Conversation with a Tea Partier (Birther too!)

[Avalux]

It's time I'll never get back, but it sure was an eye-opener.

I was asked out for a drink by a fella I'm acquainted with; from what I knew about him, he seemed funny and interesting. So I said yes and we met yesterday after work.

About 20 minutes into our conversation, he called Obama stupid. Said he's "Harvard stupid" and shouldn't be president anyway because he was born in Kenya. So I sat there staring at him for a minute, realizing I was sitting across from a real-life Tea Party Cruz Crazie. I'm sure he didn't realize yet that any chance he had with me was now GONE.

Then I figured - let's ask some questions! I'm a researcher and at first it was kind of fun. My nut job companion adores Ted Cruz and wants him to be president, wants federal taxes to be abolished completely; believes the Tea Party is a grassroots uprising and really really really has a good time at their rallies (here in Texas)...yada...yada...yada. He spent a lot of time examining Obama's long form birth certificate and agrees it's a fake. And - he has lots and lots of guns because eventually, the "true patriots" will have to fight the federal government to preserve their freedom.

We continued to talk for a little bit, which was mostly me giving him a hard time; but then I grew weary of the game and my brain started to hurt. I thanked Mr. Birther for the conversation and then said sorry I have to go - clearly, we're not compatible. I think it's best for both of us if we don't do this again.

I can't even pretend to be friendly with someone that icky. Ugh.

[Populist_Prole]

1. Thanks for sharing that

There just has to be a tipping point that is reached whereby bona-fide wingnuts have been so inculcated by and within there own self made bubbles that they can no longer function in society. I mean, a person ( apparently that's what he is ) like that getting a push-back more and more as he interacts with others is going to accelerate his or her going off the deep end, which will lead to that person's self destruction sooner than later. I see this dynamic in other wingnuts as well: The only place they're comfortable is among their own...and they are so few and far between to offer any chance of connecting by chance in public, and so they need to gather, like at rallies or among small social gatherings.

[ThoughtCriminal]

2. You could make up anything, post it on a right-wing forum

and if it has an anti-Obama and/or anti-liberal angle, it WILL be believed without question. ANYTHING.

Claim that Obama has ordered NASA to develop satellites that can detect buried gun stashes! U.N. Troops spotted at abandoned Air Force bases! Fabricate sources. Make up non-existent agencies. Site bills with random numbers (HR-1138 would force U.S. Marines to salute the Cuban flag!!!).

Post it and it will spread and become FACT within a few days. And even if Snopes and every other fact-checking site bothers to debunk the crap out of it, it will still be FACT to these nuts because anything that questions their bizarre reality has been "Proven" to have a liberal bias.