http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x3687994Oh my.
The Idiot Briggs primitive, who became an instant expert on the condition of women in Egypt while taking a ten-day tourist there--paid for, of course, by someone else--who we haven't seen for a while.
And by the way, what's this about buying a new house in this George Bush economy, the worst economy since construction of the Pyramids?
IdaBriggs Donating Member (1000+ posts) Mon Jul-28-08 08:23 AM
Original message
I lost my temper good and proper on Saturday at some Abortion protestors.
With the benefit of hindsight, I could have/should have handled things better, probably by ignoring them; I'm tired a lot lately (the twins are 17 months old -- woo hoo!), and I've noticed my fuse is a lot shorter than it used to be. There is also a lot of stress going on with the purchase of a new home (closing was Friday), and recovering from a Hot Water Heater Incident mid-June. We still don't have the washer and dryer hooked back up as we're waiting for the laundry room floor to be installed.
Anyway, I was on my way to the laundromat at 8:00 in the morning Saturday (husband and the babies were still asleep) when I noticed a 'small crowd' (four or five people) on the side of the road. It didn't take much effort to read their large signs (Abortion is Murder, etc.) and that was how I came to find out there was a Women's Clinic at that particular location. I mentally shrugged, and was continuing on with my life, when I saw The Sign.
Many of you have already seen it. I'd heard about it, but the impact it had on me on was immediate, visceral, and had me turning my car around as my brain exploded in pure fury.
It was a small, bloody baby cut into little pieces, and labeled '21 weeks old'. (The print was small, and I didn't see it until I was right next to them.) The picture was large, graphic and extremely disturbing. It was also obviously designed to get a reaction, and it got one.
It was Bullshit, and it completely enraged me.
I pulled into the parking lot, and 'engaged' the protesters in a heated conversation. Well, that makes it sound like I was coherent, because honestly, it was not one of my more ... courteous ... moments. I think by the end of it, I called them everything except Christians, while not using any obscenities, which in hindsight, I'm a little bit proud of. I called them Evil and Ignorant and Liars several times, and I refuted their arguments by pointing out God was in charge of when souls entered the body, and for thousands of years, 'conception' wasn't when it happened, other people's medical decisions were NONE of their business, but regardless, Their 'Picture' Was Over The Line.
They tried to justify it by saying 'one woman said it stopped her from getting an abortion' and I told them I didn't give a Rat's Ass (maybe I did swear a little), it was a graphic misrepresentation, and completely inappropriate as a sign on a public street. They asked me why I cared, and I think were shocked when I got out of my car to yell at them about my friend "J" who had to have a late term abortion because her baby had a rare birth defect that meant he would die as soon as he was born, unless he received an immediate heart transplant or lived on a machine for a few years before he died. It was pictures like they were putting up that had helped to make their hellacious situation even more painful. Seeing their sign was throwing me unexpectedly back into the memories of that horrible, horrible time -- holding her while she sobbed at the injustice of being told her wanted baby wasn't going to make it, and then being told 'by the way, its a boy.' I don't want to think of the pain SHE would have been in if she had been the one to see that sign instead of me.
And then there were the memories I didn't share of my own twins being so small (they were 4 pound preemies), and the other babies in the NICU. WTF was wrong with these people???
You don't put pictures of cut up babies on the street (and that is what this sign was) without expecting to get a reaction. They got one from me. I called the police.
Yes, it wasn't the brightest move, but let me repeat, I was furious. I felt violated at a deep level, and I didn't know what else to do.
The police officer was courteous, but to his credit, he told me he wasn't going to do anything because they had a right to protest. I told him to look at the sign, but he repeated that he wasn't going to do that, and that I had probably given them exactly what they wanted because now the cars driving by were automatically paying attention to the flashing lights of his police car, and meanwhile, another officer was going to have to come to make sure *he* was safe (implied: from the crazy woman throwing a conniption because of some anti-abortion protesters). I told him I didn't care about their 'Abortion is Murder' signs because I believed in the first amendment and free speech, but cut-up babies was over the line, and OBSCENE. He asked why I cared, and I told him about "J" while barely holding back the tears. (This all happened pretty quickly.) I asked him what else where they going to do -- put up graphic pictures of our dead soldiers???
(Yes, I know some people think that would help the war to end sooner, but that isn't the point.)
I left (with one last shout of "EVIL!" which they clearly understood was aimed at them, and not the action they were protesting), and did my laundry. Their sign had the exact opposite affect they were aiming for, because I resolved to return to the clinic, and offer my services as an escort/volunteer/whatever was needed, which I did two hours later.
The interesting end to this bit was that when I came back, the protesters were gone. (I had seen my police officer going over to talk to them, altho I obviously don't know what was said.) The clinic workers pulled me into the back when I mentioned them (they didn't want their clients to have to overhear anything about it), and asked if I knew anything about the police having been there that morning. (They said the police were watching the protesters leave when they arrived at the clinic that morning.) I confessed I had been the one to call them, and they explained they keep 'unplanned' hours to avoid the protesters. They thanked me for my support, took my information, and I apologized to them for having lost my temper/given the protesters the attention they were looking for, which they chuckled over, and told me not to worry about. I left, politely averting my eyes from the half a dozen women in the waiting room, altho I did compliment the teddy bear one young woman was holding (she was sitting by the door, and our eyes met very briefly).
I could have/should have handled things better, but for the sake of those women who were having a rough day, and the other "J"s out there, I'm glad I flipped out. It was an extremely unpleasant experience, and I am more than a little embarrassed about it, but it happened. I don't know what to do next. Should I call the township this morning, and see if there is anything that can be done about 'graphically violent' images? Was I right that a line had been crossed between 'visual assault' and 'free speech'? And what can I do to make sure the clients of that clinic don't have to be harassed by Evil People???
Its two days later, and I'm still thinking about it with energy focused exactly opposite of where they would have liked it to be. I wonder if they care?
Oh my.
Demeter (1000+ posts) Mon Jul-28-08 08:28 AM
Response to Original message
1. For What It's Worth, I Think You Did Some Good
The ignorant and foul walk all over us, because we are "nice people". It's about time they got some honest reactions to inform their actions. Those people will think twice about what they are doing.
Now, that's rib-rollicking funny itself.
And here comes a whopper, a real whopper, of a stretchy, that outdoes even the Idiot Briggs primitive.
Man, this defines "stretchy."
LiberalEsto Donating Member (1000+ posts) Mon Jul-28-08 08:41 AM
Response to Original message
4. I share your feelings - I've reached my limit
Here's something I posted in the famous supermarket thread the other day:
"I also think many of us on DU have been so traumatized by the unconstitutional excesses and abuses of the current Misadministration, that it is understandable if our tempers have become short.
Just about every day since the Supreme Court conferred the role of president on that incompetent Bush and his sneaking, lying, torturing sidekick (or puppeteer), we have been forced to put up with "free speech zones" and tasers, Homeland Security excesses, the shame of belonging to a country that declares war for the heck of it and routinely tortures its prisoners of war, the abrogation of our freedoms, unregulated government spying, and so much more. We've watched our national resources sold off to political cronies, and seen environmental, consumer, labor and many other protections eroded.
On top of that we've had to take years of non-stop crap from right wing jerks who call us traitors for opposing an unjust war, and "religious" loonies seeking to force their narrow beliefs about Creationism, abortion, women's rights, birth control, education, freedom of speech and many other things on us.
We've had our cars vandalized for displaying pro-choice bumper stickers. We've had homes vandalized for displaying posters of Democratic candidates for office. We've had Democratic Party voters illegally struck off eligible voter rolls. We've had election headquarters sabotaged by Rethug dirty tricksters. We've had voting machines and election results sabotaged by cheating, lying, thieving Rethugs. We've been spied on by police for attending peace rallies.
We've had people lose homes to foreclosure because the Misadministration believes in letting banks and big corporations run roughshod over us. We've had thousands upon thousands of Americans lose jobs because corporations are allowed to skip town and hire cheap foreign labor, or import foreign labor on H1B visas and throw more Americans out of work. We've watched the federal surplus turned into a gargantuan deficit as the maw of this bullshit war sucks in human lives and human resources like a black hole.
I could write on for hours about the crimes of the current Misadministration, but my point is this.
We've taken far too much shit from all these bastards for nearly 8 long years, and we're at the boiling point. I, for one, do not want to give any of these bastards another inch, and if one of them feels they can shove their "religious" or political horseshit at me, they deserve everything they're going to get back."
For anyone who somehow missed the supermarket thread in GD, the OP wrote about cussing out some religious nuts/pests who approached her a second time outside a supermarket. Some DUers took her to task for being rude; others, like myself, said what these proselytizers do is disrespectful and rude, and that being rude to them is the only way to shut them up.
I think the main point is that we've taken far too much crap in the past 8 years, and we're rightfully losing our tempers.
Whoa-ho.
That was such a stretchy one sensed the elastic band on the subway cat's 44" waistline panties breaking.
There a few more primitive comments, but they're pretty much run-of-the-mill primitive comments.
