Today, I Piss People Off.
Ok, so I’ve had a breakthrough.
Liberal Agenda: To make you feel as bad as fucking humanly possible about yourself and any belief that might smack of racism,/classicism,/Christian Fundamentalism,/Capitalism to get you over to their side. Also, what’s going to happen in Syria/Iran/Korea/China? Huh? Huh,? We’re going down! Republicans are evil. EVIL! Hitler.
Conservative Agenda: To exploit your fear of invasion/dictatorship/fascism(irony), to get you to “trust the people who will keep you safe.” Also, if you don’t support the war, then you don’t support the troops. Vietnam was good for somethin’ heh heh heh. Oh, and Liberals love society but hate people. HA! Put that in your pipe and smoke it!!! Hippie.
Example:
One night during Bush’s first term, while my brother was probably 3 months into his tour in Iraq, I was enjoying a beer at a benefit for one of the local theatre companies around the neighborhood. It’s a theatre-bar and the clientele features any number of pseudo- intellectual actors/directors/writers whathaveyou tackling one of many topics one shouldn’t engage in with strangers. Toward the end of the night found me chatting it up with some guy I’d met in one of those 4-random-people-all-connected-by-at-least-3- degrees-type-conversations that wound down til it was just me and this guy. Well, invariably the topic turned to politics. Actually I think it may have turned to politics earlier, however the other two just had better manners and bolted. Anyway, things are going along swimmingly. We’re having an extremely affable conversation, an exchange of ideas rather than debate, when we take a left into “Talking About the War.” As soon as I heard him teetering over to “I’m against the War Territory” I had to stop him. As I said, my little bother had only been there for 3 months. It was still soon enough after 911, and I had just gotten back from Germany to see him off and had little patience for anything Un-American.
“I should probably tell you that I’m a Republican.”
“What?”
“Yeah, I totally support the War. My brother is over there right now Defending the Universe.”
If I remember correctly he was vehemently opposed to the war, to the president AND my brother. And very vocal about it. I remember thinking
“Jesus, this guy is getting really worked up here.” Inexplicably, well, I was broke… I end up sharing a cab with this piece of work and as we get in the cab he sneers at me:
“So, you hate fags right?”
“Um, excuse me??”
“Well Republicans hate fags and you said you’re a Republican, so you hate fags right?”
And he was being smug and shitty and I just turned to him, mouth agape and said,
“You don’t even know me.”
“Well, come on! If you sign on to a party you sign on to their beliefs.”
“Hey, look pal, you’re the one who called them ‘fags’. Not me. “
We didn’t say much as we pulled up to his place, he paid his fare and got out.
I don’t remember saying good bye.
Example 2:
On any given day:
“TERRORISM! COLLAPSE OF FAMILY VALUES! PATRIOTISM! SUPPORT THE TRUTH! TOBY KIETH! LIBERAL MEDIA! LIFE IS SACRED, EVEN IF THOSE CHILDREN WILL UNDOUBTABLY GO UNCARED FOR!!!BOW FUCKING TIES! NEVER FORGET! IT’S CHRISTMAS GODDAMNIT! GAY MARRIAGE = THE COLLAPSE OF SOCIETY AS WE KNOW IT! “
Ad Nauseum.
Am I making any sense right now?
OK, my long-winded point is this:
We’re in the midst of dealing with an extremely important Sociological and Anthropological issue right now. One that could possibly change the course of societal evolution. And what’s happening?
The Republicans are using it as a tool to garner votes in November.
The Democrats are accusing anyone who has reservations about the idea of Gay Marriage of being bigoted.
Here’s the deal:
People are apprehensive about the idea for reasons other than the idea that Homosexuality is somehow wrong. But rather than behave like normal human beings, we point fingers and accuse people of various sundry “reprehensibilities”.
It’s fucking dumb. We should be doing studies. We should be forming INFORMED opinions about the social ramifications of things like this… if any.
The Federal Government has no business passing this amendment. It’s a State and Local Issue anyway. That way, if you’re really opposed, or really for something, you can MOVE to where they support your beliefs!
Also, for all the talk about how marriage is nothing more than an economic institution, people are sure making a big goddamned deal about it huh?
Liberal Agenda: To make you feel as bad as fucking humanly possible about yourself and any belief that might smack of racism,/classicism,/Christian Fundamentalism,/Capitalism to get you over to their side. Also, what’s going to happen in Syria/Iran/Korea/China? Huh? Huh,? We’re going down! Republicans are evil. EVIL! Hitler.
Conservative Agenda: To exploit your fear of invasion/dictatorship/fascism(irony), to get you to “trust the people who will keep you safe.” Also, if you don’t support the war, then you don’t support the troops. Vietnam was good for somethin’ heh heh heh. Oh, and Liberals love society but hate people. HA! Put that in your pipe and smoke it!!! Hippie.
Example:
One night during Bush’s first term, while my brother was probably 3 months into his tour in Iraq, I was enjoying a beer at a benefit for one of the local theatre companies around the neighborhood. It’s a theatre-bar and the clientele features any number of pseudo- intellectual actors/directors/writers whathaveyou tackling one of many topics one shouldn’t engage in with strangers. Toward the end of the night found me chatting it up with some guy I’d met in one of those 4-random-people-all-connected-by-at-least-3- degrees-type-conversations that wound down til it was just me and this guy. Well, invariably the topic turned to politics. Actually I think it may have turned to politics earlier, however the other two just had better manners and bolted. Anyway, things are going along swimmingly. We’re having an extremely affable conversation, an exchange of ideas rather than debate, when we take a left into “Talking About the War.” As soon as I heard him teetering over to “I’m against the War Territory” I had to stop him. As I said, my little bother had only been there for 3 months. It was still soon enough after 911, and I had just gotten back from Germany to see him off and had little patience for anything Un-American.
“I should probably tell you that I’m a Republican.”
“What?”
“Yeah, I totally support the War. My brother is over there right now Defending the Universe.”
If I remember correctly he was vehemently opposed to the war, to the president AND my brother. And very vocal about it. I remember thinking
“Jesus, this guy is getting really worked up here.” Inexplicably, well, I was broke… I end up sharing a cab with this piece of work and as we get in the cab he sneers at me:
“So, you hate fags right?”
“Um, excuse me??”
“Well Republicans hate fags and you said you’re a Republican, so you hate fags right?”
And he was being smug and shitty and I just turned to him, mouth agape and said,
“You don’t even know me.”
“Well, come on! If you sign on to a party you sign on to their beliefs.”
“Hey, look pal, you’re the one who called them ‘fags’. Not me. “
We didn’t say much as we pulled up to his place, he paid his fare and got out.
I don’t remember saying good bye.
Example 2:
On any given day:
“TERRORISM! COLLAPSE OF FAMILY VALUES! PATRIOTISM! SUPPORT THE TRUTH! TOBY KIETH! LIBERAL MEDIA! LIFE IS SACRED, EVEN IF THOSE CHILDREN WILL UNDOUBTABLY GO UNCARED FOR!!!BOW FUCKING TIES! NEVER FORGET! IT’S CHRISTMAS GODDAMNIT! GAY MARRIAGE = THE COLLAPSE OF SOCIETY AS WE KNOW IT! “
Ad Nauseum.
Am I making any sense right now?
OK, my long-winded point is this:
We’re in the midst of dealing with an extremely important Sociological and Anthropological issue right now. One that could possibly change the course of societal evolution. And what’s happening?
The Republicans are using it as a tool to garner votes in November.
The Democrats are accusing anyone who has reservations about the idea of Gay Marriage of being bigoted.
Here’s the deal:
People are apprehensive about the idea for reasons other than the idea that Homosexuality is somehow wrong. But rather than behave like normal human beings, we point fingers and accuse people of various sundry “reprehensibilities”.
It’s fucking dumb. We should be doing studies. We should be forming INFORMED opinions about the social ramifications of things like this… if any.
The Federal Government has no business passing this amendment. It’s a State and Local Issue anyway. That way, if you’re really opposed, or really for something, you can MOVE to where they support your beliefs!
Also, for all the talk about how marriage is nothing more than an economic institution, people are sure making a big goddamned deal about it huh?
posted by LC Greenwood at 11:57 AM
4 Comments:
There are so many things that are wrong with our governmental system at the present time, and yes, the issue of homosexual marriage is being used as a pawn right now.
The main problem I have right now with the system is this: We have a Republican led government all across the board who are acting in very un-Republican ways at the moment. A huge ideal that a Republican holds on to is smaller government. They are for letting people fend for themselves, letting the government step in only when necessary and keeping Big Brother out of our lives. Unfortunately, there are so many Big Brother things going on with this administration that they are going against what it means to be a Republican. From the NSA to abortion to gay marriage....all of these things that should be left up to the states to decide are being brought in front of the largest governmental bodies in our country. You are absolutely right....gay marriage should be a state by state decision. Abortion should be a state by state decision. The NSA, well....that is a whole other blog posting.
The problems I have with Democrats is that they are pandering to middle America in hopes of getting votes for the November elections. They aren't taking a stand on much of anything. They have no backbone. They are so afraid of the Christian Coalition that they are losing their base. There are things that have happened with this presidency that should have been stopped or at least investigated, and so much has gone under the radar.
Unfortunately, the stereotypes are there because a chosen, loud as fuck few are the 'representatives' of those groups. Staunch Republicans who blame the 9-11 attacks on gays and lesbians, Hurricane Katrina on the sins of our country in general, etc. And, those people are hiding behind the fact that they are Republican instead of coming out as who they really are.....fanatical religious zealots hiding under the name of Christianity.
Whose voices are heard the loudest in the Democratic party? Those who are part of environmental groups, gay and lesbian associations and anti-war protesters. They are the ones representing the Democratic party right now because no fucking Democrat (other than Sen. Feingold) will stand up for anything. So of course all Democrats are gay tree hugging hippies. That's what middle America sees on their tv screens at night.
These things are happening because asshole bigots hiding under Christianity and Republican are in the media, proclaiming hellfire and brimstone to all who allow babies to be murdered in a womb or sinners to marry. And they have remarkably small numbers in our society...but they get the most air time. And, Bush is pandering to them in order to keep swing states red and ensure the hold of the Republican party on the south.
I am a socialist. There is no way around it. But in the "real world" I am a Democrat....only because voting Republican would ensure that finding a job in the social work area would be very difficult. And I believe that if the government is intruding in on our lives, it should be for the betterment of society, not to deny rights to women or sign discrimination into law.
*sigh*
There is so much wrong with all sides of the system. Every single person in Washington is to blame for the state of our country at this time. And it honestly scares me. All I can do is wait for the right moment to take over, and all will be well.
Again, will you be my Secretary of Defense?
You don't want me as your secretary of defense for a whole bunch of reasons... least of which is my stance on Isolationism... but it's funny. You mention the media. One one side we have tree hugging hippies. On the other...religious zealots. We're dealing with silogistic thinking. Not all gays are democrats and not all Christians are Republicans. And certainly all Republicans are not religious zeaolots.
Fun Fact. Kennedy was a Catholic.
Figure that the fuck out. Based on the push to demonize Catholocism and Christianity in general...
Of course not all Democrats are gay and not all Republicans are religious zealots....I know quite a few Republicans who are gay and athiest, and quite a few Democrats who could care less about the environment and are religious.
The problems we're facing is the loud, vocal few who are giving a bad name to those who belong in certain groups. That is adding to the demonizing of Christianity right now. My aunt and I had a long discussion about it the other day. She is a devout Christian, living in Texas and is a Democrat. We talked about how those protesting soldiers' funerals by saying "God Loves Dead Soldiers" and things like that give a bad name to all who follow in the Christian path.
I have no problem whatsoever with Christianity, as long as people use it the way it's intended....to give people a sense of purpose, not feeling alone, knowing there is some plan for them, and showing love, kindness and charity to those who need it. Loving their neighbors. Using religion to make them happier, better people and following the teachings of Jesus, which show us that no one, not the poor, not the sick, not the sinners, should be hated. The true teachings of religion inspire us to be better people, more accepting of others and give guidelines to follow to live better lives.
However, that being said, not all follow the same religion in this country. And the moral values imposed by some are going to conflict with the moral values of others. That is where the line gets blurry and why so many people have a problem with a political leader imposing religious beliefs on the nation. Hell, not all Christians believe the same thing. The basics, sure, but the details change within denominations of one religion.
Those that use anything, religion or what have you, to spread hatred and pain are assholes, and they have the limelight.
Another funny fact....some of the most gay/queer positive people I know were furious at the gay community for attempting to push gay marriage through. It was the wrong time, and there are far more pressing issues at hand within the gay community than having the legal right to marry. I would have to do some research to find out the chicken or the egg in this situation....did religious zealots start up and the gay community fought back, or did the gay community start up and the zealots fought back?
LC, I know you know we disagree on a lot of things, but on this, I think we find some very common ground in what you wrote. I think morally, the current government makes mistakes because it tries to legislate morality, not a small government thing to do, while the left generally tries to use the government to instill balance in moral ways, again in many ways I agree with you, not really the right way to go. I do though have to agree that not all republicans are gay bashers, and a LOT of democrats are Christians, also, not all people against the war powers use are unpatriotic, they are in fact depending on your point of view, atLEAST as patriotic as those who do. I would LOVE to sit and talk political shoppe with you sometime.....perhaps over a guiness and a whiskey or seven
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