Responding to RW email ends up being homage to my racist dad....

[OneGrassRoot]

(I'm not sure why I'm sharing this. I suppose because most of you will understand my fury and disgust. Nearly everyone in my family, and friends of my family, are dittoheads. Racist dittoheads. And I just sent this to all of them in response to yet ANOTHER stupid email, the one about Obama reading Fareed Zakaria's book, with the warning, "A Muslim reading another muslim's book trying to destroy America!!!)



Oh no!!! Not another "scary Obama!!!" email! LOL

Come on, now. I try to be respectful. I really, really do. But, I think I'm jumping off that train.....I haven't seen anything that deserves my respect in the BS flying around via email.

Do you guys who pass around this stuff really investigate anything spewed in these emails? Has anyone read this book to know what it's about? If Glenn Beck or Hannity or Rush don't say to read it, does that make it not worthy or categorically Un-American?

Oh, btw, I just caught the clever "photo verified by Snopes" at the end of the email. Yes, the PHOTO is factual. The rest is bogus, as Snopes explains if you care to go there to read.

First, am I supposed to be nervous about a president who actually READS?

Or am I supposed to be nervous about Fareek Zakaria, a respected journalist (there are so few real journalists nowadays, just people spouting their opinion and somehow being labeled "media"), writing a book that actually is a POSITIVE reflection about America as other countries rise to power? He's a regular on CNN and writes for Newsweek.

He's all over the Internet, often referred to as a young Kissinger. Not some obscure radical muslim writer as this email tries to scare one into believing. He is far from radical -- though what most people mean by "radical" these days is a mystery to me.

I think most people get all wrapped up, shouting out labels in hatred, and don't really know what the heck they're talking about. I know, I know....the hatred really stems from fear. Fear that your world is changing beyond recognition.

For those who DO believe and support these types of emails, can we please just cut through the crap and have everyone pass around the emails that say what everyone REALLY wants to say? Which is: Holy shit, we have a nigger in The White House!!!!!! What the hell is happening to this country for us to have a nigger in The White House?!!!! Where is MY America? The one I fought for?!

Forget all the birth certificate, muslim/terrorist in waiting, radical liberal lies. And that's what they are -- anyone with a grain of sense knows that, unless stupid really IS a pre-existing condition, for which there seems to be no cure and there isn't ANY health reform to fix it.

It's just masking the reason for the intense hatred and fear of Obama. Sure you have political differences, but come on....this guy has kept a ton of Bush's policies in place. He isn't promoting death panels or any of the other nonsense being spread. He hasn't done anything to radically change Washington as yet and, much to my dismay, he may not.

I'm afraid, but it sure as shit isn't because he's black nor because he has a (D) after his name.

Be honest. Be a man/woman, be an American -- say what you really want to say. And pass it forward just as you do the unnecessary lies. I thought those who have a "conservative" worldview hate the idea of being all "politically correct." I agree, I dislike the hypocrisy of it all, too.

So, didn't many of you fight specifically for that freedom: freedom of speech? Why squelch saying what you really think now?

That's what I want to know.

For those who knew my Dad, you'll know that he probably would have agreed with the hatred of Obama. He probably would have passed around the funny "watermelon patch in The White House" jokes. Not sure about the meaner ones that so irresponsibly try to scare people with lies about policy issues. I'd like to think he would have not hit "send" on those, unless he knew for a fact the email was truthful.

In fact, I firmly believe he left so quickly because he knew he wouldn't be able to take seeing Hillary and Obama on the screen, fearing one of them might actually be president. LOL. He was a self-professed racist and bigot. And you know what? I respect that he admitted it and never tried to hide it.

I will always respect his honesty.

"Say what you mean to say," is what he'd often advise. Don't cloak it in bullshit. Say what you mean to say.

I'm writing this with what I know is my Dad's support. He knows I'd be a hypocrite if I let The Stupid keeping making my blood pressure rise without responding to it. I believe he sees an awful lot of hypocrisy where he is, so I know we're in more agreement now than ever.

I believe he sees a lot of things where he is -- and how there are much bigger fish to fry, and more important things in life, than being afraid that a world ruled by old white men is coming to an end.

Of course, it's primarily old, white men who ARE the ones afraid. And it's primarily old white men stoking the fire and laughing all the way to the bank as they make a fortune off of ignorance and bigotry: Glenn Beck, O'Reilly, Hannity, Lou Dobbs, Rush Limbaugh.

Good luck with that fear and hatred. It'll eat you alive, and there's so much more productive things we could be doing to make lives better for all of us.

Being honest -- with ourselves and others -- is a start, in my humble opinion.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

1. K&R

Perfect.

Your dad is proud...

As he should be, too...

:patriot:

[mnhtnbb]

2. Wow. That ought to get a rise out of somebody.

[babylonsister]

3. Very thoughtful e-mail here. Perhaps you will have shamed

someone in some small way. I hope so.

[jwirr]

4. Friend I hope you are prepared to be kicked out of the family. That

was a great letter but guaranteed to raise the ire of a racist.

[LooseWilly]

5. Now I feel like buying a Fareed Zakaria book...

[Duke Newcombe]

6. Well Said. n/t

[Vinca]

7. Have you gotten any responses?

I can't imagine being surrounded by that kind of thinking. It must be really hard for you.

[OneGrassRoot]

9. Nothing yet. I tend to be ignored when I reply with facts. However...

this is the first time I've been so blunt about the racism, in no uncertain terms, as being at the heart of these emails.

I never expected to mention my Dad when I started writing...but it just evolved that way.

This has gotten me VERY emotional this Sunday afternoon.

:cry:

Yes, it has been an extraordinary challenge being raised in such an atmosphere and, unfortunately, still living surrounded by those who love Palin, Beck, etc., and called me hateful names during the election.

And I don't even have family here! Strangers did that!

lolol

[stop the bleeding]

10. Well done and good luck. nt

[OneGrassRoot]

8. Thanks for the support, you guys.... :)

I was pushed over the edge today, after a week from hell. No patience, no tolerance. No compassion for The Stupid. No more.

Thanks for being here, DU and DUers.

:hug:

[Tangerine LaBamba]

11. Bravissimo!!!!

That's a brilliant piece of work, right from the heart, beautifully reasoned and clearly stated.

Of course, the people to whom you directed it won't understand it. Too many big words, too many concepts, too many paragraphs.

They'll keep pestering you, and you're going to have to learn to block them or ignore them. You have dignified them with all the time and attention they deserve.

From now on, they are beneath your contempt, and, my friend, you just may have lost what you regard as "family," but which, if you look closely, was never really your family at all....................................................

[PA Democrat]

12. I'll bet those folks don't even know that Fareed actually SUPPORTED invading Iraq

back in 2002. Here's a link to a Newsweek column he wrote on the topic:

http://www.fareedzakaria.com/ARTICLES/newsweek/080502.html

[Love Bug]

13. Good for you!

If they have any shame left in them they ought to feel it.

[OneGrassRoot]

14. The one reply thus far in its entirety:

(On Edit: No family members or close friends of the family have responded; I don't know the person who responded below)

(Please note: This isn't directed at anyone in particular. It's a general "reply all" to one of the dumbest emails that I have ever seen)

Thanks for including me in this email. It shows just how much kool aid is still being consumed in this country....by an ever decreasing few....on a daily basis. Thinking Americans knew what we were getting when we woke up the morning after the Grand Debacle. We were shown repeatedly just what kind of person BHO was, this community organizer with little experience in anything else. We witnessed the radicals he hung out with, whose living room where he kicked off his political career, where he went to church and who his preacher was. We heard him deny he knew Bill Ayres and his lovely wife, never heard his preacher of 20 years utter a single racist comment, and that somehow he never had any dealings with Tony Rezko. We heard his shameless wife say she was never proud of her country, then try and backtrack and tell us she didn't say that, then pretty much disappear from the spotlight. As the mainstream media looked the other way, some in the media researched and informed us of the scary past of this marxist sympathizer. And scary it is and continues to be.

We listened to lie after lie from him, flip flop after flip flop. He made John Kerry look like a stand up individual. Why, he even suggested we give breathalyzer tests to children with asthma, and that people in Austria speak Austrian. Fast forward to today, we have seen his shady administration, cobbled together to include the most gutless tax cheats and asset hiders, chip away at what made America great. They have asked citizens to snitch on each other if what we say doesn't fit his agenda. By the way, how fast did that get buried, after we rose up and called him out on it? Every week, his press conman Gibbs comes out and tells us that what we just heard him or robots in his administration say, wasn't really what was said. We read about his planned death panels he wants in the Obamacare bill, and how this bill will fund abortions, and we take off of work and protest against this nonsense. We hear him call hard working policemen, doing their job, stupid. Really, how dumb of a statement is that for a president to mutter! More and more of the morons that voted for him are apologizing daily, his bumper stickers are coming off of cars faster than they went on.

People like you throw around the n-word as if it was nothing. We won't let it be forgotten, that people in your party were the ones standing in the school doors, preventing blacks from entering way back when. That your president at the time didn't want to sign a bill, introduced by Republicans, that would allow blacks the right to education or to vote. We won't let it be forgotten, that a democrat senator from WVA was a card carrying KKK Grand Wizard, and he also throws the n-word around like nobody's business. Although you would like to make the issues we have with this president (he's not my president) about race, that dog simply won't hunt.

The real Americans will continue to hope this president fails, and so far he is not disappointing us. Just look at the polls! Read 'em and weep. He is falling out of favor in all states across this land. People are waking up everywhere and smelling the coffee. And alas, this is what you get when you put a know-nothing, inexperienced lad in position to do a man's job. We are going to first right this ship in November 2010 and put her back on course in 2012. Marches on Washington DC, grass roots (not like Axelrods astroturf phonies) organization and real Americans fighting for whats right is going to propel us to correct the error.


And my reply before my first cup of coffee. Too tired to deal with these people any longer..... :eyes:

I'm simply acknowledging your reply. I strongly disagree with most of what you wrote, but I'm acknowledging it. I stand by what I said, as it is my opinion based on what I observe and read.

I was born in '63, so I wasn't old enough to support any party during those tumultuous times. Actually, I still don't support any party -- I support what's best for this country, though we are a greatly divided nation on what IS best.

Nothing to be done about that. We want two different worlds. I suppose that's why people see what they want to see and hear what they want to hear. Be it the kool aid you think I'm drinking, or the death panel-type nonsense you choose to believe.

Obama has my strong support to turn some things around in my eyes (by the way, I'm also not thrilled about many of the people he's chosen to put in key positions), but I most certainly hope he doesn't fail, just as I hoped Bush wouldn't fail, though in my eyes he did.

Whatever happened to supporting the president (the rightwingers never specified Republican) during a time of war or else you're unpatriotic? I don't subscribe to that meme, but the right most certainly did. You all certainly did a huge about-face on many things you deemed Un-American when Obama got into office.

Good luck to everyone. We need it.

[noiretextatique]

18. you may want to remind this person

that today's republicans were yesterday's democrats in the south. they are the very same people who probably still oppose integration, and definitely call obama the n word. their worries and fears about obama emanate from the same place as their worries and fears about integration: their own putrid, racist souls. most real liberals weren't yelling at little black children trying to get an education. those people are today's teabaggers, birthers, and deathers.
they supported eight years of failure, death, and destruction with bush, inc. how in the world CAN obama be any worse?

:applause: thanks, for taking these folks on. they need several good talking tos.

[snake in the grass]

15. This is excellent and...

...cannot be said often enough. I hope you post some of the responses, assuming someone will actually have the guts to react to it.

[OneGrassRoot]

16. I just posted the only reply, above your kind post. :)

The typical Rev. Wright, Michelle hates the US, everything about Obama is a radical liberal (I wish!) type of response. I think I'm finally and completely totally weary of these people and have no desire to try to awaken anyone to the truth any longer. Facts be damned in their world. They can have their death panels and fear and anger.

I choose a different path.

Thanks. :)

[snake in the grass]

17. This one sure has the narrative down, huh?

Don't waste your time any further. It doesn't matter what you say, what reality is, or how graciously you present it. They will always be like this.

Have a nice day.