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KentuckyWoman

(6,688 posts)
Wed Dec 16, 2015, 12:18 PM Dec 2015

America is kind of scaring the shit out of me

Where in the blue ass hell are these people at Trump rallies coming from? What hole did they crawl out of?

Even in the back hills of Kentucky if a family member runs their face in such a bigoted way it is made crystal clear to them very quickly that kind of idea is unacceptable. Flap your stupid pie hole in public with that kind of hate you'll be pretty much shunned by the community.

Oh they'll tolerate you disowning your daughter if she takes up with a black guy. But people in the small east Kentucky towns are appalled and offended anyone would harass, spit on or attack a woman simply because she's wearing Muslim religious garb - or threatening to bodily injure someone because they "look muslim" or "look gay".

WHY are we tolerating this from any political candidate? We sat around the let Turdblossom get away with his little whisper campaign about McCain's black daughter and tolerated the Quitter's yapping about Obama being a terrorist and now we are going to sit around and let Mr. Bankrupt prove to us this whole country has lost it's fucking mind.

Honest to gracious if my husband was not eyeball deep in chemo I'd be pulling together a bunch of women in the most severest black niqab or burqa or whatever you call it and hound Trump and his supporters everywhere they go doing zagareet as loud as possible.

We have to stop this craziness. Black kids are getting shot every 5 minutes. Woman in scarves are getting spit on and threatened........... We didn't learn anything when Gabby got shot...........

93 replies = new reply since forum marked as read
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America is kind of scaring the shit out of me (Original Post) KentuckyWoman Dec 2015 OP
They have always beenthere - your crazy uncle hollysmom Dec 2015 #1
Yep, they used to be on the margins back in the '70s when I was growing up deutsey Dec 2015 #6
the change goes back from before trump, but he is ramping them up to new levels. hollysmom Dec 2015 #8
Exactly deutsey Dec 2015 #9
Cruz ias making it worse as well, what a repellent man. hollysmom Dec 2015 #10
I didn't watch the "debate" last night deutsey Dec 2015 #12
Cruz is appealing to all non liberals who arent part of the establishment or system. randys1 Dec 2015 #55
There's been a deliberate effort to radicalize white voters in this country. forest444 Dec 2015 #88
Agree 100% n/t deutsey Dec 2015 #93
This is mostly an insult to the crazy who are much more compassionate HereSince1628 Dec 2015 #19
That, my friend, is one apt observation: calling for fascism to save their privilege KingCharlemagne Dec 2015 #91
Yep, we're on the verge of becoming everything we despise. Scuba Dec 2015 #2
So this is how it starts. n/t WHEN CRABS ROAR Dec 2015 #48
No. If we do not elect Bernie Sanders, this is how it ends. pangaia Dec 2015 #53
no, it is simply that the veneer has been pulled off, and the horrible, ugly, racist, ignorant, niyad Dec 2015 #66
like another said ibegurpard Dec 2015 #3
It will get worse until someone hits back Doctor_J Dec 2015 #4
These guys have been members of hate groups meow2u3 Dec 2015 #5
Yep, exactly! They now have a flashy savior in Trump who pretty much tells them all of their hatred RKP5637 Dec 2015 #56
No. They are paid actors. Doesn't anyone remember the RumpHole buying people to attend rallies? erronis Dec 2015 #57
From a few of the Trump apologists on my FB... TommyCelt Dec 2015 #84
Agree. And sorry about your Trumpeter FB "friends"! erronis Dec 2015 #86
From the deepest dregs 2naSalit Dec 2015 #7
He's an adolescent boy's power fantasy Act_of_Reparation Dec 2015 #11
This. He appeals to people who don't read or think more deeply than LuckyLib Dec 2015 #47
Someone called my comparison of today's America to Rwanda in 1993 "hyperbole" GliderGuider Dec 2015 #13
Thank you for saying this, KentuckyWoman.... Hekate Dec 2015 #14
Thank you, KentuckyWoman saidsimplesimon Dec 2015 #15
Skinhead types always are on the edges of society waiting for their next Hitler. Rex Dec 2015 #16
^^exactly^^ nt wendylaroux Dec 2015 #46
The media's help create Trump. jalan48 Dec 2015 #17
It's not just Fox anymore KentuckyWoman Dec 2015 #29
They want Trump's message out there. That's a big part of it I think. jalan48 Dec 2015 #64
They have always been there. tRump has given them political and moral cover kairos12 Dec 2015 #18
Omaha Steve needs US saidsimplesimon Dec 2015 #20
To play devil's advocate Tab Dec 2015 #21
It's all about political correctness really justiceischeap Dec 2015 #22
I'm wondering what they're all going to do when they lose. byronius Dec 2015 #23
“The means of defence against foreign danger, have been always the instruments of tyranny Tierra_y_Libertad Dec 2015 #24
They've always been there; he just gives them permission. alarimer Dec 2015 #25
^^^what you say here^^^ Blus4u Dec 2015 #59
I know what you are talking about. Manifestor_of_Light Dec 2015 #70
I'm scared, too. potone Dec 2015 #26
They may be emboldened, bvf Dec 2015 #33
Very good point. potone Dec 2015 #36
You're welcome. bvf Dec 2015 #42
Have you noticed that the more sunlight he gets, the more followers show up? More like weeds than jtuck004 Dec 2015 #74
^In total agreement^ StandingInLeftField Dec 2015 #83
I ain't scared so much as really fuckin pissed! MynameisBlarney Dec 2015 #27
And it's being promoted and pushed by the richest and powerful... SoapBox Dec 2015 #28
"WHY are we tolerating this from any political candidate?" MadDAsHell Dec 2015 #30
Message auto-removed Name removed Dec 2015 #31
I'd bet some in his audience are agent provocateurs, hired by Trump JustABozoOnThisBus Dec 2015 #32
This is Fox Noise as the Sorcerer's Apprentice DFW Dec 2015 #34
Thanks for that! Manifestor_of_Light Dec 2015 #69
I didn't study German so much as live it. DFW Dec 2015 #78
Very cool. Manifestor_of_Light Dec 2015 #79
Civilized in some aspects, not all DFW Dec 2015 #80
Love this post! KT2000 Dec 2015 #35
Thanks.......... but KentuckyWoman Dec 2015 #44
k and r snagglepuss Dec 2015 #37
Me too... Triana Dec 2015 #38
That blew me away Oilwellian Dec 2015 #92
These are the people who supported George Wallace. Spitfire of ATJ Dec 2015 #39
I was horrified Manifestor_of_Light Dec 2015 #72
Each generation gets better, not worse.... Spitfire of ATJ Dec 2015 #77
"A cartoon rich person" PassingFair Dec 2015 #40
I noticed that about small southern towns. Laffy Kat Dec 2015 #41
Ironically, ARTE TV (a French/German channel here in France) ran a compelling and pertinent, Surya Gayatri Dec 2015 #43
It's all part of perfectly crafted plan. mhatrw Dec 2015 #45
I endorse this message! +1 K&R Bubzer Dec 2015 #49
I kinda thought k-12 would have provided some level of sanity for our society by now. Ivan Kaputski Dec 2015 #50
Thanks to you, sister! anniebelle Dec 2015 #51
Hi anniebelle! Lars39 Dec 2015 #54
They have always been there Trump has made it acceptable to be bigot n/t doc03 Dec 2015 #52
Thank the alternate reality the right-wing has created for itself. LS_Editor Dec 2015 #58
True - the price that comes with forty years of propaganda. polichick Dec 2015 #60
The nation is uniting against these asshole Republican extremists. Enthusiast Dec 2015 #61
These people have always existed, TIME TO PANIC Dec 2015 #62
Decades of right-wing corporate media propaganda tabasco Dec 2015 #63
Going to Arizona to spend Xmas with hubby's in-laws kimbutgar Dec 2015 #65
I like your style passiveporcupine Dec 2015 #67
Honestly SandersDem Dec 2015 #68
Scare the shit out of you IS the strategy of the clown show. Mayhem is their only chance, and they L. Coyote Dec 2015 #71
Tonight on facebook, my husband's super "Christian" nephew posted mountain grammy Dec 2015 #73
... I cried reading this.... alittlelark Dec 2015 #75
It scared the shit out of me growing up in the 80s but I got over that by 2000. Rex Dec 2015 #76
Its the diner scene from alices resturaunt flobee1 Dec 2015 #81
I am with you! get the red out Dec 2015 #82
Faux and Friends---or as I like to call them "The Frightwing" randr Dec 2015 #85
Many are the old senile, rich crazies that have nothing else to do, but destroy the GOP. rladdi Dec 2015 #87
the type that support trump have always been here... Javaman Dec 2015 #89
Agreed Politicsandhiphop Dec 2015 #90

hollysmom

(5,946 posts)
1. They have always beenthere - your crazy uncle
Wed Dec 16, 2015, 12:21 PM
Dec 2015

your sweet old aunt, your cousin you always wondered about. The difference is Trump gives them permission to not hide their crazy, crazy is celebrated and encouraged to go more and more extreme. I belong to a harmless group where our group mentality encourages us to do the extreme, but the extreme is good things. Things I never thought I would do, adventures in traveling alone. Trump does the same thing but for evil.

deutsey

(20,166 posts)
6. Yep, they used to be on the margins back in the '70s when I was growing up
Wed Dec 16, 2015, 12:54 PM
Dec 2015

But the change goes back to before Trump.

Thanks to the GOP and their interests pandering to this mentality for decades and changing the overall political discourse and process in this country, it's now become mainstream. Trump has finally just torn away the smiley face the GOP has used to cover this ugliness since Reagan.

deutsey

(20,166 posts)
12. I didn't watch the "debate" last night
Wed Dec 16, 2015, 01:05 PM
Dec 2015

but I've heard Lindsey Graham's moronic/repellent rant about wanting Bush back as president.

And the cheers that followed it.



If any one of those fools somehow manages to gain the White House...I to think.

randys1

(16,286 posts)
55. Cruz is appealing to all non liberals who arent part of the establishment or system.
Wed Dec 16, 2015, 06:20 PM
Dec 2015

He hates all the right people, he pretends to be an outsider to government.



forest444

(5,902 posts)
88. There's been a deliberate effort to radicalize white voters in this country.
Thu Dec 17, 2015, 11:25 AM
Dec 2015

And to the extent it's been successful, it's probably more than anything thanks to pig boy himself:

HereSince1628

(36,063 posts)
19. This is mostly an insult to the crazy who are much more compassionate
Wed Dec 16, 2015, 01:43 PM
Dec 2015

than the anxious sinking-class rabble calling for fascism to save their privilege from the results of their voting history.

 

KingCharlemagne

(7,908 posts)
91. That, my friend, is one apt observation: calling for fascism to save their privilege
Thu Dec 17, 2015, 12:04 PM
Dec 2015

from the results of their voting history.

My deepest and sincerest compliments!

niyad

(113,463 posts)
66. no, it is simply that the veneer has been pulled off, and the horrible, ugly, racist, ignorant,
Wed Dec 16, 2015, 10:11 PM
Dec 2015

genocidal strain that has been at the bedrock since the europeans invaded is now visible for all to see. no more pretense.

ibegurpard

(16,685 posts)
3. like another said
Wed Dec 16, 2015, 12:26 PM
Dec 2015

It's always been there. But now they have permission to let it run wild. That is why it must be stamped out vigorously.

 

Doctor_J

(36,392 posts)
4. It will get worse until someone hits back
Wed Dec 16, 2015, 12:40 PM
Dec 2015

hard. We saw with Cliven Bundy that the government won't do anything about right wing domestic terrorists. It's going to fall on us, or we can just give up.

meow2u3

(24,764 posts)
5. These guys have been members of hate groups
Wed Dec 16, 2015, 12:47 PM
Dec 2015

They've been largely uninvolved in politics until tRump came along. Then they all came out of the woodwork like the cockroaches they are.

RKP5637

(67,111 posts)
56. Yep, exactly! They now have a flashy savior in Trump who pretty much tells them all of their hatred
Wed Dec 16, 2015, 06:26 PM
Dec 2015

makes them great patriotic Americans. Trump is the most dangerous I've seen come along.

erronis

(15,306 posts)
57. No. They are paid actors. Doesn't anyone remember the RumpHole buying people to attend rallies?
Wed Dec 16, 2015, 06:34 PM
Dec 2015

All you need is a few $100's spread to 10-20 people in an audience. They are paid to incite discourse and violence. Just like his brown-shirt compatriots - paid to stir up hatred.

I don't trust any activities with any of these clowns, and perhaps even ones on the other side of the aisle. It is all about getting media attention.

If enough dimwits watch these antics on their T.V.s they might actually think the actors are representing how they, the dimwits, feel. It's so easy to lead the willing to slaughter.

TommyCelt

(838 posts)
84. From a few of the Trump apologists on my FB...
Thu Dec 17, 2015, 09:26 AM
Dec 2015

(yes I know, I know. Sometimes it takes awhile to rid yourself of a pest problem)

They've have been accusing Democrats of planting the "Seig Heil/Burn them" offenders at Trump rallies along with the protestors, all to paint the Trumpeter in a worse light (not that he needs much help).

Doesn't hold up to Occam's Razor. On the contrary, this almost cartoonish representation of offensiveness fits very neatly into the Trumpeter's narrative.

2naSalit

(86,664 posts)
7. From the deepest dregs
Wed Dec 16, 2015, 12:54 PM
Dec 2015

of intellectual hell where pretzel logic is the dominating philosophy and where trunptydumpty can be found castigating residents for being there because loooozers!

Act_of_Reparation

(9,116 posts)
11. He's an adolescent boy's power fantasy
Wed Dec 16, 2015, 01:04 PM
Dec 2015

And his supporters feel powerful vicariously through him.

Just because people don't act a certain way in public doesn't mean they don't secretly want to.

LuckyLib

(6,819 posts)
47. This. He appeals to people who don't read or think more deeply than
Wed Dec 16, 2015, 05:26 PM
Dec 2015

tee-vee, who rail at "those people" (everyone who isn't white and Christian), and who feel the world changing around them due to forces they can't control. tRump is giving them permission to vocalize their frustration.

 

GliderGuider

(21,088 posts)
13. Someone called my comparison of today's America to Rwanda in 1993 "hyperbole"
Wed Dec 16, 2015, 01:18 PM
Dec 2015

I'm not so sure it is.

Preparation for genocide

In March 1993, ... the CDR were publicly accusing the president of treason. The Power groups also believed that the national radio station, Radio Rwanda, had become too liberal and supportive of the opposition; they founded a new radio station, Radio Télévision Libre des Mille Collines (RTLMC), which broadcast racist propaganda, obscene jokes and music, becoming very popular throughout the country. One study finds that approximately 10% of the overall violence during the Rwandan genocide can be attributed to this new radio station. During 1993, the hardliners imported machetes on a scale far larger than that required for agriculture, as well as other tools which could be used as weapons, such as razor blades, saws and scissors. These tools were distributed around the country, ostensibly as part of the civil defence network.

The weapon of choice in America today isn't a machete, it's a Bushmaster .223.

I'm NOT saying that anyone in America is planning a genocide. I am saying that when hate speech fans the fires of social division, and personal armaments are involved, shit can go downhill really fast.

Hekate

(90,734 posts)
14. Thank you for saying this, KentuckyWoman....
Wed Dec 16, 2015, 01:29 PM
Dec 2015

And may both your husband and you enjoy abundant health in the New Year.

 

Rex

(65,616 posts)
16. Skinhead types always are on the edges of society waiting for their next Hitler.
Wed Dec 16, 2015, 01:34 PM
Dec 2015

They live and feed off of anger and hatred for all mankind.

jalan48

(13,873 posts)
17. The media's help create Trump.
Wed Dec 16, 2015, 01:42 PM
Dec 2015

His supporters feel emboldened by all the press he gets (and vicariously they get as well). In past years Trump would have been ignored and would have remained a fringe candidate. The crazies who support him would probably not even have voted. The real question is why the media continues to give him free air time. Is it really all about ratings and money?

KentuckyWoman

(6,688 posts)
29. It's not just Fox anymore
Wed Dec 16, 2015, 02:43 PM
Dec 2015

I agree with you on this.

When we someone like David Muir told to treat Trump seriously it's gone way beyond letting the buffoon snag some ratings.

At the very least we need to figure out how to take the bullhorn the media gives him out of his hands.

kairos12

(12,862 posts)
18. They have always been there. tRump has given them political and moral cover
Wed Dec 16, 2015, 01:42 PM
Dec 2015

to come out of their skulking hidey holes.

saidsimplesimon

(7,888 posts)
20. Omaha Steve needs US
Wed Dec 16, 2015, 01:46 PM
Dec 2015

He may not appreciate my comments. I am concerned for his well being. He has published his struggles with a debilitating mental disease. Please support his threads with this in mind.

Tab

(11,093 posts)
21. To play devil's advocate
Wed Dec 16, 2015, 01:49 PM
Dec 2015

Our side has a nasty reputation for what I would call the "not disturb the hornet's nest" mentality. However we, like them, are figuring out it's not enough and we need to ratchet up our pro-activism. It certainly seems the Republican extremists have ratcheted it up too.

justiceischeap

(14,040 posts)
22. It's all about political correctness really
Wed Dec 16, 2015, 01:50 PM
Dec 2015

I hear this from conservatives all the time. They're "tired" of being politically correct. They're "tired" of worrying about hurting a marginalized groups feelings. They feel it impugns upon their freedom of speech to speak kindly or gently of other people. So here we have a guy running for President that will pretty much say whatever pops into his head, crass or not, and it gives the conservatives that are "tired" of being kind a license to let loose their ugliness that must be the thing that's really tiring for them but they're too insincere to admit it.

byronius

(7,396 posts)
23. I'm wondering what they're all going to do when they lose.
Wed Dec 16, 2015, 02:02 PM
Dec 2015

They've been feeling empowered, crawling out from under their rocks to spew the 1400's at us. They're going to have a serious meltdown when they're roundly defeated in November. Then they'll either die more quickly or come out shooting, or some combination thereof. It's the end of the world as they know it.

 

Tierra_y_Libertad

(50,414 posts)
24. “The means of defence against foreign danger, have been always the instruments of tyranny
Wed Dec 16, 2015, 02:04 PM
Dec 2015

at home." ― James Madison

alarimer

(16,245 posts)
25. They've always been there; he just gives them permission.
Wed Dec 16, 2015, 02:12 PM
Dec 2015

If you've spent any time in the south, or in small towns, you will recognize them. They are legion. They all go to church, too.

It is not new. For a time, people were discouraged from spewing their hatred, but it's never gone away.

I've spent more than enough time in small towns to know that I, as a progressive and an atheist, am an alien. I am not American and should leave. That is small-town (and red states generally) American for you, rotten to the damn core.

Blus4u

(608 posts)
59. ^^^what you say here^^^
Wed Dec 16, 2015, 06:48 PM
Dec 2015

Except it is not only small town, and not only the uneducated or poorly educated.
I have lived my adult life in the south, NC, GA, LA & TX. I am now 64. I worked as cubicle drone in Fortune 500 companies. Some of the worst bigots were in management. And southern churches are full of them!

Peace

 

Manifestor_of_Light

(21,046 posts)
70. I know what you are talking about.
Thu Dec 17, 2015, 01:29 AM
Dec 2015

I don't go to church and don't know any white Democrats. Small town red state America. They'll be happy to tell you you're going to hell if you're not their particular narrow flavor of Protestant. And they shoot up Adopt-A-Highway signs put up by atheists in Orange, Texas (right on the LA border).

potone

(1,701 posts)
26. I'm scared, too.
Wed Dec 16, 2015, 02:27 PM
Dec 2015

As others have noted on this thread, these people have always been here but they are being emboldened by Trump. They seem to me to be like the people who supported George Wallace in the 60s and 70s and Jesse Helms in the 80s.

I think that there are a lot of things to blame for this: the totally irresponsible and downright ignorant media, our unequal educational system that leaves so many people woefully unprepared for life in a complex world, and--let's face it--downright racism and bigotry. These people are motivated by fear, which turns into resentment and hatred. I do think that in a country that eschews the idea of a common good and glorifies so-called rugged individualism this is the inevitable result.

As in the case of so many things, I blame the Reagan revolution for the social context in which we all live, although I know that it has deeper historical roots than that.

Sigh. I do think that Trump won't win, but we have such a long way to go to become a truly civilized society, and we won't get there until we are willing to re-examine our priorities and especially our dependence on war as a basis for our economy.

Thus endeth the sermon. I hope I haven't sounded too preachy; if so, please forgive me. I am feeling very discouraged right now.

I wish you all a good day.

 

bvf

(6,604 posts)
33. They may be emboldened,
Wed Dec 16, 2015, 02:52 PM
Dec 2015

but they're also exposed. As the saying goes, sunlight is the best disinfectant. If their emergence shocks some sane but otherwise politically apathetic people out of their complacency, we can only hope the latter become engaged enough to get their sorry asses to the polls.



potone

(1,701 posts)
36. Very good point.
Wed Dec 16, 2015, 03:15 PM
Dec 2015

If enough people are shocked by their rhetoric, this could happen. Thanks for the encouraging reply!

 

bvf

(6,604 posts)
42. You're welcome.
Wed Dec 16, 2015, 03:48 PM
Dec 2015

Most voting-age American citizens are so disengaged from political events that it's often difficult to find a bright side. I really do think this will prove an exception.



 

jtuck004

(15,882 posts)
74. Have you noticed that the more sunlight he gets, the more followers show up? More like weeds than
Thu Dec 17, 2015, 01:44 AM
Dec 2015

germs.

83. ^In total agreement^
Thu Dec 17, 2015, 08:07 AM
Dec 2015

We have to take tRump and Cruz seriously - moreso Cruz than tRump, as Cruz is actually an intelligent (and sinister) character.

SoapBox

(18,791 posts)
28. And it's being promoted and pushed by the richest and powerful...
Wed Dec 16, 2015, 02:40 PM
Dec 2015

CBS Radio Network...it's our traffic channel in Los Angeles...I listen going to and many times coming from work (so that if there is some wreck that happens after I leave the house, I can change course ASAP)...it has been endless Rump, non-stop Rump...and the verbiage is never negative...a real eye opener was to see the comments from the head of CBS a few days ago, loving the Pukes and Rump for all the advertising dollars, keep it up he said.

It's all disgusting and is beyond bad for America. It stirs up crazy and hate, as the rich and powerful laugh, and get MORE rich and powerful.

 

MadDAsHell

(2,067 posts)
30. "WHY are we tolerating this from any political candidate?"
Wed Dec 16, 2015, 02:44 PM
Dec 2015

Because they have the right to say controversial things, and that's a right I'd defend for any candidate, any day. In my opinion, it's actually refreshing to hear a candidate go out on a limb (both Sanders and Trump do this), even when they know it's going to rile feathers. When's the last time a Clinton, Bush, etc. was willing to rile feathers?

We don't have to like it, but if we're surprised they're getting this much support, perhaps it's us that's been living in a hole, and not their supporters?

Response to KentuckyWoman (Original post)

JustABozoOnThisBus

(23,354 posts)
32. I'd bet some in his audience are agent provocateurs, hired by Trump
Wed Dec 16, 2015, 02:52 PM
Dec 2015

Hired to do crazy shit that gets attention. The guy that yelled some nazi slogan may have been a paid actor, as well as the guy that yelled to set fire to the m-f. Even the protesters could be hired for that role in a Trump audience. Trump is theatre.

DFW

(54,414 posts)
34. This is Fox Noise as the Sorcerer's Apprentice
Wed Dec 16, 2015, 02:57 PM
Dec 2015

As an arm of the Republican Party, Fox obviously wants one of their own to be their candidate. They liked Trump as long as he stirred the waters and drew more of the crazies out into the open, but they definitely did NOT see him as their ultimate standard bearer. They just built him up to bring out voters. Oops. Not THOSE voters. Now that he has been more successful than they ever imagined, they are freaking out, as their Frankenstein's monster has turned out to be a creation far more dangerous to themselves than they ever imagined. As with Goethe's Sorcerer's Apprentice, "Die ich rief, die Geister, werde ich nun nicht mehr los (the spirits I have summoned, now I cannot be rid of them)."

 

Manifestor_of_Light

(21,046 posts)
69. Thanks for that!
Thu Dec 17, 2015, 01:21 AM
Dec 2015

You educated me as to the source of The Sorcerer's Apprentice. I've played the piece by Paul Dukas several times and of course we've all seen the Mickey Mouse cartoon. But I didn't know it was written by Goethe. As a musician, I come by these literary works in another form, music and opera, and often don't know the source of the story.

I know Goethe & Schiller wrote the bases for many great musical works, but have not studied German, so I didn't know the backgrounds. Romance languages are my thing. German tends to baffle me even though English is a Germanic language. I took Spanish and Latin in school and that showed me what logical grammar structures and easy to understand verb forms looked like.

Any German I picked up, I picked up through music, as in "Heilege Dankegesang&quot Beethoven) and "Schicksalied&quot Brahms). In high school at music camp we played Also Sprach Zarathustra. I wondered why Strauss didn't put his tempo directions in Italian like normal people.

I remember being baffled by "Sehr langsam". Instead of "allegretto" or something I understood. Not to mention that Strauss loved all keys equally so wandered through them all. Or it seemed like it.

There are some German words that are essential in English, like "schadenfreude" and "zeitgeist". Every time I see Willie Geist on MSNBC I wonder if he knows he's a ghost.

And back on the subject of the Frankenstein monster created by Fox News, I saw editorial cartoons several years ago predicting this exactly. A Frankenstein monster that the powers that be could not control.

DFW

(54,414 posts)
78. I didn't study German so much as live it.
Thu Dec 17, 2015, 04:34 AM
Dec 2015

Coming to you today live and in color from my home (for once!) in beautiful suburban Düsseldorf. My job takes me to a different country every day. My wife is German and we speak German at home. Any gaps in my Germanic cultural inventory, she makes up in spades. I started with Swedish, which is far easier than German, and have since learned Dutch as well. As we live about an hour's drive from the Dutch border, and I am in the Netherlands almost once a week, it's almost impossible NOT to learn it. Once you know German, Dutch is a snap.

Actually, I not only took Spanish in school, but lived there for a while as a teenager (though in a part of Spain where Spanish is not the main language), and majored in it in college. I also now speak Italian, French and Catalan (lived in Barcelona).

Plenty of German names mean something or other. I wonder of Dan Rather knows his name means he is from another suburb of Düsseldorf (Rath)?

 

Manifestor_of_Light

(21,046 posts)
79. Very cool.
Thu Dec 17, 2015, 05:52 AM
Dec 2015

You are fortunate to live in civilized society. I am getting health insurance on my own Jan. 1 thanks to Obama and the ACA. First time ever without being a dependent of someone else and I am almost a senior citizen, because he made them stop rejecting people with Pre existing conditions. That is a disgrace.

DFW

(54,414 posts)
80. Civilized in some aspects, not all
Thu Dec 17, 2015, 06:04 AM
Dec 2015

Though the era of Soviet/Nazi style of all-powerful state institutions controlling every aspect of your life is now over, the mentality that spawned it is still very much just below the surface in many aspects--further below the surface than in France (current version, anyway), but still lurking, nonetheless. It's a trade-off--the laissez-faire "you're-on-your-own-kid" tendencies of the States as opposed to the European "we-know-what's-best-for-you-and-you-don't" model. Some people fare better in the one, others fare better in the other.

KentuckyWoman

(6,688 posts)
44. Thanks.......... but
Wed Dec 16, 2015, 04:15 PM
Dec 2015

if I am considered good at writing then the bar has dropped pretty low indeed. Back in my schooling days I was considered average at best.

But the state of our educational system is another rant for another day.

Oilwellian

(12,647 posts)
92. That blew me away
Thu Dec 17, 2015, 12:07 PM
Dec 2015

Bowie and the rest of the world is right to fear us. We have become quite dangerous.

 

Manifestor_of_Light

(21,046 posts)
72. I was horrified
Thu Dec 17, 2015, 01:33 AM
Dec 2015

when my grandmother voted for George Wallace in '68, as she had been a good FDR supporter and saw how his programs brought people out of severe poverty. My mom brushed it off, saying "her husband influenced her".
That woman was such a drill sergeant that nobody could influence her. Racism just under the surface.

Telling us teenagers that we should watch Lawrence Welk. That "Y'all shouldn't listen to that NIGRA MUSIC" when we were trying to tune in Dick Clark and American Bandstand on Saturday morning. We just laughed our butts off behind her back.

Maybe we should have said, "Yeah, that Dick Clark, he's REALLY REALLY BLACK" just to be sarcastic.

 

Spitfire of ATJ

(32,723 posts)
77. Each generation gets better, not worse....
Thu Dec 17, 2015, 04:00 AM
Dec 2015

This latest one wants to OWN this century and wants to ditch the last one.

Every so often I think of the transition between the 19th and 20th. They were leaving behind the last traces of Europe and the Civil War and the genocide of the Indians and the expansion Westward by covered wagons. They were looking at a radically different modern world with paved roads for the new invention called the automobile.

Radical change away from the old into the new is the norm, not the exception. As is expansion of conscientiousness and we will soon have legalized WEED to help in that regard.

Laffy Kat

(16,383 posts)
41. I noticed that about small southern towns.
Wed Dec 16, 2015, 03:44 PM
Dec 2015

They defend their own even if their own is different. My incredibly conservative, Southern Baptist aunt lives in a town of about 200 or so. There was a couple who lived a few houses down from her and the husband was a cross dresser. They used to see him wearing his wife's dresses while hanging out laundry. There were a few jokes, of course, but when his wife died suddenly you better believe there were just as many pies, cakes, and casseroles delivered to his house as there would have been to anyone else. Just about everyone in town came by to sit with him and offer comfort. That's just the way they are.

 

Surya Gayatri

(15,445 posts)
43. Ironically, ARTE TV (a French/German channel here in France) ran a compelling and pertinent,
Wed Dec 16, 2015, 04:01 PM
Dec 2015

but equally perturbing documentary on the very night of the latest Republican debate/hate-fest.

The resonances were uncanny. Title of the programme? "Mein Kampf, Manifesto of Hate",



"On 1 January 2016, over 70 years after the death of its author, Adolf Hitler, Mein Kampf will fall into the public domain. Should we republish it as the founding document of Nazism? ARTE's documentary explores the issues raised by this sadly infamous work, the focus of so much controversy and fantasy.

The "founding document" of Nazism, written by Aldolf Hilter during his emprisonment after the failed putsch of 1923, is both autobiography and political manifesto. In its more than 700 pages, it exposes the spirit of revenge, the obsessive hatred of Jews and the desire for German expansionism of its author."


I was glued to the screen. The historical parallels with the political climate in the US are profoundly disquieting.

At the end of the film, one of the German researcher's conclusions just hit me right between the eyes:

"What is the most important lesson to be drawn from this catastrophic chapter of European history? That a nation's political life may appear to have a semblance of "normality", but that things can tip over into insanity in the wink of a eye."


anniebelle

(899 posts)
51. Thanks to you, sister!
Wed Dec 16, 2015, 06:08 PM
Dec 2015

I'm sitting here in the bible belt in Tennessee and hear this hateful, racist, ignorant shit from the mouth-breathing, bugger eaters every day. I'm SICK of it!

Lars39

(26,109 posts)
54. Hi anniebelle!
Wed Dec 16, 2015, 06:19 PM
Dec 2015

Fellow TNer here. It's bad isn't it. I dread the holiday get together so much now because of the rampant stupidity and meanness.

Enthusiast

(50,983 posts)
61. The nation is uniting against these asshole Republican extremists.
Wed Dec 16, 2015, 07:57 PM
Dec 2015

Republicans are even abandoning their party.

TIME TO PANIC

(1,894 posts)
62. These people have always existed,
Wed Dec 16, 2015, 08:18 PM
Dec 2015

they're just too chicken-shit to express their true opinions when not in a crowd of like-minded idiots. Trump's rallies provide a venue where they feel safe.

 

tabasco

(22,974 posts)
63. Decades of right-wing corporate media propaganda
Wed Dec 16, 2015, 08:30 PM
Dec 2015

I LMAO when I hear one of the freaks complain about the "liberal media."

Anything to the left of Josef Goebbels is liberal to millions of ignorant assholes.

kimbutgar

(21,168 posts)
65. Going to Arizona to spend Xmas with hubby's in-laws
Wed Dec 16, 2015, 09:45 PM
Dec 2015

My mother in law is a die hard liberal and my other is sister in law who went to college is also liberal leaning.The other sister in law says she is non political but her 4 adult children who never went to college are right wingers. Their dad raised them on rush. He divorced my sister in law and abandoned her when the kids were teenagers, but the kids adore their Dad. He used to call me the loony liberal from San Francisco. My hubby and I are taking bets on whether they are going for tRump or Cruz. One nephew joined the army because he couldn't afford college nor get a decent paying job. He wad injured in the Army, got disability and the GI bill but hates President Obama with a passion. I pointed out to him that republicans wanted to take away vet's benefits and he called me a liar. The last straw for me when he attacked poor people for being lazy! I unfriended him on Facebook. It will be an interesting Christmas with that side of the family. I personally am keeping my mouth shut over politics, my hubby wouldn't make me that promise.

passiveporcupine

(8,175 posts)
67. I like your style
Wed Dec 16, 2015, 10:14 PM
Dec 2015

I'd don a black robe and scarf and join you, if I could. I too am wondering where all the cockroaches came from. I thought they were afraid of the light. We must be breeding some new ones.

I hope this election is over quickly and things can start to go back to normal...whatever that is.

SandersDem

(592 posts)
68. Honestly
Thu Dec 17, 2015, 12:26 AM
Dec 2015

They used to be known as "the silent majority", but thanks to social media and free speech we know who they are and we are all horrified that many just happen to be family members...

I have personally discovered that my sister in law is severely racist. That part makes me sad.

L. Coyote

(51,129 posts)
71. Scare the shit out of you IS the strategy of the clown show. Mayhem is their only chance, and they
Thu Dec 17, 2015, 01:29 AM
Dec 2015

know it. The debate was like a fine tunes orchestra, with assigned sparing partners as they took turns repeating the FEAR mantra.

Personally, I had enough of the paranoid wing of the far right with the John Birchers in the 50s and 60s.

mountain grammy

(26,630 posts)
73. Tonight on facebook, my husband's super "Christian" nephew posted
Thu Dec 17, 2015, 01:42 AM
Dec 2015

"I'm not political!!!!! Blow the Muslims up with a nuclear bomb!! The only place we need to care about is ISREAL and the USA!!!!!!!"
Yes, that's how he spelled Israel. If you only care about two countries, you should at least know how to spell them. Well, at least he got USA right. My husband asked me not to reply, so I didn't.
Thanks for your rant, I needed it this evening, and thanks for letting me rant.

 

Rex

(65,616 posts)
76. It scared the shit out of me growing up in the 80s but I got over that by 2000.
Thu Dec 17, 2015, 02:50 AM
Dec 2015

70s were great, but was just a kid then. Dump wants to rule and he already said he will dictate tings.

flobee1

(870 posts)
81. Its the diner scene from alices resturaunt
Thu Dec 17, 2015, 06:08 AM
Dec 2015

And the diner scene from easy rider all rolled into one.
Back then, they only showed their true colors when they were around likeminded people. Trump has given these cowards a little courage to act this way on camera and social media. They no longer have to bite tbeir tounge and hide the way they really feel. They see trump act this way on national tv and it has opened the floodgates

get the red out

(13,467 posts)
82. I am with you!
Thu Dec 17, 2015, 06:26 AM
Dec 2015

I think these idiots keep their mouths shut except when in packs.

I have felt for YEARS that right wing radio has long worked to make people's most hateful thinking seem acceptable to them and absolve them of any need for introspection. Then someone like Trump puts those views right out there where the corporate news can't even dress it up! The other Republicans would prefer a tad more subtle hatred. But some of these fools still want to make chunks of this planet "glow in the dark"!

Off topic, but I'm a Kentucky Woman too, born and raised in Paintsville, but I've lived in Lexington since I came down the Parkway to UK in '82.

randr

(12,412 posts)
85. Faux and Friends---or as I like to call them "The Frightwing"
Thu Dec 17, 2015, 09:52 AM
Dec 2015

Unlike the family that will call out racism to a loved member in order to not let them embarrass themselves, the frightwing media encourages this behavior. They are like the people who would stage dog fights, they are in it for the money because they know there is a blood greed hidden in our genes.

rladdi

(581 posts)
87. Many are the old senile, rich crazies that have nothing else to do, but destroy the GOP.
Thu Dec 17, 2015, 10:54 AM
Dec 2015

Just how low can the Republican candidates get before they are thrown out of offices, whether governors, senators or others. The GOP has set up America to be controlled by the crazies, many Governing the states or in the House or Senate. We, the people have been hijacked by a failed, extreme, radical party. Until such time the voters get wise and elect those that are in office to help this nation,nothing will change. The GOP is the party of DESTRUCTION.

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