I think I may be a bigot..........

[Wetzelbill]

I was talking to my self-proclaimed "realist" friend, who likes to refer to himself as a "Conservative Democrat", but sounds ignorantly Freeper-like to me. After hearing him rail on about the "Death Tax," that Republicans promote "Family Values," and how liberals caused 9-11, I pretty much let him have it good on all accounts. I usually am pretty ruthless and gleeful about deconstructing his arguments- our back and forth e-mails are classics, I pull a Franken on his ass pretty routinely -, however he keeps coming back for more.

But a few recents statements of his totally stuck in my craw. One is he prided himself in being, in his own words, "biased" against gays and lesbians, and believed they should never have the same rights that heterosexuals have. Moreover, when I asked him if he knew any gay people, he said:" No, and I don't care to either." Funny, because he actually comes off sort of gay, several have asked me if he was, but that is another matter all together. I just was blown away at his intolerance and lack of compassion. It was just plain ugly.

Next up, he went off on Mexicans, blacks, and even lazy Indians. Now let's consider for a second that in his job - Arizona patrol drug investigator - he sees the worst of all these minorities, so I can see how he might get put off, but he still gets pretty nasty about it. Also, consider that both he and I are enrolled Blackfeet Indians. He pretty much has the convictions of a rich, bigoted white guy - one of his heroes is Sean Hannity. Yikes!

Now this tops it all. He sent me an e-mail railing on Bill Clinton and raving about The Chimp's greatness. I will paste an excerpt. I sent him a long email and totally ripped his arguments up, but this sort of thing just amazes me. This is regarding Clinton's impeachment, which we all know was a partisan witch hunt funded by guys like Richard Mellon Scaife, and followed out by reporters like David Brock, who has since had a change of heart on the lunacy.

<< No facts whatsoever! He lied to the American people on live television! He was only exonerated because the demorecrates held the Senate! The biggest joke that happened was that he was not held accountable for his lies. That is why the Demorecrates are hurting still. They are not going to win this next election. People don't trust the party. I know that I don't. I know it is going be a landslide for Bush. And, even with the bad things, they have not showed one thing that can sway enough voters to go for any Demo's now. They are just hanging on till their little victory in Iowa and NH. They cannot beat him. (P.S. I spelled Demorecrates wrong for a reason)

Mike
Defender of the greatest President since GWB1<<

So this brings me to why I think I may be a bigot. I have a low tolerance level for people who are ignorant and/or stupid. I feel bad, because I pride myself on my morality for civil rights, gender issues, as well as my compassion and integrity. If I am anything, I believe I would be a considered a nice guy and a compassionate person. I model myself after Paul Wellstone, for gosh sake! So, maybe in time, I will learn to get over my prejudices, bigotry and biases towards the ignorant and stupid people of the world.

Don't even mention corrupt thieves. I may never become a tolerant enough man to get over my bigotry for them. (Ken Lay, Bernie Ebbers, Dick Cheney, ugh....blood pressure rising)

[salinen]

1. This guy is no

conservative dem, for starters.

[Wetzelbill]

13. no kidding

He did say he's going to vote for John Kerry, which nearly gave me a heart attack.

[Brian_Expat]

2. Well. . .

when I asked him if he knew any gay people, he said:" No, and I don't care to either." Funny, because he actually comes off sort of gay, several have asked me if he was, but that is another matter all together. I just was blown away at his intolerance and lack of compassion. It was just plain ugly.

This paragraph is telling. If he's protesting too much, he may be gay and struggling to suppress it through homophobia. Behind every irrationally hateful homophobia is a homo struggling to break free from self-oppression!

Even if that's not the case, he's wrong about not knowing any gay people. He knows several, works with a few, probably is even reasonably good friends with a couple -- he just doesn't know it. If every gay person was to tell everyone who he or she was, every bigot in America would have a coronary.

[radwriter0555]

3. Why are you friends with this type of person?

I'm curious, seriously.

I can't imagine being around a person like this for more than a minute.

What is the basis of your friendship with him?

[Wetzelbill]

12. I've known him for years

I was his roommate when I first moved to Tucson. Free of charge. He's pretty generous giving cash to charities and all. Been very good to me, as well.

His convictions baffle me. However, I have heard his family members make racist comments, he was in the military, works in a male-dominated macho job and back home nearly everybody I know in MT is squeamish about other races and homosexuals. Still, he goes above and beyond. I know sometimes he just tries to piss me off too, plus, I wouldn't doubt if he was drunk when he typed this one. Which was civil by his standards.

[mrgorth]

4. There is NO

reason for you to converse with this person ever again.

[Q3JR4]

5. You may be bigoted

against bigots, but so what? One can only take so much.

[DrWeird]

6. Sounds to me

like you're judging him on the content of his character.

[wuushew]

7. You may wish to avoid discussing politics..if possible

I have had to do this with several of my friends as some people are beyond conversion through rational thought.

[eissa]

11. I had to do that

I have a dear friend of 15 years who is just to the right of Tom DeLay :puke: She's a good person with a great sense of humor, but we simply cannot discuss politics. Her views are :scared:

[Wetzelbill]

15. To the right of Tom Delay?

Yikes, that made me shudder.

Well, some people just eat up propaganda and it shapes their thoughts. It drives me nuts to hear such stupidity to come out of otherwise relatively intelligent and decent people's mouths.

[eissa]

18. Here are some doozies from her

that gays and lesbians "recruit" on college campuses; that someone should "pull a Kennedy" on Clinton (while he was still president); supported Liddy's comments about firing on federal officers in the head to avoid the bullet-proof vest (and her husband is an FBI officer!), that captured female soliders during the first Gulf War were sexually assaulted (you know how animalistic those swarthy men are and how they all want American women) but we couldn't say anything because we didn't want to offend Muslims. It goes on, but I'm feeling sick just typing this crap.

[Wetzelbill]

20. yeah, that stuff get old fast, I feel your sickness

[Wetzelbill]

14. yeah, he gets me riled

I'm going to have to stay far, far away from anything remotely political. Big problem is I live and breathe the stuff.

[SlavesandBulldozers]

8. say no more

"Arizona patrol drug investigator"

He makes a living off xenophobia and vigilantism, nativism and intolerance - what do you expect, a Wellstone supporter?

[Terran]

17. Now THAT is a bigoted statement

"Arizona patrol drug investigator"

He makes a living off xenophobia and vigilantism, nativism and intolerance - what do you expect, a Wellstone supporter?

Are you saying that living in Arizona and working as a drug investigator for a living makes this person intolerant and xenophobic? Because I've done that same job for a living, and I live in Missouri, which is probably a close second to Arizona in its conservatism. How about at looking at what he says, and not at these unrelated external factos?

[SlavesandBulldozers]

21. that's exactly what im saying

these are not external facts. these are essential to who the person is.

let me clarify a little bit: IMO the war on drugs is a war on personal freedoms, therefore as an investigator IMO you profit not only from the drug trade itself, and from from the drug war, but from the war on personal freedoms that accompanies it.

This kind of job is perfect for republicans of all extremities. The fact that you are not a Republican would make you an extreme minority in that field. Sorry to come across bigotted, but it's the truth. The drug war is the new slavery, it is the new Jim crow.

[Blue_Roses]

9. I don't see you as a bigot

I think that "low tolerance" for ignorant views is just that--low tolerance for ignorant views AND people with toxic views. If you find yourself "intolerant" of hatred then I say that is a good thing. It's not how you "view" it, it's how you handle the view.

[lovedems]

10. It reaffirms my conviction that the rethuglican party is so united

because of their common hatred of all people who think, act, look, differently then they do. They have a common hatred that binds them together. That is why they are the masters of hate speech. That makes me so proud to be a democrat. If our party is "divided" (so they say) because people have different ideas, then good for the democrats. Ideas are good, hatred is bad.

[MsUnderstood]

16. Never Discuss Politics or Religion at the Dinner Tab

I had a very similar experience with my family this weekend.

As a rule, I do not discuss politics with my family--but my uncle started it.

He lives in Nevada (used to live in California) and asked me how I like my new governor. I said our new governor is no better than the old one and that I think we wasted 6 million dollars that could have been put to better use. I pointed out that by Arnold repealing the Car Tax he left a 4 billion dollar hole in the budget that left Police/Fire/EMS underfunded and to fix it Arnold pulled money from schools. Now he wants to pass a 10 billion dollar bond for my kids to pay. "Why is it no big deal when Arnie pushes a bond through but Davis was taken to court to prevent a bond?" I asked.

In response, my uncle said "you know all those accusations about Arnold groping women? Well Gray Davis verbally abused his secretary-he isn't a nice guy!" So what I thought? I said what does Davis' personality matter? The recall campaign was a shell game. The legislature was the group responsible for the budget, the electric scandal, yet we chase after a governor. Why don't we focus on the elected officials who actually have control over the laws and spending that we are angry about?

Anyway, the conversation degraded from there with my uncle telling me that Gray Davis mismanaged the electricity scandal in California. I responded that Gray Davis requested that the federal government begin an investigation into the charges and Bush refused because it would hurt Cheney and some major campaign contributors.

Mentioning the president began the slippery "Clinton's sex cover up vs. Bush's everything else cover up" discussion. Not wanting to begin the New Year with this debate, I excused myself for some more vodka.

[Wetzelbill]

19. oh I was pretty drunk on Xmas eve at his house

alcohol helps mellow out the discussion a bit.