I was attacked on 9-12. I really didn't understand what was going on until I put it all together while tossing and turning in bed last night...something very different and strange had happened over the weekend and it took me a while to figure it out.
I have a Facebook account. I really don't do that kind of thing...I find it rather annoying when folks that just are crazy about Facebook write things like, "I just ate fish for dinner." Well, big friggin' whoop! It all seems so narcissistic to me. I only started a Facebook account because an old friend asked me to be his Facebook friend. He lives in a different county, and so I bit...over the months, a few folks here and there have found me on Facebook and asked me to be their friend...I've known them all.
In early August...a couple of new folks asked me to be their Facebook friend. One was a woman whom I'd grown up with. We'd gone through all 12 years of school together. She was even my "girlfriend" for a while in fourth grade...of course that meant nothing...just something you'd say at that age. She'd only shown up to one of our high school reunions...we've had three...a 10 year, a 20th year...and a 30th year. Well, of course I let her be my Facebook friend. Another guy also asked me to be his Facebook friend at about the same time. This guy and I have no relationship other than he and I are on a list that follows our favorite football team. As a matter of fact, this guy is extremely right wing...that information has come out on that sports team list. So, I also let him be my Facebook friend.
Well...neither of these two folks have ever posted a peep on my Facebook...nothing...until this past weekend.
On Friday, I'd posted some very interesting facts...dealing with the wealth gap in the USA, which hasn't been this bad since before the Great Depression. I'd posted facts about the gini index, which ranks countries according to inequity of wealth...I'd posted facts about poverty levels in countries...and I posted the facts about the cumulative deficit of the USA since the time of McKinley. It shows clearly that the bulk of all of it (71%) has occurred during Republican president's tenures, while 29% of it has occurred during Democrat president's tenures. It blows away that myth we've all been told for 40 years that Democrats are the huge, wasteful spenders...and Republican's are so frugal and fiscally conservative...it just is not true, when you look at the...facts.
I put this information on my Facebook page on the heels of Warren Buffet telling President Obama that the tax rate on the wealthiest must be increased. He used an example telling Obama that a secretary getting paid $33,000 dollars a year has a 25% Federal tax rate...while he, the second richest person on the planet, has a 16.5% Federal tax rate.
Well...havoc ensued. My two newest Facebook friends since a little over a month ago...early August...went off. The guy attacked first...telling me to "give it up." He stated that being taxed at all is unconstitutional and that the "law of the land" must again prevail. He wrote the government has only passed unconstitutional laws since the days of FDR...and anything related to health care would be unconstitutional. He wrote that all the facts I'd offered up were all lies.
Then my old school friend immediately backed him up...stating that he was absolutely right...she wrote "the tea tastes great from here." I know these two people do not know each other...so...OK...a couple of Teabag Patriots going off and supporting each other, but it happened immediately as soon as one of them wrote something. It felt coordinated.
Then it started to get interesting...another of my Facebook friends who happens to be a Kossak, BTW, chimed into the discussion and wrote this, "So the government has screwed up all those publicly funded community colleges and state colleges for people who can't afford to go to Harvard or Yale? Since when is providing "equal opportunity under the law" un-constitutional? If government screws up everything, what about the WILDLY popular programs of Social Security and MediCare? I see ignorant people ranting," Keep your government hands off my MediCare!" They don't even realize the government is running THAT! What about those "socialist" programs like firefighters, police departments, road departments, and all those other things that make our day to day lives work?"
Then the weirdness really got underway. I mean weird...my old school friend wrote in response, "Your facts are incorrect. Medicare and social security are seriously underfunded and in trouble as we move forward into the future for those who really need (which in essence proves my point, not yours)....and the last college I went to (which wasn't Harvard or Yale) took my money with no problem to pay tuition, books and living expenses. Your...argument about state funded schools is off. The government has successfully run the post office just about into the ground. Their track record is apparent. You just keep drinking that koolaid............
Well, what a strange thing to write...this women writes that Medicare and Social Security are underfunded which proves her point. What point?...the only points she'd actually made so far are "your facts are incorrect," and that "the tea tastes great from here." But she offered NOTHING to prove or back up her point. Apparently, in her world...just stating something makes it true...actually having fact means your facts are incorrect...in essence, you must be lying, when you state facts.
Hummm...facts lie...just opening your mouth and start spewing words...that's the truth (shades of Sarah Palin perhaps?)
Uh...ohh....I tried to take over by stating, "These charts I put up don't say anything about government run things...they don't say anything about college tuition or the post office...they don't say anything about Social Security or Medicare funding...ALL they show, is money...how normal folks have had stagnant wages for a decade...how the deficit was accrued...and which political party is...responsible for the lions share of that...and how the inequity in wealth between the top 1% is vs. the lower 90% is going...due to huge tax cuts on the top folks. These charts show money...that's all. The only political thing they do show is the lie we've been fed for 40 years...that the Democrats are the big spenders. Not true. It has only been about WHO gets to spend the money...As Dick Cheney said, "deficits don't matter." He's right...as long as you're a Republican. Now, get a Democrat in there that wants to figure a way to get folks something truly basic for living...health insurance reform...and all hell breaks loose."
And the reply from her, "You are so far off the mark, with all of your ranting and raving, it isn't even worth my time and effort to follow up with a comment. I do not have to justify my remarks or statements. Don't assume you know who I am based on my agreement with one of your friends or my disagreement with another. There is actually only one side of this debate, not two. The other ones who are turning this country into a socialist state are so naive - including the government."
GREAT! So, I state facts and figures and the truth. I have charts and graphs...she simply states "you are so off the mark." I'm just "ranting and raving." And "the facts are incorrect." BUT, she then lets me know she does not have to justify her remarks or statements. Wow...just wow!
So, let me get this straight one more time...stating facts and the truth and presenting reality is ranting and raving...and all the facts are wrong and I'm off the mark. BUT, she doesn't have to prove to me in any way how or why the facts are wrong. Facts are lies...and she doesn't have to justify how...just say they are lies.
OK...so you get the idea. I had to de-friend the guy...he was just getting way over the top...how public schools are illegal...fire departments are illegal...how police department are all illegal...because they are all socialist....then he got all into talking about his guns and ammunition...he was inching towards violence on the computer screen, to be honest...so I just got rid of him.
I kept trying to have a discussion with my old school friend...I wrote to her, "Why I did this...and shared it with you all...is in hopes that you are all sane people who still believe in truth...and facts...and reality."
I'd wanted to get her to have a discussion with me about facts...and try to dial down her passion. Boy, was I wrong in attempting that!. I did just the opposite. Every fact I brought up...she simply dismissed as a lie. Every bit of truth and reality I was trying to have a discussion about...she dismissed as total socialist brainwashing. This was a serious waste of my effort. She was just emotional...and totally passionate about...I'm not even sure...apparently it was in attacking someone trying to have a real discussion.
So, I stopped. I realized these people will not have a rational, logical discussion because they DON'T ACCEPT FACTS. They want to drown out facts, and truth and reality...just shout it down...just call every truth a lie. If you state a truth...you are ranting and raving. They shout you out in person...or with pixels on the screen. They are totally irrational. And, they DO NOT have to justify their point of view.
These folks are zombies...they want to dismantle our society and government. I know they absolutely want to ultimately destroy Medicare and then Social Security...and I know they want to bring down public schools as well...this is not new information.
Why they can't see they are wishing for the destruction of our civilization is beyond me. They are just "drinking the tea." They seem intent on the creation of no communal structure...no societal support for all the needs we all share in common. They seem to truly wish for turning the USA into, I guess, a bunch of broken down separate areas that each fend for themselves...like some sort of tribal units...something like Afghanistan I presume.
They want to destroy civilization.
And last night, tossing and turning in bed...it struck me. These two people both started their attacks specifically on 9-12. Was that why they wanted to be my Facebook friends in August? Is that part of the plan...get all networked up with folks and then attack anything not Glenn Beckian in thought? Is that part of the 9 principals of Glenn Beck?
Of course, this exchange was "public" in the sense that everyone else who's my Facebook friend saw it as well. Have any of you had a similar experience? It felt planned to me...like they were lying in wait and then pounced once the day came to do so.
They are living on another planet, as Barney Frank says. He is also correct in that trying to have a discussion with them is like talking to a dining room table. We have the facts and hopes of creating a better country...they have passion only...no facts...nothing other the desire to destroy what we've built over all the years this country has been going.
Obama has just got to stop trying to get across to these people...they've already made their minds up...there simply is no rational discourse going to be allowed.
The current meme is just this, "you lie," no matter how truthful and forthright you are being. That's all...that will suffice...just "you lie" and "I don't have to justify my remarks or statements."