I had an interesting experience last night....

[jbm]

There's a restaurant here in town where I work part-time on the week-ends. The restaurant has a lot of part time week-end workers that come from all walks of life. One of the waitresses is a teacher during the week,the bartender is an accountant,one of the cooks does some sort of phone tech thing...my point is,they're not all young inexperienced kids. Anyway,what happened was,right after we closed the restaurant manager said to me,"You follow this political stuff...what's up with the California recall?" I gave her my opinion that the recall was BS,and then someone else asked about WMDs in Iraq,and I gave them my opinion,and then someone said,"Now,Bush is the republican right?",and then someone else said, "Clinton got impeached because he killed Vince Foster?" I began to realize how pathetically uninformed people really are,but they aren't uninterested..they really do want to know.

I didn't want to turn them off so I was careful to not dominate the conversation,or go off on a rant,and I left ample opportunity for the topic to be changed,but what happened instead was before long I had an audience of about 15 people,all very interested,asking questions,and saying repeatedly,"we WANT you to tell us,I really want to understand this stuff". I loved it,and while I don't claim for a second to be an authority,it wasn't hard because the questions were so easy.

The real reason I'm posting this though is because I was thinking about what would happen if someone like the people I was talking to last night would wander into this site looking for the answers themselves,and innocently make a statement about Clinton killing Vince Foster. A lot of people don't have a belief system about politics,they have an opinion based on whatever information they've heard,and that opinion can easily be changed by correcting or adding to the information that they've picked up along the way.

It doesn't do us any real harm if a freeper gets by our radar occasionally because we gave them the benefit of the doubt,but it does do harm if we alienate a potential dem voter because we assumed they must be an infiltrator. I know there have been lots of other posts made about how we should be careful when it comes to categorizing new posters,but last night made me realize that even if someone voices some totally repub line of BS,it doesn't necessarily mean that they're attached to that BS. Soooo....I've come to make a plea for tolerance...

[Metatron]

1. I agree

Thanks for sharing!

[jbm]

2. thanks!

and welcome to DU koleszar! :)

[shance]

3. Thank you for taking the time to post this.

What a great story that shows we all examples in everything we say and do.

How simple it is to forget that sometimes - for all of us.

[gristy]

4. I agree too

good job last night!

[eek]

9. great lesson in importance of keeping our cool

we won't win over anyone with verbal or written slings and arrows.


A bit of temperance throughout the campaign season will likely go a long way.

more flies with honey than vinegar, don'tcha know.

[havocmom]

5. Great story

and very valid points about giving people a bit of time before we blow them out of the DU waters, so to speak. If someone is a disruptor, they will show true colors in no time. No point in jumping down the throat of everyone who asks a question or two.

The addage about honey verses vinager is a true one. We make no friends for our cause by being cliquish, curlish or just plain rude to newbies. Many DUers are welcoming and gentle in their 'guidence' of new people and that is most helpful.

Thanks for the reminder to be gentle with innocents who come here to learn. Tolerance should be the first response, lest we become quilty of the narrowmindedness we chide in our opponents.

[WhoCountsTheVotes]

6. Tell them: The Republicans run everything now

Tell them you'll just vote Democratic. Think about it - when people are asking if Bush is the Republican, you are dealing with mostly people that won't vote anyway I guess, and probably aren't registered.

[patdem]

7. Gee, I was 1/2 expecting some juicy tryst..but this is even better!

I have seen many posters be more gentle than I would with a 'perceived' freeper. I generally do not post to a 'perceived' freeper but if it becomes over the top I alert. I never (now) answer a 'perceived' freeper. You are correct, however, and even an avowed freeper, given time...just a little...can come around to kindness and a hardy welcome. :hi::bounce::hi:

[izzie]

8. Poor Foster he is never going to be left in peace.

:freak:

[knight_of_the_star]

10. Good job man!

That's all we really need to do is get those voters who don't make a habit of it. Great job on that man!

[Sticky]

11. Congrats on the way you handled that!

Your audience will go forth and dialog with others - the domino theory will come into play -

Before you know it there will be widespread knowledge and politically savvy people telling others what you told them.


....you've proved one person can make a difference!

[babzilla]

12. never underestimate how uninformed the general public are

it is a good lesson to all.

Another anecdote. From a tabling effort in California:

Q. Who's Howard Dean?

A. He's running for President.

Q. The President of California?

A. No honey, that's called the Governor (not the real answer to that stupid question but it took a lot of biting of the tongue).

It never ceases to amaze me.