This hasn't been such a good week for me here on DU.

[Left Is Write]

My dad worked for an evil empire (a DoD contracted company) for 41 years.
I worked for the same company for 7 years.
My husband works in health insurance.

We are an evil people, I guess, and right now I feel pretty icky about some things I just read on GD about people like my husband. I'm sure someone out there will tell me I need to have a thicker skin, but at this moment my skin feels pretty thin.

[miss_american_pie]

1. ...

:hug:

[Writer]

2. I understand.

With the risk of sounding judgmental of some on DU, I think there is something to say about ideologues, and that one doesn't necessarily have to look inside Freeperland to find them.

:hug:

[Starbucks Anarchist]

3. Don't let them get you down.

:hug:

[bicentennial_baby]

4. Awwww

:hug:

:loveya:

[undeterred]

5. I worked for an insurance company

and now I work for a manufacturer whose main client is the military (engines, not bombs).

I wish I could afford to be pickier but, I can't and neither can most people.

[Lars39]

6. You have to understand how badly people are hurting right now.

We went bankrupt due to medical bills. I know we probably won't ever be able to own a house again.
At some point I'll probably have to decide whether to plunge us into massive debt again, or to live.

[La Lioness Priyanka]

7. sometimes people talk out of their asses...seriously...

we all contribute to the great mess that is our nation if the criterion is working for an evil corporation (either we work in one...or buy products from one..or in someway are affiliated to one..)

people just need to get off their high horses

[Rosemary2205]

65. I'm with you.

Don't ask me why but I'm still amazed at some of the smack talk that goes on in the DU sometimes.

[BikeWriter]

8. My name is BW and I worked for a Fortune 500 industry...

I'm sorry! :cry:

[KitchenWitch]

52. I worked for 7 years for a Military Contractor

:(

I am evil.

[BikeWriter]

62. It may be a positive first step we're out of denial.

:shrug:

[Maine-ah]

84. I'm a stay at home mom....

I am evil...you know, sending the feminist movement backwards, having children in an over populated world, ect....

I say screw 'em. I live my life you live yours!

[evlbstrd]

9. I work in advertising.

I've never had a client that I could be proud to represent.

[JustABozoOnThisBus]

10. You work for who you work for ...

It pays the bills.

It doesn't define you.

Rule 17: never disclose your profession in General Discussion. They'll eat you alive, spit out the bones, and curse the rattle. Well, maybe it's not that bad. Not quite.

:)

[mondo joe]

11. I have worked for non profits my whole life but I'm still evil, according to some on DU.

Don't let the bastards grind you down. :-)

[eyepaddle]

12. Let me offer one more

:hug:

The lounge still likes ya! :)

[1gobluedem]

13. I don't think people in GD like where *anyone* works

I mentioned once in a thread that I worked for an NPR affiliate (it was relevant to the topic), which is considered fairly liberal at least, and they jumped all over me accusing NPR of selling out to the corporate world.

While I agreed in some part, I tried to explain why NPR's and public radio's dependence on corporations has increased (thank Newt Gingrich and the 104th Congress who, when they couldn't eliminate funding, changed the criteria for funding which has contributed greatly to public radio's homogenization). They wouldn't have it.

I can't imagine what all their professions are that enables them to be so holier than thou about everyone else's.

Don't let it get you down.

[mondo joe]

20. Works, shops or what they buy when they shop.

God forbid you get a playstation!

[tigereye]

31. yeah, NPR, that great corporate evil....

sigh. :eyes:

I wish folks over there could actually use rationality before they post.

[Common Sense Party]

64. NPR is basically Fox News Radio. It's corporate, fascist, elitist...

Did I leave anything out?

:sarcasm:

[reyd reid reed]

14. ...

Don't let 'em get to you. We love you. Thick skin, thin skin...if it stings, it stings. People who make sweeping generalizations oughta be put into generalization hell. And yes, that's a generalization but oh well. Think of how sad it must be to be them: narrow-minded and petty and yet to feel high and mighty and 'special'. One day it's gonna bite 'em.

:hug::hug::hug:

[datasuspect]

15. the internet in general

and discussion groups in particular, is like an information sewer.

you really have to dig through lots of turds to find the nice pieces of corn.

sorry the nimrods are getting to you.

[reyd reid reed]

18. ...

< hijack >

Hi! Where have you been hiding? I was thinking about you a couple of days ago, wondering where you'd disappeared to...

< /hijack >


Carry on...

[datasuspect]

24. i've had a blissful complete lack of internet access

with the exception of missing the very small number of people i like here (you are a part of that group), it has been pretty kick ass.

lots of air, lots of light, stuff like that.

[reyd reid reed]

55. Sometimes I think that a complete lack of the internets would be good for me...

then I come to my senses...

I'm glad you're back.

:hug:

[datasuspect]

71. i thought about you

you may not want to know "when."

[EstimatedProphet]

16. But we had so much fun in the post from your cache thread!

Seriously, who you work for doesn't define who you are. Forget what they say.

[idgiehkt]

17. you have the nicest myspace I've seen linked here so far

even if it is owned by the devil.

sorry, I figured that might get brought up, so I brought it up first, but yours did make me reconsider the myspace thing. Probably because I think they have way too many right angles, and the circles on yours rock.

[hunter]

19. God Damn it, and I'm a U.S. Citizen!!!

Most evil fuckers on the planet earth, we are.

Dr. Strangeloves, all of us...

That's sort of my take, I include myself in the mess if it's any consolation...

:hug:

[FedUpWithIt All]

21. It is easy for people to speak of a faceless, emotionless ...

form. We all do it to a degree. Lump and insult. Please don't take it to heart. I too hate insurance COMPANIES. I do not hate the people doing their job on a daily basis to provide food, shelter and birthday presents for their families.

I realize i often tell a personal antidote to go along with someone's post and I am sorry to anyone who might find this annoying but it is one of the ways i relate. I am sorry...;) I am going to do it again. One of the men who was killed in a very public manner while he was working for Blackwell was a close childhood friend of an ex. I had been reading DU for news for a long time before i signed on here. The day i met this man's mother (she had the look in her eyes that only a woman who has watched her son burned and mutilated, on National television weeks before, could) I came home and began surfing. I came onto some threads here where people were calling those who worked for Blackwell baby-killers, treasure hunters and saying that they deserved to die.

I did not even know this man personally and i was angry and hurt. They did not see the faces of those who loved him. They did not see the tears of people who had known him since childhood. I am sure if anyone of the people who were speaking that day HAD seen these things they would not have been able to be so cold.

They don't know the people. They know an idea...much like those who hate the "terrorists". It is simple and frankly narrow to insult everyone associated with something without any thought about the individuals involved.

Please accept a :hug: and know that i think you husband is a GOOD man. I have seen images of your family. You all appear to be happy and healthy and very loving toward each other. You and your husband have done this. This is no small feat.

Take it from me...a Walmart shopping, smoking, Olive Garden eating, uncircumcised men dating, single mother who happened to breastfeed her children :)

:::LIW:::

[Elidor]

34. A very nice post. Well said.

We speak our prejudices as though they were abstract, as though they had no bearing on people we feel empathy for. And that's very easy to do on a faceless message board. Often we're unaware how it sounds to someone on the other side of the fence.

[speedoo]

22. Ya gotta just ignore them.

The folks who say we're evil for some kind of association or another that is.

I know it's hard at first, but after a while, you'll find it much easier to just write those folks off.

Fuck 'em, I say!!

I had a few tough weeks here recently due to something similar (right here in the Lounge, actually), but it's better now.

[Haole Girl]

23. Sorry it's been hard on you..here..lately.

I would share my own sob story of the day, but I think DU has had all it can take of my whining-- for the whole year-- already...and we are only 2 days into it.

Feel better! :hug:

[HarukaTheTrophyWife]

25. Hey, it happens to everyone.

Hell, I was declared a freeper, because my *stepfather* owns motorboats, which is an appalling waste of gas. And not only have I not convinced my step-dad to sell the boats off, but I'm morally inferior, since I use his boats.

Oh, and I drive an SUV.

So basically, I understand.

:hug:

[Kerrytravelers]

26. I can empathize.

I'm a teacher.

Do you have any idea the kind of anger that gets hurled at me? And the hurlers sound so dumb, but what can you do? A reasonable gripe? Sure. But the insults? It actually reflects more on the accuser than the accused.


ON EDIT:

And now, I work for a chartered home school. A publicly funded chartered home school. I better put on my bullet-proofed vest and duck for cover ASAP! A public school teacher with a credential who supports the right to home school! I am the enemy!

[Name removed]

27. Deleted sub-thread

Sub-thread removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Oeditpus Rex]

28. Tell me about it

I was a newspaper reporter and editor. Oh, all those lies I told! Lies, lies, lies!

:eyes:

[LSK]

29. I cant believe you tried to tell us that the moon was made of cheese

I dont know how I can forgive you for that one!

[Left Is Write]

32. Yes, I suppose I'd better not forget my years with the media.

I actually read news wires about Nixon and OJ. Sometimes, I even WROTE the news stories.

[hatredisnotavalue]

35. Me too...out to change the world!

and then I became an ambulance chaser. Getting a paycheck every week because of other people's misery. I did 15 years of it and then one day a crazy guy murdered three nuns and I had to cover the story. The follow up the next day from my boss was to call the nun's relatives and ask them how they felt about the murders. Gee, pretty shitty would be my first guess. I quit shortly after that. Now I, long story, work for my husband's company, where the Chinese make cheap stuff for American companies and they pass these goods off as their own.

point clarified with edit

[Oeditpus Rex]

41. I've never understood the 'death reaction' bit

"How did you feel upon learning your children had burned to death?" :wtf:

It isn't news and it's highly insensitive. I never told a reporter to call for that quote, but the paper's been doing it since I left.

For the obit in a "normal" death of a prominent person, yeah. Family members are often quite willing to talk to you then, and you sometimes pick up some real gems about the deceased.

I once had to do one of those on deadline, though. That sucked.

[tigereye]

30. people have to work somewhere

and most of the people who work in those industries are decent people and perhaps said industries would be even worse without them! I wouldn't worry about it. People over there seem to need a real dose of reality.

[GenDem]

33. I work at a Catholic School.

And, while I'm not happy about it, a stinking Super Wal-Mart is moving into my little one horse town. I want to step in and fight it....but there is nothing left, as far as small businesses, to save. We desperately need the jobs and the taxes it will generate. I hate the mantra - "if ya can't beat them...join them"...but seriously -- you can't beat them! I will attend the meetings and raise my voice...but we do need jobs. :shrug:

There was a time when a DOD job was honorable...and it should still be that way. Bush fucked that up with his illegal war. Hold your head up....a person has to eat. Who among us can be so choosy that they can not work where there is a job?

[Maddy McCall]

36. Let 'em eat fishheads.

You're A-OK to me.

:hug:

[GOPisEvil]

37. Hey, I work for a major property/auto insurance company.

I'm sure I've eaten a few babies, kicked a few puppies and I might have kidnapped the Lindbergh baby.

[Fuzz]

38. My wife works for a, watch out now, a Pharmaceutical Company

and a biggie too!!

We're going to the same hell. ;)

[Midlodemocrat]

44. So does my husband.

And *gasp* does pretty well. Save room in that handbasket for me.

Never mind that he wouldn't be alive if it weren't for pharmaceuticals. I swear some of those idiots in GD need to get out more.

[ET Awful]

69. That's nothing, my girlfriend and I both work for a pharmaceutical company

A very small one.

[Patiod]

76. She's going to hell because she's holding back cures

for AIDs, cancer and diabetes. Or at least that's what I've heard here over the years. There's actually a potential pill that will CURE those diseases, but Big Pharma earns more NOT curing it.

(now, it is true that Big Pharma doesn't pursue promising treatment like surgical procedures that might lead to a cure, but that's because that's not what they do.)

[mdmc]

39. hang tight

it is a dry heat and it will only seem like an eternity.

peace to you and your ways

[Rabrrrrrr]

40. And you live in a racist, Republican, red state where lots of people own guns!!

And you call yourself a democrat. :eyes:

[ikojo]

42. I work for an HMO and feel no guilt about it.

I don't have a trust fund nor any inheritance coming my way. I must work. This job pays more than minimum wage and it is where I am. Those who judge can pay my bills if they are so concerned about what I do for a living.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

43. My dear Left Is Write!

I'm so sorry......

You are a treasure ........:loveya: :hug: :loveya:

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

45. I hear ya...

I work for an airline -- and therefore I guess I should feel personally responsible for cancelled flights, lost luggage and insufficient legroom in coach. GD has been a venom-filled cesspool lately, with everybody picking on everybody else; and I, for one, would sure like it if people would think a little before they flame somebody about their choice of profession or employer. Not all of us can work for a solar-powered, dolphin-safe, non-profit organization where nobody smokes or eats at Olive Garden...

[Patiod]

77. So long as they don't allow public breastfeeding..... nt

[jus_the_facts]

46. I feel like this every week around here....

...it's not just from GD either. x(

[mondo joe]

47. But do you eat at the Olive Garden?

That's what matters.

[BikeWriter]

63. Well... uh...

[SammyWinstonJack]

83. Or drive an SUV?

That's what REALLY matters. :eyes:

[lizziegrace]

48. ...

:hug:

[Der Blaue Engel]

49. I work for one of the world's leading outsourcing firms

We're so ashamed of what we sell that the head of the outsourcing practice won't let us use the word "outsourcing" in the website service description. :eyes:

I take consolation in the fact that my schedule allows me to post to a "subversive" website on their time. :evilgrin:

[Burma Jones]

50. hmmm, well we can't all work for Greenpeace

I am assuming that your husband isn't hauling in millions of dollars per year. Anyway, I'm sure your skin is just the right thickness......

BTW, I work for the USMC......

[Dastard Stepchild]

51. tsk... I remember one class I took...

For my health policy concentration in my Master's program. The class professor was eminently intelligent and compassionate, but worked for a health insurance company. He seemed really self-conscious about it because on the night of your first class meeting, he started the class by stating "I work for XYZ, but please, please, please don't hate me for it." :)

Some of my good friends from that program took jobs with for-profit insurance companies. I, for one, am glad to see them there, riling up the system from within.

[some guy]

53. I'm sorry you're having a bad week

:hug:

I for one, very much enjoyed playing in your thread Monday. :D

:hi:

:hug: (you can never have too many...)

[Redbear]

54. I had a thin skin experience at church this past Sunday

This guy was doing the typical victims who sue and the lawyers are destroying healthcare speech.

Rather than take the Lord's name in vain (in church), I walked out and cooled down.

P.S. GD is viscious.You must always take things there with a grain of salt.

[Patiod]

78. I've always said "everyone hates lawyers.....

until they need one themselves. Then it's 'my lawyers say this' or 'my lawyer tells me that'."

[Tsiyu]

56. We can't escape guilt in our culture.

And you don't bear the weight of that guilt alone. It's a collective thing. WE all share it, so please feel better :hug:

The way I see it is angle for the best pay and spend as much of it as you can progressively.

Turn their dollars into something that makes a difference, which I'm sure you already do.

[SPKrazy]

57. Evil Is AS Evil Does!

Don't feel bad or let anyone get you down LIW!

I have a lot of left wing opinions about things, but I try to keep it on a policy level and not on an individual level.

Hell I have worked in industries that have gotten the reputation of being criminal scams (addictions treatment, psychiatry, pain management)

People hate lawyers until they need one.

People bitch about insurance, but are glad if they have it and have to use it.

People bitch about DoD, but we wouldn't be the free country we are today if the DoD hadn't been there to build the weapons and infrastructure that won a war in WW2 and saved us from tyranny.

We can probably all say that while many of us embrace leftist ideals, none of us would have been happy living under a totalitarian communist regime! Yet the DoD and weapons contractors kept the pressure on the Soviet Union in such a way that it helped their economy implode and that is still shaking itself out.

Bottom line, you are a good person with a lot to offer, and the hell with the grenade throwers who rant and rave.

Anyone can be attacked, but I think that we are all Dems or some Indies here and we have to stick together to defeat the real evil, the Republicans who have owned our butts for 6 years!

I'm sorry you feel attacked, that isn't right!

:loveya: :hug: You are to nice a person to be tagged with "ick"!

[Aristus]

58. Don't feel icky, Left Is Write. You're the greatest.

:hug: Don't let 'em get you down, sweetie. We've all done things to pay the bills that we aren't proud of. I once worked for a sales training company, for Pete's sake! It wasn't my job to train sales forces; it was my job to sell the training! How pathetic is that?

Stick here in the Lounge with those of us who love you. B-)

[Zomby Woof]

59. You are a good soul

I for one value your presence here and do NOT like to hear of others belittling you, your family, your accomplishments, or your life choices.

I can't tell you how you should deal with this, but know that you have the respect and goodwill of far more of us than not.

Got that? :-)

[Danger Mouse]

60. Insurance adjusters themselves aren't bad people.

It's just a job, and someone has to do it. Don't let it get to you. Some people oN DU are way too excitable.

[Danger Mouse]

61. And besides...you are awesome.

From what I have seen...do not despair.
We love you.

[Hugin]

66. I know of whom you speak.

They're exactly like Ideologues anywhere... and I do mean anywhere.

:hug:

[HughBeaumont]

67. I live in Ohio and work for a bank.

I'm surrounded by people (mostly from other countries) who would probably crucify me if they found out how much against job offshoring I am.

I think it was RedStone who said if we boycotted everything from a company who's practices reflect that of right-wingnuts, we'd be broke, starving, homeless and have no entertainment.

[Wetzelbill]

68. I once mentioned I was considering apply to intern with John McCain

because, 1, he has an office in the city I live in, and 2, he is/was chairman of the Indian Affairs committee. I am Blackfeet Indian and will probably work in Indian policy, so I figured it would almost be stupid not to consider it, even if I don't agree with the guy on most issues.

I was lucky to get out of DU with my life! Wow, you would have though I advocated the Holocaust or something.

So yeah, people here get out of hand all the time. It doesn't matter on what either. There were threads about The Crocodile Hunter Steve Irwin on the night of his death that made me sick.

But don't worry, you are who you are and you know what you stand for and everything. Who cares what they think, you're a good person and the people who truly matter know that. Plus, I always liked you for your looks and charm, so I guess one strike against you still makes you ok in my book. :)

[mondo joe]

72. I think you mean you are Blackfeet NATIVE AMERICAN!

Oh excuse me, I thought this was a PROGRESSIVE BOARD!

:P

[Phentex]

70. You know I'm in your fan club...

and Mr. LiW has great taste! :)

Come have pie with me.

:hug:

[PVnRT]

73. I work for a Defense contractor. I waste YOUR tax dollars! HA HA HA HA HA!

n/t

[Patiod]

74. Hey, at least your not sitting on the cure for _______

because you work for a greedy pharmaceutical company, which could cure (choose one: diabetes, cancer, AIDS) with just one pill (!) but chooses not to because it wouldn't be profitable.

[ForrestGump]

75. Your skin is fine

:hug:

And we know you're a thoroughly good person -- I have never met you, will quite likely not ever meet you, and yet I know your essential goodness as certainly as I could that of anyone I have met in person. What you do, what you wear, who you work for, where you eat, where you shop...none of these externals define any of us. But the behavior of some, including many mired in GD, can at times sure as hell define them.


:loveya:

[Left Is Write]

79. Thanks, everybody...I really appreciate your kindness and friendship.

I know the remarks weren't personal - I know this. But I also know others felt the same little sting I did upon reading them. Even though I know it isn't personal, it's sometimes hard to "know" emotionally what we know intelletually.

Thanks for being here for me. I think I'll just stay out of GD for a while. I'm on debate burnout anyway.

[Nicholas D Wolfwood]

80. In many ways,

the zealots have taken over here at DU. It's not been fun for any balanced individual. I'm sorry you've had a rough go of it lately. :hug:

[Pithlet]

81. DU didn't exist at the time I worked for a major, well known timber/paper products company.

Probably a good thing for me. :scared: Sometimes it's good to take a break every once in awhile. It can get rough, even if you have the hide of an elephant.

[mdmc]

82. This is DU

not Greenunderground. we love the Corporations.:kick:

[SammyWinstonJack]

86. We do?

:shrug:

[mdmc]

87. they own our party

what is not to love?

[pitohui]

85. well you know people are dying

i don't think it quite fair to expect us not to say anything about the health insurance industry when every damn one of us who have commented on the thread in question know people who have been killed and others who have been seriously hurt by the refusal of care caused by the fact that we or people close to us are not allowed to have this insurance

should we have to die or be maimed forever because "think of the health insurance employees?" i'm sorry that is wrong to ask of us

hurt feelings don't compare to people you know going untreated for cancer or brain injury

if you can't understand that, then yeah, hide the thread and go on your way, there is never any obligation to open a thread that might hurt or challenge you

the department of defense issue is different, didn't see the thread in question, but reasonable people can agree that a nation needs a strong defense and there is no sin in working toward that end

but as far as health insurance industry is concerned, everyone involved should get an honest job, they are killing us