Ignorant people frustrate me...

[Gimgimno]

I used to wonder why other religions gave us such a hard time, but now I know: There are many of us that are ignorant, insensitive, intolerant, and full of ourselves.

Sometimes I wish that judgment would come sooner. Then I realize the implications if that happened and I shy away from those thoughts.

[Cognoscente]

Marduk, that's staggering. That's not patriotism, that's sociopathy. That's the mindset of the Bolsheviks in 1917, or Robespierre, or Pol Pot, or Kim Il Sung. Thoughtcrime punishable by death? Dear Lord, what the hell has happened to the Right that that sort of rhetoric is not only tolerated, but encouraged?

[Cognoscente]

Marduk, friend me on facebook, I wanna tell these violent reactionaries what I think of them. PM me if you don't remember my name.

[ahem.]

What the hell has happened to the Right that that sort of rhetoric is not only tolerated, but encouraged?

Please don't imply that a group of people can be represented by the extremists housed within. That's pretty shaky ground to be standing on yourself.

[Cognoscente]

I didn't mean that in a partisan way. I say that as someone who grew up as a small-govt Republican, identifies as more or less a rational conservative libertarian, and desperately wishes he could LIKE the Republican party again. Both parties are being led by their most vociferous elements.

[Waldorf and Sauron]

Dear Lord, what the hell has happened to the Right that that sort of rhetoric is not only tolerated, but encouraged?

Glenn Beck?

[Marduk]

For the record, the entire discussion has since been deleted. I think [Friend 1] decided it was entirely too vituperative. I suppose it is just as well.

[Marduk]

Dear Lord, what the hell has happened to the Right that that sort of rhetoric is not only tolerated, but encouraged?

Glenn Beck?

QFT.

[ahem.]

Dear Lord, what the hell has happened to the Right that that sort of rhetoric is not only tolerated, but encouraged?

Glenn Beck?

I like to pretend that man doesn't exist.

[Imogen]

man, that reminds of when coggers went to bat for me about one of his friends who called me self-entitled and said i thought i was better than everyone else because i went to vassar and questioned his notions on health care.

i'm sorry you were so abused, marduk. i know violence isn't the answer, but as a fellow child-of-immigrants, i totally get where you're coming from, and i want to hit people like that really hard. and i think people should be more sensitive.

[Giovanni Schwartz]

Dear Lord, what the hell has happened to the Right that that sort of rhetoric is not only tolerated, but encouraged?

Glenn Beck?

I like to pretend that man doesn't exist.

Wait, I thought he was mythical. You know, like a unicorn?

[TK]

Friend 4: Thank you [Friend 2]. That was well put. We offer citizenship to all those who legally go through the correct and LAWFULL process. I refer people to the statue of liberty and what it says at the base of that great symbolic statue. "
"Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me. ... See More
I lift my lamp beside the golden door."
We encourage immigration. We encourage it!!! But legally. It has nothing to do with race, and yes rick, this law includes canadians, asians, and all other races. This country is great because of it's sovereingty. If we are not careful and if marxists like Obama keep getting their way by trampling the constitution, we will lose it. Just like no company is "too big to fail," this country is not "too big to fail." We must tediously and rigorously uphold the constitution and it's principles in order to keep this great nation. "

Immigration came up a while ago in a discussion with a Jewish friend of mine, who was definitely disenchanted with the above quote, saying that the tired, poor, huddled masses are exactly those whom we are least likely to accept now. He cited the turning away of Jewish refugees during WWII.

As an immigrant myself, I lived through my parents taking about 10 and a half years to allow our families to become legal citizens of the United States. That's without even mentioning the vaccines, the trip to Montreal, the changes in immigration policy that eventually led to our grandparents moving to the United States too to be our sponsors, etc. And this was for a family where the breadwinner already had a job, where we were moving because of business. Imagine trying to make your way here with no contacts, no job, etc. because you wanted that whole "American Dream" thing...

While I disapprove of illegal immigration- it is, in fact, illegal, we need to work on this. We need immigration law that will actually make it possible for people to immigrate, especially for low-paying jobs. Let's face it, many anti-immigration advocates may cite "stealing our jobs" but the illegal sector does provide and important source of work for America, jobs that many people simply don't want to take. Free market- let the person who will supply the labor take the job.

So, let's do this: make it possible for those already here to become legal. Make it possible for those who want to come to get work visas or immigrate legally. Realistically evaluate our current system and what changes need to be made. Then, make them.
Effects? We keep the labor we rely on. We can actually know who is in our country and hold them responsible for paying taxes, etc. We could actually prosecute those who came in illegally.

Woohoo America.

[oliviaik]

Honestly, I don't see a problem with MOST of those responses. Sure, some were over-the-top, but others I thought brought up really good points that many Americans would agree with. Don't lump all of these people who disagree with you into the category of "ignorant". I am sure some of your stances would seem "ignorant" to other people (not that I think you are an ignorant person).

Debate should certainly be more civilized than the example you have shown here for us. However, this is a very emotional topic and both sides have legitimate points.

[Portia]

yeeeah, Cleon Skousen is a nice, moderate voice for the times. (stifled grunt of disbelief.)

Ironically, minority groups in California, specifically Blacks and Catholic Hispanics, had very low support for gay marriage. What a moron, equating all "liberal" issues with each other. Unless the guy is Native American, it is very likely that his ancestors were immigrants, and if Mormon, quite likely within the past 160 years. Cloying diatribes about "our Providential, God-given, shiny bright nation" make me nauseated. Yes, I admire and support and am educated about our Constitution--but these very extremists seem to be the ones most likely to read it selectively (cf Mike Lee, who somehow doesn't "get" the birthright/born-on-American-soil citizenship clause. It's as plain as day).

At least he was entertaining in his nonsense! I want to make a random generator of these things.

"You are clearly [educated in the Ozarks/a lesbian/a Nazi]. [Obama/Harry Reid/Mr. Peanut] is wresting this [great/Christian/delicious] nation from the intentions of [the Founders/God/the Yankees, hot dogs, and bad country music]. Go [shove it where the sun don't shine/f*ck yourself/to hell] and leave this dicussion to those of us who are more [patriotic/jingoist/likely to spend our days on YouTube commenting on Megan Fox's hawtttnes]."

[Cognoscente]

Portia, that's ridiculous.

Megan Fox is a gargoyle. There's no hawtttnes to be debated.

[Marduk]

Gargoyles are stoic. Megan Fox just looks like she crawled out of the dumpster.

[NerdGirl]

One of my colleagues, in a drunken fit of self-loathing a few months ago, expounded in great detail on all the ways she would like to get plastic surgery to look more like Megan Fox.

[Marduk]

Honestly, I don't see a problem with MOST of those responses. Sure, some were over-the-top, but others I thought brought up really good points that many Americans would agree with. Don't lump all of these people who disagree with you into the category of "ignorant". I am sure some of your stances would seem "ignorant" to other people (not that I think you are an ignorant person).

Debate should certainly be more civilized than the example you have shown here for us. However, this is a very emotional topic and both sides have legitimate points.

My suggestion that they are ignorant comes not from a disagreement with their opinions, rather, it comes both from the vituperative way in which they disagree, and also the way in which their comments are not derived from the source material. It is fine to introduce new points into an argument, it is not fine to misconstrue someone else's comments to fit one's own perspective.

[bobtheenchantedone]

"You are clearly [educated in the Ozarks/a lesbian/a Nazi]. [Obama/Harry Reid/Mr. Peanut] is wresting this [great/Christian/delicious] nation from the intentions of [the Founders/God/the Yankees, hot dogs, and bad country music]. Go [shove it where the sun don't shine/f*ck yourself/to hell] and leave this dicussion to those of us who are more [patriotic/jingoist/likely to spend our days on YouTube commenting on Megan Fox's hawtttnes]."

Portia. Quit abandoning us. I like having you around. : )

[NerdGirl]

"You are clearly [educated in the Ozarks/a lesbian/a Nazi]. [Obama/Harry Reid/Mr. Peanut] is wresting this [great/Christian/delicious] nation from the intentions of [the Founders/God/the Yankees, hot dogs, and bad country music]. Go [shove it where the sun don't shine/f*ck yourself/to hell] and leave this dicussion to those of us who are more [patriotic/jingoist/likely to spend our days on YouTube commenting on Megan Fox's hawtttnes]."

Portia. Quit abandoning us. I like having you around. : )

Yeah, that.