The Word "Moron"

[RoonShark]

The word "moron" has no A in it. Yes, there is a word "Moran" but it's a name.

[FlashHarry]

1. Here's the reason:

[calm_blue_ocean]

13. The times they are a-changing

[Bozita]

63. love the shirt

but work a little harder on your Photoshop skills

[pstokely]

14. are all Cardinals fans Morans?

?

[SaintLouisBlues]

51. Cub fans are morons

Cardinal fans are morans

AL fans are maroons

[Seneca]

62. oh does that star-spangled mullet yet wave....

O'er the land of the freep, and the home of the knave!

[RoonShark]

74. It's Not Ideological

What's going on here isn't about ideology, it's about class snobbery. The "moran" joke has been kicking around for two months because it's an excuse to ridicule the working class poor.

[mac56]

89. Kidding, right?

Where do you get "an excuse to ridicule the working class poor" out of that?! I'm working-class poor, and I daresay lots of other DUers are too.

I think you're overreaching.

[RoonShark]

94. Working Class Poor

I'm working-class poor, and I daresay lots of other DUers are too.

Oh come off it. Nobody in the working class uses words like "daresay". The working class is Archie Bunker! He does not begin sentences with "I daresay ....". British aristocrats do.

[ronnykmarshall]

97. You're just a ray of sunshine, ain't ya?

[RoonShark]

101. Alert the Mod

When I break the rules, be sure and alert the mod. And do me a favor, willya? When somebody insults me, would you do the same thing? Let's be nice. As I said before, I'm happy for people who continue to laugh at moron jokes.

[mac56]

102. Somehow I get the feeling you'd enjoy that.

If you really want the mods' attention, why not just ask them yourselves?

[ForrestGump]

108. That would be so knee-jerk reactive of us. Immature, too.

You'd have to double-dare us before we'd issue an alert on you. :P

[mac56]

109. I think it calls for a double-dog dare.

nm

[ForrestGump]

112. You might be right....

Perhaps even with relish on those dogs.

You've got to go all the way when you're dealing with a sausage the likes of this character.

[mac56]

113. Don't be silly, Forrest -

I daresay nobody in the working class puts relish on their dogs.

/sarcasm

[ForrestGump]

117. Darn

The working class won't have me.

The unworking class won't have me.

The intelligentsia won't have me.

The morans can't find me.

The Dallas Cowboy Cheerleaders won't have me...

:-(

I am a man without a class - I've been told as much ("You have no class," she said as she splashed the contents of her glass over my face). Yea, I'm an out-caste.

[mac56]

99. You're unbelievable.

nm

[ForrestGump]

103. Oh, I get it - the 'working class' are not sophisticates or, at least

lack much of a vocab. Not likely to be confused with the characters in a Noel Coward piece, I suppose.

Way to stereotype, you absolute bounder. You varlet. You vile cad.

I wonder which of your stereotypes I'd fit. I'm currently fiscally-challenged in extremis, so could easily fit that definition of 'poor,' but I'm extremely educated and work in a highly-specialized field that requires me to continually exercise both brain and body. I am well-traveled, can string together a few words on occasion, and highly doubt that I fit anyone's 'collar' category.

I daresay that DU is loaded with other, similarly unbounded, exceptions to your apparent rule that economically-challenged people sport mullets and speak monosyllabically.

Yep, I'm a-reck'nin' that we'all gots the most ejikated and plumb brainy po' folks that they is in the hole contry.

[supernova]

110. Yeah, Forrest!

I'm in the same boat as you. While I'm poor at the moment, I am well-educated and strive to learn something new everyday.

I was born lower middle class, but I was never raised to think of myself as a lower class than anyone. SoCalDem's sig line just about says it all for me.

What is low class, IMHO, is assuming that those of not much finanical means are also without education. Sorry, t'aint so.

[ForrestGump]

115. Baby, You're A Rich (wo)Man

How does it feel to be
One of the beautiful people

:D

Well, really, I know we're both rich in what really counts, but some semolians would be nice, too. So here's to enhancing that aspect of our prosperity - yours, mine, and anyone else in DU who could use a bit of that kind of carry-on.

We've got quite a big boat, I think, and it's only going to get bigger if these Bush characters have their way. But, hey, at least it's our boat. And there's no literacy test, for upper or lower bounds, required to get aboard.

And that's about all the boat metaphors I can use before getting really out of control. Wouldn't you daresay? I'd daresay. Let's all daresay together...

[supernova]

121. I daresay you are correct, Forrest

And I jolly well will make fun of those who seem to revel in their ignorance, regardless of the size of their credit limit.

:toast: Here's to finding something great! :D

[ForrestGump]

124. I double-dog daresay

that I agree with you. There're plenty of extremely wealthy, ignorant folks out there - I have more than several times had occasion to experience their pathology, and I speak unto you now that it tends to be overwhelmingly right-wing.

The pattern I see, if there is a patetrn at all, is that ignorant people - with or without mullets - tend to form a core part of the neoconservative power base. I mean, really, you'd have to be ignorant or evil to buy into far-right 'ideals.' And the less ignorant ones, the proverbial evil-genius types, are playing the ignorami for fools.

But for we non-ignorant, non-monetarily-overloaded genre-defying subversives, I join you in your toast. Here's to the rest of us! :toast:

[RoonShark]

123. Working Class Ideology

If you have all this fancy edumacation you are not working class. You might not have any money, but poverty is a relative state. The essence of the trap for the working class is that their values keep them where they are. If you're educated, the difference between you and so-called "higher" classes is money. For the real working class poor, it's not just money, it's the whole value package.

Bush has been able to sell himself to the working class poor, probably because they are smarting from the class snobbery of Democrats. The Republicans have formed an oddball coalition between the oppressors and the most oppressed, but Democrats haven't exploited its inherent instability. The reason may be that Democrats enjoy looking down on people worse off than themselves.

Why has Protestor Man become the DU mascot? People enjoy the guilty pleasure of class snobbery.

[felonious thunk]

126. How does that equate?

I can have a college degree and still be working blue collar. Does that mean I'm not "real working class"? I've never heard any definition of class structures based on anything other than money.

And if snobbery is what you are searching for, you are in the wrong place, friend. Look to the upper class Republican for the ultimate in snobbery.

The Republican party panders to the under-educated by speaking to their religious interests, giving them good sound bites and then screwing them. Yet they call themselves the realists. The Democratic party does reach out to the poor. But referring to your definition of the working class, these people have been Limbaugh'd into believing as a core value that all Democrats hate America.

We try to win them with ideas and policies that would actually help them. The Republicans pander with meaningless sound bites that just distract from what is really going on. But we're the snobs, when it's clear that Republicans are the ones that look down on them, pander, and know that so long as they say "God" and "liberals hate America" they can count on that voting block.

[RoonShark]

145. Why the New Left Failed

I can have a college degree and still be working blue collar

That does not make you working class. The reason the New Left failed is that they failed to distinguish between the working class who could get out if they wanted to and those who could not. The guy in the picture isn't getting out of the working class, and it's snobbish to make fun of him.

The Students for a Democratic Society thought they could achieve solidarity with the working class by dressing like the working class - wearing denim shirts, heavy boots, etc. The noble sentiments of the 1962 Port Huron Statement were exposed as fraudulent by the draft for the Vietnam war. Students got deferments, working class men did not. http://coursesa.matrix.msu.edu/~hst306/documents/huron.html

There has to be a more direct way of addressing issues of class. Ignoring them invites snobbery against the very people we rely on to get Democrats elected. You say that doing blue collar work in a recession makes you working class. It doesn't.

[felonious thunk]

149. So then it's hopeless?

Further down, you illustrated that Bush resonated with your wildly incorrect definition of working poor by looking and talking the part. Yet now you completely contradict yourself by criticizing SDS for looking and talking the part.

You are the one on this thread most vehemently holding to your belief of what this guy is based on his appearance, while at the same time criticizing others who do the same thing.

And if the best job I can get is blue collar then I'm not working class? I'm beating the sun to get to work, living in a crap apartment, making NOTHING and you dare say I'm the snob? Simply because I worked to get an education, and now can't get a better job? That's underemployment and is nearly as big a problem as unemployment.

It's snobbish the way you have deigned to classify each one of us into your self defined class structure. And now any argument with your point is Democratic class snobbery.

[ForrestGump]

127. I'm classless

In a good way. My background may have been working-class to middle-class, but I don't really know because I did not grow up in a particularly caste-laden society. I actually don't give a flying copulatory episode at an inertia-stricken ovoid pastry what 'class' I am or am not.

But I did think that the essense of the trap for the 'working class' (frankly, in the US, this concept of class seems pretty nebulous, at best) was more that the Capitalist Running-Dog Exploiters Of The Proletariat kept them where they were, or that the conditions created and encouraged by The Man demoralized them enough to prevent their mobility.

And, again, the Freeper Moran Dude is not DU's mascot. To most fo us, if not all of us, I daresay that he never receives a moment's thought other than when the word 'moron' enters our consciousness. I don't understand your attraction to him nor your establishing him as the icon of oppressed working-class sensitivity who could be rehabilitated to help save the United States and the world if only we liberal élite weren't too busy snacking on brie and perrier while laughing snootily at rerums of Jerry Springer. The f***er is probably a corporate tax lawyer or media CEO.

You seem to enjoy harping on the same thing over and over, no matter what you're told...it's almost as if...as if...as if you were just trying to be disruptive and contrary burr under DU's collective saddle. But, no, that couldn't be...

[mac56]

130. It's almost as if...

he or she wants to be reported to the mods for being "too liberal".

I double-dog daresay.

[ForrestGump]

137. That's hearsay,

I daresay...

[mac56]

139. And heresy,

I....uh...deresy....

:shrug:

[supernova]

133. You still don't get it

:shakes head: even after 130 some odd posts. Unbelieveable.

It's not where you start in life, it's where you choose to wind up. You're making the mistake that those of us in the "edumacated" camp disrespect those of us on the "unedumacated" camp. Only partly so.

I am not pretending I have done anything that anyone else couldn't do. In fact, I believe anyone can. You seem to think once a person is hooked at a certain station in life, that individual can only/should remain there. Not so.

I reiterate: I will teach and learn from anyone who wants to know, and I will satirize anyone who chooses to remain ignorant. Big difference. And this has nothing to do with the size of a person's bank account. The fact that you don't realize this is just incredible. Ignorance knows no class boundaries.

[Braden]

96. no its an excuse to ridicule a "Moran"

who thinks we the left, are Dumb for not supporting Gulf War II.

[bushisanidiot]

143. Not Working Class Poor, but Dittohead Freepers Who Are Too "Stoopid"

to think for themselves. It has nothing to do with working class poor, etc. Class warfare is the repuke game.

[greatauntoftriplets]

2. Would somebody please post the famous photograph?

There is a reason for that spelling, RoonShark. You will LOL.

[TSIAS]

3. Here's why DU'ers use the term moran

[greatauntoftriplets]

5. Thanks, Taylor.

That is a great photo.

[RoonShark]

22. Over and Over

The same joke over and over? Is it the same people each time, or is it like a ripple effect? This has been kicking around for months.

[VermontDem2004]

66. And it will be kicking around for years

Thanks for the spelling tip but I already knew how to spell Moron, but I prefer to spell it Moran when referring to freepers.

[RoonShark]

76. Class Snobbery

Class snobbery drives the working class poor into the Republican Party. When you call them "morans" they know you are not referring to the political differences between you and them, but to the class differences. That is not the way to win them over.

[VermontDem2004]

140. I am not trying to win freepers over

They are blaming the left wing for Rush's addiction which makes them morans. They were boycotting Campbell Soup because of McNabb's remarks. :wtf:

[Maple]

4. It comes from a joke about a famous picture of a freeper

I'm sure someone will post it soon.

[kixot]

6. Um, yeah, well, tell that to THIS GUY:

Freepers aren't even literate enough to spellcheck their insults. Yayy!! Hooray for war!!! Yippeeee!

[LeftPeopleFinishFirst]

7. hehe RoonShark

It's a DU thing, we're making fun of the freeper who spelled it that way on his poster at a pro war rally thing... where's that picture..

[RoonShark]

19. A DU Thing

Is it a DU thing to kick the same joke around for several months? Maybe it's an acquired taste ....

[LeftPeopleFinishFirst]

21. I'm sorry but

That picture never fails to crack me up. I love it!

[RoonShark]

25. The Duck Call Man

There's a guy who plays with a duck call in the terminal. The duck call makes a farting sound that makes him laugh out loud. He's been doing this all day every day for years. It makes him happy.

[LeftPeopleFinishFirst]

26. What is your point?

Just curious. There really seems to have been no real point to this post. You knew why we were saying it that way but didn't really say that in your original post.

[RoonShark]

29. Actually I Didn't

I actually didn't know why people were hammering away at a joke that was only mildly amusing when it was new. I assumed there had to be some other point to it. Sorry to hear that there wasn't.

Excuse me, I have to practice my duck calls ....

[LeftPeopleFinishFirst]

31. You go have fun

It's sort of sad that some of us can take humour even when it is mildly stupid, and you can't. Lighten up a bit, there's no harm being done with the moran joke.

[RoonShark]

36. I Quite Agree

You're having fun with the moran joke, and I wouldn't deprive you of it. Nope, not at all. Have at it.

I'm just surprised! It reminds me of catnip.

[arwalden]

65. Even Funnier Than The Original Joke Itself, Eh?

That's why I still laugh when I see it. Not because IT is still funny, but because I like the fact that others are still enjoying it for whatever reason that they do.

Welcome To DU, you! ;-)

-- Allen

[bushisanidiot]

148. Must've Hit a Nerve

Do you know any mullet head pro-war guys who lack basic spelling skills? hmmm??

[kixot]

8. Any other questions?

[dweller]

10. um yes, is it n u c u l a r?

or n u c u l e a r ?
or k n u c k u l u r ? (with a silent k?)

dp

[Loyal]

9. It's funny, too,

because there is a Congressman Moran, and he acts quite moranic at times.

[Darranar]

16. Has anyone considered...

that this freeper may have been smarter than you think?

Perhaps he was using a paly on words; Moran was a known anti-war politician.

[LeftPeopleFinishFirst]

24. No no

I refuse to believe that! besides. there is not more than one Moran!

[Darranar]

28. So?

All the peaceniks, in the freeper's mind, were like Moran. Therefore, Morans.

[LeftPeopleFinishFirst]

32. Dar

You think they're smart enough to think it over THAT much?

[Cheswick2.0]

35. nope, it doesn't compute

sorry if we are insulting a particular moranic freeper friend of yours or something.

[Piperay]

64. He's still stupid because

he has the exclamation point in the wrong place.

[Cheswick2.0]

33. nah, he's just a moran....no cleverness to be found on the freepers part

sorry

[Richardo]

67. Are you kidding? LOOK at the guy...

...does he look like he could be smarter than anybody thinks?
I'd bet a considerable sum he doesn't even know who the Attorneyt General is, let alone a Congressman.

I'm only surprised the sign doesn't say "Get a Brian, morans".

[TrogL]

71. love the mullet

http://www.mulletsgalore.com/

[RoonShark]

73. Class Snobbery

You are looking down on him, aren't you? It's not ideology, it's class snobbery. Having fun, are we?

Here comes the duck call man. BR-A-A-A-ACK!!

[Dookus]

11. teehee....

sometimes asking first is helpful.

[RoonShark]

17. Still Making That Same Joke?

That picture came out a couple of months ago. The joke is really too old now, doncha think? I assumed that people would have gotten tired of it. Looks like I guessed wrong.

[Dookus]

23. Ah, I see....

you KNEW the context of "moran" and simply thought the joke was old, but neglected to mention that in your original post. Thanks for clearing that up.

[RoonShark]

27. Actually

Actually I thought there might have been more to it! I am truly disappointed there wasn't. Whatever makes you happy ...

[Ohio Dem]

30. Inside jokes don't die.

Apparently, you've never been in on an inside joke before.

That's sad.

[RoonShark]

38. Actually They Do

Any joke has a shelf life. I thought that one was pulled a long time ago. If you still find it amusing after all this time, good for you! May your tribe increase.

[Dookus]

44. I don't believe you.

I believe you didn't know the context, and now you're trying to backtrack.

[RoonShark]

47. One of Us Knows the Truth

How do you think we are going to resolve this? I've recanted my original disappointment and now I'm actually happy that people find this old joke amusing. Good for them! May their tribe increase.

[Dookus]

48. no, I think both of us know the truth....

your original post accused us of being poor spellers, NOT of being too-easily amused. It would've been very simple to express your (current) position without any misunderstanding.

But party on with your bad self.

[RoonShark]

52. Give It A Rest

You are making too big a deal of this. It's not that complicated.

[Dookus]

53. who made a deal?

I didn't create a thread insulting people over something I misunderstood.

And no, it's not complicated. Had you simply said "Oh, I didn't know that. Thanks for pointing it out." it would be over. But instead, you came up with a lame excuse about being put off by the AGE of the joke, rather than simply admitting you didn't know the joke in the first place.

When wrong, promptly admit it and make amends. I read that somewhere.

[RoonShark]

55. The Original Post

The original post does not criticize anyone. It simply states a fact. I may have misunderstood you when you said you were unaware of that fact. Were you being sarcastic, or did you actually not know that there's no A in the word "moron"?

If you've learned something today, I'm even more happy for you than I was before. And I was pretty happy before!

[Dookus]

57. No...

I'm well aware of how to spell "moron".

My point was that you were unaware of the long-time joke here on DU and thought you'd "set us straight". When the joke was pointed out to you, instead of just apologizing, you made up a back-story that said you were disappointed that we were using such an old joke.

Since you only signed up here a few days ago, it's a perfectly understandable mistake. Nobody would've given two shits if you'd just said "oh! Thanks!". Instead, you dug deeper and deeper, and I find it amusing how far you'll go to defend your original mistake.

Party on!

[RoonShark]

58. Oh! Thanks!

n/t

[DemoTex]

12. What is the point of your post, maroon?

.

[caledesi]

15. You are out of the loop, my friend. It's a spoof. See below.

[RoonShark]

20. How Old is That Picture?

That picture is really old, but the same joke never gets tiresome. I'm disappointed.

[Cheswick2.0]

37. yeahsureright!

LOL! Waaaaaaaaaa, we are all cut to the quick I am sure. :eyeroll:

[RoonShark]

40. I'm Happy For You

If you still find the same joke amusing after a couple of months, I am really impressed. You must be close to God. How else to explain it? I'm happy for you.

[dajabr]

18. The swiming pool is on the second floor...n/t

[Hubert Flottz]

34. It's a time joke!

Rush is an Oxymoran!

[Cheswick2.0]

39. "Rush is an Oxymoran!"

yes he is and he is also a big fat idiot

[RoonShark]

41. You Forgot to Say ...

You forgot to say nyah nyah nyah-h-h-h-h .....

[SOteric]

42. Well golly,

If we're all so plebian and far below your exceptional sense of humour (whose dearth of example is suspicious by it's omission) then why do you deign to post amoung us?

Why not take your exceptional wit and intelligence elsewhere.

:hi:

[RoonShark]

50. Why Not Alert the Mod?

Tell the mod I'm starting trouble because I assumed incorrectly that an old joke couldn't still be kicking around. I'm not upset to find out I was mistaken. Glad to hear that folks still find it amusing. May your tribe(s) increase!

No problem here. I'm happy for you.

[mac56]

This is twice now you've challenged someone to alert the mods.

An intriguing game being played here.

[RoonShark]

118. Well, Alert the Mod

We can't have any intriguing games played here.

[mac56]

120. thought so

nm

[Hubert Flottz]

45. And that's Rush's finer points!

Let's hijack this thread!

[Pert_UK]

43. Mate.....take a chill-pill and lighten up!!!

With all the things in the world to worry about, you're getting frustrated because people are still doing the "moran" thing?

It's not like DUers are simple-minded fools who crack-up each time they repeat the same joke - it's just that "moran" has now become part of DU folklore & a constant, welcome reminder of the oblivious idiocy of Freepers.

It's a bright note in times of darkness, a source of succor and the happy suggestion that at least we can have an intelligent debate here, even if we disagree.

It's a single, apt, token representation of the ignorance that threatens democracy in your wonderful country.

Or maybe it's just a tiny source of amusement for a few people on DU.

Whatever the case, what's the big problem? Personally, I'm not bothered about it one way or the other, but I think you need to relax and start worrying about something else....

IMHO of course.

Peace.

P.

[RoonShark]

46. A Source of Succor

It's a bright note in times of darkness, a source of succor

I'm sorry you think I'd deny anybody succor. I think I should take a picture of the Duck Call Man and show you how happy he is. He's a fixture at the terminal!

The Duck Call Man drew the attention of the Welfare Department - they got him a job at McDonalds. It didn't work out well: he looked completely miserable, and he wasn't a good worker. I wasn't surprised to see the Duck Call Man back inside the main waiting room, peeking around furtively and waiting for his opportunity to blow the duck call. Then it was BR-A-A-A-A-CK!! And he would laugh his ass off.

Some say such people are close to God. Who am I to judge? BR-A-A-A-A-CK!!

[Hubert Flottz]

49. Mike Hunt Hates Morans!

The difference between Comedy And A Fart: One is a strong shift of wit!

[RoonShark]

54. Now You've Got them Singing

Now you've got them singing. You'll never get rid of them!

[Hubert Flottz]

56. BOOOSH has got the Morans singin' the Blues!

Can't buy bullets or beers without a job! Gotta' laugh EVERY minute to keep from cryin'! Things lookin' REAL BAD in Moransville! The Morans are restless, shiftless toothless and underemployed! Can't get beer so they buy $1.00 spray paint! We spend our daze laughin' at the fools!

[Pert_UK]

60. Mr T. follows RoonShark by denying succor...

As I say, I'm not claiming that the moran joke is really anything important, I'm merely suggesting that there is no harm in people continuing to find it amusing.

It is, however, on a slightly higher intellectual level than laughing hysterically at a duck-call.......

IMHO, that picture of the "Get a brain, morans!" guy is the brilliant encapsulation of the serious problems faced by America.

It says more than an essay - vast tracts of the population have been undereducated and misled by the media, and yet still retain an oblivious, doubt-free, self-righteous conviction in their own beliefs.

That guy and is "moran" is a microcosm of what's wrong with US society......

Or maybe we're just laughing 'cause he's stoopid...

P.

[Forkboy]

68. Hey now...succor is a great sport damn you!!!!!!

:D

[LincolnMcGrath]

59. Morans on Parade?

[cosmicdot]

61. about as mundane as the question "Was John Wayne Gay?"

or as nonsensical as 'Will Bush Hire Saddam to Run Iraq?'

[RoonShark]

78. Monty Clift Sure Was!

I was surprised myself when I read Stephan Cohan's book Masked Men which argues that the movie "Red River" is a gay love story. When I got the video and watched the movie myself, I was astonished at scenes that support no other explanation than homoeroticism.

Cohan says that 1940's audiences were too uptight to see a gay motif, but we are more sophisticated today. Here's John Ireland admiring Montgomery Clift's ... um, gun. He says something like, "Oh how smooth and responsive it is." And Clift responds, "Would you like to play with it?" Ireland answers, "And you can play with mine."

[Aristus]

69. RoonShark, if inside jokes have a shelf-life, it must be a really

loooooooooooong one. The British called the American colonists, with our pretentions to 'civilization', "Yankee Doodles". 230 years later, they're still at it, calling us 'Yanks' and other things. Doesn't help that we adopted the insult as a proud moniker. But anyway, I can see 'Moran' going on for quite some time. If maybe not the morans themselves. The in-bred tend to die out after a few generations.

[RoonShark]

72. Yankee Doodle

The term "yankee doodle" disparaged the upstart colonists as bumpkins, more or less the same way that "moran" has come to disparage working class supporters of Bush and the war in Iraq. But as you've noted, simply calling people stupid for their political beliefs doesn't win them over. Bush is popular with these people because he's actually less of a snob than a lot of Democrats. The more we ridicule peripheral things like mis-spelled words, the less likely we're going to win those people over. And there's no reason to write them off! Those people are hurting. We make it easy for Bush to co-opt their pain by blaming the Democrats for looking down on them.

About Yankee Doodle:

During Pre-Revolutionary America when the song "Yankee Doodle" first became popular, the word macaroni in the line that reads "stuck a feather in his hat and called it macaroni" didn't refer to the pasta. Instead, "Macaroni" was a fancy and overdressed ("dandy") style of Italian clothing widely imitated in England at the time. So by just sticking a feather in his cap and calling himself a "Macaroni", Yankee Doodle was proudly proclaiming himself to be a country bumpkin (an awkward and unsophisticated person), because that was how the English regarded most colonials at that time.

http://bensguide.gpo.gov/3-5/symbols/yankee.html

[ForrestGump]

88. Perhaps Bush is PERCEIVED as being less of a snob

than certain others, but I'd suggest that the doofus is almost certainly as snobby as an anti-intellectual can get.

Superman and Mighty Mouse are perceived as being essentially invulnerable and good to the core, but they're no more real than Bush's public image. And that public image is very much an Emperor's New Clothes facade that both mirrors his handlers' contempt for the American people and proves that some of that contempt is warranted. Smoke and mirrors. Pay no attention to the facists behind the curtain...

[RoonShark]

116. Bush's Snobbery

If Bush is a snob, we've had three years to make the case against him. Even though he has snobbish people around him like Rumsfeld and Cheney, Bush himself does not appear to be a snob. He has very simple tastes: he watches television, he plays with his dog, he clears brush on his ranch. There is nothing about him that would make working class people uncomfortable. That's the basis of his appeal to them. He walks the walk. He's also put Blacks in higher places in his administration than any Democrat has.

With less than thirteen months to the election, Democrats aren't making the case that the working class poor will be better off with a Democrat in the White House. Class snobbery gives them no reason for confidence, either. Take the guy in the picture - what do you think he does for a living? He looks like he drives a truck for a non-union shop and hopes some day to become a Teamster. These are the parameters of his life, and people here have made him the butt of a snobbish ongoing joke.

Are we going to win over the working class poor while we look down on them? I don't think so.

[mac56]

119. Assuming way too much.

"He looks like he drives a truck for a non-union shop and hopes some day to become a Teamster. These are the parameters of his life.."

You're the one making that assumption, not us. How do you know what he does for a living? Because of how he looks...to you?!

I think you're the one who has an issue here. A bit of projection, I daresay.

[ForrestGump]

122. I don't think I have the strength to even rebut this, simple as it is

he watches television, he plays with his dog

Well, if you call letting gravity do the work playing.



Don't worry, kids...he loves it when I roughhouse with him. Hey, wannanother one, Barney?!

he clears brush on his ranch

I'll just assume here that you are not familiar with the concept of the gratuitous photo-op. If he actually did clear brush on that patch of dirt as much as he's said to, he'd have cleaned the equivalent of the Amazon Basin by now. What he does there is drink, more likely, and watch TV, and play with his pretzels.

You forgot to mention that he lands jets on aircraft carriers, just like he did when he was in Veet-nam.

He walks the walk.

Oh....ohhhh...ohhhhhhhhh... :puke:

[SOteric]

146. What you

"Class snobbery gives them no reason for confidence, either. "

mean 'them,' Kimosabe?

[felonious thunk]

70. Ironic

The man holding the sign in the infamous photo was questioning the intellectual acumen of people disagreeing with his particular viewpoint.

His sign was an attempt to sway the minds of these people by in part 1, making a direct request. In his mind, those who disagree needed to revisit their intellectual capacities. By expressing this request as "Get a Brain!", he insinuates that not only do these people have diminished intellectual capabilities, but in fact lack the vital brain organ. Of course, he must know that the human body requires the brain if only to direct the central nervous system, but the clever use of exaggeration is very appropriate in bringing across his point.

In part 2, he uses a simple psychological ploy to spur the target audience into action. Clearly he figures that by issuing an insult, he can quickly grab the attention of the audience and spur them into taking the action of "getting a brain". However, he makes a regretful misspelling and turns would have appeared to be a cogent argument and insult to spur action into a piece of lore that his target audience can now use against him. He has in fact, in a bit of irony, made himself look like the fool and clearly has failed in both of his goals as he has 1) failed in his attempt to bring people around to his viewpoint and 2) in fact, turned people away from his message.

Just noting the irony.

[RoonShark]

75. The Working Class Poor

The man in the photo is a member of the working class poor. It's snobbish to ridicule his spelling, as if that were the critical difference between the parties. This thread has quite a few examples of the snobbery of Democrats, who ridicule this man's hair, his education, or what he does for a living.

Take note: These people are loyal to Bush. The working class poor ought to be strong, committed Democrats, but they're not. They know that middle-class Democrats look down on them. There's no reason to ridicule people for their lack of education or for trivial mistakes in spelling. Class snobbery alienates the working class poor and costs us a huge number of votes.

[Nailzberg]

77. And you make this judgement how?

Just wondering what external factors you used to come to this conclusion. Is he holding a W-2 in his other hand? Or is this just profiling?
I know plenty of well-off people that look as trashy as Mr. Moran in his Cards t-shirt.

[ForrestGump]

79. It's his topic du jour....

Look at the last few of his postings for the same spurious theme - but, in the meantime, at least he's getting his post-count high.

[RoonShark]

83. Spurious Theme

No class snobbery here, thank you. We're Democrats!

[ForrestGump]

86. We are? Are we sure?

[RoonShark]

81. The Mullet

There's a couple of comments in this thread about the mullet. You don't have to display your W-2 when you cut your hair that way. People know.

[ForrestGump]

85. I didn't know that a mullet was indicative of economic status

Who's going to alert those impoverished rock and country stars?

[RoonShark]

125. Economic Status

Economic status and class aren't the same. Economic status is money. A lot of rock millionaires are working class. It's not so unusual.

[ForrestGump]

141. I'm not a sociologist, but

it's always seemed to me that, in the Unites States (beyond certain regional snobbery-enhancers), 'class' was very much based upon economic status.

In the UK, and in other places (India, parts of SE Asia, etc), yes, the two are independent. Half of my genetic background is English gentry - the family names still count for a lot even though most of the estates have been long since sold and many of the descendants of these landed gentry are not exactly rolling in money.

Money, in the present, is what matters most in the US. Elapsed time since the family first got its money, by whatever means, is more a factor elsewhere.

[my_2_cents]

80. So you start a flame war based on a bunch of erroneous assumptions?

I think you have it a bit backwards as well. Working class poor still vote Democratic and middle class tends to vote Republican.

I wouldn't expect much more from a person whose first thread on DU was about freeing the Manson murderers as though that is a winning cause the Democratic party should take up.

Maybe you just need enough rope to hang yourself with.

[RoonShark]

82. Simple Factual Observation

Please refer to the original post. It is a simple factual observation about the spelling of a word. I really did not expect 15 immediate responses expressing approval of a somewhat snobbish inside joke. To be candid, I was disappointed.

[my_2_cents]

84. Your simple factual observation then morphed into a rabid defense

of a freeper who was at a PRO-WAR rally.
To be candid, if the shoe fits - wear it.

Your interpretation that it is snobbish to underscore that a person who cannot spell is telling others to get a brain is rather interesting. Frankly, I think the person is a stupid fuck and by way of reference, anyone defending him no matter the semantic appeals to liberalism is probably not very bright and a tad calculating.

[ForrestGump]

87. Welcome to DU, my_2_cents!

:hi:

Don't let the morans throw you....

...and try not to throw the morans.

[RoonShark]

92. The Rally Was Two MONTHS Ago

I'm not defending the jerk with the sign; besides, the rally happened two months ago, at a minimum. Obviously there's some reason this man was adopted as a DU mascot - it's not just about a misspelled word. I'd argue that making him a mascot allows Democrats the guilty pleasure of class snobbery. Otherwise, why bring up the way he cuts his hair?

Just a gentle reminder that the victims of class snobbery are fully aware of it. You might keep that in mind when discussing ways to win back the working class poor.

[ForrestGump]

95. Quite an ASSumption...

Obviously there's some reason this man was adopted as a DU mascot

Really? Why is it obvious? The spelling is reason enough, all by itself - as has already been pointed out (see above for an ironic introduction to irony), it speaks volumes in its own right.

And he's not a DU mascot. That'd be the yak.





Who's this damned moran who's trying to cut in on my action?

[felonious thunk]

104. I've ridiculed none of the above

I've just ridiculed his implication that anyone who didn't agree with his point of view lacked for intelligence. And how ironic it was that in his sign, he made a foolish blunder. He may well be very intelligent, but his sign makes him look foolish and has spoiled what he set out to accomplish.

[ronnykmarshall]

90. MORAN!!!!!

and her dog!

Margaret Cho's Korean name is Moran.

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

91. Perhaps you have confused working class poor with FUCKING FREEPERS

But I doubt it. Working class poor is a class of people. Nobody commented upon his economic status. You added all of that after the fact.

Freepers, by comparison are simply fucking assholes no matter their economic status. They defend their lapse of logic much like you defend them. Hmmmm..... I see a through line there.

You have mastered the distinction SOPHISTY.

If anyone is damning the working class poor it is you by presuming that they are all so fucking stupid, they would vote republican and support and OIL WAR.

[ForrestGump]

93. She's back!

And she's kicking bootie!








:loveya:

[RoonShark]

98. Economic Status

Nobody commented upon his economic status

That's right, they didn't comment on his economic status. Are you suggesting that people couldn't guess he was working class just by looking at him? It's obvious. The reason he's a DU mascot is that he allows Democrats the guilty pleasure of class snobbery.

This is not the way we win back the working class. They know when they are being ridiculed.

[nothingshocksmeanymore]

100. Yes and we can win them back by freeing the Manson murderers

:eyes:

[ForrestGump]

105. There's a link here....

He's Squeaky Fromme's baby.

[ronnykmarshall]

106. LOL!!

Right on!!! :toast:

Way to go nsma!!!!


:toast:

[supernova]

114. Roonshark, how many more sterotypes

can you pile in that picture?

So far you've got:

1) Bad speller - ergo lower class
2) T-shirt and headband - ergo redneck, possibly freeper biker

See a pattern here? We're not the one's making class distinctions, YOU are.

[RoonShark]

128. The Boxer in the Dark Trunks

In the 1950's it was politically correct not to notice the ethnicity of boxers in the ring. Joe Louis would be identified by the color of his trunks.

Here we have an obviously working class guy with a mis-spelled sign. Everybody goes on and on about the mis-spelled sign as though that were the central point of difference. Clearly, the difference is that a working-class dude presumes to be more intelligent than middle class Democrats. Quel horreur! And he can't even spell the word "moron"!

The rhetoric about him is about his class, not about his spelling. Go back into this thread and read some of the early responses - they don't call him "uppity" but they certainly imply it. Working class people know when they are being ridiculed. To them, it's not so subtle that they mistake it for anything else.

[felonious thunk]

134. Yeah, ok

I'm sure had the sign been spelled correctly, there would be numerous posts here regarding the audacity of this guy to think he was smarter than us. Or maybe it wouldn't have ever been noticed, because then, it's just some dude that thinks Democrats are idiots.

What the hell does Joe Louis have to do with this?

I'd think most people here would love to see the working poor suddenly actually stick up for themselves. We'd be right there with them.

[ForrestGump]

136. There he goes again

Clearly, the difference is that a working-class dude presumes to be more intelligent than middle class Democrats.

I dispute the following:

(i) Clearly
No, it isn't clear at all. 'Clearly,' as you use it, is a manipulative word used to channel some gullible or intimidated responder into buying your whole point (or lack thereof). Obviously.

(ii) the
Wrong again. Repeat for difference, is, and that.

(iii) a working-class dude
I won't nag you to define 'working class' in the contemporary USA - under Bush it's surely more non-working class, anyway - but this is quite an assumption that you've perpetrated here. As we've already pointed out over, and over, an over, and...

(iv) presumes to be more intelligent than middle class Democrats
He does presume to be more intelligent than anti-war protestors, rgardless of political affiliation, hence the irony (again, see above for an introduction to the concept). Leaving aside all debate about how and if we can actually define intelligence, the sign could actually be the result of just poor spelling ability or perhaps a learning disorder. Maybe he's dyslexic. More irony, because hard-core Republicans would tend to look down on that - even Bush vociferously denies his own dyslexia. Regardless, your second major erroneous assumption here has been proven unfounded - DU and the Democratic party are not solely middle-class phenomena, and those of us who may identify with other socio-economic classes (or with none) also look down on this moran from a great height. Why? Because he's an idiot...because he bought the neocon line and is spewing its hatred. What's to admire? Can he be saved? Maybe, but only if he wants to be.

Hallelujah.



Dude, you're boring me. If I didn't know it'd thrill you to your core, I'd alert on you now just because your a looser.

[ronnykmarshall]

142. Time to bring out hypno Judy!

Go listen to showtunes, go listen to showtunes!

[SOteric]

144. Oh Forrest,

you're such a hottie when you're fierce, -on the hood of NSMA's car.

[supernova]

147. Forrest, you're making me hot

:loveya:

God, you rock!!! :bounce: :bounce: :evilgrin:

[supernova]

111. NSMA, Welcome Back!!

:hi:

We missed you so, CatWoman especially was worried. Hope you are in better spirits than when you left last week. And if not, may you soon find some small peace of mind.

[RoonShark]

129. Alert the Mods

We can't have phonies posting here.

[Forkboy]

131. "We can't have phonies posting here."

How does that have anything to do with the previous post?

[SOteric]

135. It doesn't, Forkboy, it doesn't.

I've read through various of the posts in this thread and I'm pretty convinced that this guy is just baiting, and most folks are giving him the ride he's asking for.

I suggest you give him the attention he so richly deserves:

[mac56]

138. I agree, SOteric.

He does appear to be a master baiter.

[supernova]

107. Will Pitt told a followup joke to this pic

when he was here in Chapel Hill a couple of weeks ago.

The story goes, someone walked up to the guy and said:

"You know 'moron' is spelled with two Os, don't you?"

"Oh, OK. Thanks."

After which the sign read, "GET A BRAIN MOORANS!"

LMAO!

This is funny.

[RoonShark]

132. Rassus Joke

Rassus was out with his girl at a lover's lane. He said, "Let's talk about the hereafter." She said, "Why do you want to talk about that? And Rassus answered, "Because if you're not here after what I'm here after, you're going to be here after I'm gone!"