My mom, who grew up in the 30's-40's and 50's said things have never been this divided

[Taverner]

This is a Flint Daughter

Her dad worked for AC Spark Plugs

Her mom was a professional seamstress

She was the original latchkey child!

She was aware of politics since the 40's when she used to write either "Tojo" or "Hitler" on each space of toilet paper on the roll just to do SOMETHING

I mean, she was 10 years old during most of WWII

Grandpa was a Jew who had "converted" to Catholocism during the turn of the century. When he saw things were getting scary in the first decade of the new milennium, he went to the US

Grandma was a Jew who's parents had "converted" to Catholocism during the turn of the century. She was born and raised in Chicago (yay Chi-Town!)

They (or their parents) knew intolerance was about to overtake Poland so they left

It was better than if they stayed (see: The Holocaust)

Both dad and mom were part of historic strikes - the great sit down strike, that was grandpa

Not to be outdone Grandma had her picture in the paper having protested herself

-----------------------------

As my Mom puts it, "Rosie the Riveter" was a big influence on girls of that age. It showed that women COULD be a part of the machine that destroyed Hitler and Tojo.

It meant as a woman you were not some extraneous appendage of a man, but you could be part of a positive thing - but I digress

------------------------------

Watching this Teabagger Shit right now, she can only think of the nationalists who kept her father from suceeding, her mother from suceeding.

It reminds her, as she says of the "Brownshirts of Germany in the Thirties."

The Sturmabteilung (SA) that helped Hitler to power.

Of course, the rest is history.

But keep this in mind when viewing the Teabaggers.

Like the SA (adjusted) they are "American to the Core!"

Like the SA they are the "Real Americans!"

Keep this in mind....

I don't know where to take this from here...

[Bicoastal]

1. Obama is NOT going to roll over and play dead for a bunch of third-rate wannabe fascists...

...you can take that one to the bank.

[Taverner]

8. I hope so

I so hope you're right

Let me put it this way, if I'm wrong (I'm a cynic) no one gets anything

If you're right, I will find a mini-keg of Bell's Two Hearted Ale and bring it to you!

[MadMaddie]

12. Not just Obama but the rest of America will not tolerate

these activities much longer, the teabaggers and their inciters have already crossed one line, they will cross the other line with violence and then all bets are off. We are not afraid of them.....they just haven't figured it out yet.

[monmouth]

2. The "Rosie the Riveter" gals were let go as soon as the "boys"

came home, I remember those days even though I was born in '40. My single aunt (at the time) was furious that those good paying jobs had to be given up by the women. Glad your family survived so well.

[Taverner]

4. Yes I know...

But those posters - they influenced a generation of women (if not two)

Thank whatever for the law of unintended consequences!

[Ikonoklast]

3. I dunno. The Sixties were pretty violent.

War protesters getting shot, civil rights marchers beaten and killed...

This is all the death rattle of a dying conservative ideology as it schisms and fractures.

The fratricide in their ranks will soon commence.


Buy lots of popcorn.

[Taverner]

5. I am not saying we should go back to those days at all

I am just saying look at what one unintended graphic did for generations of women

And it would be nice if we as a nation could stop beating each other to death...

[ScreamingMeemie]

7. That's what my father says. It hasn't gotten that bad...yet.

But now, after this weekend, I am afraid.

[RKP5637]

10. 60's sure were... the war protests and deaths, DC burning during the fight for

civil rights, etc, etc. Plus the assassinations. To me, this country has a history of violence, true, not as bad as many, but we sure have had our share. I do really think this country is really really divided anymore.

[jpak]

13. Not to mention both Kennedy assassinations and ALL of 1968 (the worst of the worst)

I don't get that same OMFG feeling from the present lameness from the Right....

[awoke_in_2003]

15. "This is all the death rattle of a dying conservative ideology"

beware the wounded and dying beast.

[Ikonoklast]

18. They have a real problem on their hands, however.

Teabaggers are *not* going to go away, my feeling is they will feel even further betrayed by their handlers, and will turn on them.

Their anger will turn inwards as they look for someone within their ranks to place the blame for their failures.

The first shots have already been fired by the Republican branch of the party trying to reassert control over the rabble.

[awoke_in_2003]

25. But I wonder what will happen...

to make the Rep. Party come out and denounce this "movement" in force. I don't see it happening until blood is shed. Thought enough had been shed in the 60's, but their hatred knows no bounds.

[Taverner]

28. It ain't gonna happen

They did a value prop assessment a while ago

Turned out they can only benefit from this SHIT

[awoke_in_2003]

29. You are probably right...

even if several instances of physical violence occurred, they would be written off as "bad apples"

[KILL THE WISE ONE]

6. that is what happens when class warfare is practiced by republicans

[Taverner]

9. The Proletariat vs the Proletariat who thinks they are the Bourgeoisie

Made in America

[Fla Dem]

11. Also grew up in the 50-60-70's. There was always division, the difference

today is the internet and 24 hour cable babble. There were raw feelings during the McCarthy witch hunt, Kennedy's run for the presidency, Nixon's terms as President, during the civil rights movement and during the Vietnam War. But for national news you only got the 6:00 news and the newspapers. There have always been radicals on both sides. But with cable and the internet, Republicans have become much more aligned with their radical fringe, because that's all they have to hang onto anymore.

[Hardrada]

19. There was a lot of nut radio on in the Sixties. My grandfather

listened to some of it but I don't know what the hell for since he never voted for a republican his whole life.

[Cleita]

20. Back then, people just did it for laughs.

No one took those turkeys seriously.

[Hardrada]

21. Some friends and I listened to some of that stuff

when we had ingested tetrahydrocannabinol and were quite wrecked. Big mistake since one of my chums was almost convinced evolution (EEEEVILution!!) was wrong. I think he was kidding us but we took him out for a walk anyway. Say, maybe that's how the famous Jesus Freaks got started. Boy, were they a pain in the Kiester!!

[laughingliberal]

30. My parents listened feeling it is wise to keep tabs on the enemy.

Funny, though. A lot of what was considered far right wing ideology in those days is considered 'moderate' today. We have Democrats today advocating positions that would have shocked them.

[2Design]

14. never been this televised n/t

[tridim]

16. Cable TV and the Internets altered the perception of our divisions

I really don't think we're more divided today, it's just that the media and the RW lie machine amplify it.

[Taverner]

22. Yes I think you hit the nail on the head there n/t

You said it all

[GreenPartyVoter]

24. And if they aren't amplifying it, they are manufacturing it.

[Cleita]

17. I grew up about the same time as your mother except ten years later and

she's right. My mother was also an immigrant, but from South America. I have never seen people this crazy over imaginary problems, while blissfully unaware of the real ones before either. :shrug:

[Taverner]

23. It's scary

Mom used to mention meetings where they'd try to pull her father into politics because he was blonde/brown haired and had blue eyes - but ethnically he was Jewish so he didn't join.

[laughingliberal]

31. Hell, my husband moved to Mississipi in the 70's and was recruited by the KKK

He listened politely to their appeals to join them and then proudly announced he was Catholic. They couldn't get out of his office fast enough.

[Taverner]

33. Catholicism is the thing that will blow this wide open

Because in the end, no matter how they spin it, total COMPLETE OBEDIENCE is all they will ever want

[laughingliberal]

34. Could be. nt

[Taverner]

35. Exactly - Could Be...

...

[Odin2005]

26. I was born in 1986. I was taught in school that we had evolved beyond such bigotry and hatred.

This incredible explosion of bigotry that started up in the summer of 2008 was a terrible shock to me. At the time a normally reasonable co-worker started spewing nonsense about "Obama wanting to give the country to The Blacks" and I was flabbergasted and disgusted, especially because this woman wasn't a Wing-Nut by any stretch, she was a moderate on the issues who grew up in Vermont and supported Hillary.

[Taverner]

27. I hear you brother

I was brought up to think this bigotry was behind us

But clearly it is not... :grouphug:

[laughingliberal]

32. The RW reactionaries have been here all along. They were not quite as vocal for a few years but they

have not gone anywhere. Their tactics and even their rhetoric is the same. When they are being polite their code words are 'freedom,' 'patriotism,' and 'Christianity.' I've heard it from them since my family was fighting them in the sixties and it's the same shit now.

[Taverner]

36. Funny how in the end, it was racism that brought them out of the woodwork...nt

[laughingliberal]

37. In the 70's I really thought we had made real progress

In the 80's I realized they were still among us but more insidious, harder to pin down. They had learned not to say n*****r in public. And the ruling class has always known how to use the bigotry to get people to vote against their own self interests. What else could get people who are drawing SS and Medicare out protesting to protect a free market ideal that would see them destroyed if it could?