So---what does it take to really piss us off?

[Atticus]

"You betcha!", this will be a rant!

I'm watching Chris Mathews' one hour special about the rise of the extreme right. I'm watching and listening to militia members, and "kitchen table patriots" and Tea Party members spew their ignorant and hateful lies and fantasies. And, I just heard a member of some Montana group telling an interviewer on the National Mall: "Do you realize what it takes to get someone to drive all the way here from Montana? You have to piss 'em off!"

And, so, I'm asking: if you aren't pissed off yet, what the hell will it take?

My wife and I were in DC when that guy from Montana was being interviewed. It was September 12, 2009. We had arrived early for a march the following day in support of a public option. I posted here about the loudmouthed Teabagger cowards we encountered in the elevator, in our hotel lobby, on the street, in restaurants. In the midst of this sea of knuckledraggers, we proudly wore our Obama caps and our T-shirts bearing a photo of W with "Worst President Ever" in bold print.

The "march" the following day fizzled. Our permit, supposedly arranged by a Congressman, was revoked when he decided not to stick his neck out. We wound up at a rally of about 1200 or so at the fountain in Senate Park. We met some good folks, but in view of the vitriol we had witnessed the day before, we felt like we were tilting at windmills. Where were all those who SAID that they REALLY REALLY wanted a public option?

We "freeway blogged" in an area so red we might have been shot at if we'd been seen with some of our signs.

We withstood the stares and glares and stood at the edge or our local Tea Party rally this spring. Again, I posted about that here.

So, now, we're planning to be peaceful opposition in attendance at Glenn Beck's August 28th "Restore Honor" (!!!!!!) rally on the steps of the Lincoln Monument.

And, it looks like we'll be alone.

Last year, I was told that attending the public option rally was a "waste of time" because that sort of thing was "so Sixties!" I was told, here, that we'd not get any coverage anyway because people were just not interested in rallies and marches in this internet age.

So, did the Tea Party rally get any coverage? HOW MANY DAMN TIMES HAVE WE ALL SEEN IT BROADCAST IN THE PAST YEAR, INCLUDING TONIGHT?

I cannot stand anything associated with these unAmerican little brown-shirt Teabaggers, but I gotta give 'em one thing: they care enough about something to be pissed and they are willing to "waste their time" clogging OUR National Mall while the cameras beam the messages on their signs into the livingrooms of America. And, we know, you and I, that those messages are born of fear and hate and racism and ignorance. And, we also know that those messages recruit new "followers" each time they are shown without any opposition or balance.

I could go on, but to what avail? I'll just return to my original question:

Does ANYTHING really piss us off anymore?

What would it take to get us into our car or onto a bus, train or plane to go stand up for what we SAY we are all about?

How big of a fool am I?

[OHdem10]

1. Until people get ticked off enough to leave their computers and

take to the streets, no change will occur.

Right now it seems we have agreed that the change is
go right with the Teabaggers.

Their fury has made people hop. They are getting what
they want. I never thought I would see Lindsay Graham
exploiting the 14th Ammendment. Now tell me, Rage does
not work.

Hang tight.

[Poboy]

2. This is the lesson that needs to be learned.

They are getting what they want. Insane as it is, they are being listened to.

I will say no more.

[bigwillq]

3. When supposed progressives (and fierce advocates)

want to deny equal rights to all people because of religion.

[felix_numinous]

4. I was shocked the 2000 election wasn't massively protested

then to see the massive antiwar protests only show up overseas or on alternative news online sources, was a wake up call. Those were huge demonstrations that practically didn't show up on the radar.

Now I wonder what would happen if internet access were interfered with because it is providing a safety valve for people to express their anger and talk with each other- If it were cut off suddenly people would react. What I suspect is that changes will happen gradually and nearly invisibly so there will be no public outcry.

The internet is great, but it also creates an illusion--that all this talk is actually making the rich corporates nervous enough to change their ways.

[jotsy]

5. Atticus, I don't think you a fool at all.

I can't say what will finally be enough for the people between the sheeple and the freeple to speak their minds. I can say that there is an infrastructure feeding this sham of a tea party, which I know is just the same old toxic and tired right wing attempting to re-brand itself for some distance and absolution from the damage republican policy has done. There are organizations that coordinate, fund, provide transportation and even scripts of talking points to these folks. I have to wonder where this supposed movement would be without the corporate hand yanking their strings. They've been whipped into a frenzy with disinformation dispensed by liars who have a bottom line to protect and they don't care who or how they exploit to see it done.

This is a video of Rachel Maddow during her first Meet the Press appearance in a discussion with Mr. Armey of Dicks. On that page is many clips about the well funded entities propping up this farce.
<http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3hp4Kn0D9Sw&feature=related>

Over a million people world wide marched to protest the bogus invasion of Iraq. It got no coverage through a media who are owned by the same corporate interests that manufacture the crowds of opposition to progress. The gate keepers don't yet understand how expendable they will be when the time comes.

Edited to let you know I rec'd this thread.

[Iggo]

6. What the...? Where ya been?

Google: Gibbs Professional Left

[Nay]

7. First, as someone else here has said, the teabagger bunch has a huge

and well-funded shadow system backing it financially and with an infrastructure of think tanks, newspapers, TV shows, radio shows, fax blasters and twitter masters. This structure has been built up over a period of 30 years. Funding comes from a coterie of very rich RW nutbags like Coors. They also have a huge presence in RW Christian churches and megachurches, including ones broadcasting their bile over TV and radio every week for 30 years.

In contrast, the left has almost nothing. No huge funders, no megachurches spewing faxes and sermons, nothing on the same scale. Recently we've had Rachel Maddow and such, but the RWers have such a huge lead on her (they've been on various airwaves for 30 years) that she is tossed aside as a librul idiot. Certainly the everyday RWer doesn't listen to her.

Secondly, I was at the 2003 march against the war in DC, and I can tell you that there were AT LEAST 500,000 people there. When we got home, exhausted, we were astounded to see the news coverage, which went to great pains NOT to show the huge crowds. It even spent time one the 10 or 15 RWers who were for the war! So, you see, I don't have too much hope that protests on our side will do much good, no matter how pissed off we get. The teapartiers get coverage because the powers that be like to encourage idiocy -- idiots are so much easier to manage, and managed idiots just go and do or buy whatever they're told to do or buy. They are the perfect corporate citizens.

What's the solution? I'm at a loss. Education? The RW atmosphere makes education for pussies and nerds. Get out the message? What message? Any liberal message usually can't be put into a bumper sticker, so it never sticks in enough heads. Also, the RW always appeals to the non-thinking reptile brains of people, which is why it is so successful (racism, fear of the outsider, etc,). As I've grown older, I've seen lots of people respond instinctively to those primal messages strictly out of emotion, completely bypassing rational thought. And they weren't able to realize it even when it was pointed out to them. THAT'S how powerful that mode of communication is, and the RWers use it exclusively and with great skill. We don't use it at all, because our messages are too complex to transmit in such a way.

I've come to the conclusion that the rape will continue until conditions become so onerous that even a RWer will dimly see that something is wrong. By then it will indeed be too late.

[Atticus]

8. My thanks to everyone for their "overwhelming" response . And, the answer to my last question?

I am a HUGE fool, but I am too old to change.

We will be greatly outnumbered, but we will be a small thorn in the side of the Teabagger elephant on the 28th. I don't care how many times you explain to me that our presence is a waste of time, you are wrong. We will not make much of a difference BECAUSE we will be so few. We will be so few because so many are willing to make self-fulfilling predictions that "no one will show up or care".

"Some men see things as they are and say why. I dream things that never were and say why not."---Robert Kennedy

[maryf]

9. K&R

keep shouting!! thanks.