This makes me sad.

[JoyNChrist]

After seeing yet another Facebook debate go ugly, I just have to say it:

I'm tired of living in this area. It's in the deep South, Bible Belt, and is very conservative, which is fine (I'd love it if there were more people around who shared my more liberal political views, but I can live without that). But it's also an area where racism and intolerance seem to be the norm.

I'm tired of the hate and the ignorance.

I'm tired of never being able to discuss any political topic with my friends or family because I leave the conversation very sad for the future of mankind.

I'm tired of the flat out prejudice and racism and ugliness.

I'm tired of seeing parents raise their children to hate.

(And I know that most conservatives are not like this. Or most Southerners or Christians...I mean, check my screen name. ;) I just feel particularly surrounded by it today.)

[mommylamb]

It certainly is everywhere. I wish it wasn't. But it's hard to be anywhere where those sorts of thoughts are prevelant. Hugs.

[BabyMine]

I totally agree. I have always felt our society was going downhill. I saw a discussion on FB that really made me feel sad for the society my children will grow up in. There has been so much more hate since Obama took office and I don't understand it.

[♥ms.pacman♥]

i soo hear you. it bugs me too. i don't like reading the local news articles online anymore (esp. that discuss topics like race, immigration, religion, etc) because the comments that some people tend leave on there are soo downright offensive and bigoted. it didn't used to bother me so much but now that I have a child i feel even worse that he will have to deal with it.

and i agree these kinds of things are everywhere but in some areas (like where i live now) they are indeed much more prevalent than i'm used to. sometimes it's not so much outright prejudice as general ignorance (some people don't mean to be rude/offensive but their comments or choice of certain words end up being so).

[ChunkyNicksChunkyMom]

Lumping all those qualities in with the word "conservative" is very upsetting to me.

[JoyNChrist]

Lumping all those qualities in with the word "conservative" is very upsetting to me.

I'm sorry. I did clarify that I know all - and even most - conservatives aren't like that. I didn't really know a better term to use to describe the area I'm in...can you suggest one? (Not being snarky, I'm serious.)

[elektra]

I had two FB posts today too that could fit into the category that you are describing too. One was about an Alabama gubernatorial candidate and one was about a FB group (that is getting very large actually), PRAYING for Obama's death.

I do live in CA, but even here, Prop 8 still passed. There is flat out prejudice and racism and ugliness everywhere I'm afraid.

[ChunkyNicksChunkyMom]

I'm sorry. I did clarify that I know all - and even most - conservatives aren't like that. I didn't really know a better term to use to describe the area I'm in...can you suggest one? (Not be snarky, I'm serious.)

Yeah, maybe, assholes? :)

[JoyNChrist]

Yeah, maybe, assholes? :)

Hehe, well...yeah. ;)

I edited it to clarify better. Sorry 'bout that!

[Melanie]

I'm sorry. I hear you. This sentence rang quite true to my feelings:

I'm tired of never being able to discuss any political topic with my friends or family because I leave the conversation very sad for the future of mankind.


That's how I leave many family interactions, and it hurts. Luckily I'm not in a politically conservative area so I can have these conversations with other people I know. It must be very hard to have no one to speak with. :22:

[ewpmsw]

Yeah, maybe, assholes? :)

:thumbsup::yeahthat:

I don't think Obama's election caused more hate and prejudice, I think it scratched the surface and, lo and behold, many people really are still very prejudiced after all. That prejudice has been there all along. Having a non-white person in the white house, who champions civil rights issues, just gave us a reason to stir all that ignorant hatred up. I've lived north, south, east and west - No part was more or less prejudiced than any other. My own family is mostly in the north, and DH's family is mostly very far south, and prejudice against non-whites, homosexuals (and others) is tradition with many of our family members. Every time I hear or read one of their ugly comments, I'm so glad we don't live close to any of them.

[wellyes]

Yeah, this administration certainly brings the bigots out of the woodwork. Both in terms of race and religion. I've been really surprised at comments from a some people I didn't expect. A shockingly high number of people, to me. Guess better to know than not. But it sucks.


Having a non-white person in the white house, who champions civil rights issues, just gave us a reason to stir all that ignorant hatred up

A non-white SECRET MUSLIM, at that.

[cindys]

I live in the south and have listened to racial/hate comments about George W Bush for years....

So its not just because Obama is President that all of the sudden we are seeing and hearing racial remarks, maybe its just louder.

I am appalled at the FB group calling for Obamas death!!

[elizabethkott]

I hear you. My dad and I are on very different ends of the spectrum politically speaking. I sometimes don't even know that it's my dad that I'm talking to, he's gone so far to "his" side.
I was quite pleased with myself for getting in a really good "liberal" dig on him today when he asked me what "my party" has done for children lately and I replied "gave them all health care". :D
But I hear you. There just seems to be so so so much angrily vocalized hate around now, more so than before Obama took office. It really makes me sad that everything has become so polarized that it's now close to impossible to have an intelligent, reasonable sharing of ideas with my own father anymore.

[kijip]

RE: reactionary, offensive newspaper comments online, the deep south is not alone. There is a huge group of regular, pretty nasty commenters on the Seattle Times. I have to read a local news blog (www.publicola.com) and a street newspaper to avoid it. I don't agree with all the comments on the places I listed, but there are some pretty out there ones on the daily paper site. Racist, inflammatory etc.

As for if it is conservative or not, there are reactionary liberal and conservative assholes but the fact that they are assholes does not divorce them from being liberal or conservative just because their views are not flattering to their party or group. My mother's mother more than qualifies for Stacy's listed attributes including being in the deep south and she is a really conservative person. She votes for the GOP, does that mean the GOP is like that? No, of course not, no more than every liberal Democrat supports our own crazy faction. But it doesn't change that she is conservative and that there are many people like her and the GOP benefits electorally from her and a really large number of those like her. One can certainly make a valid, true, argument that we Democrats benefit from our own achilles heel of crazies. I just hope that as time goes by this sort of reactionary, violent and unacceptable behavior declines and becomes an anomaly. Right now it is not an anomaly however.

[sariana]

A non-white SECRET MUSLIM, at that.

What is sad about this is that it even matters. What if he really were a Muslim? Would that mean he was not qualified to be President of the United States, the country whose Constitution bans any kind of "religion test" for an officeholder?

[Globetrotter]

Yes, I reconnected with a high school friend who labels herself as ultra conservative and rants on and on about Obama and liberals and the tea party movement and how she is proud of her friends who don't pay taxes. Every single day there is another negative FB update from her. I have other conservative friends who are nothing like this so I know she is not the norm, but it's there. I finally blocked her updates when she started saying derogatory things about Muslim women who cover, and I can't say I regret it!

[SammyeGail]

After seeing yet another Facebook debate go ugly, I just have to say it:

I'm tired of living in this area. It's in the deep South, Bible Belt, and is very conservative, which is fine (I'd love it if there were more people around who shared my more liberal political views, but I can live without that). But it's also an area where racism and intolerance seem to be the norm.

I'm tired of the hate and the ignorance.

I'm tired of never being able to discuss any political topic with my friends or family because I leave the conversation very sad for the future of mankind.

I'm tired of the flat out prejudice and racism and ugliness.

I'm tired of seeing parents raise their children to hate.

(And I know that most conservatives are not like this. Or most Southerners or Christians.

Stacy, I was raised in a small(ish) town in AL, the type of town where ppl stay there if they can, live in the glory days of their HS years, etc. To me, its pitiful, the ignorance they have. I had friended some old friends from HS, ones that were actual friends, and I've seen how much I have grown by living in different cities, experiencing different things, even if my location was still considered 'The South'.

I definitely understand where you are coming from, being raised/from the South, I saw it all my life growing up, grandpa's passing prejudice on to grandchildren, I know people my age have the same feelings, just not as open about it like Grandpa was, kwim? I never understood it, I personally always (since I was a child) felt 'different' from everyone else, I always wanted more, I wanted to live in a big city, lol. 3 of the 5 children my Mom had live back in my hometown, one lives 2 hours away, I live about 4.5, its just where DH's job is.

We are stuck in a small town here, DH thought it was a good idea to move to the town he works in. It has been a blessing since I have become very sick. We do plan to move to a larger town where my son's autism school is. I just have to get all these meds worked out, get rid of this chronic fatigue and feel like a semi-normal person again!

A person from that town told me the first question a person asked you when you move there is 'what church do you go to?'. LOL. We are not involved in church right now, there is nothing in this small backwards town I am interested in. At least the new city has many, many churches we can try :).

I just wanted you to know I really know what you mean. I never plan to move back to my hometown. My Mom passed away 11-08, my Dad has his will set up to sell the house and split the $ between the 5 of us, that does make me sad. There is a connection there. That was my grandfathers piece of land, my father grew up there, I grew up there, it does make me very, very sad that one day I will not be able to go back to my 'home'.

I honestly know to some 'mamas' on here I may seem a bit 'ignorant' in some areas, but know I'm trying. I know those 'rednecks' I grew up with who stayed in my hometown wouldn't stand a chance on here!

[BelleoftheBallFlagstaff]

A secret Muslim, that went to a racist Christian church for years, oxymoron.

[VClute]

I would say that, among my southern friends, FISCAL conservatism is on the rise, but social conservatism is on the way OUT. I hope that helps you to feel less sad!

[PearlsMom]

As a conservative living in NYC during the Bush years, I felt like I heard a lot of pretty hateful and ignorant stuff, too (from the other side of the spectrum). I think living anywhere where people feel their views are in the majority relieves them from having to actually think critically (and compassionately) about what they say.

I've also de-friended people on FB when their posts were political and ugly.

[arivecchi]

Stacey, I know exactly what you mean. I feel like an undercover spy when I visit the ILs in the country in WI. The stuff I hear there is unbelievable!

[JoyNChrist]

I think living anywhere where people feel their views are in the majority relieves them from having to actually think critically (and compassionately) about what they say.

Exactly! I think that's my main issue...that such hateful, backwards thinking is so much the norm here, that people are free to spout off things that they couldn't get away with in other places. Not that hate and racism aren't everywhere, but that here it just seems to be particularly loud...almost as if it's something to be proud of. And that you're automatically a "liberal hippie welfare-lover" if you even try to speak up in the interest of equality and basic human rights.

The political differences I can live with. The hate is hard to stomach.

[wellyes]

My mother's mother more than qualifies for Stacy's listed attributes including being in the deep south and she is a really conservative person. She votes for the GOP, does that mean the GOP is like that? No, of course not, no more than every liberal Democrat supports our own crazy faction. But it doesn't change that she is conservative and that there are many people like her and the GOP benefits electorally from her and a really large number of those like her

Thanks for pointing that out.

What if he really were a Muslim? Would that mean he was not qualified to be President of the United States, the country whose Constitution bans any kind of "religion test" for an officeholder?

I absolutely believe that there is a huge strain of anti-Muslim sentiment. For one example, see the thread about crazy email forwards like the protesting the commemorative Eid stamp (mentioned on snopes here: http://www.snopes.com/politics/stamps/eidstamp.asp) FWIW I got that email fwd too, from a very conservative friend I've known since HS who is now a member of the army.

[JoyNChrist]

As for if it is conservative or not, there are reactionary liberal and conservative assholes but the fact that they are assholes does not divorce them from being liberal or conservative just because their views are not flattering to their party or group. My mother's mother more than qualifies for Stacy's listed attributes including being in the deep south and she is a really conservative person. She votes for the GOP, does that mean the GOP is like that? No, of course not, no more than every liberal Democrat supports our own crazy faction.

Absolutely. And many of my politically conservative friends get upset about that - that the hate and racism and intolerance are so closely tied to conservatism in this area, that it's often just assumed that everyone feels the same way. So I try very hard not to assume that one equals the other. Unfortunately, that leads to a lot of disappointment on my part when those sentiments inevitably come to the surface (it really is just rampant here), but I am sadly getting rather used to it.

I'm holding on tight to my conservative, non-asshole friends, and praying a few more liberal non-assholes move to town. ;)

[kijip]

Absolutely. And many of my politically conservative friends get upset about that - that the hate and racism and intolerance are so closely tied to conservatism in this area, that it's often just assumed that everyone feels the same way. So I try very hard not to assume that one equals the other. Unfortunately, that leads to a lot of disappointment on my part when those sentiments inevitably come to the surface (it really is just rampant here), but I am sadly getting rather used to it.

I'm holding on tight to my conservative, non-asshole friends, and praying a few more liberal non-assholes move to town. ;)

This sort of stuff is why I think it is necessary for both sides to own up to benefiting from fear and extremism. http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0310/33866.html If the RNC (or part of it) thinks their direct mail donors are reactionary, then I reckon they must be pretty damn reactionary.

And on the other side, you still have Democrats running against Bush policies and likening opponents, sometimes even in the primaries against moderate to liberal Democrats, to Bush whenever possible.