For the last few days I have been engaged in a FB debate with some good ole’ boys I grew up with. Let me give you a flavor of the exchange.
It started when the primary one with whom I am FB friends wrote: “Hey Obama. Continuing to keep our borders open will eventually bring the wrath upon us, as it is happening in France.”
One of his friends responded: “Me thinks he (Obama) can kiss my Rebel ass,” to which a third one wrote, “Right on.”
It was then that I replied to the initial comment: “…too bad for you President Obama’s poll numbers are going up. I guess that means more and more of us just don’t see the truth you see.”
He responded: “Jan. Obama is a Jerk. Not a leader. Can’t make decisions, and has been lying to the American people. Open your eyes. Tune into FOX news and get the true story.”
I couldn’t let that one passed so I wrote: “Like the report on Fix News about ‘No-Go Zones’ in London? Never mind that it’s propaganda, right?”
Now that really got them going, from complaints about people on Food Stamps not wanting to work, about how bad the economy is, how much the federal deficit and debt have balloned, and, of course, on and on about how “illegals” are taking over the country with Obama’s help.
My response was to remind them that the federal deficit had declined this past year as reported by the Congressional Budget Office, and that the national debt had increased less under Obama than it did under Bush, as reported by FactCheck. Then I asked, “Give me the statistics about Food Stamps, then give me the statistics about how many people are looking for jobs and how many jobs there actually are; then give me facts about the economy under Obama and the economy under Bush. Give me facts and I will take what you say seriously.”
That produced another round of postings from several of them that were all over the map, from abortion to immigration to the economy to the liar and pathetic leader Obama was to everything bad in life being his fault. Then it turned personal.
“Just because he is a clergyman,” wrote the leader of the pact, “he thinks that puts him in a position of knowing all, and seeing all. He’s pulling all of these things he calls facts out of thin air and expects us to bow to them. Wrong…This country has been heading in the wrong direction since this No-Load took office. This guy is a loser.”
Others immediately chimed in to agree, ending with this gem: “Obammie is a freaking joke and a damn Muslim at that. He is not a real American.”
That last one said it all, don’t you think, proving once again that reason cannot take out of the mind what reason didn’t put into it in the first place.
The reason I share a sampling of this exchange is because it is an example of the attitude Fix News, Rush Limbaugh, and the like have nurtured and which now plays a sugnificant role in our local, state, and national politics.
Amd it is doing great damage. Indeed, not only has it poisoned our politics; it has poisoned our nation.
Dissent and disagreement are essential to a free people, but when civility is lost, so is the nation. Under this President we as a people have tolerated incivility from friends and family members who follow Fix News and Rush Limbaugh the same way the press has given them a voice as if they deserved to be heard.
Neither is the case. They have a right to speak, but don’t deserve a microphone or a place at the table. Our friends and family may have a right to their opinions, but they don’t have a right to share them without being challenged.
In a poisoned environment tolerance can be an excuse for irresponsibility and silence a co-conspirator with evil.
Writing back and forth with those good ole boys I grew up with took time and energy, and, to be honest, even made me feel sad because of all the things they said. And, of course, I got nowhere with them.
But you know what? I would do it again because they shouldn’t be able to spew forth venom like that without someone calling them out for the snake oil salesmen they are.
Then, again, I’ve probably already been dropped as one of their FB friends.
linnposts.com 
Challenging good ol’ lunkheads with the facts is like trying to teach a pig to sing…it wastes your time and annoys the pig. Still, I’m glad somebody is willing to sally forth against the Faux News true believers. Keep it up as long as you can bear it!
Steve,
Your singing pig analogy summed-up in one sentence what I spent 4 paragraphs trying to say! Nicely done…..
Thanks, Bill. I, too, am a Facebook holdout and share your view of it as well as thinking that FB users give up a lot of personal information to a company whose greatest asset is the control of that information. Your comments about Jan’s post are eloquent and on the mark.
Steve, It sounds like we may be kindred spirits, but since Jan is my very best friend, you only have a chance to be second 🙂 Perhaps we can communicate some way other than taking-up more space here on Jan’s blog??
Thanks for this post….you are so correct in your comments and conclusions. Just keep up the good work. It’s so sad that his is even happening…why don’t wise up to the truth, Ugh.
Jan,
As you know, what you describe here is one of many reasons I refuse to join Facebook (IMHO, the biggest waste of time ever created) and one primary reason I stopped writing letters-to-the-editor of our hometown newspaper several months ago. To try to reason with fools is futile!
I probably know one of more of these undereducated, uninformed, misinformed, “willfully ignorant,” racist morons — of which we have more than our share in my/your hometown. I have the “luxury” of not seeing their venom and hate on FB. You have the “luxury” of living in a more enlightened part of our country.
What is scary for both of us is that wherever they/we are, these people rely on the worst kind of sources (e.g.,Limbaugh, Faux News, Silly Sarah) to tell them how to think (or not to!) and what to believe. They come to believe the distortions and lies (Obama is a Muslim??!!) and, worst of all, vote accordingly, if they bother to vote at all.
Please ignore these “good ol’ boys” who are still fighting the Civil War (rebels without a cause), who enjoy denigrating others, and who thrive on the kind of hate that makes them feel superior to others — which ain’t working, guys!
Keep speaking the TRUTH, Jan……
Is it any wonder the dominant minority has such an easy time securing and maintaining control; here or anywhere? Way too many people can become absorbed or distracted by simplistic prejudices, base appetites and sheer laziness that those with curious, discerning minds find justice and nobility highly elusive, or, if attained, difficult to sustain and spread. Dark and easy are so alluring!
Thank you for sharing another mirror on humanity.
“…This country has been heading in the wrong direction…” So, what’s the right one, then? I bet the man quoted above hasn’t got any kind of credible answer.
Sadly when people are cut off from influences more profound than things like Fox News, they start to think, act and speak much as the Group or Tribe thinks, acts and speaks – which is to say, in slogans. And under these conditions, the actual ‘voice of the people’ is likely to be the voice of people like Joseph Goebbels…or Rupert Murdoch.
Recent news from the NYT reports that the Koch brothers are going to pour $900 million dollars into the 2016 campaign. Their view is that the direction of our country is toward ‘collectivism’ which indicates to me that they think the right direction is individualism. My conclusion is that they believe owners of large corporations in private hands should be free to do whatever they want, whether pollute the air and water, set their own wage structure, etc.
Corporate control of America a la 1984 represents a far greater threat to democracy (or what is left of it) than uninformed blathering of slogan-quoting dwellers out here in the hinterland. The Kochs are interested in controlling the process; people are just widgets.
I’m putting my money into George Soros. After all he get his money from Progressive insurance minded people. Oh, BTW, If you have his insurance and have an accident, don’t try to get your car fixed. Many body shops will not work with them. Baaa