I've been wanting to write this for awhile, but it's just too depressing. And it's not funny. But I can't stop myself anymore, so here goes. Let's start at the beginning.
It was a year ago at this time. The election was really heating up. I honestly didn't know who I was gonna vote for. I used to live in Arizona and was a fan of McCain. But I think I voted for Ron Paul in the primary. Anyway, that's when John McCain lost his God Damn mind and chose Sarah Palin as his VP. And that was it. I declared on this very blog I wouldn't vote for them, and that lots of undecided people in the middle were going to vote Barack based solely on Palin being a crazy person.
I didn't write a "mean" blog about Sarah Palin. I didn't report the (false) gossip that was being said at the time. What I did was talk about all of the crazy shit she actually believes, like hating abortion and science.
That's when I got an email.
This guy Jim Treacher had posted comments on here before, and even linked to my blog. He seemed like a delightful chap. I didn't know anything more about him. Then I got this email from him (I'm guessing in response to my Palin post):
"...say what you want about Palin, but at least she doesn't try to shut down radio stations when they displease her. Your guy is a Nixonian fascist. What, you'll vote for anybody with a (D) in front of his name, just because he isn't George Bush?
Look on the bright side: No matter who wins, one way or the other your liberal guilt will be assuaged!"
I really thought he was joking. First of all, liberal guilt? Clearly, he hadn't been reading my stuff that closely. Second, Nixonian fascist? Seems a little extreme. And that's when I checked out his blog - jimtreacher.com
He wasn't joking.
And extreme doesn't even begin to cover it. So I emailed him back, and that's when things get funny in hindsight. Check out what he wrote about Palin back in September '08:
"And if you think she's a desperation pick, you obviously didn't watch her speech, and haven't been paying attention to how she's driven the entire media out of their minds. That's a big part of her popularity, the backlash against this obvious smear campaign against her. Not to mention how she's gotten inside Obama's head. She's working out even better than McCain could have imagined."
I guess that's why it's not "Nostradamus Treacher".
It's funny how all these guys are so angry about the " liberal media". It's always the "media's" fault. And they only like someone because "the liberal media" is against them. Wait a minute, isn't Fox News the #1 cable news channel? Don't they double CNN in ratings? I think out of the top 10 shows in cable news, they have 10 of them. 10! Oh yeah, and then there's talk radio. Liberals own that shit. Everyone knows how it's impossible for the conservative view point to be heard on talk radio. So wait, that's TV and radio? What else is there? Oh yeah, the dying newspaper industry that nobody reads. Liberals are still kicking ass there!
Dumb, crazy Jim Treacher is not alone. He is a part of a very loud minority in this country that is simply wacked out of their minds. These are the people going to the town halls wearing Hitler mustaches.
Let me stop right here and explain something. I know that it's not cool to say "I'm right, and their wrong, and I'm smart and their stupid". True. That is no way to debate. And in every other circumstance that would be stupid on my part. However, this happens to be one instance where it is absolutely called for. Let me explain:
Through this email correspondence I repeatedly, over and over again, tried to get Jim Treacher to tell me which ideas he agrees with Sarah Palin on. He could not answer. I've gotten into other "debates" with these nuts, and they will never, ever give an answer to any question. They despise facts. All they will do is attack and/or blame the "msm" (main stream media) or say Obama is a socialist. They have nothing to offer in terms of a real argument for why they believe what they believe.
And that's why I'm allowed to call them dummies.
Because the truth is, I'm no big liberal. I honestly want to understand. I want to know why they like Sarah Palin, what they agree with her on. Or what they have against changing the health care system. I WANT TO KNOW! But they can't explain themselves. I would love to have a real discussion about issues, but I can't find one of these nutcases to have it with. Because they can't do it.
The real scary part is that It's not just the lunatics on the internet. It's Senators and Congressman. GOPers in Congress have actually said "I'm not going to read the health care bill, I'm just gonna vote against it". Jeez, isn't it kinda your job to read it? Maybe you should at least give it a skim?
That is stupid.
People at the town halls cry socialism and fascism and Obama is Hitler, they say that government run healthcare is evil and horrible and will lead to death panels. Then they say how much they love Medicare.
Sorry, but that's stupid.
The great Maria Bartiromo on CNBC was "debating" with Anthony Weiner (heh, weiner), congressman from New York, and said "if Medicare is so good how come you're not on it". Weiner is 45 years old... you can't get on Medicare 'till you're 65.
That's just stupid.
And we have to call it stupid, cause it is. If you're kid thinks 2+2=7, he's stupid. If Jim Treacher thinks Barack Obama is a sleeper agent, "birthed" in Kenya, that's stupid. That's not a snotty, high falutin' liberal opinion, it's a fact.
But there's nothing that you can tell these people that will change their minds. There are still "birthers" out there. They don't wanna look at the FACTS. They don't want to see proof. Barack Obama cannot be the legitimate President!
No matter what Sarah Palin does, it's awesome. Her 17 year old daughter gets knocked up, that's awesome! She quits in the middle of her first term of office, that's awesome! She invents "death panels" out of thin air, that's awesome! There's simply no changing their minds with reality and pesky facts, because they are not listening.
How do we debate crazy? I don't know. It's very frustrating though, because they are having a say in things.
This is really happening, and I'm not sure why. I guess it's mostly fear. The other side has nothing to offer, so they scare the shit out of people and it works. Times are tough, it's nice to be able blame someone. So they just blindly follow the loudest and the craziest - Glenn Beck, Hannity, O'Reilly, Treacher.
There's also the fear of a black President with a funny name. This can't be my America! It's so interesting how when there was a Republican President, it was all about "fighting the terrorists". But when there's a Democratic President, it's all about "let's become terrorists!"
I probably didn't do a great job of expressing myself, but if you just watch the video I think it sums everything up.
There's smart, and there is stupid. This is stupid at work.
p.s. I'm not positive, but i think the guy in the hat might be Jim Treacher.
13 comments:
Crazies are just crazy. We have them here in Canada too, only they like our free healthcare b/c when no one listens to them at home, they can go to our hospital emergency rooms for free and just waste time talking talking talking their craziness. I guess since we have fewer media outlets where they can vent.
Everyone knows that 2+2=JELLO.
Actually, you're wrong. Fo + fo = JELLO!
You may be onto something, Canada: venting stations. People just go and yell about Hitler, charge by the hour.
Canada actually does have "venting stations". Or they used to. It was called "Speaker's Corner". There were little booths on street corners, and you popped in your couple of dollars and then had the camera all to yourself and you could natter on about whatever you wanted. And a couple of times a week all the tapes were edited, the good stuff was spliced together, and then it was broadcast for all the world to see.
It was brilliant. I no longer live in a city with a Speaker's Corner though (my city is too white-bread to have dissenters living in it), so I can't speak to whether or not they still exist in other cities.
It's also how the Barenaked Ladies went viral, a-way-back-when-afore-this-new-fangled-Internet.
thanks for that, Canada. that is awesome. was it on a big network? was it a popular show? i feel like that would be huge. i guess they do something similar on leno's show, but i like a place that's there all the time
The second Canadian comment was from a different Canadian, but I (the first Canadian) will respond. Speaker's Corners booths were maintained and owned by CITY, a small network of local stations. I think they had maybe 5 across Canada in the major centres or something like that? You'd pay a buck or two to vent, and the $ went to charity. The stations were all downtown so the booths themselves occupied prime real estate with lots of walk-by traffic, plus kids who'd come downtown to see bands at the CITY-affiliated Much Music (our lower rent version of MTV).
OMG: on another note I have to share the funniest (to me anyway) thing that happened the other day. I work in a creative (well, sort of) field, as a freelance journalist. To make ends meet I also write advertorial content for Web and mags. Was talking with some ad sales people yesterday about their creative brief, a treatment proposal about a project for a big-box building company I will call Gnome Despot. It culminated in:
Them: "Can you send something proposing project treatment?"
Me: "Ummm"
Them: "Is that ok?"
Me: "Well, I thought your creative brief covered it off well, and y'know, we just talked it out further." "Them: "But can we have something on paper?"
Me: "Like a creative brief?"
Them: "Yes! Can you send a creative brief?"
Me: "Sure. It may look a lot like yours." Them:"Great!"
I don't think the Republicans see how hypocritical they are being (I also don't think any of them know what the words "socialist" and "communist" mean, or the difference between the two). Why is it that suddenly they are just expressing their first amendment rights, but people protesting the Iraq war were un-American and didn't "support the troops"? Every conversation at that time ended with a conservative telling a liberal to "Move if you don't like it!" You know what? If you don't want healthcare reform, move. But you are going to have a bitch of a time finding a first world country that will let you bring your gun that DOESN'T have universal health care. Oh, wait... there ISN'T ONE.
Have fun in Kenya, suckers.
One other thing: I'm tired of all these lunatics screaming that their rights are being stripped out from under them and that this isn't the America they recognize. Really? Were you screaming about the Patriot Act when that was LITERALLY stripping your rights out from under you? And what precisely has changed so drastically in the last eight months that makes this place unrecognizable to you? You're precisely right: they say a bunch of shit that doesn't make any sense and can't explain to you what they mean. It's a fear tactic. They are a bunch of drama queens and not even the good kinds that have parades and wear feathers on their heads.
DAMMIT IRWIN! YOU GOT ME ALL ANGRY AND IT'S ONLY 9:30 IN THE MORNING!
i'm totally with you, valeri! it sucks.
Did anyone notice that the guy at about :57 in the video looks like Kevin Costner?
Bat. Shit. INSANE. That video scares the holy hell out of me.
Amen, Irwin!!!
Bravo Irwin. If you ever want a good laugh, check out "The Fox Nation" message boards. Talk about your crazies. Don't try and post anything rational though because all they will do is call you names. That's the other thing the "factless" love, resorting to calling you "stupid", "moron", or "idiot" if you disagree with them.
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