American "Tea Party" Morons

  On 3/22/2010 at 5:26 PM, Obel said:

This will sound like a stupid question, but I'm not mega clued up on this and I'm an outsider, but why are these people so vehemently against the health care bill? What is so bad that they're protesting it? Are they losing out or something somehow?

the big argument from the neocons (they are NOT conservatives), is that we are essentially creating a "socialized" health system, which the media immediately equates with negative connotation (repressive Soviet dictatorships, Cuba, etc etc)

the problem is that this is a complete fallacy.

  On 3/22/2010 at 5:20 PM, Smettingham Rutherford IV said:

  On 3/22/2010 at 5:18 PM, hexson said:

greed is a horrible concept. i believe that people should be entitled to free healthcare, affordable real estate, lifestyle choices (sexual orientation), protection from discriminatory or harrassing behavior, and access to what are currently contraband drugs and narcotics (cannabis etc.). how did we let things get this way?

 

 

greed is an inherent trait in all of humanity, i don't agree with it,but I am as guilty of it as all others.

 

we let things get this way because we let other people speak for us.

i have no problem with some people having more than others, that usually happens because they earned it. however, i have a real problem with people not taking care of the less fortunate. some people are just not intelligent enough to do what we call meaningful jobs, yet everyone should have a purpose in society. i have never been able to see why the street sweeper couldn't have a beer with the high flying wall street banker and have something to talk about. this would is ours. we all have something in common.

  On 3/22/2010 at 5:28 PM, hexson said:

  On 3/22/2010 at 5:20 PM, Smettingham Rutherford IV said:

  On 3/22/2010 at 5:18 PM, hexson said:

greed is a horrible concept. i believe that people should be entitled to free healthcare, affordable real estate, lifestyle choices (sexual orientation), protection from discriminatory or harrassing behavior, and access to what are currently contraband drugs and narcotics (cannabis etc.). how did we let things get this way?

 

 

greed is an inherent trait in all of humanity, i don't agree with it,but I am as guilty of it as all others.

 

we let things get this way because we let other people speak for us.

i have no problem with some people having more than others, that usually happens because they earned it. however, i have a real problem with people not taking care of the less fortunate. some people are just not intelligent enough to do what we call meaningful jobs, yet everyone should have a purpose in society. i have never been able to see why the street sweeper couldn't have a beer with the high flying wall street banker and have something to talk about. this would is ours. we all have something in common.

and I don't think anyone disagrees with you here.

stephen colbert had a piece where he interviewed a bunch of these people and it's basically just an excuse to bake a casserole and hang out with your friends. the tea party people are completely clueless about anything currently or previously happening in politics.

things like this are why it's too depressing for me to remain interested in politics.

@ smett- are you implying that the framers of the constitution should not have mandated representative democracy?

this shit would be worlds more fucked up if the easily-swayed, idiot american public made the decisions.

  On 3/22/2010 at 5:32 PM, theSun said:

@ smett- are you implying that the framers of the constitution should not have mandated representative democracy?

 

this shit would be worlds more fucked up if the easily-swayed, idiot american public made the decisions.

whoa whoa whoa we are getting into a constitutional argument? I don't even know where to begin with that, the founders certainly had GREAT objections to a pure democracy, Im not arguing that.

But you cannot deny that once you elect someone to represent you, everything becomes watered down. Im not offering a solution, just stating the problem...I mean I figured that was a given.

sorry i should have quoted you, just referring to this statement

  On 3/22/2010 at 5:20 PM, Smettingham Rutherford IV said:

 

we let things get this way because we let other people speak for us.

i guess i was just curious what you were proposing

  On 3/22/2010 at 5:40 PM, theSun said:

sorry i should have quoted you, just referring to this statement

 

  On 3/22/2010 at 5:20 PM, Smettingham Rutherford IV said:

 

we let things get this way because we let other people speak for us.

No prob man. When I said that I was sorta implying a basic philosophical premise, that once any man lets another man speak his voice ,it is ultimately not the original man's voice at all.

The teabaggers get me too depressed to even speak. I have one in my family. Thinking about that makes me so incredibly sad. I don't even know how to argue/relate/accept any more. I just can't. There's no room for reason and no room for discourse. I'm legitimately scared for the future of this country, and I don't know what the fuck to do about it.

I worked hard my entire life, I pushed myself through school and law school and racked up a ton of debt so that I could do something meaningful (to me) with my life, but I've had setbacks with jobs and now I can't afford health insurance. And some of my own flesh and blood-- people who, say, actually had health insurance when they where hit by the family history of melanoma -- don't even give a shit. It's heartbreaking. [note: AFAIK I don't have melanoma, knock on wood, but I do have moles that I need to get checked out soon.]

Granted, re: media representation, there's sensationalism to be had, and clearly the media is selecting the most egregious examples. . . but as a result the snowball of idiocy is rolling downhill, and I'm seeing too many people caught up in it for me to just accept the teabaggers as a fringe minority. They are, of course, but their collective voice is getting uncomfortably loud due to media selection. [basically, I'm just agreeing with maus here.]

edit # 2728; sorry, I haven't even finished reading this thread, and I'm not even adding anything new here, I just. . . fuck. :sadface:

  On 3/22/2010 at 5:48 PM, baph said:

The teabaggers get me too depressed to even speak. I have one in my family. Thinking about that makes me so incredibly sad. I don't even know how to argue/relate/accept any more. I just can't. There's no room for reason and no room for discourse. I'm legitimately scared for the future of this country, and I don't know what the fuck to do about it.

 

I worked hard my entire life, I pushed myself through school and law school and racked up a ton of debt so that I could do something meaningful (to me) with my life, but I've had setbacks with jobs and now I can't afford health insurance. And some of my own flesh and blood-- people who, say, actually had health insurance when they where hit by the family history of melanoma -- don't even give a shit. It's heartbreaking. [note: AFAIK I don't have melanoma, knock on wood, but I do have moles that I need to get checked out soon.]

 

Granted, re: media representation, there's sensationalism to be had, and clearly the media is selecting the most egregious examples. . . but as a result the snowball of idiocy is rolling downhill, and I'm seeing too many people caught up in it for me to just accept the teabaggers as a fringe minority. They are, of course, but their collective voice is getting uncomfortably loud due to media selection. [basically, I'm just agreeing with maus here.]

 

edit # 2728; sorry, I haven't even finished reading this thread, and I'm not even adding anything new here, I just. . . fuck. :sadface:

I hear ya.

It's tough.

Has anyone mentioned hipsters or PBR in this thread yet?

  On 3/22/2010 at 6:08 PM, Dan C said:

Has anyone mentioned hipsters or PBR in this thread yet?

dont troll this thread. i'm not even american but this is all about humanity and care for "the people". there is a word for people like me in japan, its : hikikomori. look it up. i'm this way for many reasons. the way people treat one another is one of them.

As fucked up as those are, they're actually kind of funny.

Americans who want a welfare state and aren't retards; come here! Europe will take your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free.

  On 3/22/2010 at 6:13 PM, Yegg said:

 

As fucked up as those are, they're actually kind of funny.

i wonder what its like being a japanese female in america, as my wife has told me on occasion of the ignorance and racism she experienced in UK. what are your thoughts on this?

the irony is only the middle to upper middle class Americans get to go to Europe

wtf? she experienced racism in the UK for being Japanese? when was this? also where in the UK?

Asians are respected in america. We all think they are good in math and have a great work ethic. Americans hate the perception of laziness more than anything

  On 3/22/2010 at 6:20 PM, marf said:

the irony is only the middle to upper middle class Americans get to go to Europe

class is a mindset, only loosely related to income

and yeah what's this jap racist shit in UK? up North somewhere i guess

  On 3/22/2010 at 6:16 PM, ezkerraldean said:

Americans who want a welfare state and aren't retards; come here! Europe will take your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free.

no thank you. i get enough flak for being American on this message board...no need to submit myself to 24/7.

  On 3/22/2010 at 6:21 PM, BCM said:

wtf? she experienced racism in the UK for being Japanese? when was this? also where in the UK?

cardiff, lancashire, isle of wight. 90's to 2006

i'm inclined to believe that this could all end up very, very badly. violence even.

whatever happens i'm going to enjoy it on my tv screen . .

IDM + Tea Partiers =

Any racism anyone experiences in Ireland is because they were scumbag and will beat anyone with eyes. Or because they've never seen a foreign person before.

I live in a city and even I notice that in other countries there are way more ethnicities.

  On 3/22/2010 at 6:31 PM, Gary C said:

LOL!

  On 3/22/2010 at 6:17 PM, hexson said:

 

i wonder what its like being a japanese female in america, as my wife has told me on occasion of the ignorance and racism she experienced in UK. what are your thoughts on this?

My stepmom is Japanese. She has talked about racism before. She grew up in Kansas and used to live in a well-to-do suburb outside of Chicago.

It's usually small things like people changing their tone of voice as if they think she can't understand English and shit. On a few occasions she's encountered some actual bigotry. No one burned any crosses on her lawn or anything like that. What can you do?

One time, my grandma came over for Thanksgiving and said something about something being a "Jap-trick" in front of my stepmom. It wasn't directed at her but my stepmom was like .