My first real encounter with crazy extreme irrational people

[Tx4obama]

was back in the 1980s when I was in my late 20s in an American Government class in college.

First some background.
I grew up in Illinois in a 'factory town' with my grandparents in a neighborhood that consisted mostly of first and second generation immigrants. I believe that EVERYONE in my neighborhood (and family) were Democrats. The first Republicans I ever spent any time with wasn't until I moved to Texas in my late teens and I was surrounded by many but most in my day to day life weren't extremists.

Now back to the story.
One day in my American Government class the teacher broke the class up into groups and instructed each group to come up with, agree upon, and compose two pieces of 'new legislation'.
The folks that were in my group were still in their late teens and early twenties - I was the oldest one.

Some of the things that I remember that the students in my group proposed were:

1) Having to pass a test before being allowed to marry.
2) Having to take a parenting class and 'pass it' before being *allowed* 'to conceive'/to have a baby.
3) Immediate execution for ALL people convicted of murder no matter what the circumstances were.
4) Life sentences for anyone found possessing drugs - no matter the type or amount

These things weren't just ideas they tossed out for the project - these were things that they actually believed!
I remember that I was the only one that objected to them, but since they were the majority they won.
I can't even remember which two eventually ended up being the ones that were 'written up as law' for the project.
I was so shocked by the attitudes of the others that from that day on I didn't really enjoy that class any longer.

Nowadays, The Teaparty folks beliefs and attitudes remind me of those students in that class I participated in almost 30 years ago - the frightening thing is that The TeaParty folks aren't young college kids that don't know any better they are adults that should know better!

[Skittles]

1. I'M CONFUSED

your first real encounter with crazy extreme irrational people - and you live in TEXAS? :rofl:

[Tx4obama]

2. Yes, 30 years ago.

30 years ago, republicans weren't as publicly crazy as they are now, ya know ;)

And thirty years ago the folks I normally hung with didn't sit around talking about politics.

[Skittles]

3. actually, I hear you

30 years ago (and yes I remember the 1980 summer record we jut beat yesterday) I remember DEBATING conservatives in Texas - now that is impossible because Fox News and propaganda think tanks have fed them so much freaking bullshit :(

[nadinbrzezinski]

4. 1990s for us

Yup this guy IS a freep.

[hfojvt]

5. I am not sure what makes you say those people were

"crazy, extreme, irrational" rather than just young.

I think younge people tend to see things in very simple, black and white terms. All murderers are guilty and deserve to die. They have probably never been told that our justice system gets things wrong. Instead, they have been told how great it is, and how great our country is "with liberty and justice for all".

Of course, I am remembering a "social problems" college course I took back in 2000 when I was a mere 38. We got into groups, just like your class, and one thing my group came up with was "legalization of marijuana". When we announced this to the class, one of the other students, a young man, perhaps 18, was horrified. "Say what? You cannot be serious!" he exclaimed (not an exact quote but the general idea). He probably thought we were "crazy, extreme, irrational".

For myself, I think everybody is a little bit crazy, or has some crazy, strange ideas, especially when they are young and foolish and poorly miseducated. But that, on balance, most people should not be written off as "crazy, extreme, irrational".

Not sure why I feel that way, especially after years of trying to reason with people on DU, but I am still an optimist, sort of a Bobby. "Bobby expected people to act in their own best interests and be reasonable, but Julie half expected every apparently normal person to be, in secret, a crazed psychotic." The Bad Place p. 27

[Douglas Carpenter]

6. I remember being 15 at the time the Kent State (May 1970) and being the only kid in my 9th grade

class who thought that it was wrong for the National Guard to shoot and kill the students. The young female teacher completely agreed with this opinion and the whole class thought my moral reservations about shooting and killing protesters were just another one of my loony ideas. This was in heavily unionized steel mill town in western Pennsylvania.

[Tx4obama]

11. That is amazing.

I would have thought that the 'students' would have been on the side of the Kent State students.

[Douglas Carpenter]

14. what? those ungrateful snotty nosed spoiled brats who were betraying their country while

the older brothers of the kids from a steel mill town were off fighting and dying in Vietnam to defend us from Communism? I would dare say far more of them would identify with the national guard troops than with a bunch of privileged flag burning middle class students.

[Tx4obama]

15. I don't remember anyone ever talking much about Nam or Kent State 'in school'

but the majority of us wore those POW/MIA metal bracelets that had a name/date engraved on them.
Over the years I misplaced mine, but I think of it frequently wondering if the person whose name that was on the one I wore (for several years) ever came home.

[NNN0LHI]

7. I witnessed a George Wallace rally in 1968

My father used to take me to an army surplus store in Hammond, Indiana when I was a kid. One Saturday we went and when we came out there the jackbooted thugs were set up on the corner giving speeches about hating blacks and other minorities. It resembled a Klan meeting.

The rhetoric was nearly identical to what I have been seeing at the recent Republican debates.

Don

[Tx4obama]

12. Watching the republicans it makes me wonder if someone or something will stamp out their hatred ...

and bring the extremists back into reality - or if the vitriol and violence will increase.
At this point in time, I'd say there's a 50/50 chance of it going either way.

[Tyrs WolfDaemon]

8. It was in college that I finally lost it on a Rabid Repub

I grew up and live in Austin Tx and my parents are/were Dem's.
I went to A&M for a year (I wanted to take over some family ranches - I figured out I was better suited elsewhere)
At A&M I had to learn to deal with R's everywhere, and I did a good job at it. Luckily I had a large beard and most of them assumed I was
a prof myself and left me alone.:thumbsup:

I came back to UT once I had the credits and life became much better. Then I met HIM.
This guy was a loud obnoxious NeoCon. The loud part is key. I had seen him accosting people at the Campus Conservatives table before and kept my distance. Unfortunately he rode the same shuttle I did.:mad::banghead:

One afternoon he was actually moving from seat to seat talking to everyone about how awesome the conservatives are and that liberals and their ideas are dead and dying. :puke:

It was obvious that everyone he encountered didn't care for what he was peddling (which is probably why he kept moving seats)
I was at the back of the shuttle and having a bad migraine which is why I was heading home early that day. I had been glaring at the man as he approached, seat by seat, and knew I was next. Then I did something very unlike me. I moved to block him and hissed, baring my fangs. :evilgrin:

It shocked everyone, and probably made him shit his pants. :hurts:
He went back to the front after that. :headbang:
The girl in the seat in front of me waited long enough for him to leave to turn and thank me. :fistbump:

It apparently made a big impression on him though. He was scared :scared: and probably scarred :tinfoilhat:.
I would continue to see him around campus doing his neocon-crap, but every time he saw me, he would move behind someone or thing. He would also mark something down on a clipboard. I didn't see the clipboard thing for a while and only noticed it after a friend pointed it out to me as we passed his table one day.
My bud asked what it was about and told him. Him = :toast::rofl:
The following week we actually decided to do a little experiment where I purposely made myself visible to the ass. He made his little mark and I went on. My buddy then went to get some literature (toilet paper) from the table and got a look at the clipboard. On it the guy had a list of all the times he saw me. We had fun f'ing with his head after that (things like passing his table and then running around the building so that I could pass the table again):evilgrin:

[Tx4obama]

10. Thank you for taking the time to post your illustrated story :) n/t

[Javaman]

9. The frontal lobe of the human brain isn't fully developed until roughly the age of 25-26...

I am of the complete belief that they ball lickers brains never developed beyond the age of 23.

[Odin2005]

13. That sounds like typical high schoolers acting like outrageous dicks just for kicks.

:shrug:

[hobbit709]

16. By the 1980's I had about 15 years experience in crazy.