Scene: Early morning, September 22, 2012. A small town police officer and a highly decorated General meet in a 1 chair barbershop in Kilmarnock, Virginia. I am in the barbershop waiting on my boyfriend who is getting his bimonthly haircut. I am pretending to read the local newspaper. Kilmarnock, Virginia, is Mayberry RFD for the 1 or, if I'm being generous, 2%. Located on Indian Creek and near the Chesapeake Bay it is home to many privileged white people and those who serve them. More beneath the tasty DK cheeto.
What follows was like something out of Twin Peaks to this liberal mind. Officer "Bob" walks into the barbershop and says "Good Morning Don!" (Don is the proprietor). "Morning Bob", he replies. "I left my coffee mug in here a couple of days ago." "Have you seen it?" "Yes, it's just over that young lady's head on the shelf", says Don. Bob retrieves the coffee mug, just beyond my head, and proceeds to hang out on Saturday morning.
"Well Don, thank you. I've been missing this mug. Ya know Don, I've been thinking about the Founding Fathers, the Constitution and original intent." "Do you know what I mean?" Don grunts and keeps cutting my boyfriend's hair. My boyfriend side-eye balls me knowing I'm on this conversation like an English Setter on a hunt.
"Well Don, the Founding Fathers want us to take our country back." "It's written in the Constitution you know." Don grunts. "Soon we will have our country back and that is how the Founding Fathers intended it to be." Don grunts. The bell rings and who enters but the General. The General who is probably in retirement but is on this occasion in full uniform. (Don't ask me the stars - boyfriend insists 4, but I can't say for sure. Highly decorated is what I can offer). "Morning General!" "Morning Bob", replies the General. Then we get a recitation of "I left my coffee mug here but Don found it", story. (Seriously, the officer sounded like he had a head injury and/or obsessive compusilve disorder when it came to the temporarily lost coffee mug).
I wish I could make this more interesting, but what ensued between the Officer and the General was just Fox talking points. Predictable. No overt Obama or racial anything. The overheard conversation between Officer Bob and General So and So, was a dissertation on Founding Fathers, the original intent of the constitution, taking our country back, and the officer's lament that he had left his coffee mug at the barbershop. Don, the barber, when asked for agreement on anything, continued to grunt and cut my boyfriend's hair. The dialogue between the General and the Officer continued for about 10 minutes until a Hispanic Mother, Esmeralda, and her young son rang the dingy bell on the front door and got in line for Santos' haircut. After a polite acknowledgment of Esmeralda, "Good morning Esmeralda", the Founding Fathers conversation between the General and the Police Officer ceased. After one more acknowledgement of the lamented and now recovered coffee cup, Officer Bob left wishing us all a good day.
Fast Forward to today November 21, 2012. Boyfriend returns to Kilmarnock for business and to get his hair cut-sans me - so what follows is 2nd hand. Conversation in the barbershop this morning was ALL about stocking up on guns, rifles and bullets since Obama was re-elected. My boyfriend was laughing when he relayed all of this to me. I don't find it funny at all and told him so. This is ignorance. This is DANGEROUS unfounded ignorance.
Sigh. I am not the "jerk whisperer". I am re-thinking this. I am thinking these antiquated and hateful espousements need to be laughed at loudly. These people do not deserve our respect. They need a "ridicule out" of the public arena. I think we here need to acknowledge the obvious. There is racism in the Republican party. There is authoritarianism in the Republican party. The Republican party feels threatened by the last election. We need to laugh at them and let them know that the hatefulness will NOT be tolerated and good luck with the "tokenism". To do nothing less, is to acquiesce to their unfounded fear and paranoia. A Nation divided cannot stand. We here at DKos should work hard to shut down Fox News. Fox News, Rush Limbaugh are poison. We should say as much. To quote President Obama: "Enough!" We are moving forward.