A "Joke"

[yasmina27]

Bit of background here: A colleague of mine & I torment each other ceaselessly during any election season. We are actually pretty good friends, and respect one another's political views, and engage in reasonable debate. We are both middle school teachers. Without going into long detail, we involve our students in our discussions in friendly ways, as an educational point that it is possible to be friends with someone of the opposite party. We work in a very republican-leaning community where McSame signs outnumbered Obama signs at least 5 to 1.

I know many people believe that teachers should not express their political opinions in school, and I agree with that to a degree. The 2 of us make it a point to demonstrate with the kids that we are friends, even though we disagree. They will come to me and say that Mr. B. said this, and I will respond respectfully. I also make it a point to say that one of the great things about this country is that we are free to disagree. When they asked me why I like Obama, I replied simply that I prefer his plan for education. If they bring up a hot topic, like abortion or gun regulations, I've told them that I won't go there and to research the candidates' positions themselves.

Yesterday, he walked up to me in the hallway (out of earshot of any students, thankfully), and told me the following "joke":

- What does Obama have in common with JFK?
- Nothing, yet.

I just stared at him, dumbfounded, said "That's not even close to funny!", and walked away.

I feel just sick that he is going around telling this "joke". Even another right-winger standing nearby said it wasn't funny. I hope he's not telling the kids this. Obviously, this is making the rounds in the Hannity-Limpdick Kool-aid drinking crowd. Some whack-job will hear this and take it to heart and try to act on it (not, I'm sure, that some aren't already considering it).

I guess I'm just mostly disappointed in him. I thought he was better than that, and I've lost a lot of respect for him.

[niyad]

1. I think I would have asked him if he realized that that "joke" could constitute a threat

on the life of the president-elect.

it is hard when people we regard as friends turn out to be idiots.

[yasmina27]

5. Unfortunately

I'm not good at the quick-witted response. I'm better after I've had time to think through a response.

[proud2BlibKansan]

2. You are right; that is sick

[EmilyAnne]

3. Last night at a restaurant in Cypress, Texas (a suburb of Houston), my parents over heard a man and

his two adult sons loudly discuss Obama's plans to turn the White House garden into a watermelon patch.
These were three grown ass men chuckling at this oh so clever joke.
My mother turned around and gave them a serious glare.
The men looked sheepishly at their laps, having been busted being bigots. They were quiet for a few minutes until the father said, "we should really give Obama a chance. Its the only think we can do at this point."

I think the more people are put in check about these kinds of jokes (your example being far more terrifying), the sooner they will accept that progress has been made and they need to jump on the train with the rest of us.

[yasmina27]

6. Good for your mom! n/t

[Joe Chi Minh]

4. Well, I hope that teaches you not to respect other peoples' political views

simply on principle.

It doesn't mean you have to condemn the person God's behalf, but his or her political views are something else all together; which is not to say that you have to argue the toss with them. Expression of your disagreement and silence is an option.

[yasmina27]

I have several

other friends and family members, outside of work, with whom I refuse I discuss politics.

Guess I'll have to add him to the list.

[Joe Chi Minh]

9. That makes sense. But I can understand how gutted you feel at such gutter-snipe

depravity.

My late mother-in-law recited to me the "joke" I was all too familiar with, about whether Lincoln's wife had enjoyed the opera notwithstanding her husband's murder. And I told her that to me that was just an excuse for feeling cosy about expressing racist views.

We were always at loggerheads. Few people crossed her, which made my truculence all the more incomprehensible and intolerable, but she knew I was right about that, and didn't feel very proud of herself. As sometimes happens even with racists, she was a very complex character and nevertheless in many regards had a magnanimous spirit, when not afflicted by a kind of "bad humour" that came upon her as it had, Saul. The racism was partly a generational thing, I think.

She once refused a group of otter hunters the meal they had ordered at the hotel that she and her husband owned, and sent them packing in no uncertain terms when she heard the nature of their day's entertainment.

[Joe Chi Minh]

11. Repetition, deleted by self.

[Joe Chi Minh]

7. I didn't even realise what he was getting at, at first - thinking he was just

joking about what he considered Obama's supporters' premature adulation; the kind of adulation John and Robert inspired.

[yasmina27]

8. That's the

nice way to interpret his "joke". If that was the intention, I wouldn't have minded as much.

[Cleita]

10. I hate to tell you but you can't have reasonable political discussions

with Republicans today because their party and the ideology has turned into something that is truly unAmerican. I was in high school and college during the Eisenhower administration and we often had spirited political discussions in civics and history classes. None were vile. My teachers then leaned liberal and my parents and their peers were Republican but no one hated each other and tried to make the other side look like they were unpatriotic. To do that would be to think like a Nazi. See we all had experienced Nazi Germany and WWII first hand not so long ago and we new what Nazis were. It was understood then that the Democrats were the working class and Republicans the business class so naturally, each would vote for their better interests but never against their own interests. Of course the cold war with the Soviet Union was going on so everyone who harbored any liking of communism kept it to themselves.

When Kennedy was elected President nothing changed until he was assassinated and Lyndon Johnson got us further into Vietnam beyond a point of no return. Then the screw turned bringing us Richard Nixon and the vile kind of conservative Republicanism that has evolved into what it is today and guess what it's not different from the Nazis. We are accused of being unpatriotic if we disagree with their elected officials. If we are liberal we are accused of everything from treason to baby eating. They raid other countries in our name for their resources, killing and torturing their citizens in the process. They always have a minority scapegoat handy to put the blame on and incite people to follow their agenda because of the hatred they stir up. They have done with impunity what the Nazis did in Germany sixty years ago. The Nazis liked one party rule too and made sure that anyone who belonged to a different party were vilified and made too afraid to speak their mind in public and even vote in opposition. I don't know how they were at telling jokes, but I doubt if they could because what comes out of minds like that is usually mean-spirited and not funny.

[yasmina27]

12. Wow!

Thanks for this great, well thought out response. This is an awesome analysis. My dh is an Eisenhower/Goldwater republican, who voted for Obama, in spite of the bit of racism he harbors. The republican party of today is definitely the republican party of the past. My mother was brought up by republican parents, and to this day votes repub. regardless of who is running for any office.

Very frustrating.

[dixiegrrrrl]

14. That nails it.

My 40 y/o son wants to know " was it like this with Kennedy?".

I will send him what you wrote. It's an excellent summation.

Thank you.

[Joe Chi Minh]

15. Rove's "permanent republican majority" has weird overtones of

Hitler's so-called Thousand Year Reich, doesn't it. People with that particularly aberrant, political cast of mind never seem to learn do they? And unfortunately, they always seem to leave behind something akin to "scorched earth".

But it is such a mad gamble, that they would hold on to power long enough to escape being held to account. I suppose a feature of narcissism.

[orleans]

13. ugh. he sounds like a real dick if that is something he finds humorous.

scary part is that he is actually teaching children.

i wonder how he got the job since he sounds so fucking stupid.

[Iggo]

16. Thanks for spreading it. (n/t)

[ColbertWatcher]

17. Perhaps it's time for a history lesson for your friend.

Hell, you're both teachers.

I'm sure you can come up with something to sufficiently shame his dumb ass and teach another generation of kids what it meant to lose their leaders.

Oh, and please be sure to include all the assassinations in the lesson: JFK, MLK, RFK, even Malcolm X.

I can totally see an entire week of education coming out of this!

One more thing: please take pictures and post them!

[LWolf]

18. This middle school teacher

NEVER shares personal politics in the classroom. I have my kids for 3 years; there is a tight relationship, and I draw the line on sharing religion and politics in my role as a teacher.

I also live in a red area; Obama only lost in my county by a couple of percentage points, which meant he did EXTREMELY well here.

I share my students with two other teachers; a team of 3 of us, and we each voted for someone different in the election.

It's interesting to me that one of them, the mccain voter, got a vicious email from a republican parent when he had students use the local newspaper accounts to compare and contrast the 2 major candidates on issues. He was "evil" because he allowed Obama into his classroom. They have no clue that he voted for McCain. He was shocked at their reaction. What can I say; he's young.

Another local middle school held a mock election on election day. Teachers there told students who they voted for on November 5th. I had dinner with several that night, and they said that the whole thing went very smoothly, with very few adults or students disgruntled. They did a great job of modeling the democratic process.