Most of my regular readers and really anyone who knows me or who has taken the time to read my blog or any of my writings know that I tend to lean toward the liberal side on some issues. But I do not think of myself as a super liberal. I am a registered independent and I feel like if things in American Politics were a little more balanced then we would not have the amount of anger and fear that infects both sides of the political realm. That being said I wanted to share with you a little conversation I had on Facebook last night. I will give you a little bit of background and then post the conversation in its entirety as it appeared on my friends comment page.
Okay here goes. Well my friend Teresa Lucas works for the Chris Dudley Gov campaign and she really is a nice girl. I had classes with her at Western Oregon and worked with her during my time at Vote Oregon. She is more conservative then me but she also is open to discussion which is really all I ask of anyone. Well she posted as her status "Don't forget to register to vote or re-register before Oct. 12". Now that is a pretty innocuous statement and one that I totally agree with. People should register to vote and or re-register if there party affiliation has changed or they have moved. The very first comment on her page was by a fellow named German A. Vanegas. He wrote:
"IF you hope for a real POSITIVE change you have to vote. We have to take control of Congress to stop Emperor Obama from reigning basically unopposed! ON NOVEMBER 2nd WE THE PEOPLE WILL SHOW WHO REALLY IS IN POWER... US!!!
Now I noticed that and thought well that is just silly. Obama was unable to get his health care reform passed and he has been unable to do really hardly anything that he has wanted to do. This is when he is a President that has had Democratic control of both the House and the Senate. So to call him an Emperor just seemed so silly to me and I let German know what I thought. What I will post below is exactly as was written with no editing on my part I copied and pasted it straight across.
German: "IF you hope for a real POSITIVE change you have to vote. We have to take control of Congress to stop Emperor Obama from reigning basically unopposed! ON NOVEMBER 2nd WE THE PEOPLE WILL SHOW WHO REALLY IS IN POWER... US!!!"
Lance: "@German, Really emperor Obama? He had full control of the house and the senate and was unable to pass health care reform his pet issue. It is silly to even call him that."
German: "@Lance, Obama's reformed health care ill-bill was passed and became LAW! And IF you know anything about what is in it, then you owe to know Obama made false promises concerning what was in the health-care bill before it was approved, proving what a liar he really is. Among the many lies, the truth is, it will very costly, even though Obama assured the people it would actually "save money"... Last, I couldn't care less for your personal opinion!"
Lance: "Let me get my stick so I can keep poking the bear, I seem to have stirred something up. Love it!!"
German: "@Lance, other than you showing you are a liberal progressive, who believes in social medicine, you haven't stir up anything. You don't even know what is in the bill, let alone how Obama screwed YOU! LMAO!!!"
Lance: "@German, Well despite you denying it you are still talking about what I said. It seems like you do care about my personal opinion. Thank you for your noticing little old me. I love when those who are smarter then me and who really understa...nd all of the secret goings on in American Govt can fill me in on how much I am being screwed. It really isn't that I believe in social medicine but that I do not think Obama has been nearly as effective as the Democrats hoped and the Republicans feared. So that is why I think it is silly to call him am Emperor he has basically done next to nothing in office."
German: "I don't care about your opinion, Lance. I am just expressing my own, which counters your love for Obama. I know exactly what YOU mean, to you, Obama hasn't move far-left enough as desired by his supporters, like you. Tough luck! LOL!!!
Hey, ...a friendly advise, lose some weight Lance, because under Obama health-care you may not be cover for certain ailments originated from being overweight ;>)"
(Now I must admit that I got a little upset here due to what I felt was an uncalled for attack on my weight issues. I feel like I controlled myself and gave a pretty decent response.)
Lance: "Wow! Now a personal attack based solely on seeing a few pictures of me. Without any knowledge of who I am or what I could possibly have going on in my life. Classy, very classy, and I believe pretty typical of your ilk.
Please tell me what ...political party I am registered with? You seem to have such an insight to my character. I await with anticipation your I am sure most clever retort. Perhaps you could lock me up into some sort of verbal anaconda choke. May trap me with an intellectual knee bar. Please fill me in on all of the things I need to do to fix both the American Govt and the world."
German: "@Lance, I tell you who you are. You are the kind of "man" you present in your profile picture, hiding in fear, "behind the scenes." You pretend to be the "intelligent one" with pseudo-intellectual remarks, but are not worth much as an opponent; other than innuendos and being full of shit, you don't state anything of substance! LMAO!!!!"
Lance: "WOW! Speaks for itself I guess. *shrug*"
German: "@Lance, you are truly an ignoramus, just like your idol Obama."
Lance: "Keep it coming. I love it. Every sentence just proves your point."
(At this point another person jumped in. A conservative who I went to school with who knows me personally.)
Andre: "Wow German, your baseless, idiotic attacks coupled with an inability to spell make me embarrassed to be in any way associated with you; even if it is only on somewhat of an ideological level."
German: "Who says I want to be associated with you Andree?! You are another "pseudo-intellectual" coming across like a buffoon! LMAO!!!"
I just had stopped replying at that point because I figured what was the point. I guess I am telling my readers about this because I want to know a couple of things.
1. Was I out of line? I really feel like President Obama has been ineffectual and at this point may be not get a second term.
2. Do I come across like this sometimes in my writings because I do not want to. I want to have reasoned debate and civil discourse.
So please fill me in. Where did I go wrong?
4 comments:
Lance, the only mistake I can see that you made was to attempt to engage this obviously irrational person in a reasoned conversation, something he's apparently not capable of doing. One can only hope he's less antisocial in person than he is online. He appears to be a textbook example of how online conversations can bring out the worst in people, lower their inhibitions and take away any regard for the person on the unseen end of their conversation.
All of us reach the point we become irrational in our discourse, it just takes different things and times for us to reach that point.
I think if you sense someone is crossing over into that point, the best thing to do for yourself and the kindest thing to do for them is to back off, just like you would in real life. If they get that glazed look or start saying silly things, don't poke them and giggle, just let it go.
At least, that's what I tell myself to do but its hard sometimes, especially on line, to let something go without responding.
Your mistake was in trying to engage is a dispassionate, reality-based discussion with a fellow human being. As a rule, humans are really, really bad at that sort of thing, and nothing makes them angrier than pointing that fact out.
I suggest a better alternative would be to cook up a nice, short slogan, preferably composed of monosyllabics, which is catchy, appealing, and vaguely patriotic. It need not have any foundation in fact or proper grammar. Think less Nietsche and more like The Hollies' lyrics.
Once you have your slogan, repeat it until your soul turns to ash and you forget that it's a fabrication, ala 'Life of a Salesman'. Rinse and repeat.
Thank for the follow up folks. I really do need to remember that I am not going to change anyones mind and that trying to win a "point" does not really accomplish anything and in some cases may make things worse.
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