The left and hatred

The bile is strong

Published on March 21, 2004 By Draginol In Democrat

http://www.rightwingnews.com/archives/week_2004_03_14.PHP#001868

The hatred towards George Bush and Republicans in general has certainly increased since the 2000 election. I visit a lot of websites during the week and while I see a lot of idealogues on the right, there is no right-wing equivalent to Democratic-underground.

Even here on JoeUser, the tolerenace for the right by those on the left seems to be problematic, at best. I have seen people argue that this site is right-wing. Why? It's pretty easy to demonstrate that as being false. Just look at the top 20 blog sites on this site (right of page) and you'll see that there are more that are left of center than right of center.

Here's an excerpt John Hawkins found on Democratic underground:

SCRUBDASHRUB: OK, this is juvenile but this is how fed up I am. I need to watch it because I don't want to wind up getting shot, but I was driving to work and some idiot drove by me on the expressway whose license plate read 1GOP1 (I might add, he was driving completely arrogantly (no signalling, etc...typically of the party he's so proud of).

I waited until he got far enough ahead of me and promptly flipped him the one finger salute, then gave him three fingers to spell "W" and the thumbs down symbol.

Jack @ss...

boobooday: "Don't get shot. But really, he deserved it. It's like smoking. We have to make it socially unacceptable to be a Republican.

That's what they tried to do to the word "liberal." Time to ATTACK BACK!!"

nicecakes: Sure thing. Time to go beyond politics and get personal to start a new civil war! After enough victories we will be the only party and one party rule will rool!

MadProphetMargin: "That's not juvenile. Juvenile would have meant following him to a gas station, and "improving" his license plates when he went in to pay.

Try this one: On a Friday, after working hours, put a crack & peel sign on your local republican headquarter's (8.5X11 crack & peel inkjet paper is available at any major office supply company) front door. Have the sign read "Whites only - Blacks please use rear entrance."

With any luck, it will remain up until Monday. For additional fun, call the local papers and complain about what you "just saw".

MPM,
Master election prankster."

lastknowngood: "Call DMV with tag # and get his address then send off for some gay porn to be shipped to his house. Just one of my little evil ideas to use on arrogant christens and prudes."

Now, maybe this kind of hatred and vitriol exists on the right but I can't find it. This isn't some lone kook here, this is several people all wanting to do harm to someone simply because his license plate has the words GOP on it (which may or may not have anything to do with being a Republican).

This is the kind of intolerance Bakerstreet made note of in his article http://bakerstreet.joeuser.com/index.asp?AID=10659 .

Comments (Page 1)

vincible

on Mar 21, 2004

Conservatives don't have to be angry right now. They're in charge, and things are generally going their way. But there was certainly plenty of anger among conservatives four years ago when Clinton was president.

The other thing is that hatred of political leaders is probably enhanced by changes in the media. Now, one can go on the internet and pick what sources one reads, and, unfortunately, most people pick sources that confirm their own biases. Thus, they don't ever see the strengths of the opposing point of view.

jeblackstar

on Mar 21, 2004

Not all us lefties are hate mongering angry people. But just so we're clear, there's enough hatred on both sides.

Cheers

bobo_fett

on Mar 21, 2004

Sure there is hatred on both sides, but after trying to take a more even handed approach throughout my university years, I have abandoned any attempt to find a middle ground with conservatives. Why? Um, Ken Starr, gay marriage, Iraq, Halliburton and on and on it goes.
Anyway, people are allowed to vent, but it is conservatives who have hatred as part of their platform.

bakerstreet

on Mar 21, 2004

Boba Fett: And yet a lot of people have no problem with those things you mention, ain't Democracy great? Is Halliburton any different than TotalFinaElf, other than the fact the money isn't going to a insane, genocidal megalomaniac, as the French would have had it? All those things you cite are complex issues that are very subjective, not as obvious as you pretend they are.

messybuu

on Mar 21, 2004

Wow, and I thought I liked to demonize the competition! How silly to have so much rage over a license plate though. It would have been funny (although I'm glad it didn't happen) if he had done something to the car only to find out after that GOP was actually the driver's initials.
I do think DU is probably the equivalent of Slashdot to geeks, and don't represent the majority of Democrats. I'm curious though... is there a Republican equivalent? That seemed rather childish, and I'm just wondering if the radical Republicans are as childish.

Draginol

on Mar 21, 2004

Most people, regardless of political philosphies, aren't hateful.

There are extremists on the left and on the right. I am not trying to argue that there isn't hatred on the right. After all, you have the people who murder abortion doctors, the Oklahoma City bombing, etc.

The difference, however, is that while there are some kooks on the right who take things to violence, they are few and far between (just like the violent kooks on the left are few and far between). But what I don't see on the right is the sheer NUMBERS of people so angry that they resort to this kind of thing.

Even during the Clinton years, you didn't have websites full of "right wingers" planning out petty acts of vindictiveness simply because they believed someone else had a different opinion. But it's more than just that, it is the left that tries to paint itself as the side of tolerance and diversity. But in that respect, I don't see that much tolerance or diversity, at least not in thought, by its idealogues.

I don't think that the behavior demonstrated in the article is typical. I want to make that clear. Most people are normal people (by definition). But I see much more anger and hatred from the left than I do from the right and for what seems to me to be very little reason. I saw hatred on the right during the Clinton administration but never to anywhere near the extremes I see here -- except by individual kooks, not entire communities.

Sherye Hanson

on Mar 21, 2004

You must be kidding, Brad. Talk radio exploded during the Clinton years, when Bush was elected, there was a sense of loss that there was no one to complain about so much. I don't see how you can say that the left has more hateful people than the right. Do you have numbers? Is there any data?

jeblackstar

on Mar 21, 2004

Actually there were a number of websites in the Clinton era that planned out acts of petty vindictiveness. There were also far more actual acts of vindictiveness than there are currently.

cheers

bakerstreet

on Mar 22, 2004

Double post... somehow. Sorry.

bakerstreet

on Mar 22, 2004

Sherye Hanson: can you equate talk radio with the kind of stuff Brad is citing? As a Liberal you should be just as horrified with the kind of crap he is referencing, no, more so, because it is your side it is soiling. Instead you just try to say " I don't see how you can say that the left has more hateful people than the right."? If you can point out Conservative activities like those above, great, do so, but trying to equate it to talk radio goes a long way toward excusing it.

To me it looks like folks whose ethos doesn't find fertile ground, so they have to supplement the honest process with a bit of nefariousness.

"Actually there were a number of websites in the Clinton era that planned out acts of petty vindictiveness. There were also far more actual acts of vindictiveness than there are currently."

Examples?

Brandon

on Mar 22, 2004

Well... Liberals are in the middle

Facists on the right
Communists on the left

Saint Ying

on Mar 22, 2004

When I think of hate speech, I think of 'Fuck You Faggot', not a couple of youngish democrats talking smack about republicans on a democrat-based message board from the security of their own desktops.

jeblackstar

on Mar 22, 2004

Examples?

Unfortunately most of them are no longer up, since they aren't relevant. But some people who had them:

The American Heritage Institute
Children First America
The Heartland Institute.

To name 3.

Cheers

bakerstreet

on Mar 22, 2004

jeblackstar: You wouldn't remember what they were doing do ya? Don't know much about children first america, but the other two don't seem like your 'civil disobedience' types at all. Not doubting you, just curious.

Draginol

on Mar 22, 2004

Feel free to show examples of right wing sites that plan to try to harm individuals of the opposite political persuassion.

These people aren't just talking smack. They are putting together plans to HARM other people based purely on their political philosphies. Not very "liberal" IMO.

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