Yet another encounter with a freep

[Bluzmann57]

My dad and I go out for breakfast on Tuesdays and discuss things. We have been doing this for a couple of years and hope to continue doing this for quite some time. This morning, I grabbed a clean shirt which commemorates the 40th anniversary of the signing of the Civil Rights act of 1964, which were being handed out, more or less, at the 2004 Mississippi Valley Blues Fest. So anyway, my dad and I were sitting there talking about sports, politics, our lives, regular things that people talk about when some redneck piece of shit came up and asked why I was wearing a shirt like that? I asked him what was he talking about and he said that the Civil Rights act didn't even need to be signed because "niggers already can get whatever they want". I was seeing red and impolitely told the guy to get out of my sight before I beat him to a bloody pulp. He then said that I was "just like them" whatever that means. My dad, who is a lifelong Democrat, and a pacifist, and 74 years old at that, even told the guy off. The manager of the restaurant then came out and told the dumbass guy to leave immediately and apologized to us. We thanked him and after we left, a black man who I have met but don't really know all that well came up and thanked us. I told him there was no need to thank us because people are people, there is good and bad in all races. Goddamit I am having a hard time holding my temper in when this kind of stuff is happeneing in this once great land. Sorry if I offended anybody with my language and peace to you all. Thank you for letting me rant a little.

[PatriotGames]

1. Your good person. without rednecks like that, no repub would ever be elect

[skygazer]

2. Don't blame you

It always amazes me when people feel they have the right to approach someone and criticize them - particularly when it's something that does nothing but highlight their own ignorance and bias.

Nice that you have that time with your dad.

[russian33]

3. Living in NYC, I never encounter anything like that..

...but I spent a week in Virginia Beach last week, and saw 2 different cars proudly flying Confederate Flags...was a bit shocked...

you handled yourself well...in my opinion, the guy got off easy...gee, i wonder who he's voting for?

[Not Me]

4. Thank you for standing up for what is right.

n/t

[madmax]

5. You're a good man, Bluzmann

And your Dad raised you right. :hug:

My hubby's nick is Bluesman - he plays harmonica in a Blues band.

[gratuitous]

6. Wow, rude AND ignorant

It's a wonder the guy wasn't accompanied by a bevy of gorgeous starlets and supermodels!

[WLKjr]

7. Does your dad consider himself a FDR dem?

Your dad sounds alot like my grandpa did.

When I was growing up I would watch the news with my grandpa all the time and he was always telling me that the only way to be was democrat if you were a person who believed in the good of all people. Then he would go into a little rant about how FDR should be the role model for all democrats because he did things the right way.

[Bluzmann57]

10. He doesn't speak a lot about his childhood

As it wasn't an ideal one. To answer your question, I really don't know if one could classify him as an FDR Dem, but since he was alive during the period when FDR was our leader, I suppose you could say that. I remember him and my mom working for McGovern in 1972 because I helped them as it seemed like fun. He is a bit more conservative than me, in certain areas, but will admit when he is wrong. We are buying them a laptop for their 50th anniversary and I'm going to try and talk them into signing on to DU. So if some elderly slightly crazy people sign on sometime in November, it may be them.

[WLKjr]

11. Yep, that's the way my grandpa was

he didn't really talk much about his childhood either, unless it had to do with him and his half brother doing some crazy stuff. He was a fiscal conservative and such, didn't believe in spend spend spend and always used to jump my ass when I would make big purchases on pointless crap(ie computer, misc big boy toys) But he grew up in that time period also, I guess that is why he always talked about Dems and how it was the only way to go.

[The Icon Painter]

17. Can't Wait to Meet Them

I'm rapidly approaching elderly and am definitely slightly crazy so we should get along just fine. It's surprising how many of us stayed liberal in spite of the conventional wisdom that says we turn conservative as we age.

[sui generis]

8. that's their "base"

and the republicans are welcome to them. I wish we could "highlight" all of these weirdos every day and show that the Republican party without it's made-up gloss is just as twisted and ugly in its heart.

[karlrschneider]

9. Lotsa knuckledraggers like that on the Yahoo msg boards...

:grr:

[RandomKoolzip]

12. Let us never forget that thiis is the kind of person Bush

has to appeal to to get votes. What you saw was republican "naked lunch."

[Wapsie B]

13. We may see more outburts like that one

in the near future. The repugs are witnessing the destruction of their beloved party as they hitch their wagon to the chimp one last time.

[tnlefty]

14. "just like them" whatever that means

These are the folks who call me a 'n-lover and a queer lover'. If you visit a hate site, KKK among many others, it will become apparent that they hate those of us who refuse their twisted ideas as much if not more than the large target groups that they love to hate. We are 'traitors to the race' or 'traitors to the cause', etc.

[Catherine Vincent]

15. And I thank you too for standing up to that fool.

[in_cog_ni_to]

16. <sigh> So sad

that we have to hear that crap...STILL, in 2004. :grr:

We have to stop people in their tracks when they make racist remarks and you did! KUDOS to you and your dad. Good job! :toast:

[Name removed]

18. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[GreenPartyVoter]

20. Welcome to DU :^D

[Puglover]

22. Welcome to DU!

What the numbers show is that the old Republican party has been replaced by jack booted Nazis.....and it's very sad!

[Puglover]

23. Welcome to DU!

What the numbers show is that the old Republican party has been replaced by a bunch of jack booted Nazi thugs. And that's very sad.

[Name removed]

24. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Puglover]

25. Well, do you honestly think

that if the same vote were to come up today the numbers would be the same? Gosh, lets see, how long ago was that vote? Seems to me the Repuke platform includes pushing for a constitutional amendment that would discriminate against Americans. Did you wish to speak in support of that? You seem to be anxious to defend the Republican party.

Oh and Blutzmann, congrats to you for standing up to this throwback!

[GreenPartyVoter]

19. Thank you for standing up for what is right

Would Jesus love a liberal? You bet!
http://www.geocities.com/greenpartyvoter/liberalchristians.htm

[shanti]

21. thank you for doing this, friend

for standing up for what is right. would that more people did this...

[AP]

26. That asshole is a perfect receiver for the message bush tries to covertly

send out to the public. I mean, he received it and repeated it almost exactly the way the Republicans want their subliminal telegraphed messages to be interpretated.

A core part of the RW message is that, if you succeed it's because you did it all by yourself. If you lose, it's because the government gave something to a woman, black person or immigrant that they didnt' deserve and it hurt you.

They do this because they want people to think that the government should do nothing to level the playing field, because Republicans know that they are able to concentrate a lot of power in the hands of a very few people if people reject the idea that the role of the government is to maximize social wealth by actively taking down barriers and by building up infrastructure that fascilitates opportunity.

This idiot you talked to is basically repeating bull shit that hurts himself. The republicans have got this guy to be a racist and to reject government investment in infrastructure and a levelling of the playing field which would benefit him.

Although I applaud your courage to speak up to this guy (and it was a very moving story) I would have loved to give this guy a lecture on wedge issues, and then engaged in a little socratic-style question and answer session about how he thinks his community is better off when racism holds back a segment of the population from contributing to the economic life of the community in a way that benefits him and benefits everyone. I'd ask him how he thinks he's better off if wages are held down because he has to compete for work with people held back irrationally by racism. Ask him where he thinks all the profit goes when, say, ford, can pay stupid low wages at the plat because racism holds down wages. Does he benefit from that? No. People in the Detroit suburbs benefit from that who have offices on the executive level in a Dearborn office building benefit.

[trixie]

28. Applause!!!!!!!!!!

That's the trouble with our country right now, so few people are ready to stand up and knock down an unAmerican bigot. The Shrub and co have quietly squelched any decency in the average American.

Good going! :yourock:

[AP]

29. If you send him away mad...

...he's not going to question what he knows.

But if you engage him in a debate, you might send him away with doubt, and you might change his mind.

Also, you'd want your audience to learn something too.

There's a reason that that kind of racism is bad for America, and it's not because it makes reasonable people mad to hear it.

It's because it does make no economic sense, and it's because we're all better off when we're all better off, and it's because it does not help any person see the full value of their own labor when they're competing in a labor market where other people are willing to accept lower wages simply because they have to clear the irrational hurdle of racism in order to enter the labor market. And who benefits from that? Not labor. Capital benefits.

Unless that redneck owns a huge multi-national, he's going to be better off when his neighbors, black and white, compete in a labor market that doesn't skew labor values thanks racism.

So, when this guy comes along and thinks and talks like that, he's the vehicle of a sentiment in the marketplace that is reducing his own wealth. How's that for a trick? You get people to be the vehicle of sentiments that make them worse off. That's how wedge issues work, and nobody is going to get them to figure that out by threatening them with physical violence.

[vetwife]

27. Oh its commonplace down here in the deep south and I rant too Good Job !

People who are supposed to be the good christian people will calla black a N and willuse that term frequently while talking to you..Unitl YOU meaning me and those of us like you will tell them to stop using that terminology or leave. I am talking about workers in your house, refusing to serve people,,not refusing but at least making blacks wait until the whites have been served. I have seen it, and experience it quite a bit. I have seen people you would neer guess say the N-word like they were saying "Oh you know who I 'm talking about, that N down the stret..They are all on Welfare, thats why I am against that N. loving Clinton or Kerry. Unbelievable !
Kudos to you !