Don't tread on ME
August 9, 2009 10:53 PM   Subscribe

Costumed patriots channel forefathers: coming to a civic center near you! Need a little pump up music?
posted by sredefer (11 comments total) 1 user marked this as a favorite
 
They do realize their hero was an atheist who believed in progressive taxation, right ... ?
posted by HumuloneRanger at 11:38 PM on August 9, 2009 [2 favorites]


This is so painful to watch I can barely make eye contact with the guys in the videos, out of embarrassment for them. Do conservatives cringe like this when they see drag queens at pride parades or activists with stilts and paper maché puppets?
posted by idiopath at 2:03 AM on August 10, 2009 [1 favorite]


"During times of war, hatred becomes quite respectable even though it has to masquerade often under the guise of patriotism."
--Howard Thurman

"Patriot: the person who can holler the loudest without knowing what he is hollering about."
--Mark Twain
posted by Rhaomi at 2:38 AM on August 10, 2009 [2 favorites]


I get to tangle with these asshats tomorrow here in NH. I'm working the Obama Town Hall.

I'm glad nutbars like this are around because it makes me:

a. a better, saner person.

b. a more committed activist.

c. more and more convinced I should dedicate my life to promoting patience, calm and understanding for people who are genuinely in crisis, and maybe even too for the extreme asshats playing dress-up for a failed idealogy and educational system.
posted by Lipstick Thespian at 6:10 AM on August 10, 2009 [2 favorites]


I find this thread oddly juxtaposed to this one: http://www.metafilter.com/84020/Zeitoun
posted by jonjacobmoon at 7:43 AM on August 10, 2009


Lipstick Thespian, you're a better . . . thespian? . . . than I. Thank you for taking the high road.

Me, I've just been getting nasty, snotty, and mean with conservative friends, family, and coworkers via e-mail.
posted by John of Michigan at 9:07 AM on August 10, 2009


*sigh* I'm so tired of the hypocritical shift in attitudes about what is "allowed" as speech in this country. 8 years ago, it was treason to say a bad word about the administration. Today, insults and rabble rousing (and much much scarier incitements) are the norm. It's tiresome either way.

Still, I love the idea that suddenly a bunch of disenfranchised old white guys are turning into cosplay fetishists.
posted by hippybear at 10:19 AM on August 10, 2009 [1 favorite]


cosplay fetishists

Thanks for putting that in my brain. This way when a pack of these dipsticks appears, I'll just focus on their lacey frocks and white silk stockings and frilly dickies.

If Ben Franklin and Thomas Jefferson are working themselves into a frothy tirade in front of the Possum Squat VFW, there's a chance they might, somehow, y'know... kiss.

Hot.
posted by Rat Spatula at 1:41 PM on August 10, 2009


They do realize their hero was an atheist who believed in progressive taxation, right ... ?

Thomas Paine was no atheist. He was a deist. Big difference.
posted by Hylas at 2:58 PM on August 10, 2009


Thomas Paine was no atheist. He was a deist. Big difference.

Yeah, I was wondering whether to address this right after I posted. My point was that his religious views were a lot closer to those of today's weak atheist than those of today's American religious right (and of course not all of the cosplay fetishists are fundies, but I'll bet it's a huge overlap). If Paine were alive today, he'd probably be an atheist.
posted by HumuloneRanger at 4:53 PM on August 10, 2009


John of Michigan - oh, believe me, I have as well.

I just have to use what little humanity that these people present as positive motivation for me to continue to try and do something decent in the world.

I want to get fighting mad and scream in their faces about how ridiculous they are, but they're doing that already. And the only thing worse than having to listen to them would be having to BE them.

It's better to just absorb Teh Crazy and use the power it brings into the world to make someone who's really got something to worry about think twice about that ledge.
posted by Lipstick Thespian at 5:31 PM on August 10, 2009


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