? Ask him if he knows what facts are and how they relate to Reality, and could he please provide some for his fucked up points of view? If nothing else, it will help you hone your debating skills. Think of it this way: If he were a complete stranger, he would not have to respond to your comments. He’s not so he does.
Lastly, if you don’t like them, then we’ll be your stupid family. 🙂
Thank you, Wayne. I already think of you as my stupid family. 🙂
I could have, and would have, laughed the whole thing off as the needling of an ignoramus, but “we don’t make enough to pay for more like you” just stunned me to my core. I had to read it several times, because surely I had mis-read it.
By his words, “more like you,” I know that he assumes I’m living on public assistance and he resents it. Well, I’m not, and I never have — yet — and I’m not going bother explaining facts about my finances to that fuckwit, since it’s none of his business and he already knows everything anyway. Apparently, my father has been gossiping again, and he doesn’t know my business either.
The thing that upsets me the most, besides being attacked in such a vicious way by a man I haven’t spoken to (or given a single thought) in over four years, is that he’s severely damaged my already fragile relationships with my middle sister and my father, and he will try to make sure that I never see my niece again. My youngest sister will hop right on that bandwagon, since she’s disliked me for years.
I don’t know why he did it.
Perhaps you need to finally tell him to STFU and mind his own damn business, and that he’s clearly too ignorant to be spouting opinions on anything other than the urine stains in his underwear. He can’t back up anything he says with facts, so his only purpose for saying anything at all is to destroy your relationship with your family (of which he is only a part by marriage, not birth.)
Then remind him what his precious Bible says about how to treat other people. In fact, do so by giving him a chapter and verse and not what they say. Ask him if he knows what they are without looking them up first. (You should, of course, get it right, and here’s a website that can help: http://www.biblegateway.com/. I go there whenever I want to see exactly what some version of the Bible says about something, so I can refute what someone says.) Find the chapter-and-verses of Jesus saying “What you do to the least among you, you do to me,” as well as the “official” version of the Golden Rule. Ask him why he wants to make the baby Jesus cry.
You could also go the route of saying you don’t want your tax dollars to pay for the roads and public services that he uses. Try to make him understand that his “go-it-alone” conservatism just doesn’t work in reality and that he is more dependent on you and the taxes you pay than he’s willing to admit.
Just a suggestion. Or just write back, “Bite me, asshole.” 🙂
I have to finish up tomorrow’s Watering Hole. Good luck, and let me know how you responded to him. As always, I’ll help you with it anyway I can.
Actually, I went the “Fuck you, asshole” route. 😀
I don’t care enough about the jerk to argue with him, but yes, he does seem to have the power to alienate my weak-minded family from me.
Zooey, it’s difficult to read how much this hurts you.
Is your niece a minor? Hopefully she’ll see through her father’s propensity to inflict pain through insensitivity. And Keep in contact with you.
Sending healing thoughts your way.
Thanks, Ebb. My niece is an adult, but she is very close to her parents. I don’t expect that she’ll stay in touch. She’s still on FB friends list, but there’s no way I would bring her in on this stupidity. Her father will take care of that soon enough.
The system keeps kicking me off before the message is finished…on the music thread. This is a test …
Only a test.
May Morpheus welcome you with open arms, nwog.
Goodnight Mrs. Calabash…