Have you ever lost your cool w/ regard to the Iraq War?

[bluestateguy]

These days, if I am in a foul mood, and if I hear people cheerfully supporting the Iraq War, then I have to leave the room. Otherwise, I feel like I would say or do something that could get me into trouble. If I'm not in one of these moods then I can usually just blow it off as nonsense that goes in one ear and out the other.

Have your experiences been similar? I don't mean a cool recitation of political talking points, I mean a full blown temper tantrum, or slapping someone, or hitting someone, or throwing something at them. Or ending a friendship. Serious stuff.

[bearfan454]

1. Hell yes.

I almost got fired at work one time for screaming chickenhawk to some freepers.

[madame defarge]

2. I'm mad as hell & I'm not going to take it anymore!!! n/t

[obxhead]

3. about a year ago I got into a very heated debate at work

I wish I hadn't. That fight (verbal) taught me a lot. Now when I hear a debate start I throw out a couple of my best rhetorical ? talking points to stir things up, then quietly slip away. Its so fun to come back 15 minutes later and see red faces.

[Mikimouse]

4. In most cases, I can control myself, but have unloaded more than once

on my brother and father. My profession makes it easier sometimes, as my students are becoming more and more disillusioned with the current regime, and they are voicing their displeasure in class. There are times when I turn over the forum to the class and act as facilitator for a while. IIRC, your professional circumstances are the same as mine, are they not?

[cynatnite]

5. Bad enough I told my RW mother bush is a murderer

That didn't go over real well :eyes:

[madeline_con]

6. Yep, I want to slap coworkers who....

support the war and the atrocities against the Iraqis, and then BITCH about how they can't afford GAS!!!!

I have to hold it in a LOT, being surrounded by "Christian" FREEKERS!!!

AAARRRGGGGGHHHH!!!!! :mad:

:rant:

(I met ONE guy, an Egyptian man, who liked my site and was anti-DUH-bya.)

[Bluzmann57]

7. Oh yeah

There was a guy who threatened to "kick my ass" once because I was pointing out facts about the illegal invasion. Once those words came out of this chickenhawks mouth, I went up to him and pinned him up against a wall and told him "like your fucked up president says,'Bring it on boy'". This guy was wiping poop from his drawers when I had him up against the wall. He whimpered that I wasn't really a peace loving individual and I told him that my patience was FUCKING GONE and someone was going to be made an example of. Understand, I am 6'2" and weigh a lot as well. I have also been involved in wild and crazy brawls in the past. This boy got the message and I decided that he wasn't worth going to jail over. But enough is enough. If it takes kicking ass, then I guess that's what we have to do. It won't change their opinions, but it feels sooooo good and also maybe they will finally leave us alone. Violernce seems to be the only thing they understand. So while I hate sinking to their level, I will, if pushed enough.

[madeline_con]

10. "I hate sinking to their level ..."

One thing I remind those who like to threaten; anti-war does NOT mean pacifist.

Bring it!

[proud patriot]

8. I run about 50/50

50% of the time I keep my cool :shrug:

[karlrschneider]

9. Naw, I never lose my cool, I just shoot the bastards with my Tec 9

& throw the bodies in the lake.

[lildreamer316]

26. Ummm

*small voice* I hope you like me. That is all.

really:ROTFLMAO

[jessicazi]

11. yes.

Today I told a Repug woman, "f$@k you b!tch." Eek. She was screaming at me and other protesters, and was really really angry.

[jessicazi]

12. dupe.

nt

[bluestateguy]

14. delete

Never mind

[susanna]

13. Absolutely.

It was with my father, and it was over-the-top. I rationalize to myself that it only happened because I had just lost a friend there, and had attended his funeral the day before. I know better now.

Now I simply do not discuss it with people, because I find I have a limitless rage associated with ignorance about our so-called Iraq policy. Some people honestly believe the "we're bringing them democracy." I just have to walk away. I simply do not trust myself to ever talk rationally about it again.

[adigal]

15. Yes - Big Time eom

[chalky]

16. Hell, I lost it with my brother, and that was before we even went IN there

Was visiting his house when * speechified about how Iraq was the next target. I couldn't believe my ears when my DEM brother started defending the move. I came back with "what the hell does IRAQ have to do with Osama???!??!" and went on to state how this was doomed to be a complete clusterfuck. Voices were raised, obscenities were tossed back and forth....let's just say the conversation deteriorated from there and it was a while before I went back to visit.

I learned from that experience waaaaay back then that it might be better to leave the vicinity of any rah-rah that blathered on about the greatness of the war.

(On a happier note, it only took one month for my brother to see the error of his ways. And trust me, there's NO ONE more Anti* than someone who once drank the kool-aid, only to wake up later and realize that they've been conned.)

[anarchy1999]

17. One too many times. Possible disolution of a marriage enough? n/t

[gratuitous]

18. Oh yeah

As a tithing member of one of the historic peace churches, I oppose the very notion of redemptive violence, an idea that I picked up from Dale Brown's book "Biblical Pacifism," which he cribbed from Walter Wink's writings.

For folks who don't think we have a national religion, or who think our national religion is some brand of loony fundamentalism, our national religion is a mythical belief in redemptive violence. Redemptive violence is the idea that we or any country can fight its way to peace, or that we can end violence by engaging in greater violence.

The United States has the biggest, most expensive, most powerful war machine ever assembled. We spend more than a billion dollars a day on defense: troops, materiel, bases, maintenance, and the whole magilla. We spend more annually on armaments than nearly the whole rest of the world combined, and yet here we are, totally pinned down in two far-flung corners of the world. And we're no safer today for four years of our military tantrums than we were when George W. Bush took office.

[FreedomAngel82]

19. Yes

I remember once before the election arguing with my dad and stormed out of the place I was at. Heh. Once my dad used the "we haven't been attacked again" crap and I said "not yet anyways." We have a moron who's supposed to be running the country. Oy! Luckily my family doesn't really talk much about politics and where religion is concerned we're on the same page. I'm glad though to have my grandmother, mom and brother who all are like me and despise Bush. I even got my grandmother to watch F911. I wish my grandfather could've seen it (he already didn't like Bush and voted for Kerry). Now days though I don't care and just speak my mind.

[flyoverstate]

20. RE: Losing Cool w/Regard to Iraq War

Yes, all the time. Especially with my husband right after the war started. At the time, he wasn't for or against it, just blindly believed that if the President said we must go to war, then there must be a good reason for it. I lost my cool waaaaay to many times in those early days.

[newyawker99]

23. Hi flyoverstate!!

Welcome to DU!! :toast:

[spacelady]

21. Absolutely. Of course, my brother is a Pentagon spook. n./t

[darkenedhalo]

22. Enraged

Thats how I generally feel. Family, friends and co-workers generally know better than to even broach this subject with me anymore. They get a solid earful when they do. Especially my rep family members. I love pummeling them with facts.

[newyawker99]

24. Hi darkenedhalo!!

Welcome to DU!! :toast:

[darkenedhalo]

28. thank you!

I already love this place!!!

[klyon]

25. yes

sometimes their ignorance just gets to me

KL

[Bigmack]

27. I pride myself...

.. on maintaining my cool. My shrink says I have a lot of supressed violence left over from the Corps and the Southeast Asia War Games. (Our motto: "Hey, we got second place!) So I practice things to say, rather than get caught flat-footed and tending to fall back on hostility.

BUT... I blew it twice.

First time, in a parking lot, some asshole looked at the back of my pickup - at the "Veteran for Kerry" bumpersticker and said loudly "How can you support him?" I looked at the bumper and said louder... "Do you see a bumpersticker that says I give a fuck what you think?.... Get the fuck out of my face, asshole!" I think he was surprised. I was angrier than I should have been. I should have felt better that I crushed him.

Second time, I was in a peace demonstration in a small California desert town, holding a sign that said "USMC Vet for Peace". Some asshole came up and said that I dishonored my service. According to onlookers, I said a lot of incoherent shit but included a lot of "motherfuckers" and "cowardly cocksuckers" and climbed right in his face. Told him to take my sign if he didn't like it. He didn't and left. A little too close to the bad days on that incident.

Today, I practice passive-aggressive put-downs more than think about kicking ass.

[Chi-Town Exile]

29. Yes, but it's worse when I talk about Katrina

I think we've lost some friends over the Katrina debacle.

They keep parroting the party line about the Governor and the Mayor.