What It FEELS Like...
Nov. 12th, 2012 02:47 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
penpusherI jumped into the fray on the topic of Denise Helms, the woman who called the President the "N" word on Facebook and said, quote, "Maybe he will get assassinated this term..!!"
there were already hundreds of comments written, some in defense of Ms. Helms. I was compelled.
In my first comment, I said the following:
Let me try to boil down 57 pages worth of comments into something a bit more easy to digest.
1. Denise Helms has, like all Americans, every right to express an opinion, no matter what it is.
2. Using the "N" word for a person of color, when you are not a person of color yourself is clearly an inciting comment and was obviously intended to be offensive. Perhaps Ms. Helms thought she was being funny. She was not.
3. Making a comment threatening the President of the United States may not strike some as "serious," but certainly doing it on a social media platform like Facebook or Twitter allows millions of people to potentially see it, exponentially increasing the possibility that someone who might consider doing something, would.
4. Cold Stone Creamery were completely within their rights to remove the offending employee from their staff for her comments and the fallout from them.
5. The office of The President of the United States comes with a level of respect. You do not treat POTUS as if he is your pal, your parent or even your boss. To not treat the office with that kind of respect shows ignorance.
6. It's a sad country when people are actually defending the person who made this comment, for any reason at all. Like Cold Stone, everyone should just move away.
One responder wrote this:
Where is the sacred free speech right?!! She is entitled to curse anybody, especially the usuper of the Presidency Obama!!
The facts:
1) Obama spent more than $6 TRILLION of deficit since he has been in office!
THE US FINANCIAL DEBT IS NOW AT MORE THAN $16 TRILLION!!!
2) During Obama, there are now more than 23 million of unemployed Americans!!!
3) Foreign policy: American embassies attacked, US flag burnt in Muslim countries, Ambassador murdered on 9/11!
4) Obamacare is a nightmare! Medical costs have increased as a result!!
Conclusion: Obama is a curse for the US and he has bankrupted the US! Four more years of Obama?! NO!
More facts:
1) Sheriff Arpaio has proven that Obama's long form birth certificate as well as Obama's selective service card are all forgeries!!!
2) Obama's Connecticut social security number that Obama uses is fraudulent, as it belongs to a deceased person and Obama never lived regularly in Connecticut!
3) Obama is NOT a "natural born citizen", an INDISPENSABLE requirement of the Constitution of the USA, as BOTH Obama's parents were NOT American citizens at the time of his birth (his father was Kenyan).
and I had to respond with this:
No one has denied her right to free speech. She used that right, if you have been paying attention.
The facts:
1. 8 weeks before Election Day, 2008, the US Economy went into the toilet. As it was, we could have had another Great Depression and we narrowly avoided it. With such a surprise waiting for him, President Obama managed not only to keep us from having a collapsed economy, he got job growth going. Yes the National debt is higher now, but what option would you have suggested under the circumstances handed to him?
2. There has been job growth during every month of the Obama Administration. EVERY MONTH. Are we where we want to be with the employment rate yet, no. Are we getting there? Yes.
3. You seriously can't blame what is happening in Muslim countries on the President.
4. We haven't even started Obamacare yet, and it hasn't increased any costs yet.
Conclusion: Obama is doing great under incredibly difficult circumstances, and with a Republican party that is attempting to block every action he's trying to take. Four more years of Obama?! YES!!! The American voters have spoken.
More facts:
A. If it were "proven" that those documents were forgeries, President Obama would not have been vetted to even RUN for the office, let alone actually become President.
B. There is no such thing as a "state social security card."
C. See A.
ETA: Keep in mind, when George W. Bush entered office in 2001, the US had a SURPLUS. When he left, we were 10 Trillion Dollars in debt. Let's not forget that fact.
And the wingnuts came flying.
But I titled this post "What it FEELS Like..." because it's really about a sense of the atmosphere. This doesn't feel the same as when Senator Obama won the 2008 election. There's a definite anger, upset, turbulence, and maybe even some despair coming from the conservatives that I've never seen before. They are still trying to get Obama impeached, maybe even "deported" at this point. People are still saying his birth certificate is a forgery. People are claiming that he is a traitor to the country. And they're saying it like they fully believe it.
I'm more concerned that maybe someone may try something now. The hatred is just coming out, oozing out like slime. I want to just laugh all of this off, but the laughs aren't coming.
there were already hundreds of comments written, some in defense of Ms. Helms. I was compelled.
In my first comment, I said the following:
Let me try to boil down 57 pages worth of comments into something a bit more easy to digest.
1. Denise Helms has, like all Americans, every right to express an opinion, no matter what it is.
2. Using the "N" word for a person of color, when you are not a person of color yourself is clearly an inciting comment and was obviously intended to be offensive. Perhaps Ms. Helms thought she was being funny. She was not.
3. Making a comment threatening the President of the United States may not strike some as "serious," but certainly doing it on a social media platform like Facebook or Twitter allows millions of people to potentially see it, exponentially increasing the possibility that someone who might consider doing something, would.
4. Cold Stone Creamery were completely within their rights to remove the offending employee from their staff for her comments and the fallout from them.
5. The office of The President of the United States comes with a level of respect. You do not treat POTUS as if he is your pal, your parent or even your boss. To not treat the office with that kind of respect shows ignorance.
6. It's a sad country when people are actually defending the person who made this comment, for any reason at all. Like Cold Stone, everyone should just move away.
One responder wrote this:
Where is the sacred free speech right?!! She is entitled to curse anybody, especially the usuper of the Presidency Obama!!
The facts:
1) Obama spent more than $6 TRILLION of deficit since he has been in office!
THE US FINANCIAL DEBT IS NOW AT MORE THAN $16 TRILLION!!!
2) During Obama, there are now more than 23 million of unemployed Americans!!!
3) Foreign policy: American embassies attacked, US flag burnt in Muslim countries, Ambassador murdered on 9/11!
4) Obamacare is a nightmare! Medical costs have increased as a result!!
Conclusion: Obama is a curse for the US and he has bankrupted the US! Four more years of Obama?! NO!
More facts:
1) Sheriff Arpaio has proven that Obama's long form birth certificate as well as Obama's selective service card are all forgeries!!!
2) Obama's Connecticut social security number that Obama uses is fraudulent, as it belongs to a deceased person and Obama never lived regularly in Connecticut!
3) Obama is NOT a "natural born citizen", an INDISPENSABLE requirement of the Constitution of the USA, as BOTH Obama's parents were NOT American citizens at the time of his birth (his father was Kenyan).
and I had to respond with this:
No one has denied her right to free speech. She used that right, if you have been paying attention.
The facts:
1. 8 weeks before Election Day, 2008, the US Economy went into the toilet. As it was, we could have had another Great Depression and we narrowly avoided it. With such a surprise waiting for him, President Obama managed not only to keep us from having a collapsed economy, he got job growth going. Yes the National debt is higher now, but what option would you have suggested under the circumstances handed to him?
2. There has been job growth during every month of the Obama Administration. EVERY MONTH. Are we where we want to be with the employment rate yet, no. Are we getting there? Yes.
3. You seriously can't blame what is happening in Muslim countries on the President.
4. We haven't even started Obamacare yet, and it hasn't increased any costs yet.
Conclusion: Obama is doing great under incredibly difficult circumstances, and with a Republican party that is attempting to block every action he's trying to take. Four more years of Obama?! YES!!! The American voters have spoken.
More facts:
A. If it were "proven" that those documents were forgeries, President Obama would not have been vetted to even RUN for the office, let alone actually become President.
B. There is no such thing as a "state social security card."
C. See A.
ETA: Keep in mind, when George W. Bush entered office in 2001, the US had a SURPLUS. When he left, we were 10 Trillion Dollars in debt. Let's not forget that fact.
And the wingnuts came flying.
But I titled this post "What it FEELS Like..." because it's really about a sense of the atmosphere. This doesn't feel the same as when Senator Obama won the 2008 election. There's a definite anger, upset, turbulence, and maybe even some despair coming from the conservatives that I've never seen before. They are still trying to get Obama impeached, maybe even "deported" at this point. People are still saying his birth certificate is a forgery. People are claiming that he is a traitor to the country. And they're saying it like they fully believe it.
I'm more concerned that maybe someone may try something now. The hatred is just coming out, oozing out like slime. I want to just laugh all of this off, but the laughs aren't coming.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2012-11-12 11:48 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-11-13 03:03 am (UTC)I know I have no hope of changing anyone's minds. I'm certainly not naive enough to think that could ever happen. But when there's something that feels like some sort of anti-Obama rally, I want to at least try and step on the brakes a little bit.
no subject
Date: 2012-11-13 05:06 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-11-13 06:59 am (UTC)And the truth is it might just be one person trolling as different respondents. But actually, the cavalry arrived on that message board, and reading through it now is a bit more "fair and balanced," to coin a phrase. My big worry is, like with Gabby Giffords, someone reacts to something and gets this idea to do something stupid. And with easy access to weaponry, well, it really could be terrible.
no subject
Date: 2012-11-12 11:57 pm (UTC)And my dad isn't the biggest military guy (even though he is a veteran) or the biggest pro-Obama guy either (he voted for him but he still thinks he's a mixed bag w/r/t his record).
no subject
Date: 2012-11-13 03:10 am (UTC)This is going to be a real litmus test for the country. I guess maybe there was a certain honeymoon with President Obama that first term. But now, with another 4 years and 2 months ahead, people are letting their true colors fly.
While I feel the younger generation know and understand the direction the country must move towards now, the older folks and those in power, the Wall Street crowd and the 1% are still plotting and planning. People like Donald Trump need to be dressed down, especially based on his tweets election night!
The battle to get President Obama back in the White House was won, but now there's an apparent war, ready to start...
no subject
Date: 2012-11-13 06:27 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-11-13 06:46 am (UTC)Thinking about that makes me feel a little bit better, but the angst for right now is still there and it's not going to go away. And this isn't even the politics of it all! We're just talking about people making random comments. I'm sure the Republicans want to continue the gridlock and try their best to make President Obama's term as ineffective as they can. Working harder than ever seems about right.
no subject
Date: 2012-11-13 07:41 pm (UTC)