My neighbor down the street had a nervous breakdown over Obama's win, left his wife and moved to

EmilyAnne

(1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore

Thu Mar-05-09 07:06 PM
Original message

My neighbor down the street had a nervous breakdown over Obama's win, left his wife and moved to

Edited on Thu Mar-05-09 07:37 PM by EmilyAnne

Florida.

When I moved to Pittsburgh from Austin three years ago, I walked around the neighborhood and couldn't help but notice the political bumper stickers I passed.
I sized up my particular area as a Democratic stronghold and it turned out to be true in our last presidential election.

One of my neighbors had three Kerry/ Edwards stickers and I eventually got to know him and his wife and their two dogs.
He was a Vietnam Vet who went on to be a mail carrier and had recently retired.

During the primaries, he had a Hillary sign in the yard.
After Obama won, an "I'm a bitter gun owner and I vote" sign was placed next to it. That sign was produced by the NRA, by the way.

Well, apparently, he has completely lost it since Obama won. According to his wife, he would listen to nothing but Hannity, Beck, Savage and Limbaugh. He stopped leaving the house or walking their dogs. He bought more guns and more ammunition. He had extreme insomnia and would sometimes pace around the attic all night long, then stay up all day, delirious but unable to sleep.
I hadn''t seen him for a couple months, but didn't think too much of it.
His wife's suggestions that he get some help made him extremely angry. Her suggestions became demands, then finally an ultimatum.
He chose to leave rather than see a doctor and moved in with his elderly mother in Florida two weeks ago.

He is convinced that there is going to be a Civil War soon between white conservatives and black and white liberals/ socialists.

He was a nice guy.
He was always in his yard come springtime and his flower garden was always the most beautiful on our street. I was looking forward to it this year after such a long winter.
When I rescued my dog from a puppy mill, he gave me invaluable advice on training because she had a lot of behavior problems.
When there was a summertime crime wave on our street, he organized a watch group. It was then that I realized that he was a pretty fearful guy who owned a lot of guns. Still, that was his right and a years before I moved here, someone a few houses down had been shot by an intruder who was never caught. So, I could understand his fear of crime.

It was my suspicion that he went from being a Hillary supporter to a passionate Obamaphobe because he was racist.
When I mentioned it to a good friend, she called me out, saying that when a black neighbor was dying of cancer, no one was as kind and helpful as this guy.
When things had gotten so bad toward the end of her life, it was this neighbor who could be seen carrying her out to his car to take her on errands and to the hospital.

He was very scarred by his experiences in the Vietnamese jungles.
One recent afternoon he was raking leaves in his yard. I felt a bit of tension as I approached since the Obama signs went up in my yard, he had stopped saying hello on my almost daily walks past his house.
I wanted to break the ice and said hello, trying very hard to ignore the NRA sign that was right next to a leaf pile he was working on.
I then asked him about the POW cap he was wearing, mentioning that my father was a B52 pilot in Vietnam.

He talked about the men he served with, the closeness they had, that there was nothing else like the bond they shared while in Vietnam.
He seemed nostalgic, not for the war but for the kind of camaraderie shared by people who had been put in an extremely dangerous situation.
I told him that when my father came to visit, I would introduce him.
Then, he thanked me for asking about it, which was weird. * I mean that it was weird that he would be so grateful about someone acknowledging his POW cap, something that should be a simple, respectful gesture. Not that he was weird, but that people who ignore such things are weird.*

That was the last time I talked to him.

Hearing about some anonymous person with such ridiculous beliefs about Obama, socialists and impending race wars, my first thoughts are that the person must be a blithering idiot, selfish, racist and full of hate. I guess its sometimes true. Still, there are a lot of vulnerable people who are being manipulated by the media.

This former neighbor is the kind person who could be victimized by the hate speech of certain RW pundits.
He was screwed by his country once before in a war that is now the single defining experience in his life.
Of course he is naturally fearful, ready to believe in all kinds of conspiracies.
Of course he is prone to feeling marginalized considering that his return from Vietnam was so inglorious. People didn't want to talk about it. No one but another vet understood what he went through, nor did they care to. They wanted to move on.

So, now we have these right wing purveyors of misery who appeal to people who feel screwed by the government, who feel naturally fearful, who believe in elaborate conspiracies, who feel marginalized, who feel misunderstood.
How do they do it?
They tell them that they are, indeed, being screwed by the government, they should be very afraid, there are elaborate conspiracies afoot, that they are marginalized (as Rush calls it "in exile") and misunderstood (like Rush says, the liberals won't acknowledge that we conservatives are the ones who LOVE people).

Do these messages of fear and doom and paranoia make people like my former neighbor feel content?
Are the victims of this RW bilge happy to hear that their worst fears have allegedly been confirmed?
Did my neighbor think to himself, "Yes! I knew it! It feels so good to be right about this stuff and to know the truth. Since we've been taken over by socialists there is nothing I can do but get back to my simple, happy life tending my garden and walking my dogs."

Hell no.
There is nothing proactive, useful, inspiring or comforting in their words.
They want people to live in despair and hopelessness.

Its the worst kind of hate speech because while the Limbuaghs and Hannitys promote hatred of liberals, they seem to also hate their audience.
Why else would they go to such lengths to make them feel powerless and miserable?