August 16, 2007

My Right-Wing Dad A blog about those forwarded emails from Dad. Early on, I dutifully hit the 'delete' button without a second thought, but lately I have taken to reading them... They have a certain thunderous Bush-era tone I find laughably repulsive, yet strangely addictive. My dad said his old boss sends them to him, but where do they originate? Who dreams them up? Karl Rove and friends? Perhaps these messages could be considered menacing, of the same simplistic mindset that gave rise to the Nazi party, or maybe they are the balancing viewpoints of a healthy democracy—what do you think? via DadFilter
posted by petebest 17 years ago
  • AstroSpam?
  • After reading several of them I really do wonder where they come from. They seem to be written by one/few people. On the sarcasm/parody note this comment from Der Bluegel was pretty sweet: ATTENTION PATRIOTS: It is a well known fact that Madalyn Murray O'Hare (the Pope of Atheists) intends to outlaw all religious broadcasting in our blessed US of A. Also, please be aware that Barrack "Hussein!!!" Obama is a radical Muslim whose mother was a "white atheist". Furthermore, Katrina Refugees (lazy, criminal, diseased blacks) are invading towns in Utah and taking advantage of our incredible hospitality. Finally, remember when all the Mexicans stayed home from work? Crime totally went down that day. Seriously. This is obvious since we all know that Mexicans are criminals. PASS THIS ALONG TO EVERYONE YOU LOVE IF YOU DONT YOU'LL HAVE SEVEN YEARS OF BAD LUCK, KEEP THE FLAG FLYING 9/11 NEVER FORGET USA NUMBER ONE FOREVER~! posted by Avenger at 9:20 PM on August 15 [2 favorites]
  • Extreme Right Wingness appears to share all the symptoms of a major psychological disorder if not a full-blown mental illness.
  • If you don't respond to this comment, your morning coffee tomorrow will be secretly laced with owl semen.
  • Promise? D'oh!
  • Oh boy, can I relate to this one. I've got an in-law who stuffs this garbage into our e-box, and I've noticed more than a few similarities between the screeds he forwards and, chillingly, the kind of language that dragged people a few decades back into a mindless fear orgy over "the communist menace." Vilified are: immigrants, whether legal or illegal, atheists, democrats, liberals, etc. Anything to ramp up knee-jerk reactions from the reader is employed. This kind of verbage has more than a touch of fear in it; now that the permanent Republican/right wing control envisioned by Mr. Rove has not taken root, I think there is considerable anger, fear and resentment on the part of the Right which gives rise to this sort of playground nonsense (not that they didn't use it before). Bush's equating those who differ from his worldview with terrorists is just this sort of thing. Sadly, far too many people really question this stuff, and it continues to make the rounds. I am so disgusted by the Right's use of 9/11 to distort reality that I've just about worn out the "delete" button on my home computer. I have a really hard time maintaining any sort of respect for the people who generate this McCarthy-esque crap. They've even ruined the flag, f'chrissake, having co-opted it as their own symbol. On dining recently with this very in-law, somehow the topic of health care came up, a very dangerous thing to get into with the Right. First he spouted a lot of misinformation about what's really going on with health care ("Nobody has to go without their medications because they can't afford them!" --I type reports every day that contradict this) then got very defensive about his own considerable bank account. "There have to be economic classes! If we don't have classes, you know what we have?" Long pause. "Socialism!" This last was uttered with all the hate and vitriol the guy could muster. There's just no reasoning with this kind of mindset. Thanks, Petebest, for reminding me that my situation is not unique. Sorry to go on so, but this thing really hit a nerve with me.
  • The "sheep dog" one that got some cred on MeFi made me laugh. What world is this man living in if he thinks it's more violent in Western societies than before? The historical research I've read says the opposite. Though he probably could get his head kicked in offering his theory in certain communities I've known.
  • Why the surprise? These dads represent the same generation that created this mess we find ourselves in today.
  • Angry old white guys who can't believe that they don't have the power their fathers promised them. So attractive.
  • Also on the sheepdog one, I love the intellectual dishonesty of it -- the whole thing about "nobody's saying sheepdogs are better than sheep!" vs. "over there you've got the lowly sheepdog, scared like a little itty infant, its head buried in a cowardly fashion in the sand, while over here you've got the powerful warrior prince, gleaming with bravery and special insight". What a specious bunch of shit. I try not to let it happen, but it hurts to know people are this stupid. It's depressing.
  • Why the surprise? Maybe not surprise, but some annoyed weariness that racism, sexism, and various other isms are alive and well all evidence to the contrary. In the Information Age, or via the Information Age even. It's annoying that communication itself doesn't help everything.
  • ...the same generation that created this mess we find ourselves in today Yeah, coz everybody of that age is an ignorant bigot who fought for the Nazis. If someone you know, including your Dad, sends you emails you find offensive, for God's sake tell them so, and why. Don't delete, rebut.
  • *heaves sigh Darling, what's that saying about arguing with a pig? I wind up feeling dirty, and the pigs get annoyed. It's not like you can change anyone's mind. There is no rebuttal to that kind of stupidity. You can't counter an irrational emotional stance with something as silly as facts! What do I do with friends who are more worried about a plo chop than about people killed and tortured? Hey, at least they died with "good moral fiber" whatever the heck that is. I have sent an email with FIFTY direct quotes of Bush contradicting himself and LYING--these are dated, recorded and verifiable. When you get that much stupid in one place, it's mind boggling. Half the blind don't read it, the other half say it's lies and propaganda put out by those vilifying baby-eating, flag-burning Demon-crats! EVEN IF IT'S IN THE CONGRESSIONAL RECORD. (Can't believe it. Teh intarwebs are teh tool of SATAN) These dads represent the same generation that created this mess we find ourselves in today. EXACTLY!!!! Certainly not everyone was an ignorant bigot. Some of them were educated bigots. Snark aside, once more, the people that SHOULD be in positions of power are not. I find it hard to name 5 figures in the public eye that I can call good men, although I know or knew many good men of my father's generation. What's amazing is to look back at the history of these politicians we have in office. Go back to the sixtys and seventys. See exactly who was a bigot, who supported the Viet Nam 'War' and who was all for big government, big business, cutting social services and education funding, promoting tax breaks for the rich. It just freaks me out to hear some of these politicians get up and spout their squeaky clean agendas. Especially the once racist bastids that sound so enlightened now. One example: This whole Mexico immigration deal is so awful. It doesn't matter which of several sides you look at, you'll find ugly, ugly people on all sides. Don't kid yourself, 89% of the folks in Washington would love to be members in good standing with John Birch. Go back and look at what your special congressman said 20 years ago--it's scary. And no, before you ask, I don't think people change--not that drastically. Maybe 10-15% of thinking people, but most just don't--but they do learn not to say offensive things in public. They save the vitriol for behind closed office doors and the hardware store.
  • Go GramMa! My dear old dad (not a loony right-wing bigot by any means, but he knows several) got his first computer a few years back. As soon as he did some of his old buddies began sending him this sort of crap, along with those spam virus alerts and lots of other forwarded nonsense. When he started forwarding the stuff to me I pointed him towards Snopes, The Skeptic's Dictiontary and some other online bullshit detectors/debunkers. Now, in his mid-eighties, he's as wary as they come and enjoys both skewering the online fatheads and a much reduced level of spam. But, as GramMa says, it's hard to argue with a pure-bred pig.
  • Well I fucking hate Sheep Doggy Dog, or Sheep Diddy, or whatever the fuck he calls himself.
  • I think he goes by Shorn Jon these days.
  • Don't be bleatin'!
  • Awesome read. Thanks h-guy.