Preaching to the choir got a little boring so I went trolling.

[angrycarpenter]

I've had a lot of free time on my hands lately so I decided to see how the underbelly of society is making out these days. I found a small board with a couple of hundred users from all sides of the compass.

There were a lot of people, I use that term loosely, who seem to be in love with the idea of secession from the union. They were making a big deal about the sovereignty resolutions introduced around the country. The same jerks who loved this country just a year ago are talking armed insurrection these days.

Once again the federal government is the enemy and is out to ruin America. They have fantasies about defending their double-wide from the marxist stormtroopers coming to take away their god given freedom. there are wild made up stories of secret agendas to round up guns and close churches. There was one guy who posted a thread about killing all of the liberals and their children so that they would not grow up to be liberals and there were a lot of positive replies. Another guy told of the jewish conspiracy to take over the world like a broken record and had a joke about throwing jews in an oven in his sig line. The left wing conspiracy theory about the FEMA prisons that Bush had built is now a right wing conspiracy theory about how Obama is going to lock up the true patriots who oppose his marxist schemes, I took great joy in telling them they were about two years too late to be outraged.

For a few days I had a lot of fun calling them out on their hypocrisy and just how deluded they were on the state of the world. I worked out a lot of anger calling them horrible names behind the anonymity of the internet. I taunted them until they lost their temper and replied with a string of obscenity followed by a wish for my speedy demise, and then taunted them some more.

But a funny thing happened this evening, I ran out of anger and it stopped being fun. Pity for these incredibly dysfunctional subhumans replaced anger and I started to feel bad for making sport of their delusional paranoia. I started to feel like I was poking caged animals to see them get enraged.

I don't think I will be going back there, too much time in an insane asylum like that will have me just as raving mad as the inmates. But I worry.

Many of these black holes of hate seem to hold down jobs and have children. They go to church and walk around the real world with fantasies of mass murder. I look at the faces of strangers and wonder at the blackness that may lie behind their normal looking expressions. I begin to understand how Hitler got so many to murder people and stuff them into ovens without too much trouble. On that website they were given a place to let their true self out to play, all they would need is a leader to make it alright in the real world. I knew we came close when Bush was in office but I never knew how close. There are thousands out there waiting with baited breath for the right time, the enabler who will tell them to fire the ovens. We need to be careful, we just want them to just go away but they want to kill us.

[Mika]

1. Give us the link. Maybe some others would like to work out the anger by poking them with a stick.

:evilgrin:

[angrycarpenter]

4. If enough people ask fo it I will give it out

But I never saw a mention of DU over there and I really don't want to attract their attention. We have enough of a troll problem here already.

[RJ Connors]

11. Here's one that really gets under my skin

http://www.conservativesforum.com/cgi-bin/conservatives-forum/YaBB.pl

Of course the mother of them all is @ Freeperville.

[angrycarpenter]

13. Still not as vile check you inbox

[Still Sensible]

2. Yeah, most of them are probably just babble and

bluster, but there have to be some truly dangerous bastards as well.

[Booster]

3. I know what you mean. I was shocked to learn from

Facebook, that my great neice, who is all of 19, belongs to a group called "One Million Americans Against Barack Obama in 36 Days". WTF??? I know for a fact that she is no more interested in politics than my dog is, but why belong to a group like that? That was very discouraging.

[gratuitous]

5. Here, let me build your reservoir again

You librul!

Go get 'em.

[MADem]

6. Fighting with stupid people on the internet is kind of a silly exercise.

A lot of the real tough guys behind those keyboards are wusses in real life. They wouldn't say shit if they had a mouthful. It's easy to talk tough behind a mouse and a keyboard and a screen name that suggests menace and danger. Nine times of out ten, though, DeltaForce_Commando or NavySeal12 are not what they advertise themselves to be--more likely, they're MinorFunctionary08 or Angry_n_UnderpaidLoser. If they're not yelling at you from Mom's basement, they're ignoring their own family to get belligerent with total strangers.

There are a lot of crazy people in the world, and they arc across the spectrum of political belief. It's just that the internet seems to amplify their presence. Huge grains of salt are always useful when dealing with people you don't know on the information superhighway!

[The Doctor.]

21. That is a certainty.

I've frequented various internet zoos of the sort for a while now, and I say the same things and use the same arguments there as I do in RL. All too frequently, they ignore simple facts and logic (or just don't grasp them). At that point, I just call them morons. Then it gets funny; they turn into internet tough-guys... I love that. "Yeah! You wouldn't say that to my face!"

"Actually, I would... but if I talked to you 'face to face', you wouldn't deliberately ignore what I just told you the way you can on the internet. If you did, I'd tell you you were a moron."

I've actually only ever had to call one person an idiot in RL. Most of the RW bots, when they find themselves face to face with someone who exhibits reason, are compelled to acknowledge such reason rather than willingly look foolish.

It's really interesting to see how much deliberation and consideration people will throw away on the internet that they would never abandon in RL lest they attach the word 'fool' to their face.

I'm proud that there's nothing I would say on the internet that I wouldn't say to someone's face.

[Selatius]

7. For every thousand of the Keyboard Brigade, there's possibly one Timothy McVeigh in there.

And I believe the Iraq War has generated a fair number of Timothy McVeighs for years to come.

[Mind_your_head]

8. I dunno....there are a LOT of angry Americans out there right now.....

we have a LOT more in common than we do 'differ'. I believe it's wise, at this point, to focus on our common issues and work from there.

It's WRONG/counter-productive to focus on the things that divide us at this point.

Peace,
M_Y_H :hi:

[katanalori]

10. oh yes

I did the same thing for a few days, on the GretaWire blog on Fox. I actually thought that if I was polite, logical and fact-based that I would be able to change a few hearts and minds. It was futile, and it drew a lot of wrath from the loyal followers of Greta, Billo, Glen Beck, Palin et. al. There is no way to reach them, they do not want to be confused with facts. In the end, I just felt sorry for them - they are immobilized in fear. This is what their precious Fixed News did to them.

[MADem]

33. They're more likely to break into your house than destroy a federal

edifice, though. It's got to go on for a long, long, long time before that happens.

They'll break and enter in the daytime, or vandalize your car while you sleep and swipe your tires and airbags before they resort to "the barricades."

Just check the police reports. When unemployment goes up, the first thing that follows is crime.

[sammythecat]

9. There's crazies on both the far left and the far right

but the ones on the far right are always really stupid and, given half a chance, very dangerous.

[lapfog_1]

12. Must be making the rounds...

Was at a meeting of the local KKK, err... Masons tonight, and while the old guys (I'm not a Mason, I was
a guest) were sitting around having a burger for dinner, someone said that "23 states are trying to
assert their rights and not follow the federal gubmint anymore, and Obama bin Biden can't do anything
to stop them! Not only that, but there was a plan afoot to raise taxes on everyone! And they (the
infamous they!) are going to equip every car with a GPS device so they can tax you on miles that you drive!!! (These clowns are so stupid that they don't realize that a federal GAS TAX already does this, and
far more effectively than tracking all the miles you drive!).

I know they listen to Rush, etc, so the talking points are out there somewhere.

What crap.

[nc4bo]

26. You should remind the ignorant that it was a Repuke rep who brought that up

Ray LaHood (R) Illinois. He proposed to change (not in addition) the way the gas tax was calculated; going from per gallon to per miles driven. (Seems the wacKKKY Rushbot RepuKKKicans can't even get that right)

[Doremus]

36. Exactly: the talking points are out there somewhere.

Talk to any puke on any given day at any given place in America and they will all repeat the same message, line for line. It's quite remarkable actually that there are so many who feel compelled to 1) listen to the hatefulness in the first place, and 2) absorb it to such an extent that they can recite it word for word.

Of course, the scariest thing is that it demonstrates how the various parts of the RW spin machine are carefully orchestrated and choreographed. Aspens in Colorado on steroids.

[Urban Prairie]

14. Anyone who posts epithets and venom towards liberals regularly on a political viewpoint messageboard

is unlikely to have their mind changed by anyone, and yeah, I have also posted and read comments on conservative-dominated websites. The names that I was called on them would make a sailor blush.

I hold out the hope that they are in the minority amongst their peers, but it seems that they have become much angrier over the past several weeks, and since it is likely that things will get worse before they get better in the US, I have to wonder if some will actually carry out their online threats. A few of the more unhinged ones even made me stop and consider emailing the FBI with a copy 'n paste of their posts.

[nadinbrzezinski]

15. making the rounds indeed, as far as secession is concerned

hate to point to a thread of mine, but here you go... where those secession talking points are coming from

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=389&topic_id=5118749&mesg_id=5118749

[illuminaughty]

18. Thanks nadin, I was just going to point them toward your thread.

Fascinating read at "tenthamendment" site, albeit spooky. You said that a cold civil war is invariably followed by a hot civil war. I was thinking how much easier this is to facilitate with today's communication technology.

Two threads on this subject at once tells us this will not be "underground" for long and the momentum is building.

[nadinbrzezinski]

19. The momentum is indeed building.

I fear for this country... and promise to keep my powder dry

I know when the time comes, people will be forced to take sides. Seen the effects, never pretty.

Alas for these people this is a fantasy, far removed from reality

[SidneyCarton]

35. Lets not have a Civil War this time.

If 140 years of being back in the Union hasn't stanched their desire to cut loose, let them go. I personally see no point in getting killed just to keep S. Carolina, Texas or Alabama (with all due apologies to the DUers of those states) in a union they don't want to be in. Indeed, should they decide to secede, I think Congress should pass a resolution formally expelling them from the Union.

[Cleita]

16. The Storm Front website is usually a barrel of racism and ethnic hate.

Go there only for research because it's disgusting and I think many of the posters haven't taken their meds.

[merh]

17. I know just what you mean when you wrote this:

Pity for these incredibly dysfunctional subhumans replaced anger and I started to feel bad for making sport of their delusional paranoia. I started to feel like I was poking caged animals to see them get enraged.

I don't think I will be going back there, too much time in an insane asylum like that will have me just as raving mad as the inmates. But I worry.

During the election I frequented a mixed board, I figured I'd rather fight the primary fights with the righties than with dems.

After Obama's win, it just wasn't fun any more, it was as you say "poking caged animals". I've returned to the message board from time to time, but it just isn't in me to fight with the unbalanced. They are unhinged and make no sense, there is nothing rational about what they post.

And yes, it is unnerving that they are "normal" citizens away from the internet, government workers, lawyers, teachers, cops.

There is a great deal of anger out there and sometimes I think it is good that the internet is here for folks to vent on. Then I worry that they form bonds and seem to encourage each others anger and hate.

[The Doctor.]

20. I visit the Zoos once in a while too.

It can be quite cathartic.

[radfringe]

22. a guy at work was spouting the "trickle-down" crap

he maintains that it works.

Me: Soooooo, where's the trickle? Show me the trickle.

him: (went off on a ditto-head mouth-foaming rant)

me: that's not what I asked. I asked 'where's the trickle'

he continued with the mouth-foaming... I walked away saying "show me the trickle"

[eilen]

23. I go to another forum too that has

generally smart educated people who might have a chance at change with reasoned fact driven arguement. It's an investment board but still you get the most ridiculous posts. But there are no "antichrist" type posts or "end times" mentality at least and no ethnic/racial stuff. However, you'll trip over the libertarians and supply siders. I just can't deal with the bottom feeders. I support gun rights but having a right to bear arms is not about building arsenals, it's about having the means and wherewithal to protect your home and feed your family and should be respected and locked up when not in use.

[GeorgeGist]

24. You seem to be as confused as they are ...

you fear them for wanting to secede, and fear them for wanting to stay and kill you.

BTW Do you ever wonder why the 'United States' of America was designed to be divided into separate states. Hint: The Founding Fathers couldn't agree on the right way for rich white males to rule the 'New' world.

[dysfunctional press]

25. there are loons on both sides of the aisle...

i've seen a lot of paranoid delusions expressed at DU about DHS internment camps that the left will be sent to...:eyes:

[pnutbutr]

27. so.....

go buy a gun already

[OffWithTheirHeads]

29. Don't buy a gun

Guns are like Lays potato chips. Once you have one you will want more and ammo is already too expensive.

[angrycarpenter]

31. I have one

But it is only a tool like my my other tools.

[Odin2005]

28. Some gems of stupidity I've ran into.

http://www.fourthturning.com/forum/showthread.php?t=4145

http://www.fourthturning.com/forum/showthread.php?t=3894

[Laelth]

30. Very astute observation at the end. Thanks. n/t

:dem:

-Laelth

[fascisthunter]

32. shows one how dangerous and extreme the GOP is...

...they are the ones putting these thoughts into folks heads.

[ipfilter]

34. You can only pick on an imbecile for so long

before it's not fun any more.

[mrbarber]

37. It's the interwebs.

Chances are half the people ranting and raving are just bored trolls.

If the internet was any indication, every liberal would be a tree hugging homosexual vegan communist and every conservative is a well armed religious wacko who's stockpiling shotguns and ramen for the upcoming apocalypse.

[mistertrickster]

38. "The question was not how one man, Hitler, could be evil, but how so many had not the courage to be

good."

Ellie Weisel, author of Night.

[lunatica]

39. Hmmm... it was obviously therapeutic so not a waste of time at all

Isn't it great to suddenly be able to let go of the rage?

[cynatnite]

40. I tried this shit and it got very boring...

I have far more interesting discussion with like-minded folks than I ever have with those on the other side.