Idiots piss me off. Specifically, conservative idiots. More specifically than that, conservative idiots who use Facebook to disseminate their idiocy. They get my blood pressure up. But I don't usually respond to them. It's just not worth it. I generally don't take the bait.
But sometimes, I just can't help it. Sometimes, I can't let right-wing idiocy go unanswered, especially if a bunch of their friends are "liking" their post and chiming in with "LULZ UR SO RITE FUK OBAMA" or something similar. I'm only human. I'm not always strong enough to let the idiocy go unchallenged.
Take a couple of nights ago, for instance. First, let me give you a little background on this woman. First, she's an idiot. I kind of gathered that from her other Facebook posts, although they weren't overtly political. Second, she's conservative. I'm sorry, did I just repeat myself? (Just kidding, just kidding, not all conservatives are "idiots.") Third, she just happens to be a former student government president at my alma mater. I didn't really know her, but she added me on Facebook, so I accepted. I got to know her much better through her Facebook posts. And I don't mean that in a good way.
Well, recently, she made a Facebook post that was beyond idiotic. It was fucking infuriating. And it just got worse and worse, until I finally had to wade in. Follow me below the fold for a sample of what trying to cyber-debate with a conservative looks like.
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So there I was, happily scrolling through my Facebook newsfeed, which is pretty clean of any right-wing garbage (I "hide" people frequently if they piss me off). And I saw it. It stuck out like a minority at a Republican National Convention. This:
Notice her follow-up comment. Because it's the "American dream" to store money offshore to avoid paying taxes. Yep, that's what we're all working toward! Fucking moron.
Ugh...so much to rip apart. So many points to make. I couldn't help myself. I typed out a long response destroying her post, and then I thought, "No. Not worth it. I don't even know this person." So I deleted it. But I felt slightly better after typing it out.
I should have just hidden her and moved on. But I didn't. And her comments kept popping up in my news ticker. So I kept following the comments on her post. Soon, thanks to a well-meaning person named David, the discussion turned to something I'm quite a bit more passionate about: marriage equality.
First of all, this dolt can barely put a sentence together, much less a rational thought. All the buzz words are there: Constitution, freedom, freedom of religion. No substance whatsoever. Then again, can I really expect substance from a person posting an article from breitbart.com?
It's so easy to tear these arguments apart--especially the argument about marriage equality infringing on "freedom of religion." It's such an old, tired talking point that falls over when you just blow on it. But I resisted. "No, I don't know this person. I'll let David fight this battle. I'm sure he's capable." And he did do a pretty good job responding, although he lost me at the end of his second comment. (As you can tell from my retelling of the events, my eyes were glued to the conversation at this point.) But then, she responded again.
Words cannot even begin to describe the sheer absurdity of her response. Obviously, this dumbass has absolute no understanding of how marriage works in the United States. I mean, Jesus. She's "all for gay rights"? You know, except those 1,000 rights and benefits civil-unioned couples don't have. Those might infringe on the Catholic Church's "freedom of religion."
At this point, I couldn't stop myself from responding.
I think I was pretty polite. No name-calling, no being overly harsh. Just stating the cold, hard facts.
Oh, I'm sorry. They're not facts, according to Ms. Student Government President. They're "opinions and beliefs." Which I'm "welcome to share."
Hell up to the no. I have a serious issue with somebody who used to hold the top student leadership position at my university confusing facts with opinions and not understanding what the First Amendment does. This is basic shit.
So I responded again. And somebody else (a libertarian, apparently) came along to back me up.
At that point, after waiting around a while for an admission that she was incorrect a vague post expressing respect for my "opinions," I went to bed. The next morning, I got my response...in the form of a non-response. She just deleted the post. But I did see in my notifications that a few more people replied, and I got some "likes" on my comments, so I'm thinking the comment thread didn't go well for her. So, like any good conservative does when the facts don't fit their narrative, she took her marbles and went home.
But maybe--just maybe--she'll think about what we told her. More than illustrating the futility of responding to conservatives, this incident actually motivated me to challenge conservatives more. Even if their minds aren't changed, their asininity will at least be exposed to the sane, movable onlookers.
TOP COMMENTS
September 7, 2012
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From Steveningen:
In my diary Presented with great respect, jennifree2bme put Gabby Gifford's extraordinary moment at the DNC into the perfect perspective.
From greenbird:
i hereby submit for your consideration and seek inclusion to Top Comments this comment by hannah, with genuine admiration for the wordsmith and the multiple images incurred upon reading it: veritable, anemone and prositonician.
From grover:
truthhurtsaz gives us a tour of the cynical tightfisted worldview of Mitt Romney and his ilk in this comment.
From A Mad Mad World:
Please add this comment by NMDad to Top Comments. A brilliant theory for what Romney has been doing with his campaign funds.
From princesspat:
noweasels' comment in Crashing Vor's witty post is an LOL moment.
From ericlewis0:
In Jed Lewison's DNC live blog #11 during POTUS' speech, whitedawn made this rousing comment.
From madhaus:
Great meme crash by denig in this diary by plan9pub reminds us why Romney found Eastwood a kindred spirit.
From bronte17:
LOL.. oh lord I needed that chuckle... jayden has this awesome response to the setup questions about those "willing participants" at Romney events. From the diary post One Photo Shows the Difference Between the RNC and DNC by FiredUpInCA.
I still haven't gotten over the Romney bus circling and honking its stupid horn at Obama events. Totally classless. Wonder who came up with that idea? Probably Romney since it's such a boorish thing to do.
From Clem Yeobright:
After I posted a bland little quip asserting Paul Ryan has Olympic experience as medalist in Synchronized Bullshitting, antirove ran with it with a brilliant riff giving all the details of Ryan's epic performance.
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TOP PHOTOS
September 6, 2012
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