Ignorance and Racism from the voters

Started by Inerrant Lust, October 17, 2008, 12:16:03 AM

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Inerrant Lust

After perusing through Wikipedia's entries of the American presidential candidates and vice presidential candidates, much to my surprise, I found it fairly illuminating. In fact, it softened my heart against McCain to some degree. The discussion pages were not afforded such dignity.

Barack Obama is not arab. He's not islamic. Hussein is as common a name as John and indicative of nothing. Throwing his full name around like it was on sale is flat-out petty.

Even if he was islamic or arab, that is NOT a bad thing, you intolerant dickholes. :P

It shoulden't even matter. Hell, an arab president would do wonders for foreign policy.

I don't blame McCain for this, I blame his bumpkin base (to be fair, the democratic inverse of republican bumpkin = head-up-his-own-ass college liberal) and the people who support him that are willing to go to any lengths to win.

Granted, I commend him for attempting to diffuse the hatred at his recent rallies, but I haven't seen any admonishment for Palin's inflaming statements and her subseqent lack of restraint for the audience. I am being optimistic and assuming that she has been reigned in behind private doors.

All in all, I shudder at the thought of ignorant racists deciding the fate of our nation. Honestly? I don't think McCain will brutally and incompetently bumfudge us all like Bush. But if he's going to win, let it be by the votes of people who aren't morons that make decisions based on hatred, with said hatred based upon ignorance and malevolent wishful thinking.

Methos

Hussein is a common name but only if you're arab. And if Americans are a bit hung up on Arabs and Muslims, it might have something to do with them having flown a plane into the World Trade Towers. If lingering dislike and paranoia are all the common people take out of that, that's really quite tolerant. Not so long ago people would have picked up pitchforks, torches and began dispensing vigilante justice.
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Inerrant Lust

Quote from: Methos on October 17, 2008, 01:32:51 AM
Hussein is a common name but only if you're arab. And if Americans are a bit hung up on Arabs and Muslims, it might have something to do with them having flown a plane into the World Trade Towers. If lingering dislike and paranoia are all the common people take out of that, that's really quite tolerant. Not so long ago people would have picked up pitchforks, torches and began dispensing vigilante justice.

Regarding the name Hussein, So?

I know of a blonde, blue-eyed girl whose named was pronounced Ally. With a vaguely arab-sounding name, she once got called out of her seat before a flight because someone pronounced her name, "Ah-lee [Something :P]'

My name is thickly irish, but I've got twice as much german blood in me than irish.

How many chinese adopted kids have english names?

How many slaves were given english names?

A name means absolutely nothing. Last I checked, Kenya was in subsaharan Africa.

QuoteAnd if Americans are a bit hung up on Arabs and Muslims, it might have something to do with them having flown a plane into the World Trade Towers.

...And that's not racism?  ???

Are the actions of a dozen or so men now indicative of an entire race of people? It's nonsense, and unjustifiable. I'm not pointing a figure at you; I assume you're speaking of the people's beliefs, and not your own.

But I doubt your claims about vigilante justice. Mobs do not form of their own volition; they require someone to rouse up emotions and manipulate the people into thinking singularly. This has been precisely what extremist americans have been doing in the past 7 years, and it has, unfortunately, worked. The 'Arab = Evil' belief has gotten far too much power.

Though perhaps not by McCain himself, but his supporters have definately been pushing the 'Obama = Arab, and thus, Evil' angle, and pushing it hard.

It's despicable intolerance and I'm sick of hateful pundits and campaigners pulling the heart strings of emotional americans for their own gain.

The Overlord

#3

In a perfect world, I'd round up all the ignorant bumpkins and the terrorists (Arab or otherwise) and ship all their sorry asses to some forgotten valley deep in the Antarctican interior.

I'd give them all the guns and explosives they want and let them have at each other. Problem solved. 10,000 years later fossil hunters would find all the mummified bits and remains and wonder WTF happened. They might even find room for a good joke over it.



It's far from a perfect world though, because every corner of the world seems capable of exporting assholes.

Actually I think McCain handled the dumb bitch who said 'he's an Arab' at his event pretty professionally. Afterward they could take her backstage and let the secret service give her a sharp slap upside the head when they're done working over the morons that yelled treason and kill him.


I agree McCain may not be responsible for the ignorance, at least not openly, but I think he's condoning it among his supporters. This should be a lesson to anyone who can still back the GOP at this point; they've lost their majority in the rest of Washington and now they can feel their chokehold on the White House slipping. And they're not going to go graciously, no they're going out kicking and screaming and clawing uncivilly every inch of the way. The GOP has finally shown the world its true ugly face.

Does this mean the Democrats are angels? Oh hell no, but the fact they put a woman and a black man up as their chief candidates this time around, they're at least that much more forward thinking. There's a reason the simple minded bumpkins vote for these 'straight talkers'. They believe in a black and white world and only white is right.

We might as well fess' up to the reality; these idiots are a much larger threat to the security and welfare of our nation than any terrorist lurking in a cave or village halfway around the world. Keep on this Crusader mindset that anything even remotely Arab or Muslim is bad and you'll eventually get us into a war that will make Iraq look like a drunken backyard fistfight in Kentucky that gets televised on C.O.P.S. One that night even go nuclear.


Bumpkins in general; just be sure to send your own families to fight it. The less of you on the planet the better.






Moondazed

Anyone seen Idiocracy (imdb, wikipedia)?  I wish that it were further from the truth of where we're headed... ;)
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Sherona

Frankly..I would rather have no woman in the race for the White House, then a token woman. Thats all Palin ever was, the Token woman to help try and secure the female voters. Number One, thats a slap in the face to voters to think we are that stupid. Number two, It does no good for a woman to make it to the White House if that woman is clearly not the right person for the job. She will screw up and then people will fall into "Ah, last time we voted a woman in look what happened!" even if they are too politically correct to say it out loud.

with a 8 point lead in october, Obama has pretty much cinched the white house. The only president to ever come back from such a deficit this close to election time was Ronald Reagan, and lets face it, McCain is no Reagan.


That all being said, I am always surprised that people can be shocked by 'dirty campaigning'. It happens in every election, one opponent attacks the other's credibility with not Un-truths exactly, but exxaggerated truths, or half truths. So the fact that apparently somewhere someone is touting he is arabic or Islamic.


The fact of the matter is, I haven't seen any major campaign ad stating he was Arabic, Islamic, or Hussein-sympathizer. Not since he first made it to the senate, and there was some rumor/buzz that he was going to take his oath on the Quran instead of the Bible. Haven't heard a peep about his faith/nationality in this Presidential Race, but granted I haven't followed this one as close as I have others.

Yes, after 9/11 all islamic and all arabic or even arabic-looking people have unfortunately suffered due to fear. That has actually declined a lot in recent years, but OverLord is right, if this election had been 4-7 years ago, Obama would have had mobs after him. Its a kneejerk reaction when 3000+ people are killed...is the same reason the United States rounded up any Japanese-American citizen with more then I think something like 1/8th Japanese in them to put them in camps right after Pearl Harbor.

Is it Right? No. Is it horrible hate fueled bigotry? No. Its fear, and we got over that fear -once again not condoning it, just explaining the difference between being Racist Bigot and being shell shocked and scared out of your mind- I am fairly certain we have gotten over the fear enough to where only the most die-hard bigot has held onto 9/11 as an excuse -at this late date thats all it is, an excuse now.- to keep their hatred, and legitimate citizens are going back to pre-9/11 dispositions towards islamic/arabic people. To paint a picture, 9/12/01 found people screaming about going to the middle east and just bombing the heck out of everyone. Today, that screaming is no longer happening, instead people are screaming for our withdrawal from the Middle East...if that helps to show what I am talking about.

Politics is a dirty business, and Obama himself is not innocent of using slandering...hence the democratic nomination race between him and Clinton was nothing but mud slinging.

Not keen on Obama OR McCain, but for me Obama is the lesser of the two evils. But you should keep in mind Inerrant, those who are spouting about him being Islamic, are probably the handful of conservative Christians who believe same-sex marriages are a threat to "traditional" marriages, so they probably view an Islamic President as a threat to "religion".


And i just have to say this as well, those who are crying out how islamic (even though he isn't) candidate is just horrible, because Islam must support terrorism (it doesn't), are really doing the same thing that Athiest do to all christians (assume they are all loud mouth bigots who are too stupid to tell a difference between their ass and a hole in the ground) by judging the whole faith by the loudest few. SO I don't want to hear these same Christians who are spouting rhetoric about islam start whining about being pigeon-holed in the same category as everyone of their faith...


Moondazed

Your mention of dirty politics brought to mind a couple of websites I've found helpful:

ProCon
FactCheck
Five Thirty Eight

It's been my personal observation that McCain has outright lied about some things (even repeating them after they've been pointed out on Fact Check, which he misquoted on one of his TV ads... perhaps he needs to read the site a bit more thoroughly?), and don't get me started on Palin (!), but I haven't seen Obama outright lying.  Does that make him angelic?  Nope.  But it does sway my level of respect, no question about it.  I respect McCain's service to our country, but politically I see him as an ex-maverick who sold out to stay in his party.

What really scares me is the number of single-issue voters.  Who's for gun control (without any consideration for the actual meaning of that buzzwordesque term)?  What are their views on abortion?  There are a smorgasbord of issues, and what really terrifies me is the number of people who choose a single one to cling to without any consideration for the others.  That's not always about ignorance, it may be about zealotry or lack of intelligence as well, not to mention the selective ignorance single-issue voters practice.
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Inkidu

Inkidu says, "Anyone actually truly smart enough for a career in politics, is smart enough to steer clear of a career in politics."
If you're searching the lines for a point, well you've probably missed it; there was never anything there in the first place.

Moondazed

Trouble is, if the smart ones steer clear, what are we left with? ;)
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Avi

For me, there just seems to be a different quality to Obama's campaign than to McCain's campaign.  Yes, both have attack ads out on each other, and yes, there have been some questionable things said by both sides.  That still doesn't excuse the massive difference in tone between the two.  From what I have seen, Obama's ads tend to focus more on true issues in the election, mostly the economic crisis and healthcare.  Perhaps sensing that he can't win on these issues, McCain's ads focus much more on personal attacks and veiled suggestions that Obama is a threat to this country.

All I see there is a massive sign of weakness for McCain.  If he has to stoop so low as to allude that Obama is not one of "us" in order to really get his base fired up, it says something truly remarkable about his campaign and his legitimacy as a candidate.

And he won't confirm or deny that he's been pushing that strategy either.  He repudiates some woman at a rally that called Obama an Arab, but then goes to another rally organized by a major Republican operative who has been telling people to emphasize the possibility of Obama being a closet Muslim and a friend of terrorists.  Which one is it?!  In my opinion, this just makes McCain look as if he has a major case of schizophrenia, or multi-personality disorder when it comes to his campaign. 
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Inkidu

Quote from: moondazed on October 17, 2008, 08:43:49 AM
Trouble is, if the smart ones steer clear, what are we left with? ;)
The ones smart, but not smart enough for political careers of course.
If you're searching the lines for a point, well you've probably missed it; there was never anything there in the first place.

Sherona

Oddly I can not think of a single campaign ad I ahve seen for McCain....I can think of several for Obama...but can't remember a single one from old John..other then Oklahoma state senator John Inhofe (gag me, I so want him out!) ads saying that Andrew Rice is "everything Oklahoman's are not. Supporting same-sex marriage, state-funded abortions, and voting against penitentiary people with more then 6 criminal offenses having to serve atleast 85% of their time before parole is possible, and then in the same ad at the end it shows a picture of Obama, with a picture of Andrew Rice an a big red circle with slash.


Thats the closest thing I can remember of seeing any of McCain's ads..I am sure I have they just didn't stick.

Oniya

I actually got a pre-recorded call from the McCain supporters, going on about how Obama was associated with some domestic terrorist or something.  I have the TV on as background noise during the day (WAHM, here) and the vast majority of the Obama ads I've heard are about issues.  Most of the McCain ads I've heard are about how horrible Obama is.

As far as Obama - or any President - taking the oath on the Koran as opposed to the Bible because they follow Islam, I have only two things to say:  1) Read the book first before condemning it, and 2) What point is there in swearing on a book that has no significance to you? (i.e., a holy book not of your own religion.)  I could swear a false oath on a stack of Bibles without stressing my conscience because I'm not Christian.
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Sherona

Oh I wasn't condoning or supporting that argument (about the Quran vs Bible) just saying thats the only thing I have heard about Obama being Muslim.

As far as the domestic terrorist thing, that was way back when..about what, twenty years ago, and Obama worked in a very "loose' sense of the word with a guy later convicted of Terrorism...so again its a half-truth exaggerated to promote the cause. Dirty Politics, but really like I said there is no hope for McCain to win, so unless Obama supporters all get the sudden onslaught of "He will win anyways so not going to vote"-Itis, then I think this is all moot :D

I honestly feel that McCain/Palin is the Token Republican nominations just so that we can say there was an election process :P even if it is just formalities until Obama wins. The real question is, can our economy last until January when he is swornin? and then teh years it will take to get any real change in effect and start seeing the benefits.

Oniya

Quote from: Sherona on October 17, 2008, 11:20:08 AM
Oh I wasn't condoning or supporting that argument (about the Quran vs Bible) just saying thats the only thing I have heard about Obama being Muslim.

I was more or less pointing out a come-back for that kind of tactic, since I've seen it used in the tabloids.  It's also interesting that back in the day, people were holding out Kennedy's Catholicism as a potential 'danger' to the White House.
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Sherona

*nodnods* Also JFK was a bit untested in politics as well, his experiance was questioned a bit -he was the youngest president- but I Think he did well enough, handled the cuban missle crises at least.

RubySlippers

I will just say its the right of every person to vote in this nation and I feel everyone that can vote- should. If the person is ignorant or a racist they have as much a right to vote as anyone else for any reason to select whatever candidates they want. I will defend the skinhead not to vote for a N---- as I can tell the candidate must convince each voter that is not my job to keep people out for certain defects. Even someone who is mentally retarded can vote and they are Americans if your going to use an IQ and Multicultural Test to qualify to vote that is not right or proper.

I myself think both candidates and their respective parties are incapable and unworthy so I voted ,I mailed mine in, for the Libertarians and wrote in Libertarians I like if I had the option. Many spots I left blank. Am I ignorant or am a a educated voter, most of my friends and family say the first, I argue the latter.

ShrowdedPoet

Quote from: RubySlippers on October 17, 2008, 11:40:58 AM
I will just say its the right of every person to vote in this nation and I feel everyone that can vote- should. If the person is ignorant or a racist they have as much a right to vote as anyone else for any reason to select whatever candidates they want. I will defend the skinhead not to vote for a N---- as I can tell the candidate must convince each voter that is not my job to keep people out for certain defects. Even someone who is mentally retarded can vote and they are Americans if your going to use an IQ and Multicultural Test to qualify to vote that is not right or proper.

I myself think both candidates and their respective parties are incapable and unworthy so I voted ,I mailed mine in, for the Libertarians and wrote in Libertarians I like if I had the option. Many spots I left blank. Am I ignorant or am a a educated voter, most of my friends and family say the first, I argue the latter.


Well, yes it is a right and the right should be exercised. . .  But I as an informed voter get sick every time I hear something like, "I'm voting for her just because she's a woman" "I'm not voting for him because he's black" "I'm voting for them cause they're from my home state" "I'm voting for them just because they are democrat/republican" "I'm voting for them because they're hot" "I'm not voting for them because they're ugly" 

It also pisses me off when people say, "I'm not voting cause my vote doesn't matter anyway" or "I'm not voting cause the system is broken" or "I'm not voting cause it doesn't matter who gets in the country is headed for hell"

But sometimes I wish that only those who did their homework could vote because god the idiots that vote. . .and then they bitch after they made a stupid vote. . .and what not. . .*sighs and rubs head*
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Mathim

Quote from: moondazed on October 17, 2008, 07:30:36 AM
Anyone seen Idiocracy (imdb, wikipedia)?  I wish that it were further from the truth of where we're headed... ;)

Hey, Idiocracy had a black president as I recall. Dwayne Elizondo Camacho, former Porn Superstar. LOL.

Obama's got some good ideas behind him and it's feasible to believe he's not going to do anything for real personal gain unlike the Bush administration the last eight years. I mean, Clinton presided over a really great eight years and it only took Bush a couple of years to turn us into public enemy number one in the world's eyes, with another six years to dig an even deeper grave for our economy and reputation. Let's try giving the Democrats a chance to not fuck things up so badly, eh? Just because he's not a white Christian male like every other President has been, doesn't mean he's not going to do the right things for the country. I mean, honestly, what percentage of U.S. Presidents has actually been an upstanding person in addition to a good leader? Pretty low. If we give Obama a chance to show that, if nothing else, the Democrats can bring us back from the brink, the black or not, the country will benefit and hopefully some people's bigoted feelings will soften.

And McCain is seeming more and more like a desperate, senile old man, at least to me. He really does feel kind of pathetic and I wonder if he himself thinks he doesn't have a chance. I certainly don't think so anymore, with all the turmoil his side is going through.
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Rhapsody

Quote from: Mathim on October 17, 2008, 12:29:18 PM
And McCain is seeming more and more like a desperate, senile old man, at least to me. He really does feel kind of pathetic and I wonder if he himself thinks he doesn't have a chance. I certainly don't think so anymore, with all the turmoil his side is going through.

McCain started out very strong, and I still get the feeling that he'd make a good President -- certainly better than the one you have now... but he doesn't comport himself like a President, and he's made some very sketchy choices in his campaign management: primarily the choice of Sarah Palin as his running mate, and the choice to ignore the issues in favor of personal attacks against Obama in October of all gorram months...  No one wants to see Sarah Palin in the Oval Office, and she's only one lack-of-a-heartbeat away from achieving that position.

McCain's desperate, and it's showing.  If you watched the third debate, you'll have noticed several times he tried to preempt Obama in the question/answer/reponse/rebuttal format: "He'll probably say it has something to do with RvW" and statements about the "eloquence" and "big words" Obama used to communicate.  Trying to lessen the impact of your opponent's words by hanging a lantern on it may be time-honored, but pulling it this late in the debate just shows that he knows he's not going to win.  It's almost like he's trying to do as much damage as he can before the election's over.

Why the hell else would he allow people to shout such hateful, hurtful epithets at his or his running mate's rallies?
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Valerian

For an interesting take on the whole Ayers/Obama scandal, check this out.

Basically, the Chicago Annenberg Challenge board that both men belonged to was funded by Walter and Leonore Annenberg... both Annenbergs being staunch Republicans.  The now-widowed Leonore worked in the Reagan administration, and is also a staunch supporter of McCain.  So... yeah, he's desperate.

The political world is just too small.  They all know each other somehow, so it isn't much good harping on anyone's connections.
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Avi

That's about how I saw it.  I mean, if he's arguing that Obama is guilty of being a terrorist by association because they both belonged to the same charity organization, then one could argue that Palin is the same because her husband (allegedly) used to be a member of a secessionist Alaskan group.  Everyone in politics is associated with everyone else somehow.  Obama's not a saint, but neither is McCain.  I'm sure both of them have associates that are sketchy, it's just that McCain sees that as his only angle to get at Obama now.
Your reality doesn't apply to me...

RubySlippers

Quote from: ShrowdedPoet on October 17, 2008, 11:53:47 AM
Well, yes it is a right and the right should be exercised. . .  But I as an informed voter get sick every time I hear something like, "I'm voting for her just because she's a woman" "I'm not voting for him because he's black" "I'm voting for them cause they're from my home state" "I'm voting for them just because they are democrat/republican" "I'm voting for them because they're hot" "I'm not voting for them because they're ugly" 

It also pisses me off when people say, "I'm not voting cause my vote doesn't matter anyway" or "I'm not voting cause the system is broken" or "I'm not voting cause it doesn't matter who gets in the country is headed for hell"

But sometimes I wish that only those who did their homework could vote because god the idiots that vote. . .and then they bitch after they made a stupid vote. . .and what not. . .*sighs and rubs head*

They can vote for any reason they like, unfortunately, but that is the American voters as we have them. It upsets me when they don't like either candidate and when I mention they can choose from several other options - I don't want to waste my vote. So they will throw it to someone they don't even like or a party they don't trust to lead this nation. These people can't Google and do a little research.

As for Idiocracy it was a good movie but one thing struck me the President and Cabinet seem to care about what was good for the nation in their own simple way, that was far better than what we have now it seems.

ShrowdedPoet

Quote from: RubySlippers on October 17, 2008, 01:36:51 PM
They can vote for any reason they like, unfortunately, but that is the American voters as we have them. It upsets me when they don't like either candidate and when I mention they can choose from several other options - I don't want to waste my vote. So they will throw it to someone they don't even like or a party they don't trust to lead this nation. These people can't Google and do a little research.

As for Idiocracy it was a good movie but one thing struck me the President and Cabinet seem to care about what was good for the nation in their own simple way, that was far better than what we have now it seems.

Oh I know.  That drives me bananas!!!
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Lithos

Quote from: moondazed on October 17, 2008, 08:43:49 AM
Trouble is, if the smart ones steer clear, what are we left with? ;)

With what there is now, sadly :(
There is no innocence, only layers upon layers of guilt
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