Author Topic: proud moments West Virginia  (Read 8379 times)

TL

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Re: proud moments West Virginia
« Reply #15 on: May 15, 2008, 10:42:10 AM »
I just don't agree with living anymore.


Yet we live in a country that produces people like this too


that makes me feel better

I would rather have Dick Cheney or Hugo Chavez as President than Noam Chomsky.  And that's saying a lot.



 ???

Now write me a receipt so I can tip on outta here...

chrisfoll577

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Re: proud moments West Virginia
« Reply #16 on: May 15, 2008, 10:43:41 AM »
Ummmm no it's still pretty depressing.

of course it is depressing to hear an uninformed adult say obama is muslim etc... the naive part of me would just like think there's a little more depth to clinton's overwhelming win in west virginia than the utterances of racism and ignorance in this short video.

Sarah

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Re: proud moments West Virginia
« Reply #17 on: May 15, 2008, 10:45:30 AM »
. . . saying "I don't really know him" doesn't automatically mean "I'm scared of the black guy."

But when a lifelong Democrat cites it as a reason to vote for a Republican, it probably does.

Sploops

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Re: proud moments West Virginia
« Reply #18 on: May 15, 2008, 11:11:31 AM »
What do you expect?  It's West by god Virginia after all and we all know how backwards those people are.  Just ask Michael K from the Cynics.

TL

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Re: proud moments West Virginia
« Reply #19 on: May 15, 2008, 11:14:17 AM »
. . . saying "I don't really know him" doesn't automatically mean "I'm scared of the black guy."

But when a lifelong Democrat cites it as a reason to vote for a Republican, it probably does.

Absolutely.  I apologize for stating the obvious, but the policy differences between Hillary Clinton and John McCain are (at least somewhat) greater than between Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, so do the math, you know?  What's really at stake with someone who'd vote for Clinton over McCain, but McCain over Obama?
Also, again - sorry, but I just have to vent about how horribly dejecting the willful ignorance of the "I think America should be run by an American... ('He is an American') ...He's a Muslim...  ('But he's not a Muslim')  ...Well, I don't agree with that," woman.  You don't agree with facts?  "We have a right to know," she says.  Yeah - you do - he's not a Muslim.  "I don't agree with that."
 ???
And beyond that, Muslim ≠ American?
 :-\
Now write me a receipt so I can tip on outta here...

erika

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Re: proud moments West Virginia
« Reply #20 on: May 15, 2008, 11:15:55 AM »
I'd never be able to have a conversation with someone like that. I'd like to think I could sit down and convince her otherwise, and engage her in a conversation that might make her think about her ignorance.

But I think I'd end up either imploding or shaking her til her brain rattles.

It's amazing.
from the land of pleasant living

Chris L

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Re: proud moments West Virginia
« Reply #21 on: May 15, 2008, 11:37:15 AM »
. . . saying "I don't really know him" doesn't automatically mean "I'm scared of the black guy."

But when a lifelong Democrat cites it as a reason to vote for a Republican, it probably does.

Fair enough, and as a cynic (no Michael K. pun intended) who grew up very close to West Virginia I believe that's  true in most cases, just not every case.   The only other caveat is that Obama's running against a guy who the media's portrayed for years - accurately or not - as a "straight talker" who appeals to (self-loathing) Democrats, so six months before the election there's probably a little more uncertainty for some people than if, say, Obama had run against Bush. 

At the very least, I don't know how the "Obama's a Muslim" crowd reconcile that boneheaded belief with the fact that for 20 years he went to this church they keep hearing about.   Evidently they just believe whatever forwarded email they receive and don't worry about sorting out the contradictions.

todd

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Re: proud moments West Virginia
« Reply #22 on: May 15, 2008, 11:42:17 AM »
The scariest part for me is that these guys are the democrats in town. What the fuck do the republicans say?

dave from knoxville

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Re: proud moments West Virginia
« Reply #23 on: May 15, 2008, 11:46:25 AM »
The scariest part for me is that these guys are the democrats in town. What the fuck do the republicans say?

So far they have not mastered language. But the pictures they are drawing in the dirt with sticks are razor-sharp.

yesno

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Re: proud moments West Virginia
« Reply #24 on: May 15, 2008, 11:49:04 AM »
West Virginia Democrats just never switched over to the Republican party when the rest of the country's rural Democrats did-- they're this weird pocket of throwback Dixiecrats.  I wouldn't read too much into their opinions.

I think the host of the first clip should have been more insistent.  "Since Barack Obama is American, and was born and raised in the United States of America, and since he has been a Christian his whole life and appears to be quite devout, what other reason do you have for not voting for him?"

Not that I think that Christian-ness or American-ness ought to be considerations in the first place, but I can see people falling for the various lie campaigns.

I don't even care about his policies anymore.  I want Obama to win just to irritate these people.

Sarah

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Re: proud moments West Virginia
« Reply #25 on: May 15, 2008, 12:03:44 PM »
Yes, TL, yes and yes.  That particular exchange was just gorgeous.  I once made the mistake of discussing my opposition to the impending war with a woman in the bar (well, I made that mistake more than once, and with people of both sexes, but this particular exchange stands out).  To every argument in favor that she raised, I offered a rebuttal based on fact, but, in the end, it didn't matter a jot.  Even if she got my point when I made it, her brain instantly reverted to the mistaken positions she was used to holding.  The exchange didn't end in fisticuffs, but it could have.

There's a great passage in Mark Helprin's A Soldier of the Great War in which the protagonist slowly and carefully lays out a series of arguments to show two other guys that they're wrong about something.  They are persuaded at every point in his exposition but in the end simply repeat what they said at the outset.  Sometimes, there's just no point.  When I finally accepted that a few years ago--it took me a surprisingly long time--I moved one dangerous step closer to permanent residence in the slough of despond.  Your news about the Republicans gives me hope, however, DfK.


dave from knoxville

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Re: proud moments West Virginia
« Reply #26 on: May 15, 2008, 12:12:33 PM »
Almost heaven


yesno

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Re: proud moments West Virginia
« Reply #27 on: May 15, 2008, 12:23:01 PM »

There's a great passage in Mark Helprin's A Soldier of the Great War in which the protagonist slowly and carefully lays out a series of arguments to show two other guys that they're wrong about something.  They are persuaded at every point in his exposition but in the end simply repeat what they said at the outset.  Sometimes, there's just no point.  When I finally accepted that a few years ago--it took me a surprisingly long time--I moved one dangerous step closer to permanent residence in the slough of despond.  Your news about the Republicans gives me hope, however, DfK.


Mark Helprin shows that not all Republicans are dummies, by the way.  (He's a pretty prominent one.)  (Also I work with and know a lot of very thoughtful Republicans.  The more cynical among them more or less admit to deliberately taking advantage of the rural electorate as a necessary means of gaining power.

dave from knoxville

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Re: proud moments West Virginia
« Reply #28 on: May 15, 2008, 12:25:38 PM »
I would not consider Mark Helprin to be a West Virginia Republican.

I met some Republicans who weren't that unreasonable, but they turned out really chewy, and not in a good way.

Sarah

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Re: proud moments West Virginia
« Reply #29 on: May 15, 2008, 12:27:07 PM »
So Mark Helprin's a Republican.  Another thing I didn't know.  I'm remarkably incurious in that way.  It serves me well.