In several ways, my sister-in-law is a nice person. She is also financially prosperous. As the executive president and CFO of her own private business and living in a very exclusive area of Southern California, she is clearly a member of "the 1%."When it comes to politics, however, she and I are at complete odds over on Facebook, where I'm actually quite restrained in any political posts that I make. Indeed, I rarely post about politics at Facebook; rather, I typically reserve that venue for contacting friends, family, and former students.
I'm sure that my sister-in-law would have a meltdown if she saw this blog! I have carefully kept secret from her my Always On Watch identity.
One day, my sister-in-law revealed an important part of her political belief system: "President Obama is the man with a vision. It is the job of Congress to smooth the waters!" I was dumbfounded. My sister-in-law is an anomaly in our family, and I didn't expect that salvo from her. Furthermore, she launches an attack every time I post anything the slightest bit political — the one exception being anything about Islam. She hates all religions with a passion.
FEATURED QUESTION: How does one reason with those who believe as my sister-in-law does? When Progressives are members of one's own family, it is well nigh impossible to avoid them completely — or to be oneself around them, for that matter.
T-GOP: Deeply Conflicted, Confused and Hysterical
ReplyDeleteOh, the poor dears.
Another example of the deeply conflicted, confused and hysterical T-GOPers as they deal with their fictional construct of a president whom they claim is a weak, ineffective tyrannical dictator.
They need to find a self-help program, asap, that can bring them safely back from the pit of insanity they so happily wallow in:
It was kind of nice when that POS was on Vacation, wasn't it!!
Sound like the same libtard ignorant talking points we’ve been hearing from that ding-bat for years now.
DeleteThe ignorant Progressive/Liberal people like the one who wrote the words above, really know the ignorance of their statements, these statements of ignorance are exactly like those they serve... (other-wise know as the Obama administration! . When their brainwashed constituents stop applauding such nonsense, then “MAYBE” we can finally talk to each other and possibly get somewhere, but that time is not in the near future, these imbeciles are way too far gone for that right now. .
AOW, can you tell me that everyone here isn’t sick of seeing these liberal morons posting here on our sites? I know that I am! I'm not aware of any of us doing that to them!! I guess these sicko’s have no real life and feel the need to go from one Republican/Conservative site to the next to defend their hero King Obama. It’s really getting sickening and sad they have no real brain of their own ! On one site they called Bush Hitler and that's truly laughable when their King Obama is more like Hitler then anyone in our history and King Obamas trying to turn our country into a Communist third world country ! I guess I'm off subject because on another site an idiot liberal attacked our brave troops calling them murders, torturer’s and rapist and it made my blood boil ! I don't know about you all but I'm sick to death of the pure hatred these sick liberals keep spreading about us and fighting back is long past due! Us Conservative / Republicans need to get a back bone and go after these progressives/democrats/liberals and their buddies in the media as well. They are these lying, lecherous, horrible, people!
ReplyDeleteStephanie,
DeleteI have not problem with dissent per se. However, the Leftist trolls copied-and-pasted screeds (spam, really) is another matter entirely; I delete such "comments" on an intermittent basis. Those "comments" are intended to (1) hijack the thread and (2) get conservative friends to curtail comments so as not to be targeted themselves on their own blogs.
At this point, we are in the midterm election cycle. The moronic trolls are out in force.
AOW and Stephanie; I haven't been happier than when I switched from Blogger to WordPress. It was a very difficult decision because I DID NOT WANT a CONSERVATIVE ECHO CHAMBER, but it got too much.
DeleteAOW, you say you have no problem with dissent. I wonder if you realize most of us do NOT block comments because of dissent? That's the farthest thing I had a problem with.
I had a problem with the type of dissent, not the dissent. I had problems the withering insults, the constant picking out of one minute detail in a post that could possibly be questionable in a way as to insult and negate the absolute FACTS of my posts. It was so ugly .
I finally realized I had built a forum from which liberals could spew without having their own blog and then I knew that was it.
Much more peaceful now, not all in agreement, but Republicans rarely are. We think, we analyze, we look for answers in the cesspool that's become America's politics.
And yes, the trolls and the ugliness of all liberals will be REALLY ramped up starting probably mid September. Wait till you hear talk shows, too! That gets REALLY funny and so predictable. 'Hi, Dennis, I USED to be a Republican but I just can't vote that way anymore BECAUSE..." At which time the host usually says "Ya, we had your call yesterday saying that... please don't call again. It'll happen A LOT. Wait for it.
Stephanie, imagine if a Republican had wagged his arm and finger all across the House floor to call a Democrat Congressman "Insignificant" like Pelosi just did? It would have been 4" headlines EVERYWHERE. As it is, it barely got covered, if at all, in the liberal media.
We have to definitely get a backbone and start fighting back HARD. But, when Conservatives do, they get SO nailed that it's hard to proceed.
We need to convey the viewpoint of more and more Americans; close the borders effectively, stop the freebies, let US run our lives by picking our own health insurance...etc. And yes, let's help those who truly can't help themselves.
good luck with that.
I have found that responding to trolls in a blog post gives me the room and control to utterly ridicule and refute their nonsense. In this manner my trolls have one by one slithered away in shame. I have a category on my site devoted just to these kinds of responses: link: bit.ly/1onYujG
DeleteI do this for a number of reasons:
1) It gives me something to write that day.
2) It better displays the ignorance and hatefulness of leftists, socialists, liberals, Muslims, etc.
3) It engages a wider readership to continue the conversation. (responses to comments do not show up on blogrolls)
4) And, as I have written previously on this matter, contemplating how to respond acts as a whetstone to sharpen my mind.
I say, Embrace the Trolls, let them reveal to the world their stupidity. Blog about them.
Bernie from Planck's Constant
Bernie,
DeleteHello!
Thank you for that information.
My sister-in-law has commented recently, and she may have slithered away in shame because I have always answered her with evidence.
Evidence seems to be a foreign concept to her. She lives her life by liberal and leftist talking points.
On the other hand, maybe she didn't slither away. It could be that she has decided to boycott me. Thus far, however, she hasn't unfriended me.
Z,
DeleteI had a problem with the type of dissent, not the dissent.
I remember. Some of that goes on here -- and with a twist or two.
I know that sock puppets who pretend to be conservatives and then proceed to type in comments worthy of satire.
Also, another blog (which I will not name) has adherents who occasionally come here to stir up trouble. One particular blogger with whom I used to be friends is waging a one-sided blog war. Makes him feel like a big man -- or something. Pfffft.
The particular blog aforementioned, which shall go unnamed by me, copies and pastes comments from this blog (and others), then proceeds to excoriate those comments. Blog gossip, in other words. I have zero use for blog gossip.
Your new blog, Z, is a more pleasant place than mine. I do have a reserved Wordpress site and ready to go, but obviously haven't move there. Yet, that is. I may -- or may not. We'll see.
-------------------
Pelosi recent comment to a fellow Representative about his being "insignificant" was revealing, wasn't it? This is what is at the bottom of Leftist ideology: all who espouse anything other than Leftism are insignificant. Orwellian!
AOW, there are times I can't look at some of your commenters. Joe has that problem and Lisa does, too, but maybe they haven't had it long enough to be sick and tired of it! Plus, it really DID start to feel I'd built my blog FOR a place for lefties to spew and that's not happening, particularly now before an important election.
DeleteI had never even commented at that particular blog but kept getting ANONYMOUS (as if) commenters or commenters with bizarre screen names and no blog (as if) sometimes posing as conservatives slamming that blog, and looking like loons. I think there were about 8 sock puppets and I wasn't supposed to know who they were :=)
Frankly? I'd miss this blog with its lib commenters....I've never said the 'fight' wasn't fun, I just got tired of the UGLINESS, WITHERING insults. It never promoted a good ol' political argument.
BERNIE:
I had a different breed at mine. I started realizing I was 'embracing' as you suggest and being treated so rudely at my own blog that it wasn't worth hosting them anymore. So, WordPress it is. Peace.
Z,
DeleteAOW, there are times I can't look at some of your commenters.
I don't blame you there. My advice: skim and skip.
Administrators here do delete comments that are particularly ugly.
I don't know if certain commenters realize it or not, but much of what they type in has moved some of my students further to the Right.
I beg to differ with you Stephanie, although sadly a lot of what you say is true. Many of the liberals that I know are educated, and often intelligent people. They're not a bunch of imbeciles. The problem is as I see it, in some areas, or should I say in many areas they have been thoroughly brainwashed into certain beliefs and attitudes and won't or can't think about certain subjects objectively. I suspect it's more about temperament and who gets to them early and often enough to impress them with "how it is" about various issues. Try to have a gun control discussion with them and you'll see how pointless it is. They simply won't listen, and the don’t even care to hear an opposing view. . I think of it like a brain that is short-circuited and simply will not function clearly.
ReplyDeleteLiberals exist in their own special world of make believe. To them the Tea Party is just a bunch of racist rich old white people . Obama is a Great leader, criticism of him is evidence of racism, guns are evil, more debt will make us more prosperous, rights are what the govt tells us they are, etc. Yeah, it's scary out there..
As for many of the blacks today, in the past 50 years or so, they has shown a lot of upward movement. But the bottom dwellers, the lazy bunch of entitlement takers, they however have not only stayed firmly planted on the bottom, but have clearly sank lower because, as I see it, a mix of screwy ideas put there by these race hustlers and pandering politicians and soulless bureaucrats who have thoughtlessly turned blacks into a "protected class" and used them. We have seen how Welfare breakup of their families is certainly a part of that. Affirmative action is part. Ghetto culture of rudeness, hatred of learning and anger driven “Rap” music is a big part of it . The uneducated sink into low-skilled jobs and that’s part of it as well..
Bravo, Simon. I don't think I know a very stupid Liberal. Indoctrinated to the max, but not usually stupid. Mean and nasty, yes... scared? yes. But not usually stupid.
DeleteThe question offers a false narrative. One cannot reason with someone who lacks any capacity for independent thought. They best they can do is to regurgitate platitudes previously approved by their central planning committee.
ReplyDeleteSam; and the FEELINGS part is hard to fight. Oh, it FEELS so good to BE NICE. Meanwhile, we're losing America's economy to the point of OUR paying for lawyers for ILLEGALS so they can stay here? WHAT?
DeleteYou can't comunicate with a closed mind. Don't try.
ReplyDeleteAMEN! You took the words right out of my mind, Jim. There's really nothing else to say. Thank you.
DeleteVive Godard
DeleteI walk every day with the male counter part of your sister in law. I've come to realize that they are a lazy bred. They choose to get their news from the usual suspects. I will counter something he heard on a Sunday Morning show with what I've heard. He just doesn't believe how 4 libs and one RINO on a talk show couldn't be anything but balanced.
ReplyDeleteGood Morning Ms. Shaw, how is life on Mars?
ReplyDeleteRegretfully I have to agree.
ReplyDelete____ N. O. Bascher ____
Many Liberals are living proof that one can be both intelligent and manic, simultaneously! Others are just so clueless and dependent on others that they feel there is no other recourse. The second group seems to be growing.
ReplyDeleteFurther, I don't think either group has a grasp of reality when it comes to the long-term damage that they are inflicting on our society; including them!
ReplyDeleteWoodsterman, where do you get your news?
ReplyDeleteWhy is what you believe have heard definitive facts?
This curious belief that they have tapped into objective truth does make the far right difficult to engage.
Lala Landinata said
DeleteMagic words of poof poof piffles, render you less than the sniffles.
You probably have to decide if you want to be friends with this relative and then do everything you can to avoid political discussion or deflect it when she starts.
ReplyDeleteI don't know how you enter into these matters. You can join the fools who start the "liberals are incapable of reason" meme or "Obama is a communist" You can try to listen and hope she listens to you. That route may at least reveal similar concerns. Or you can avoid the discussions.
The belief that you go into it armed with the truth is a non starter and also wrong.
N.B. -- Same for liberals.
Right now the national dialog is stuck at the equivalent of trench warfare.
Meanwhile, the corporatists laugh and eat you lunch.
This comment has been removed by the author.
DeleteDucky,
DeleteMany of "us" have great faith in established ideals and principles that have guided wise men for centuries. That we fail to live up to our ideals and often fail to achieve the "perfection" towards which we earnestly strive -- knowing full well that it will forever remain beyond our grasp -- does not indicate -- to "us" -- that our objectives are unworkable and thus should be abandoned.
The Founders stated unequivocally, "We hold these truths to be self-evident ..." "We" accept that, and try to build on it.
People of "your" persuasion, however, invented "Critical Theory" -- a tactical method of undermining faith and confidence in the Establishment order to replace it with PERPLEXITY, ANGER, FEAR and DISSENSION. The obvious motive behind this, of course, is to WEAKEN the society you are assaulting so you may gain control of it.
That IS the Truth, and NOTHING you might possibly offer could ever dissuade me from that certainty, even though I tend to believe that you, yourself, may be sincere in the opinion that you are on the side of all that is right, good and salubrious.
Sorry to say it, because I know you to be an intelligent, cultivated man with a kind heart, but your persistent practice of Critical Theory qualifies you as a classic "Useful Idiot," by Marx's own definition.
"We hold these truths to be self-evident ..." ... in other words, "we're going to fudge this."
DeleteIt's true, I don't accept the cult of John Locke on faith despite finding many useful and valuable ideas.
What is my persuasion, FT? What is the establishment? If you mean the tyranny of Locke's cult of property and Hayek's misplaced mystical belief in the unerring self correcting market then yes, I'm happy to weaken it.
I'm certain that you believe everything in your statement and I also believe that your mind is a closed system accepting no new stimuli. Pity that.
As for gaining control, YES! Although the people I would like to see gain more power would include folks like AOW and many who have worked faithfully in the middle class. I truly feel bad that they are on a path which will diminish themselves.
I am surprised that you rail so hard against critical theory when you also clearly believe the humanities are a source of insight. My fear is that you reject those movements which create dissonance for you. Me, I can tolerate dissonance.
Proverbs 29:18
Where there is no vision, the people perish: but he that keepeth the law, happy is he.
--- Proverbs 29:18
The two clauses are in conflict and I clearly put more weight on the first but I do not reject the second.
Anyway, I'm more a fan of auteur theory. Vive Godard.
I actually have to agree with the duck here. Master of diplomacy that I am, I have found that insulting the other person works absolutely never.
ReplyDeleteFrom my stint at Georgetown law (bed of liberalism that it is), I found that many people weren't willing to even listen to me, much less admit they could be wrong, much less change their opinions. They operated much more on emotions than logic, often taking the more emotional side (and therefore contradicting themselves on issues likes justice/mercy). They also are firm believers in what they have been taught, and seem to take it as a personal offense if you disagree with them. I can understand this- I as well wrap my pride up in my beliefs- but it makes arguments useless.
If anything, I would think trying to reason with her on her level would work better- if emotion, that, if fairness, that. Or simply trying to get her to separate her beliefs from her emotions/pride and then speaking to her when she is defused. Given that this has to be done online, that may be difficult...
-Wildstar
Well Wildstar, the issue of emotion/reason is always interesting.
ReplyDeleteWe touched on it at Silverfiddle's blog when the Dada art movement came up in a post.
Man is an amalgam of emotion and reason. Any attempt to completely separate them is doomed.
I do believe that some on the right make the mistake of asserting that the Libertarian philosophy is completely " reasonable" and you will get the same from doctrinaire Marxists. In fact, Rand and Marx were much closer in philosophy than many realize.
Man's is wired as an emotional and reasoning animal. One will never be completely divorced from the other.
True, they should not be separated. But they must be in balance, and check each other. My point was that liberals have a tendency of being more emotional than rational, to the point where arguing logic with them does not work. Too much logic is harmful as well, but less common.
DeleteNot a Libertarian, so cannot speak for them. The one conversation I had with one I ended up disagreeing with him on some points.
And it may surprise you, but I detest Rand. She takes egotism and self-centeredness to too far an extreme for my palate.
-Wildstar
Wildstar,
DeleteI detest Rand.
Did you view on Ayn Rand change?
Maybe I'm mistaken, but I thought that you admired Rand -- or, at least, some of her work.
Wildstar,
DeleteThe one conversation I had with one I ended up disagreeing with him on some points.
A couple of things about the above:
1. One conversation is not enough to make a permanent judgment call.
2. Dissent is not necessarily a bad thing.
Eh, I don't think I ever said I liked Rand... may be mistaken on that.
DeleteShould have clarified. I more meant that I do know pretty much nothing about Libertarians, aside from one conversation (not helpful)- despite Ducky assuming I agreed with them.
-Wildstar
Wildstar,
DeleteI thought that there was a time that you read quite a bit of Ayn Rand's material.
As for libertarians, I know several. There is some variety among them. But the one thing that they all have in common is that they don't vote solely along political-party lines.
AOW..I was at a group recently where everyone seemed to be more conservative than others and a young woman was bemoaning the fact that she could never tell her very rich liberal clients she was conservative or Christian. I and someone else, told her to keep her mouth shut if she wanted to keep her job; she's a dog caretaker. Do you know these very rich clients know how little she makes but invite her to Obama fundraisers? I thought she meant they invite her as their guest because they know how little she makes. Oh, no...they want her TO PAY.
ReplyDeleteThe one liberal in the group I was in said "Oh, no, you can tell them, nothing will happen to you."
I marveled that liberals are the only people who DON'T know the kind of oppression and dismissiveness from the Left that we get. She LITERALLY couldn't imagine anyone insulted for faith or politics, imagine!? Fascinating.
Imagine if she were gay and worked for a "Christian" family.
ReplyDeleteYou know, Canardo, the REALITY of situations like that might astound you. The snide implication that "All 'Christians' are best represented by The Westboro Baptist Church" is as malicious and disingenuous as the heavy, heavy, HEAVY inference the enemedia would like "us" to draw that the Roman Catholic Clergy en masse is hypocritical, untrustworthy, rotten and sodden with debauchery, and should, therefore, be discredited, pilloried, driven out of our communities and possibly JAILED.
DeletePushing the idea that we believe all Christians are represented by the Westboro cult is irresponsible.
Delete1. It's wrong
2. It incorrectly implies that leftists don't recognize a cult.
Frankly, after watching the Catholic church, much to my shame, try to weasel out of the abuse scandal in Boston, ground zero, it strikes me as reasonable to be thankful that the fallout was as serious as it was or they would have kept on.
But she works for rich far lefties and the point is made.
DeleteI don't know how you live with yourself in your constant and unrelenting hatred of Christians and ridiculous generalizations.
Sad.
The ultimate hypocrite is a limousine liberal. One who is part of the one percent, Streisand, Algore and a host of others who have made millions and tell you to give yours away and protect the Earth. They chide everyone for driving an SUV while they get in their limousine to take their private jet to a democrat $30k a plate fundraiser and bitch about republicans not helping the poor.
ReplyDeleteYou're correct, of course, Skud, but we must never forget that acquiring a lock on POWER by any means fair or foul is the PRIMARY -- really the ONY -- motive of the Left. All their "concern" for "victims" is merely window dressing and serves as a maskl for their TRUE motives.
DeleteL'homme faux francais dit
ReplyDeleteOui, oui, monsieur, vous avez raison, mais toutes cela va sans dire. Nous ne savons que trop bien. Vous ne donnez qu'une lecture au chanteurs et chanteuses dans l'eglise.
How about B.O. and the First Wookiee in separate jets to the same lavish vacation destination? Then we hear some BS about "income inequality"-pleeeezzze! OK, I'm getting a little 'off topic', sorry.
ReplyDeleteI live with a so-called 'liberal' who apparently takes most stuff he sees and hears on TV as the God's Truth. He is especially fond of Charlie Rose. It started with him as a child watching Uncle Walter Cronkite. He believes people have to go to journalism grad school to be able to be reporters. He soaks up the liberal media agenda like a sponge and apparently rarely questions it. He hates Bill O'Reilley, Michelle Bachman, and does not like Republicans. He makes stuff into a partisan issue even when something isn't.
ReplyDeleteIt is maddening to get along with someone like this, and during the Obama administration this has really come to a head. Any criticism of tv people or politicians is taken PERSONALLY!
Apparently this behavior is to silence the rest of the conservative family members.
If he is a fan of " (N)ice (P)olite (R)epublicans" Charlie Rose then I doubt he's anything like a liberal.
DeleteMy advice is state your views when asked or challenged by such ridiculous statements about obama being anything but an anti-American imbecile. Let progressives live in their fever swamps. And I take my own advice.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
DeleteVive Godard
ReplyDeleteDebbie, when I've done that, people have agreed and agreed and, when I've suggested, "Then you're a Republican!" they've said "Oh, no, I couldn't be a Republican" but they've agreed and even volunteered information that's exactly that. This is what we have to fight hard about.
ReplyDeleteYou don't think a liberal could work the same result?
DeleteNot with you but with anyone not doctrinaire.
Who cares? I'm not talking about liberals now. And no, I do not think the doctrine of liberals is appealing to most Americans. Not when correctly revealed. No way.
DeleteI've had some spoiled cousins who are lost in the 'Liberal" mess. I'm glad that I've not been in contact with these idiots for 10 years or more!
ReplyDeleteThey told me the same thing about you.
DeleteAttention, Commenters:
ReplyDeleteKnow that I am reading all your comments via my laptop. However, I do not have time to respond right now as fully as I wish to do. My "big machine," my desktop/tower is "in the hospital," and my guru and I are trying to figure out how to repair the DVD drive.
My advice is not to argue or listen to these foolish people. You know yourself what is right and what is not right. Why get into a argument or discussion with the Devil? For example, today, I’ve been listening to the logic and the passion of Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu’s interviews. I also listened to the logic behind what he said...
ReplyDeleteHe said that “He will do whatever it takes and whatever is necessary, and will exert as much force as necessary to keep his people safe. ..
And it makes sense to me to me.. I support Israel and say that they should kick Hamas to the curb once and forever!
It’s too bad that American politicians don't have one tenth the courage, insight, integrity, moral clarity, and conviction of this Leader.
When one of our leaders, such as Nancy Pelosi, Minority Leader of the House, said last Sunday that Hamas is a Humanitarian Organization I nearly flew into space with anger! Mrs. Pelosi is encouraging Hamas who is a terrorist organization!
We need to clean house of these the nutbag, insane, inept leaders in this country!
Well thanks to the now obvious terrorist sympathies of the Progressive bleeding hearts, the loathsome liberal MSM, and azzholes like Nancy Pelohsee and Barack Obama the liberal community, including the US, can now pour even more "international aid" = US Tax dollars into Gaza so the Palestinians can start rebuilding those tunnels.
ReplyDeleteQuite an instructive thread really.
ReplyDeleteProviding great insight.
Closed minds and dismissive tendencies.
Indeed.
Pursuit of political influence, control, and ultimate power over all, especially ones political adversaries.
How it is is how it goes.
A commenter above stated the following, and other commenters here agree, I know:
ReplyDeleteMy advice is not to argue or listen to these foolish people. You know yourself what is right and what is not right. Why get into a argument or discussion with the Devil?
My response...
My sister-in-law starts the discussion at certain threads on my Facebook page. Her comments are not mere dissent, but rather insults hurled at me and at every commenter who agrees with me.
I never troll her Facebook page and insult her posts with which I disagree.
I have found that lending money to liberal relatives usually makes them disappear from your life. Asking for the money back will usually make them utterly avoid you. It's a small price to pay in order to be free of their idiocy.
ReplyDeleteBernie,
DeleteHere's a strange one.
Over the years (pre-Obama), I have loaned money to two conservative family members and two conservative friends. One conservative friend and one conservative family member paid back the money. All the others still owe the money -- and avoid any contact with me like the plague.
I do not loan money to liberals. Never have.
Decades ago, my sister-in-law asked me for a loan. Nope. But my refusal had nothing to do with politics, but rather with her lifestyle, which was back then, irresponsible to say the least.
In my experience, liberals do not typically ask for money. Then again, I don't personally know many liberals.
Fredd,
ReplyDeleteUnfriending my sister-in-law is a step that I prefer not to take. Family dynamics -- and all that.
If you have friends who are liberal, dump them. If you have relatives (such as you do) who are liberals, ignore them, and do not go to their weddings/birthday parties/funerals.
My sister-in-law is in Southern California. Since Mr. AOW's stroke, we haven't visited there. Of course, when Mr. AOW's mother finally dies -- Please, God, take her soon! -- I may have to travel to the funeral.
As for dumping liberal friends, most of them have dumped me. They can't stand the presence of any dissenter -- even if I keep my mouth shut. I know why, too: I've won too many of our past debates. So, my very presence makes them uncomfortable.
My liberal neighbors -- the wife is a conservative, but the father and adult son are very much Left -- moved away last October to a location about 50 miles west of here. We saw them once in December. No more invitations since them, and I don't expect any. It's too bad; the woman of the house was my best local friend for 35 years. Today's political scene has destroyed the relationship, and her marriage is no picnic now, either.
Fredd,
ReplyDeleteAddendum: my brother-in-law is the salt of the earth. Yes, a conservative. I don't want to make his life miserable by dumping the only sister with whom he has any contact. He's isolated enough as it is -- because of the kind of work that he does.
Fredd, seek help. You really are insane.
ReplyDeleteHere I am living in California like AOW's sister-in-law and experiencing the nonthinking liberal knee-jerk thing all the time and I haven't commented about that.
ReplyDeleteAOW....I was invited to Bobby Shriver's win party after the primary in June. Yes, Democrat Shriver. A friend has written speeches for him and otherwise helped him for years and she invited me. I didn't go only because it started late and I was lazy. She is a Democrat but a rather centrist Dem. He is practically a fiscal conservative and I have dear Conservative friends who voted for him, too.
I didn't go to the party, though it was at a favorite haunt, but I joked "imagine going into a restaurant KNOWING everybody's a DEMOCRAT?" But then I added "But what's new in Santa Monica...? This one's just IDENTIFIED that way!"
I say that because so much of Santa Monica is rich leftwingers...and poor, expectant leftwingers $$$
It grieves me when I meet younger conservatives who are still surprised that they go to a party and everybody touts Obama "as if we ALL like him!" or at dinner parties when people know you're smart and into politics so you MUST support Obama. That happens a lot.
There is no constructive dialogue anymore with the kind of hate we're experiencing and I'm not saying there's no hate on the side of Conservatives, either. But the looniness, the ignore-ance of Constitutional law, the IDEA of being told what health care plans we MUST HAVE, the... well, I'm not here to expose the looniness, just to say The West side of L.A. is a tough one to live in if you have differing viewpoints from liberals.
I will say it's charming and wonderful when you DO run into a conservative (and believe me PLENTY of us are in the closet) and then can whisper about your stances and laugh at the absurdity of feeling you must whisper :-) You see, things don't get discussed here if they find you're a conservative at a party, etc., they just walk away.
"Look at all those people down there.....I hope there aren't any REPUBLICANS.." an artist told my artist friend from the second floor landing at a large art gallery party, "...if there are, we need to get rid of them." MY friend's a conservative who can't tell her clients she doesn't agree with their liberal views they spout throughout her lessons (mostly rich clients).
sad, isn't it?
Leuween McGrath said
DeleteYou might want to move to the heartland or the southeast. I understand Tennessee and rural Georgia are much more in harmony to the values you feel comfortable with.
Just a thought. I would think that anything would be better than staying where you constantly fret and worry about things you can't do anything about. It sounds like you're tearing yourself to pieces.
I doubt they would ostracize you for being a Republican.
DeleteIs your experience any different than a liberal in Dallas, Cincinnati, Kansas City or any number of places?
Sounds like whining to me.
you doubt they would ostracize Republicans in Santa Monica? Do you even read the comments, Ducky? Do you read my experiences and others' ...things I've written about for years? WOW! What's it take?
DeleteAfter what I've written the last 10 years on this subject, you doubt something in Santa Monica from Boston?
I don't care what liberals feel in Dallas or Ohio. I'm writing about California in response to AOW's post.
Are you kidding? You live in the Boston Bubble.
I'm still bemused at your comment.
DeleteAnd oh, yes, it IS whining. I will whine till all people are respected for their opinions. And that does not mean their opinions need to be liked. Big difference.
Z,
Deletethe looniness, the ignore-ance of Constitutional law, the IDEA of being told what health care plans we MUST HAVE..."Look at all those people down there.....I hope there aren't any REPUBLICANS.." an artist told my artist friend from the second floor landing at a large art gallery party, "...if there are, we need to get rid of them."
Charming, just charming. [heavy sarcasm]
Today at the swimming pool which I frequent, I ran into another lounge lizard, who is a Democrat. She's a bit older than I, but she doesn't believe in shutting up the opposition. She certainly doesn't want to shut us up; interestingly, her children are all conservatives.
Duck,
DeleteI've visited Southern California several times. It's another world at least some of the time.
My father-in-law, who hailed from a small town outside Chicago, Illinois, moved to Southern California back in the 1940's and made quite a pithy observation about the different world he encountered. Oh, yes, he prospered; his profession was, in part, tied to the movie industry; the same for his wife's business.
Jesus Christ said
ReplyDelete"Be no overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good."
Then you misread me, Leuween. I don't constantly fret and worry and don't believe I insinuated that? But, sorry if you read it that way. I actually kind of laugh at it now, but do worry about the younger folks who are exposed to the discrimination and feel so badly that they need to hide their viewpoints.
ReplyDeleteI belong to Friends of Abe, a group Gary Senise started, with Kelsey Grammer, Jon Voit, Clint Eastwood, Ed Ames, Patricia Heaton, etc.,....many jazz singers, rock musicians, actors, etc., who are conservative in Los Angeles......the young people are scared to death of not getting work. I was at a luncheon where one said she was scared to death the doors into the dining room would open and paparazzi would be there. I could never talk about this group EVER until the IRS tried to deny them their nonprofit status so its name was given on TV. It was always meant to be quiet to protect younger members in the industry. They're the ones who are 'tearing themselves to pieces' because they can't "come out" or they could lose work. And have.
I would appreciate living in a place of harmony and definitely which shares my values, but LOVE it here and don't want to live necessarily in any place where all thoughts aren't welcome. I wish leftwingers felt like that about all viewpoints . That's all.
Thanks.
Yeah,z. You are so tolerant of liberal thought.
DeletePlease, stop.
After years of reading my blog, Ducky, your still not knowing me better than this says a lot, and so much less about me than you.
DeleteI will never not entertain liberal thought or any other thought. It's THOUGHT, it deserves considering. Since I don't agree with much of it doesn't make me intolerant. It makes me different and that's always been okay in America until the Left's made it evil.
How many times over about 10 years did I tell you at my blog that if you'd only stop your withering insults your comments would have been more welcome? Your loss.
Z,
DeleteAbout younger members in the industry...I have a former student who is seeking work as a film composer. She graduated from the Berkeley School of Music in Boston.
She can't get a job -- and she's been trying for well over a year now.
Yes, she is politically conservative. Well, centrist conservative. I don't know how vocal she is about her personal views, but I can't imagine that she's a shrinking violet in that regard.
If she uses her conservatism as an excuse she's doing herself harm.
DeleteThe fact is that the movement in film scoring, for better or worse (worse), has been to using popular songs. It's tough to break in.
Duck,
DeleteShe hasn't said a word of complaint to me. But I know that she is a person of strong convictions, and I'm concerned that those convictions could be preventing her from getting a start in her chosen career.
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DeleteAOW...that is a HARD field to break into! I hope she gets work, she definitely will have to keep silent when others slam Conservatives...and they will; I've seen it too often. I'm not sure they're praising Obama like they used to. I don't hear that too much anymore. But I do know they won't ask her politics at a job interview :-)
DeleteI have friends who still write original scores for TV and film, but lesser films are going somewhat to popular stuff. This happened to voice-over artists, too. It was a well paying industry that kept a lot of actors busy until Dick Cavett, Peri Gilpin, etc etc got into it. Now it's 99% famous actor's voices, sadly. But, I digress. So, the rich get richer and the up-and-comings can't find work.
Just tell your friend strong convictions don't fly anymore if you're not a liberal. Mum's the word. BUT, when she does get work and if she does meet another conservative, it'll be fun because it's like a secret club! Believe me!
Leuween, by the way....maybe I didn't emphasize how MANY good Conservatives there really are in Los Angeles... that, I know.
ReplyDeleteDuck,
ReplyDeleteNot your call to make (about another's sanity).
Our Democratic/Liberal led Government at work:
ReplyDeleteA former IRS official at the heart of the agency's tea party controversy called conservative Republicans "crazies" and more in emails released Wednesday.
Whacko Lois Lerner headed the IRS division that handles applications for tax-exempt status. In a series of emails with a colleague in November 2012, Lerner made two disparaging remarks about members of the GOP, including one remark that was profane.
Rep. Dave Camp, who chairs the House Ways and Means Committee, released the emails Wednesday as part of his committee's investigation. The Michigan Republican says the emails show Lerner's "disgust with conservatives."
In one email, Lerner called members of the GOP crazies. In the other, she called them "assholes." The committee redacted the wording to "_holes" in the material it released publicly but a committee spokeswoman confirmed to the AP that the email said "assholes."
With disgusting emails like this one from our Democratic/Liberal led Governmental appointed officials around the IRS offices, and possibly other offices why would anyone think there's any “impartial” pro-liberal bias around anywhere?
And the Whacko Liberals say that there AREN’T really any Scandals there or anywhere else. It’s all because of these Tea Party people who blame Obama for everything... YEAH RIGHT!
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ReplyDeleteI know that I must sound to be obsessed with the way these idiots are handling our Country, but I care and it hurts me to see this wonderful country of our going down the tubes and us becoming the laughing stock of the world.
ReplyDeleteAnd until infested whacko’s are removed from office I will continue to complain and rant about it
2nd Amendment,
DeleteI don't think that you sound obsessed. We are seeing the devolution of America.
ReplyDeleteSome of these Sick Ignorant Bastards who call themselves progressives ,have a bad memory, or chose to turn a blind eye. I won't bother arguing with them for one minute, it’s a complete waste of my time. the Radical Left wingers of hate, lies, brainwashing. don’t care about our troops. The are the new Progressives of America, the new Fascist party, Black Panther party disguised as "patriotism" Filled with people like Al Sharpton, Bill di Blasio, Barack Obama, etc. your typical left wing America hating “Patriots”
These Sick Ignorant Bastards , still believe that Islams are the Peaceful Keepers.
Just think....Afghan, Iraq, Palestine, Somalia, Pakistan, Syria, Libya and so on, and on.
I don’t have any problems with Obama being a Bisexual, Kenyan born Muslim, what I am against is the fact that he is a inept, failed unAmerican, anti-American, Progressive, lying president, and his "You didn't build that" mentality and attitude.
ReplyDeleteThere are two words that sum up the entire mood of the Country: FED UP.
ReplyDeleteSix out of 10 Americans are dissatisfied with the state of the U.S. economy as it exists today, more than 70 percent believe the country is headed in the wrong direction, and that it’s not turning around fast enough. There are nearly 80 percent of the US population who are totally dissatisfied with the country’s political system, according to the latest NBC News / Wall Street Journal poll.
The frustration carries over to the nation’s political leaders, with President Barack Obama’s overall Approval rating hitting a new low at 40 percent, and there are a mere 14 percent of the public giving Congress a thumbs up.
Then there are these numbers in the poll:
40 percent say someone in their household lost a job in the past five years;
27 percent say they have more than $5,000 in student-loan debt for either themselves or their children;
20 percent have more than $2,000 in credit card debt they are unable to pay off month to month;
and 17 percent say they have a parent or a child over 21 years old living with them for financial or health reasons.
“People are continuing to tell us what ways [the Great Recession] is still impacting them today,”
Even the Democrat’s are wondering about Obama even his previous most loyal supporters, even his Black supporters. He seems to be distracted, confused, uninterested, passive, and even more inept than usual.
So here is the bottom line: No One Likes You Obama , Please Go Away, If Not For Anything Else, For The Good of the Nation , You Are Clueless and Unfit ..But You Won't Go Away, You Are Much Too Much A Narcissistic Jerk To Do Anything For The Good Of The Country.
But then again, maybe we should all be grateful he spending his time achieving nothing, he can’t hurt anything by doing nothing! Or can he? If you noticed, even Hillary has been positioning herself away from him. She must know that he’s becoming a loser.
Rottweiler,
DeleteThere are two words that sum up the entire mood of the Country: FED UP.
True for all except those diehard members of the Cult of Obama.
If you noticed, even Hillary has been positioning herself away from him. She must know that he’s becoming a loser.
I've certainly noticed. What kind of legacy has Obama left for Hillary to build on?
Same old Bitterness, hatred, and angry bullpuckey written by people who wouldn't give President Obama any credit for anything he accomplished because, well, we all know why, don’t we!
ReplyDeleteAnonymous,
ReplyDeleteYes "we all know why"; he has "accomplished" NOTHING positive and therefore deserves NO "credit", whatsoever! That's what you mean; isn't it.
Agreed 100 percent Jon . And I just put that insane comment by "anonymous " above into Google, and guess who I found wrote it.
DeleteCorrect it was that vile lady of the Progressive persuasion . Shocker!
Sarah,
DeleteYes, it was copied and pasted from that source -- with a few insignificant alterations.
So what? Those of us familiar with that blog know full well the blog owner's point of view.
I suppose that I could, via my site meter, track down whether or not the blog owner there copied and pasted the comment here. I doubt that such is the case.
Whatever.
I don't care! And I don't waste my time hunting down date on my site meter.
Blogging is a public forum. Therefore, anyone can copy and paste anyone else's words.
Sarah,
ReplyDeleteIt appears the person that you speak of: "isn't packing a full sea bag"; to quote an old Navy metaphor.
At this point you are talking about faith. Rational arguments and facts are off the table.
ReplyDeleteBeak!
DeleteYour point about my sister-in-law's faith in Leftism is an excellent point. Thank you.
She rarely comments on my Facebook page now. I guess that she's blacklisted me. Oh, well. Mr. AOW isn't concerned either. He says that she went wacko during her 10 years as a rock groupie and the main squeeze of a very famous rock star.