Let me preface this by saying that it gives me no joy to talk about these sort of things. This entry will be long and rambling, and I am really writing it more for my own benefit than anyone else's, just so I can clear my thoughts. I figured this would be the only place I could really get some support from, and the only place that could maybe talk me down.
I live in Indiana, and therefore have obviously been monitoring the situation with the Senate race pretty closely. For months now, I'd been doing my best to find other candidates to support in the primary (and possibly in the general) against Bayh, since I decided long ago there was no way I was going to vote for him again. A few weeks back, another DUer tipped me off to Tamyra D'Ippolito. I read up on her and decided she was someone I'd be comfortable supporting in the primary. I knew she didn't really have much of a chance of beating Bayh, but I knew I couldn't in good conscience vote for that turd, and so D'Ippolito it was.
For several weeks her the number of fans on her Facebook page hovered around 150. This number literally doubled overnight, and since yesterday has become infested with teabaggers. Not secret troll teabaggers, mind you - the place has turned into full-on FR mode. These people are spewing absolutely the most vile, hateful shit I can imagine. Basically, these people swarmed onto her site to encourage her to run (trying to do the Operation Chaos thing again), and as soon as it became apparent that she didn't get the necessary signatures (which is something I'm still not sure about, since there are so many conflicting accounts), they immediately started mocking her in the most unbelievably sexist and demeaning ways you could possible imagine. I did not think it could possibly get this bad. I did not think other human beings were capable of this. Then I remembered Rush Limbaugh mocking Michael J. Fox, and I remembered, "Oh yeah, I forgot - people are shit."
Anyway, I made the foolish mistake of trying to wade into the toxic sewer of these people's comments, and try to put them in their place when necessary, and also try to gain some understanding. Now, understand, I don't deal with RWers often. I discuss politics with people pretty regularly, but all of my friends are liberal, partly because we all share a similar sensibility about the world (after all, it's why we're friends) and partly because I choose not to associate with certain types. So as I wandered into the hornet's nest, I found the dialogue that went on pretty depressing. That is what I want to talk about today.
It all started with this post that I made:
To all teabaggers trolling this site: don't you people have anything better to do? No one is stupid enough to think you're here for the right reasons. I'm sure Rush mobilized all his mouth-breathing zombie listeners into a GOTV drive for Tamyra since you think she's "unelectable" (after all, women in politics? That's just ridiculous!) But if you're just here to spew your crap, then do us all a favor and STFU.
I admit I wasn't trying to make friends, or be "fair and balanced" here. I was angry at the shit I was seeing. Within minutes, I started to get my first responses, one of which inventively referred to me as "Eric Condom" (Zing! Never heard that one before!) and the other of which referred to me as a "Constitution trampling liberal piece of trash."
However, for whatever reason, I took pity on these freaks. I responded with a long, thoughtful message that I hoped all the teabaggers would read and take to heart. I'd like to repost it here, if you don't mind.
It's funny, all these divisions that exists between your side and ours, because we're not so different. I'm guessing you're probably not rich, you're probably from a blue-collar or middle class background, just like me. We've both been screwed by the same people, and we're both frustrated by some of the same things. But for whatever reason, you are getting your marching orders from people who seek to exploit you. Beck and his ilk are not "men of the people" who are looking out for the little guy. They are highly paid employees of a corporate entity (Fox News) that is a de facto arm of the Republican Party. The Republican Party, like most of the Democratic Party, has bought and paid for by corporations. Very few (like, count-them-on-one-hand levels) of the people in Congress on either side represent our interests. They are put in office to enact policies that benefit corporations. Evan Bayh was the same way. Tamyra is one of the few people running to help change this.
Hilariously, you believe Obama to be a "socialist." Obama's policies are not markedly different from George Bush's. But with Fox News et. al., the point is not to report facts, it's to drill a talking point into viewers' heads enough to where it becomes some simulacrum of the truth. The people giving you your marching orders (Beck, Hannity, Ailes, and their ilk) are not on your side. They, like most politicians, are on the side of corporations. But they understand the value of divide and conquer. They know that if your side and ours were to come together to demand what this country really needs (accountability from its leaders and an end to corporate hegemony) then we would be unstoppable. So they pit us against each other, and satiate our desire for "change" with the illusory charade of "elections" that they allow us to participate in every year.
We're more alike than you know. The divisions in this country are no longer as simple as right-vs-left. It's now a matter of corporations and their allies vs. We the People. This country is not going to live up to its potential until we all realize this, and we all come together to defeat the enemy.
The same guy who called me the "liberal piece of trash" subsequently went on to make a series of bizarre and clearly projecting statements about D'Ippolito, such as that "She is a far left extremist conspiracy theorist - and probably a racist to boot," and ending with "Come on, Tamyra - admit you are a racist!" When I responded that it was hardly a "conspiracy theory" to suggest that the Democratic Party would probably rather run a "safe" centrist in lieu of a genuine progressive (as D'Ippolito contends), the guy simply reiterated his nonsensical accusations.
From here, the thread devolves into a discussion about my use of the word "teabagger," which as far as I knew was a mainstream term used to describe these people. All of them took offense to it, with one poster actually claiming that - I am not kidding here -
"when you call people a teabagger or a member of the Tea Bag party you are using a term that is worse than the "N" word when speaking of blacks." Then the conversation naturally turns to how I'm obviously a "socialist" just like Obama, and how - get this - I've "overdosed on the Obama KoolAid." Can you believe they were able to think up this fresh, not-at-all-cliched talking point?
Responding to the "socialist" accusations, I wrote another long-winded reply, which if you don't mind, I'd like to post for you as well, so you can get a sense of the tenor of my responses vs. theirs.
Since the right has twisted the term "socialist" into a meaningless buzzword far removed from its actual meaning, it's come to be that "socialist" is an insult for some reason. There's nothing wrong with socialism. What's wrong is that people are so ignorant other political philosophies to the point that they actually believe Obama is a "socialist." Obama's policies are so not even in the same galaxy as socialism. Economically, he is very much to the right of Richard Nixon. If you were a Bush supporter, and if you actually knew anything about Obama's policies beyond what Glenn Beck blubbers to you, you'd know his policies aren't that different from Bush's. I'm not a huge Obama fan. I don't have any illusions about him. I voted for him, but 24 hours later when he appointed Rahm Emanuel as his Chief of Staff, I knew the fix was in.
Since the GOP has been so successful in deploying its message, what we call "the center" in this country would actually be solidly conservative in any other Western nation, and Obama would be a right-wing candidate. Case in point: he apparently opposes single-payer health care, which every other civilized First World nation on Earth has. The Conservative Party in England would never dream of touching the NHS, just like the GOP here would never consider touching Medicare - it would be disastrous for them. But it just goes to show that how different the paradigm is there.
You and I would both benefit from single-payer health care, which you doubtlessly think of as "socialism." But the MSM will not let you know this, since the MSM are all owned by corporations with a vested interest in maintaining the status quo. I'm long past thinking Obama is going to change anything. He's made his sympathies clear.
Since I often foolishly believe that human beings are capable of understanding and empathy, I previously attempted to try and create a dialogue with you folks. I highlighted our similarities, not our differences. Naturally, I was shouted down and belittled for this, and I shouldn't have expected any less. But the point still stands. You are not our enemies. Our enemies are the same as yours. The difference is that we realize this, and you don't. Let us know when you get it.
Naturally, after this, the tone just turns that much more toxic. The first comment after this comes from a guy who goes by the typical confounding RW-blogger-style handle "Bumbling Coats." He writes, "Speaking of Tea Bagging, Eric, what is that on your chin? Leftovers?" Things never look up from there in this thread again.
I only mention "Bumbling Coats" because I soon encountered him again on another thread, wherein he took D'Ippolito to task for posting what appears to be an older photo of herself on her Facebook page, as opposed to one that shows how "fat" she is now according to him. He repeatedly attacks her on various other threads for her weight, and posted a supposed "before and after" picture that supposedly shows "how fat she is now."
I posted, "You people seriously are sick in the head if you think it is acceptable to post this kind of sexist trash. Get help. Seriously."
Surprisingly addressing me as "Mr. Condom," he responded that it isn't sexist to point out that someone is using a picture that was "taken almost 30 years ago" (despite having no proof of this). I responded with this:
The fact that you're talking about it all is sexist. The fact that you think it's acceptable to belittle a woman because of her weight is reflective of how sexist our society is. Since you're a teabagger, it's probably not much of a stretch to assume you're also a racist, a misogynist, and a homophobe, and therefore, I wouldn't expect you to be familiar with the concept of "patriarchy." But yes, in short, what you are doing is unmistakably sexist, and anyone with half a brain can understand that.
After this, the teabaggers predictably play the victim again, accusing me of name-calling while referring to me as a "liberal moonbat" in literally the same sentence.
Look, I know better than to let people get the best of me. I know good and well that these people are just stupid, willfully ignorant, and there is no reasoning with them. But I just wanted to share my story and get some feedback on it. I should also mention that during all these episodes, there wasn't a SINGLE other liberal posting anywhere else on the board backing me up.
Basically, I just wanted to vent about this. I don't think I'll share this experience with anyone else, because I think actually talking about it would work me into such a rage that I'd wind up punching my fist through a wall or something. But see, as much as I follow politics, and as firm as I am in my convictions, I don't really thrive on heated debating. Not because I'm afraid of losing - but because I find the entire experience demoralizing and disillusioning. Two years ago I went down and picketed when Bush spoke in my town. I carried a sign that said "GET OUT OF MY TOWN MURDERER." I was harassed and almost physically attacked on all sides. I was called a "terrorist" (once again, real original). And while I never wavered in my beliefs, the whole thing made me just feel like all of it is just for nothing. None of us are ever really doing anything other than preaching to the choir. There is no hope to try and achieve understanding with these people. And as basic sociology (as well as the movie Idiocracy) dictates, these people, with less education, less sex education, and less access to contraception thanks to religious fundamentalism, will breed like rabbits. I really, truly am afraid that things are only going to get worse in this country. Worse than they are now, which is already terrible.
So basically, here's what I'm asking: is there any reason at all for me to feel hopeful about the future of this country? Or are we doomed? I'm not really a major player here at DU, but I read it constantly, and a lot of you all are people whose opinions I respect a great deal. I figured if anyone could talk me down, it'd be you guys.
So what do we think, folks?