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 