I have volunteered for political campaigns for a couple of years now, I've phone banked, canvassed, handed out literature at Metro stops. It is expected that in doing such an activity that I would come across an individual who would not be welcoming to me and the candidate that I am representing and supporting. I've had everything from someone's 80 year old grandmother yelling at my over the phone to take her off of the call list, to someone sitting in her front yard yelling, "Don't even think about it!" when I went to open her gate, to facing a 'hefty' man well over six feet tall (I'm 5'5" and slim) with a deep, loud voice, challenging me at a Metro station on why I'm voting Democrat. And, he was definitely in my personal space. My response to all of them has been to either say, "Thank you, have a good day" and smile, or in the case of the big, bad Republican, to answer each of his questions and counter each of his baseless claims with calm facts without moving an inch.
I'm still volunteering in Virginia for a candidate that used to be my Congressman when I lived just over the Potomac. Last night I went in to call some "solid Dems" and people who have volunteered for Democrats in the past, asking them to vote for my candidate who is now being challenged by a bogus Democratic primary opponent backed by a Super PAC from Texas. Everything went as expected, a few people said they had changed their minds and wouldn't vote Democrat this time around, but overall, everyone was quite civil. And, then I made a call that still makes me sick.
The man, in his 60s, picked up and I introduced myself, explaining that I why I was calling. His response:
"I want to shoot all the Democrats."
"Um, I..."
He starts to laugh. "You can take it and run with it!" he says to me, quite proud of himself.
"I, uh, ok then."
"You have a good night!" and he hangs up the phone, still laughing, still pleased with himself.
This is the only person whom I have ever wanted to call back and correct him for his poor, disgusting, inexcusable rhetoric. What would I say to him?
"Hi, it's me again. I'm calling you now, not as a volunteer for a Democratic candidate, but as an individual whom you just said you want to kill or seriously injure by way of a fire arm because of how I vote. I am a human whose life has value, and I have never been so insulted or nauseated by someone's words as I have just been by yours.
"You want to shoot me because I vote Democrat. What if I were your daughter or your granddaughter? Would you want to say that to me again? Would you want to say that to my father or my mother - that you want to shoot their daughter because of her vote? Would you look me in the eye and say it? You want me to take it and run with it? Does that mean that I can call law enforcement and have them make a visit to your home? I can do that and it would be legitimate because you have just threatened my life. And, to top it all off, you think it's funny. Trust me. That police officer would have a lot to say to you, and would tell you that if you ever made a comment like that again, your ass would be hauled off to the jail and you would go before a judge to answer for your behavior and it would go on your record along with a lovely little restraining order."
We have a serious problem in this country when people think it's comical to tell another citizen that they want to shoot them because of their political ideology. Maybe, we've become too desensitized because of television, movies, and video games. We've removed all concept of what it means to inflict pain - or threaten to inflict pain - upon another person. This man's words were the exact words that children who are bullied hear everyday in schools, just remove "all Democrats" and insert the child's name. At what point did this rhetoric become ok, and why is it being validated by a collective silence on behalf of the listener?
I still wish I would've called him back, but I couldn't.
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Elizabeth Blessing
Just Thinking...
clay ball
Stathi Stathi
Poor Woman
Shannon Kulik
Salon.com
Comments
My friend and I turned and went back the way we came.
My friend still works for the senator. He likes pain!! :D
You were right to not call him back. It would have been a no win argument. Rude people.
It started with the real kooks, the Tea Party, right after the 2008 election. Then it really started to get silly and embarassing as previously level-headed Republican leaders were coaxed to dumb down and get in the gutter by conservative groups with money and ability to sway voters.
If one casts one’s vote simply because the candidate belongs to your party, or does not, then that seems as silly as the remark made by the man who answered your phone call. In effect, shooting or voting, what’s the difference?
Frankly, it’s difficult to believe that any objective argument could lead to the conclusion that either of America’s two major political parties had the long term interests of our country at heart. Instead, each seems more concerned about who will hold the majority of power after the next election than almost anything else.
What I hope is that your post is untainted by such potential hypocrisy.
"correct him for his poor, disgusting, inexcusable rhetoric.
What would I say to him?"
"i will run your republicans out of the game, old man.
they call it a clown car, boy, and
mitt is the least offensive clown,
but like all the clowns you guys elect,
he can't put a proper sentence together,
or make any kind of rational sense to us women,
who are gonna come out of the kitchen barefoot to vote
for mr obama, cuz he understands the fundamental american
thing: government got no business in my private life.
that doesnt just apply to money, motherfucker.
it applies to all the female stuff you might have heard of.
basic rights to our own body.
bye bye.
enjoy obama two!"
It's stressful.
My parents are right wingers and have been my whole life. I do enough smiling and nodding with them, no way am I going to give someone not family that much of my time and energy.
The closest I have come really taking a stance is joining big Salon while Hillary was running. The rampant sexism in most media was making me furious (especially among 'liberals'). I had to find somewhere to vent my bile before I imploded.
Our culture is a celebration of violence--our media, foreign policy, gun manufacturers with their powerful lobby oversaturating our homes and neighborhoods with weapons, all encourage it. One big gun store here has the motto "Guns for the Good Guys." Yeah, right...that's why so many innocent people are being shot by family members, friends, or walking in their own neighborhoods.
We have to change our attitudes and beliefs about what we find acceptable and entertaining, and teach our young people better ways of conflict resolution, because, I agree, way too many innocent people are getting hurt.
Here is a sample about Glenn Beck in a review of his book:
"And here’s where our learned narrator turns away from the dull platitudes of historical fact and instead launches the reader into the exhilarating fictional pastures of persecution. Roosevelt’s New Deal reforms, you see, were not about helping citizens avoid hardship. Nor were the Great Society programs designed to aid the disenfranchised. They were about consolidating the powers of the State." From his post calling Glen Beck the future of Fiction.
Maybe if you would ask your buffoon what camera he would use to shoot so many portraits. That is almost 100 million portraits is a lot of film. If he then persists, ask if he would do it dressed in a brown shirt or early Taliban blue? You just want it right when Fox News asks about him and says he is an isolated madman.