Perhaps it’s that our pundits will begin to realize that contrary to being “real” and “authentic” and “salt of the earth,”some people are just batshit crazy.
Look, I know of people who vote based on whose name is shorter on the ballot. Like, they count the letters up and vote that way. So the idea that this woman won’t vote for Obama because she doesn’t like the sound of his name with President attached to it isn’t all that outlandish to me. Nor is the idea that she might just be a horrible bigot.
I mean, is it me or is some of the blogospheric shock that the country is full of stupid, racist shitbags who say horrible, violent things in public just a little much? I live in the bluest state in the union probably next to New York, and I hear this shitall the time. And it’s got nothing to do with income or location, it’s got to do with laziness and privilege, and in some (rarer) cases the simple obliviousness to the fact that stupid shit comes out of your mouth and other people schooling you on it is not a sign they’re elitist, it’s a sign they’re right and you’re wrong. I meanall the time people say shit and these are people in the People’s Republic, you know?
Maybe I just spend so much time mainlining this crap online, the Freepi and the Cornhole and Mike Huckabee’s MySpace page and such, that when it turns up in real life I’m not actually all that stunned, except that the Freepi actually do exist in real life. It’s easy, watching them through this little screen all day like an ant far, to believe they aren’t real.
A.
i observe my brother. they are real. gullible small minded little boys.
Even though I am about as small town heartland as you can get, I still cringe when I hear the candidates talking about good wholesome heartland values.
Don’t get me wrong. I love the small town life. But there are nuts here just as much as in the big cities.
The cashier where I work was jogging last weekend and a guy in a truck – a naked guy in a truck – pulled over, hopped out, and finished the activity which he had apparently started shortly before he pulled over. Fortunately she was able to run away, since he was otherwise occupied and couldn’t get to her. Love them small-town values.
People don’t like to admit that a good percentage of their fellow man are just whacked. Look at the minority parties in Italy or Austria or Japan or Israel. Where more than two political flavors are allowed some of the flavors are just disgusting. Our kooks are hidden by the two party system.
I think some of the exposure of the ugly and stupid nature of a good fraction of our citizens is a good thing. I’m not going into fainting spells over seeing it because I’ve seen it for a long time but for some people who are decent but sheltered it’s a needed wakeup call.
But it’s not worth an OMFGRNATSHUN IZ CRAZEEE post day after day. ‘Twas ever thus.
When I see people like that woman, this is what I think of.
Thanks for the linkage!