Posted on 07/17/2011 2:50:14 PM PDT by Keltik
There is a phenomenon here in the Northeast where being conservative — no, wait, being not left — is to turn everyone in the room into Donald Sutherland from Invasion of the Body Snatchers, screaming and pointing at you as if you’re an alien pod person.
I hear Berkeley is bad, and Madison is the only place I’ve ever seen one-person protest marches, but here in New York things are intense. It is a given that the political right is a cartoon pig who will do anything for money and wants everyone who isn’t a cartoon pig to die. The End. Nobody has ever questioned this and every time I do, it creates a hole in the space-time continuum that swallows the entire universe, or at least ruins the party.
During a break while I was working on a travel show recently, Anthony Bourdain was sitting at the lunch table and mentioned he’d like to skin Glenn Beck alive. Everyone nodded as if he’d said he enjoys tiramisu. I kept my mouth shut. A few months earlier I was in a similar environment when a cameraman casually mentioned he’d like to “kick Sarah Palin in the c--t.” This got the same placid reaction and when I begged to differ, it started a two-hour argument that ruined everybody’s day. That’s the problem with grazing amid a leftist herd. You’re constantly on the edge of a huge argument.
(Excerpt) Read more at takimag.com ...
This in the end is what is driving me out of Minnesota. Not just the economy. People here are incapable of thinking, and just parrot what Mike Malloy, Ed Schultz, Rachel Maddow, and Keith Olbermann have told them. I had a blind date from Hell yesterday, and the woman’s reaction to me was the same as the Sutherland character when she found out that one of my clients was a company owned by the eeeevilllll Koch brothers. Since I had already accepted a job offer in Houston TX (home of the Bushtard, in DU speak), I had decided that I am not going to miss Minnestoopid one bit.
In my travels I have never seen a place so intellectually backwards, unimaginative (unless it’s a conspiracy by Bush/Cheney/Rove/Koch Brothers/Sarah Palin dog whistle), and downright hate filled.
Actually it isn't, really. Leftism, where it is not calculated evil, is mental illness.
I like his story but it’s more like “being the last human in a room full of pod people” rather than the other way around.
I actually think the best you can do is to act incredulous when they state their beliefs, act sincerely surprised that they are so ill-informed, and then change the subject like you are trying to protect them from their own idiocy.
“you really believe that? Really? WOW !”
“Name 2 books you’ve read from amazon’s top 10 non-fiction list in the last year.”
“Time’s up. Get back to me when you are less ignorant.”
“No. I’m serious. Your lack of education precludes me having a more conversation with you.”
“more plainly; Go tweet somebody, you twit.”
The one I use is I'll ask them: "OK... just what percentage of the taxes SHOULD the Top 10% of earners pay?" They'll usually answer with, "I don't know, they just need to pay more"... but I try to pin them down to a number... when they come up with one they usually say somewhere between 40-60%... Then I tell them, "Well, then you're proposing to give them a tax reduction, because they already pay 71% of the taxes."
Yes, you are right but I respect the mentally ill much more than Marxists. Even the extremely evil “holders of the puppet strings for the useful idiots’—are mentally ill because their worldview is so removed from reality with such bizarre concepts of human nature that is defies all logic and reason. Ayn Rand talks about this irrational philosophy and nails it.
No reason to feel that is such a sad state of affairs. The average Texas is far less inclined to instinctively react to a problem by going to his congressman than the average Coloradoan or New Yorker. In other words, Texans are just more self-reliant.
He didn't respond right away, so after a second I said, I know, Three Mile Island right? He agreed, so I asked him the follow up question, how many people died at Three Mile Island? He started at twenty, pared it down to ten and then I asked if he needed a hint.
He said yes, so I gave him this clue, “One less than died in Ted Kennedy's Oldsmobile”. He gave me a dirty look and walked away. Later on he played the Chernobyl card, which of course has nothing to do with how we build advanced Reactors in a Free Capitalistic Society.
You’ll forgive me if I find your explanation to be somewhat contrived at best.
I know. It’s hard for a person who looks to government to solve their problems to believe there are people who feel that the very thought of petitioning or having any kind of contact or relationship with politicians is so distasteful that they ignore them to the point of not even wanting to know who their “representative” is, but it is true. I know many who arrange their lives this way, and don’t feel they are missing anything by not having anything to do with politicians they way New Yorkers and Coloradoans do.
“An Alien Pod Person in a Room Full of Leftists”
Hmm..no....when in a room full of leftists I feel like a Titan among pygmies...because that pretty much makes me the smartest man in the room.
I’ve had some success sandbagging leftists with their own catchphrases, using a more-in-sorrow-than-anger tone.
“I see you don’t care much for diverse opinions.”
“Isn’t that hate speech?”
“That certainly doesn’t sound very tolerant.”
“You seem to be carrying around a lot of anger.”
This works surprisingly well, because while leftists are profoundly intolerant and filled with anger, they don’t want to think of themselves that way. Just keep making quiet comments that underscore all the rage and ignorance they’re spewing. The key is never to get angry yourself. Then, after a while, gently ask if they’ve ever considered professional counseling.
I like it!
I told some group that Gore wanted cheap geothermal power because the Earth’s temperature several miles down was millions of degrees.
They all agreed that Gore was a genius.
I completely agree with you. The fact that they don’t know who their congressperson is generally means they are being represented well.
Why would you need to know who your congressman/woman is if everything’s okay?
Reminds me of that old joke about five-year-old Johnny who didn’t talk. The parents tried everything, took him to the finest doctors, nothing worked. One morning mom dished out his oatmeal and went back to the stove to get a cup of coffee for herself and he turned to her and said as clear as day, “Mother, you didn’t put any sugar in my oatmeal.”
Mom was beyond excited and exclaimed, “Johnny, Johnny, you can talk!!! Why haven’t you ever said anything before?”
He responded, “Well’s everything’s been fine up until now.”
Hopefully, as a Freeper, you know who your congressman is because you voted for or against him or her in the last election. I had assumed up until this moment that was simply a given.
If only I knew who kept the Colorado ping list, I'm sure you'd be set straight on this in short order.
OMG, yes. Read the whole article, and it’s like he’s been a hitchhiker on my shoulder. I live an hour north of SF, and all the aging hippies here can do is scream at you if you dare disagree with them. I do like the suggestion to use the left’s own tactics on them. I think I’ll start saying, “My, that sounded angry. Isn’t that hate speech? Don’t you support diversity of thought?” and see what happens. ;o)
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