Posted on 05/30/2004 7:57:50 PM PDT by sionnsar
Thirty years ago. Seattle was still a family-oriented town dominated by blue-collar industries and single-family homes. There was a bohemian presence there, but it was mostly limited to the University District and Capitol Hill.
Today the entire city prides itself on its open-mindnesses. Seattle not only tolerates non-conformity, it celebrates it. It is Seattle where a proposed group home for homeless alcoholics would allow them to drink in their rooms. It is Seattle where police were ordered to pull back during WTO, which allowed the streets to be taken over and occupied by tens of thousand of demonstrators. It is Seattle where a man running for mayor got up during a candidate forum wearing a housedress and combat boots and started dancing on a table. It is Seattle where not one politician, progressive pastor or academic has complained about a sign hanging in a storefront on Rainer Avenue urging "Victory to the Iraqi Resistance!" It is Seattle where a militant black Muslim, James Ujaama, who eventually pleaded guilty to aiding the Taliban, was initially defended by some journalists and civil rights leaders because of his previous community activism.
And feelings matter too. It was in Seattle where County Executive Ron Sims sent out a memo during the holidays asking his employees not to wish each other a "Merry Christmas" because it might inadvertently offend some people.
It doesn't matter how far out your politics, religion or beliefs are, Seattle is committed to fostering respect for all points of view.
Except one.
If you are a supporter of George W. Bush, or a Republican, or even just an old-fashioned, flag-waving patriot, you are not welcome in The Emerald City.
Ken Potts, a veteran of three tours of duty in Vietnam, lives in Seattle's Shoreline area, where his property and truck have been repeatedly vandalized. The reason? He supports George Bush.
His house has been bombarded with eggs, both front and back, his truck scarred with a one-foot scratch. Mail containing left-wing and anti-American literature was sent anonymously to "The Patriot." "I assume," he says, it is because I have a large 'Bush-Cheney' sign on my house. I also have the 101st Airborne Flag on a 25-foot pole during the day, My mail box was also blown up three times last year until I mounted a 20-pound one on a solid steel post cemented into the ground."
When Mr. Potts went to the store to buy something to clean the mess off his house, the cashier, a woman in her 50s, asked about the Bush bumper sticker on his truck, and told him she was a Kerry supporter. She asked why he didn't like Kerry.
"I told her that, since she asked, I did not appreciate him coming back from Vietnam and turning on his brothers still there. She asked what I meant and I told her that I did not appreciate being called a 'war criminal' and a "murderer,' that I was never involved any atrocity, not did I witness such a thing. She then told me that I was in fact a war criminal and murderer and we (troops) were all guilty of atrocities."
When the store manager came over and apologized to him, the cashier yelled at the manager, telling him not to apologize to a murderer for her.
Now if Mr. Potts had been a Muslim cleric or a gay activist and was hounded like this, the city of Seattle, its politicians, pastors and pundits would be all over it. But if the vandalism, property destruction and harassment happens because he supports George Bush, well, that's just mischief.
Interestingly, while this kind of thing goes on in Seattle, there are plenty of Kerry and even some Nader bumper stickers in the supposedly uptight suburbs.
There are two ways to deal with it. The first is to give up and not post a Republican yard sign or a pro-Bush bumper sticker or flag in Seattle. The second is to emulate Mr. Potts. "I was a patriot before it was cool and will remain one until I die. Nobody can intimidate me into taking down my sign or my flag. I earned the right to my opinion and free speech."
Mr. Potts bought a pair of spotlights. One is trained on the Bush-Cheney sign, the other on the Starts and Stripes.
Three words. Good for him.
John Carlson is founder of Washington Policy Center and can be heard daily from 3-6 p.m. [sic] on radio stations KVI-570 [AM]. His column appears every other Sunday. Readers can contact him via e-mail at jcarlsom@fisher[-?]radio.com.
(I know John. Good guy!)
In Seattle, you better not say a derogatory word about blacks or Muslims. The thought police will be camped out on your doorstep.
Seattle ping
John Kerry's Vietnam legacy: hatred and contempt of his fellow veterans based on lies.
Remember when we were spit on dude? Cursed and wished bad karma?
As the man with the peg-leg said, I stand corrected.
Actually Seattle prides itself on its anti-American seditionus closed-mindedness and its hostility toward normal Americans. This is the land of Jim Baghdad McDermott, the famous traitor that Seattle sends to Congress, and the openly seditious Senator Patty Usama Mamma Murray.
Seattle speaks a foreign language called liberalese, which vaguely resembles the grade-school "opposites day" jokes. Its vocabulary and grammar resembles actual American English; however, the meanings of the words are altered. "Open-mindedness" in liberalese means "closed-minded hostility toward decency and country."
http://www.kingcountyjournal.com/sited/story/html/165127
Column is listed under the "Opinion" link at http://kingcountyjournal.com.
It's just incredible.
Hell, even move just down here to Pierce County - there's plenty of gov't corruption here, but far fewer leftists. With Ft Lewis and McChord AFB there are plenty of us patriots here.
Thanks! I see it's there. I looked for it extensively and missed it, somehow (I didn't really want to key it all in...).
I am puzzled. I thought that libs were the party of inclusion, tolerance and love. What happened here must have been done by conservatives.
What would Lenin have thought of a capitalist taco stand?
A lot of the filth came up from California. They brought their bad driving habits with them. The eastern burbs are more receptive to people with good sense.
I once wrote a letter to the editor of the P.I.(and it was actually published)
stating that given the editorial content of their opinion page, the statue of Lenin would be more fitting on top of it's rotating globe.
Holy Mackerel !
Has anyone looked in his tomb lately to see how fast he is spinning over this?
bump for later read
You are wrong. No such experiences have bothered me, and I live in Portland, albeit not downtown.
The radicalism in Seattle is really obnoxious and "in your face", in Portland it is generally muted except when there is a rally or protest. Liberals here are on the defensive right now, because we are poised to throw out the bastards who promoted sodomy (same-sex marriages) soon.
Who owns that hideous thing? Why would anyone want a Lenin statue? That's obscene.
My Bush-stickered car had nails punched in its tires for five consecutive days while parked in the secure lot of the Jewish Federation of Greater Seattle. Police Reports are on file as of day 3.
I have been spat at, flipped off, yelled at, pushed and poked while carrying a Bush sign in Westlake.
While running for public office, a friend told my wife, "You don't have to vote for him, he'll never know."
On my last day in Seattle, while my Bush-stickered car was parked in Madison Park for a going-away lunch with my mom, somebody keyed a large "W" in the side.
The list goes on. Needless to say, I hope to never go back to that hell-hole.
B.C.
Happily, of Fargo, ND.
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