An experience I had

Bob The Mercenary · 05-11-2011, 07:15 PM

I had planned to make this post immediately after I got back from our trip to see my brother in Wisconsin. But, I was sidetracked with work and general exhaustion and just lost interest in it. Then I had dinner with my parents tonight and realized the entire trip was in fact not a hallucination and I needed to vent.

For those of you who have only been here for a year or two (noobs), you wouldn't have had the pleasure of living through my raging conservative years where I routinely bashed pundits and celebrities who could be labeled as left of center. I constantly accused the mods and other members of ignorance, our media as being biased, and anyone who disagreed with me of being brainwashed. To be honest, I am lost as to how my screen name is still white.

Though, in my defense, it's funny how easy it is to dismiss critics of your own views when their online aliases are represented by...Black Mage...a floating skull...members of the cast of Aqua Teen Hunger Force...

So I doubted. Of course I doubted. I was right of course. The nice men on the radio told me I was. If I thought anything different, I was going to destroy the country!

Well, allow me to make one massive retraction, and I say this with complete sincerity.

You were right, NPF. You were always right. And I should have trusted you.

Allow me to recount the experience I had two weeks ago:

First off, my mom has puppy dog eyes that could guilt the KKK into donating to the NAACP. So I gave in to her demand that I go on a trip with her and my stepfather to the 2011 NRA Convention in Pittsburgh.

...

Okay fuck this, I was going to detail all of the events of the trip one by one in a well structured story, but now my stepdad is talking and when my stepdad talks I get angry.

Here's what happened at the convention:

-I walked into a convention center filled with rich, white, overweight men over 40. I could count the minorities on one hand. The same minorities I later saw featured on a news story detailing the diversity there.

-I told a man waiting in line behind me, laughing, "usually when I go to conventions everyone's in costume. Here it's all guns." He responded, "you have a problem with that?" I said, "no". He said, "good, it's American." I didn't bother asking what he meant.

-My stepdad has a habit of wearing a cowboy hat...EVERYWHERE. We went to a SPORTS BAR in PITTSBURGH and he wouldn't take the damn thing off. Though in retrospect I shouldn't have been so self conscious about it. I mean...Ash Ketchum...

-In the hotel room, my stepdad saw black people on television protesting the convention and said, I shit you not, "shouldn't they be doing drugs or listening to rap?" He also made several comments about leeching off the government.

-On the way out to the convention he continually pointed out Asian drivers, and emulated their voices...poorly.

-He continually used the phrase, "I'm not racist, but..."

My mom had also purchased tickets to an event called the NRA Freedom Experience, a series of speeches that took place in the Consol Energy Center where we saw:

-One black person in the crowd

-Michael Reagan talk about how we should love our enemies...then immediately called Liberals evil and essentially said we should kick all illegals out of the country. He also talked about how great his father was.

-One nice Pakistani born man sitting in front of me

-Mike Huckabee spread the typical drivel about our healthcare being destroyed and our freedom and liberty being in jeopardy.

-Jeff Foxworthy...which was the only positive in this entire thing.

-The President of the NRA give awards to eight people on stage, all rich white men, then give a speech on how in the 1700s it was mandatory for Americans to own guns.

I wish I could remember every single thing, because there were more. And if you want to thoroughly rip the speeches, they are all on youtube.

It might seem melodramatic, but I went through a genuine awakening on this trip. I looked on the entire convention with disgust. I looked around the Consol Center at the drones, the robots clapping their hands and nodding their heads to lies that are now obvious to me. I actually teared up at one point, that I used to be like that. And I promised myself I would never go back.

Solid Snake · 05-11-2011, 07:22 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bob the Mercenary

For those of you who have only been here for a year or two (noobs), you wouldn't have had the pleasure of living through my raging conservative years where I routinely bashed pundits and celebrities who could be labeled as left of center. I constantly accused the mods and other members of ignorance, our media as being biased, and anyone who disagreed with me of being brainwashed. To be honest, I am lost as to how my screen name is still white.

You and me both, buddy.

(Although in my case, I'm more shocked my screen name's still white because I've been lobbying folks to make it magenta in honor of Pinkie Pie.)

Even when I was a kooky conservative I wan't much of an NRA nut, although I'm sad to reflect upon the fact that I once admired Mike Huckabee.

You should read a few books about the New Deal lawyers, though. They were awesome people and cool role models. I am increasingly referring to myself in conversation as a New Deal Democrat because I feel like I would have fit right in with the lawyers of an "alphabet agency" back in the '30's. A nice combination of "upstanding moral values" (ie, not quite into drugs/sex/Woodstock/"life is a party") with an actual ethical approach to regulation and helping the poor and downtrodden. A liberal in a business suit. Jerome Frank was particularly awesome.

(In total honesty though I'm sure a few of them were racist / sexist back in those days and thus not quite the role models I envision them as but they were still by and large pretty freaking awesome for their era.)

EDIT: The NRA during the New Deal era, though, that was a pretty awesome NRA.

POS Industries · 05-11-2011, 07:41 PM

You might be having a godawful time at a glorified gunshow if...

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bob the Mercenary

-Jeff Foxworthy...which was the only positive in this entire thing.

Magus · 05-11-2011, 08:26 PM

I'd like to echo my point from another thread that it seems to take an awful lot of effort to be willfully ignorant, which is what it seems like people who go to these conservative things are. I mean it takes equal effort to combat willful ignorance, but at least at the end of the day you can be all like "I spent my time combating willful ignorance today" instead of being like "I spent my time being willfully ignorant today. By the way, I'm not racist, but I'm going to go out of my way to say something racist now."

Aerozord · 05-11-2011, 08:37 PM

to be fair, these are extremists and sure there are plenty of conservatives that aren't, well, THAT. However what do you expect, they are "concervatives" by definition they are not forward thinking individuals

Bells · 05-11-2011, 08:54 PM

Although, it doesn't really hurt to understand that even people like these aren't a singularity in your Country. You can in fact find groups like these on every section. From overly extreme self-justified black people, to Extremism in Liberals without any regard for a notion of a middle ground, from asian communities, to spanish communities and of course, religious groups to some extent.

I guess one of these groups was bound to be the largest and most vocal of all... and you might know that while a very few consistently experience what you just did, a greater, larger slice of people get a "digested message", something carved and cut to prime chunks of Bullshit, that generate people like you were used to be. Because they haven't really seen the real extent of what they defend. Sadly, this is common worldwide.

I would like to share something that i saw that it was way better than i thought it would be

it's an 3 Part Interview with David barton, a guy highly praised by Glen Beck. He was on the Dailyshow, mostly to talk about quotes and citations that placed him as a Republican Conservative, trying o push a Christian agenda. But when i saw the interview, it came out as a VERY interesting conversation with a guy that seemed to me to be very open minded and that could place his viewpoints in factual context with a fair interpretation, no biased spin. It's worth a look.

Part 1
Part 2
Part 3

To me, it was a very good way to see that sometimes most people defend or fight for stuff they don't really understand, if not by a lack of information, then by an overload of bad information.

Aerozord · 05-11-2011, 11:07 PM

know what always gets me about "what the founding fathers intended"

Who the hell cares

They are dead and had antiquated 200 year old views of human society. Whole reason the constitution is alterable is because they knew their opinions would be outdated and needing revising. What they intended is for americans to make up their own minds about issues

Magic_Marker · 05-12-2011, 10:09 AM

Quote:

"what the founding fathers intended"

It's always fun to point out Jefferson wanted everyone to have little farms and not live in cities, then point out how impossible things like iPhones are for a Farmer nation.

shiney · 05-12-2011, 10:28 AM

See what happens when you employ critical thinking, Bob?

Now ask yourself: why is the GOP so dead set on annihilating funding for education?

Magic_Marker · 05-12-2011, 10:39 AM

Guys I would like to point out that you don't need to feel this amount of shame for being stupid kids because You had a conservative background and kids listen to their parents when they are young. You were fucking kids. Kids are stupid even when they are right. Thats the whole purpose of being young, to fuck up and be wrong, and be pricks until you figure enough out that you have a head on your shoulders.

Now Bob, and Snake, you have a good head on you shoulders, so cut stupid-you some slack. He wasn't all bad.

05-11-2011, 07:15 PM	#1
Bob The Mercenary Bob Dole Join Date: Nov 2003 Location: Bob Dole Posts: 5,606	An experience I had I had planned to make this post immediately after I got back from our trip to see my brother in Wisconsin. But, I was sidetracked with work and general exhaustion and just lost interest in it. Then I had dinner with my parents tonight and realized the entire trip was in fact not a hallucination and I needed to vent. For those of you who have only been here for a year or two (noobs), you wouldn't have had the pleasure of living through my raging conservative years where I routinely bashed pundits and celebrities who could be labeled as left of center. I constantly accused the mods and other members of ignorance, our media as being biased, and anyone who disagreed with me of being brainwashed. To be honest, I am lost as to how my screen name is still white. Though, in my defense, it's funny how easy it is to dismiss critics of your own views when their online aliases are represented by...Black Mage...a floating skull...members of the cast of Aqua Teen Hunger Force... So I doubted. Of course I doubted. I was right of course. The nice men on the radio told me I was. If I thought anything different, I was going to destroy the country! Well, allow me to make one massive retraction, and I say this with complete sincerity. You were right, NPF. You were always right. And I should have trusted you. Allow me to recount the experience I had two weeks ago: First off, my mom has puppy dog eyes that could guilt the KKK into donating to the NAACP. So I gave in to her demand that I go on a trip with her and my stepfather to the 2011 NRA Convention in Pittsburgh. ... Okay fuck this, I was going to detail all of the events of the trip one by one in a well structured story, but now my stepdad is talking and when my stepdad talks I get angry. Here's what happened at the convention: -I walked into a convention center filled with rich, white, overweight men over 40. I could count the minorities on one hand. The same minorities I later saw featured on a news story detailing the diversity there. -I told a man waiting in line behind me, laughing, "usually when I go to conventions everyone's in costume. Here it's all guns." He responded, "you have a problem with that?" I said, "no". He said, "good, it's American." I didn't bother asking what he meant. -My stepdad has a habit of wearing a cowboy hat...EVERYWHERE. We went to a SPORTS BAR in PITTSBURGH and he wouldn't take the damn thing off. Though in retrospect I shouldn't have been so self conscious about it. I mean...Ash Ketchum... -In the hotel room, my stepdad saw black people on television protesting the convention and said, I shit you not, "shouldn't they be doing drugs or listening to rap?" He also made several comments about leeching off the government. -On the way out to the convention he continually pointed out Asian drivers, and emulated their voices...poorly. -He continually used the phrase, "I'm not racist, but..." My mom had also purchased tickets to an event called the NRA Freedom Experience, a series of speeches that took place in the Consol Energy Center where we saw: -One black person in the crowd -Michael Reagan talk about how we should love our enemies...then immediately called Liberals evil and essentially said we should kick all illegals out of the country. He also talked about how great his father was. -One nice Pakistani born man sitting in front of me -Mike Huckabee spread the typical drivel about our healthcare being destroyed and our freedom and liberty being in jeopardy. -Jeff Foxworthy...which was the only positive in this entire thing. -The President of the NRA give awards to eight people on stage, all rich white men, then give a speech on how in the 1700s it was mandatory for Americans to own guns. I wish I could remember every single thing, because there were more. And if you want to thoroughly rip the speeches, they are all on youtube. It might seem melodramatic, but I went through a genuine awakening on this trip. I looked on the entire convention with disgust. I looked around the Consol Center at the drones, the robots clapping their hands and nodding their heads to lies that are now obvious to me. I actually teared up at one point, that I used to be like that. And I promised myself I would never go back. Last edited by Bob The Mercenary; 05-11-2011 at 07:22 PM.

05-11-2011, 08:26 PM	#4
Magus Archer and Armstrong vs. the World Join Date: Apr 2005 Location: Pennsylvania Posts: 7,164	I'd like to echo my point from another thread that it seems to take an awful lot of effort to be willfully ignorant, which is what it seems like people who go to these conservative things are. I mean it takes equal effort to combat willful ignorance, but at least at the end of the day you can be all like "I spent my time combating willful ignorance today" instead of being like "I spent my time being willfully ignorant today. By the way, I'm not racist, but I'm going to go out of my way to say something racist now." __________________ The Valiant Review

05-11-2011, 08:37 PM	#5
Aerozord So we are clear Join Date: Jan 2004 Location: Former murder capital of the world Posts: 13,824	to be fair, these are extremists and sure there are plenty of conservatives that aren't, well, THAT. However what do you expect, they are "concervatives" by definition they are not forward thinking individuals __________________ "don't hate me for being a heterosexual white guy disparaging slacktivism, hate me for all those murders I've done."

05-11-2011, 08:54 PM	#6
Bells That's so PC of you Join Date: Sep 2004 Location: In a Server-sided Dimension where time is meaningless Posts: 10,490	Although, it doesn't really hurt to understand that even people like these aren't a singularity in your Country. You can in fact find groups like these on every section. From overly extreme self-justified black people, to Extremism in Liberals without any regard for a notion of a middle ground, from asian communities, to spanish communities and of course, religious groups to some extent. I guess one of these groups was bound to be the largest and most vocal of all... and you might know that while a very few consistently experience what you just did, a greater, larger slice of people get a "digested message", something carved and cut to prime chunks of Bullshit, that generate people like you were used to be. Because they haven't really seen the real extent of what they defend. Sadly, this is common worldwide. I would like to share something that i saw that it was way better than i thought it would be it's an 3 Part Interview with David barton, a guy highly praised by Glen Beck. He was on the Dailyshow, mostly to talk about quotes and citations that placed him as a Republican Conservative, trying o push a Christian agenda. But when i saw the interview, it came out as a VERY interesting conversation with a guy that seemed to me to be very open minded and that could place his viewpoints in factual context with a fair interpretation, no biased spin. It's worth a look. Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 To me, it was a very good way to see that sometimes most people defend or fight for stuff they don't really understand, if not by a lack of information, then by an overload of bad information. __________________ *BELLS STORE : Clothes! You wear* them! Free US Shipping Subscription System? WTF?! Zazzle Black!**

05-11-2011, 11:07 PM	#7
Aerozord So we are clear Join Date: Jan 2004 Location: Former murder capital of the world Posts: 13,824	know what always gets me about "what the founding fathers intended" Who the hell cares They are dead and had antiquated 200 year old views of human society. Whole reason the constitution is alterable is because they knew their opinions would be outdated and needing revising. What they intended is for americans to make up their own minds about issues __________________ "don't hate me for being a heterosexual white guy disparaging slacktivism, hate me for all those murders I've done."

05-12-2011, 10:28 AM	#9
shiney Derrrrrrrrrrrrrp. Join Date: Nov 2003 Location: The land of fartz and buttz Posts: 8,266	See what happens when you employ critical thinking, Bob? Now ask yourself: why is the GOP so dead set on annihilating funding for education? __________________ boop

05-12-2011, 10:39 AM	#10
Magic_Marker Moonwalk Away. Join Date: Nov 2007 Location: Dumbfucklahoma. Posts: 1,573	Guys I would like to point out that you don't need to feel this amount of shame for being stupid kids because You had a conservative background and kids listen to their parents when they are young. You were fucking kids. Kids are stupid even when they are right. Thats the whole purpose of being young, to fuck up and be wrong, and be pricks until you figure enough out that you have a head on your shoulders. Now Bob, and Snake, you have a good head on you shoulders, so cut stupid-you some slack. He wasn't all bad.