My mind was blown while trolling a Trump supporter yesterday.

[Mary Ann]

https://www.democraticunderground.com/100212336321

Buckeye_Democrat (4,593 posts)


My mind was blown while trolling a Trump supporter yesterday.

 
There's a part-time janitor at my workplace who constantly praises Trump and denounces Democrats. It's not his only job. He's also a supervisor at a different factory, earning extra money with some basic janitorial duties at my workplace. He's made it clear in the past that he regularly watches FOX News.

I rarely discuss politics openly with anyone at a job, and I'll usually let people spout their political beliefs without saying a word about it. I'm usually so busy at work that I don't have time to discuss politics anyway, and I can easily excuse myself to collect samples for quality control measurements when it's brought up.

In his case, however, I finally decided a few weeks ago to have some "fun" and mock his Trump-supporting commentary with even more extreme ones. I even gave my voice a Southern accent when I did it to sound more like him. (Nobody else is inside the QC lab when I conduct these little social experiments on him.)

For example, a few weeks ago, I said something like, "What the hell do the Democrats want?! Trump already SAID he didn't do anything wrong!" He replied, "Exactly! They just hate him because he's trying to HELP Americans!"

Fast forward to yesterday...

He walked into the lab, started emptying trash cans, and then asked me if I saw the Democratic debates. Before I could reply, "No, but I saw some highlights", he then said, "I guess they all made damn fools of themselves, as usual! Ha ha!"

So I adopted his accent and said, "Yeah, and that Elizabeth Warren wouldn't even answer a question about how she wants to raise taxes! She kept saying this stuff about how her plans will lower overall costs, but she refused to admit the truth! She wants to raise the god-dern taxes!"

He laughed and agreed with my troll alter-ego as usual, and made some comments about how she's going to remind everyone of Hillary Clinton, so "nobody" would ever vote for her anyway.

THEN he made some comments which absolutely shocked me: "I think the corporations are turning liberal too. That's what I fear is happening."

Me: "What do you mean?" (Forgetting the accent.)
Him: "There's some new employees at my shop who are making next to nothing. I'm amazed they can survive on their paychecks at all. Some of them have child support taken out too, and that really leaves them poor."
Me (back to being a pretend right-winger): "Well maybe if the corporations didn't have to pay all those god-dern taxes that the liberals want, then they could pay their workers better!"
Him: "Naw, then the executives and the other folks at the top would just keep even more for themselves!"

Good grief! Has FOX News brainwashed him to that extent?! That he actually thinks corporate greed is supported by liberals instead of right-wingers?!

Anyway, yesterday's exchange made me decide to stop trolling the dummy. I'll try to gradually talk some sense into him in the future.
17

This did not go as well as Buckeye_Democrat had anticipated:

ms liberty (5,364 posts)

4. So amusing, you "put on" a southern accent

Meaning you aren't southern, but you mocked southerners. Probably really badly. As a southerner, I can just imagine how cute it was...oh wait...no, I've seen this before in real life and it's not cute at all, it's actually pretty insulting but I'm sure you think it's okay, since it was just people from the south you were making fun of? And no one else is in the lab when you make fun of him to his face so that makes it okay too? Oh no, it's a "social experiment" not mockery for your own personal amusement? And after all, he's a Republican! Well then, that's different!

If you discussed politics with this guy as part of an honest convo I would commend you for making the effort. But what you've described is not that, what you've described is you getting some cheap thrills by making fun of someone, but it was "a dummy" with an accent so it's alright.

We're democrats, we're supposed to be better than that. We punch up, not down.

He might be a dummy and a Trumpet, but your story does not make you look anything but an ugly jerk. I'm guessing you're probably not though, are you? So, you have the opportunity to redeem yourself from your ugly behavior by making the honest effort you describe in your last paragraph, and actually having discussions with the guy.

But lose the fake accent. You may think he doesn't hear you insulting him with it, but he almost certainly does.

DiverDave (4,713 posts)

5. Seriously?

Are you so fragile?

Response to DiverDave (Reply #5)Thu Aug 1, 2019, 08:20 AM
Star Member Mariana (9,013 posts)

7. Southern Trump supporters are victims and need defending, I guess.

I have a strong suspicion that if the OP had written, "I even gave my voice a Boston accent when I did it to sound more like him," the poster wouldn't have anything to say about it.

Response to Mariana (Reply #7)Thu Aug 1, 2019, 09:26 AM
Ms. Toad (19,009 posts)

10. You would be wrong.

I found the fake accent-as-insult offensive, and would have found it just as offensive had it been a Boston accent.

Response to ms liberty (Reply #4)Thu Aug 1, 2019, 09:24 AM
Ms. Toad (19,009 posts)

9. Thank you.

I had the same reaction.

Hmmmm . . . I wonder what the response would have been if Buckeye had mocked a Black accent?

[jukin]

Never. Happened.

[Texacon]

https://www.democraticunderground.com/100212336321

This did not go as well as Buckeye_Democrat had anticipated:
Hmmmm . . . I wonder what the response would have been if Buckeye had mocked a Black accent?

Yup. 

KC

[J P Sousa]

Good grief! Has FOX News brainwashed him to that extent?! That he actually thinks corporate greed is supported by liberals instead of right-wingers?!

His story may have been more believable IF the "janitor" listed all the liberals who are supportive of corporate greed like; 
Larry Page, Google ( GOOGL ): 10L.
Roger Ferguson, TIAA-CREF : 8.9L.
Robert Iger, Walt Disney ( DIS ): 6.2L.
Indra Nooyi, PepsiCo ( PEP ): 5.5L.
Lloyd Blankfein, Goldman Sachs ( GS )
Howard Schultz, Starbucks
Matt Maloney, the CEO of Grubhub said employees who supported Donald Trump should resign.
Mark Zuckerberg
Tim Cook
Bill Gates,
just to name a few. In fact it almost seems that there are far more liberal corporate heads than conservative.

[Texacon]

I was reading over there the other day and they were talking about all the government regulations and how GOOD they are for the country.  It all had to do with the Trump administration getting rid of regulations.

About 3 or 4 threads below that they were all talking about cheese.  Wonderful cheese.  They were talking about the cheeses you could get when you were overseas and how it was such a shame there are so many cheeses you can get in Europe that cannot be imported to the US.

I wonder why those cheeses can't be imported ... Does the government regulate CHEESE perchance?  Hmmmm it must be for their own good.

KC

[Ptarmigan]

Buckeye_Democrat (4,593 posts)


My mind was blown while trolling a Trump supporter yesterday.

 
There's a part-time janitor at my workplace who constantly praises Trump and denounces Democrats. It's not his only job. He's also a supervisor at a different factory, earning extra money with some basic janitorial duties at my workplace. He's made it clear in the past that he regularly watches FOX News.

I rarely discuss politics openly with anyone at a job, and I'll usually let people spout their political beliefs without saying a word about it. I'm usually so busy at work that I don't have time to discuss politics anyway, and I can easily excuse myself to collect samples for quality control measurements when it's brought up.

In his case, however, I finally decided a few weeks ago to have some "fun" and mock his Trump-supporting commentary with even more extreme ones. I even gave my voice a Southern accent when I did it to sound more like him. (Nobody else is inside the QC lab when I conduct these little social experiments on him.)

For example, a few weeks ago, I said something like, "What the hell do the Democrats want?! Trump already SAID he didn't do anything wrong!" He replied, "Exactly! They just hate him because he's trying to HELP Americans!"

Fast forward to yesterday...

He walked into the lab, started emptying trash cans, and then asked me if I saw the Democratic debates. Before I could reply, "No, but I saw some highlights", he then said, "I guess they all made damn fools of themselves, as usual! Ha ha!"

So I adopted his accent and said, "Yeah, and that Elizabeth Warren wouldn't even answer a question about how she wants to raise taxes! She kept saying this stuff about how her plans will lower overall costs, but she refused to admit the truth! She wants to raise the god-dern taxes!"

He laughed and agreed with my troll alter-ego as usual, and made some comments about how she's going to remind everyone of Hillary Clinton, so "nobody" would ever vote for her anyway.

THEN he made some comments which absolutely shocked me: "I think the corporations are turning liberal too. That's what I fear is happening."

Me: "What do you mean?" (Forgetting the accent.)
Him: "There's some new employees at my shop who are making next to nothing. I'm amazed they can survive on their paychecks at all. Some of them have child support taken out too, and that really leaves them poor."
Me (back to being a pretend right-winger): "Well maybe if the corporations didn't have to pay all those god-dern taxes that the liberals want, then they could pay their workers better!"
Him: "Naw, then the executives and the other folks at the top would just keep even more for themselves!"

Good grief! Has FOX News brainwashed him to that extent?! That he actually thinks corporate greed is supported by liberals instead of right-wingers?!

Anyway, yesterday's exchange made me decide to stop trolling the dummy. I'll try to gradually talk some sense into him in the future.
17

[DUmpsterDiver]

> I don't have time to discuss politics anyway, and I can easily excuse myself to collect samples for quality control measurements when it's brought up.

Sure, because you are too stupid or incompetent to write some code to automate such a routine task...retard.

In fact, you are too stupid to know you are stupid.  Ding, dong...the wicked witch is still dead.

[Movie buff- The Sequel]

Great to see him getting called out by one of his own fellow DUmmies for being such a douche as to mock the (Probably imaginary) janitor.
He wanted to make himself be seen as an awesome hero, but instead he just made himself look like the jackass he is.

[SVPete]

Buckeye_Democrat (4,593 posts)

My mind was blown

Objection! Assumes facts not in evidence!

[Karin]

Response to Buckeye_Democrat (Reply #12)
Fri Aug 2, 2019, 01:23 AM
ConnorMarc (511 posts)
26. He sounds like he DESERVES ridicule

You're doing the right thing.

I think it's futile to try to talk sense to him though.

I wouldn't recommend that.

At some point, however, you should let him know you were just letting him on and burst his stupid far rightwing bubble.

Keep it going, certainly.  Encourage assholish behavior.  Everyone knows what you  people are.

Response to Buckeye_Democrat (Original post)
Thu Aug 1, 2019, 07:45 AM
 uponit7771 (57,051 posts)
6. Most died in the wool right wingers are single sourced information and don't know better

 

And now for something truly shocking, unbelievable:

Response to Buckeye_Democrat (Original post)
Fri Aug 2, 2019, 12:38 PM
Perseus (2,652 posts)
32. I find that it is more effective to use their same talking points to make them think

Here is what I did with a woman co-worker a while ago.

She started going at it how great republicans are and how bad Democrats are, and how wrong I was to be supporting Democrats, so I decided to use their beliefs to make her think.

I said to her:
You know what? I truly admire you and any woman who votes republican.
She smiled and asked, why?
I said:
Because women like you know your place in society, for example, you understand and accept that women should not earn the same as men, even when they do the same job as men. Republican women understand they need to serve their men, even when you work out of the house as well. Republican women understand their job is to raise kids, and stay home to do you work for the home and the kids. Republican women understand that their men need time of their own outside the house, whether to play Golf, Tennis, be with the boys, and if they get drunk, the woman should help them out in their indiscretions. Republican women also understand that their men may need to have some time where they can try, maybe other women, and republican women must learn to turn their heads the other way. And as important, republican women understand that politicians are better at deciding what women should do with their own bodies, even more than their doctors, or even women themselves. I love the fact that republican women learn, above all, to be obedient to their men.

She didn't say anything, she just looked at me and walked away. We have not spoken about politics since, but I know I made her think hard.

This is truly shocking.  In NY state, it's a wallduding offense. Anything political is a hostile work environment.  It was a thread killer so far.  But What the Actual ****?

[SVPete]

From the DU OP:

Me (back to being a pretend right-winger): "Well maybe if the corporations didn't have to pay all those god-dern taxes that the liberals want, then they could pay their workers better!"

Him: "Naw, then the executives and the other folks at the top would just keep even more for themselves!"

Either the morally and intellectually superior (in his own eyes) Buckeye_Democrat screwed up his storytelling or was counter-trolled and didn't pick up on it.

uponit7771 (57,051 posts)
6. Most died in the wool right wingers are single sourced information and don't know better

Like I keep saying, when DU-grade Progs profess to know or understand conservatives, be prepared for hilarity.

I use several sites as starting points, and those mix original material with a wide range of external sources. I neither watch Fox nor use its website a one of my starting points; I probably view stories on Fox's main site (i.e. not a local affiliate) 2-4 times a day out of 10X or 20X that. As to Fox affiliates, an example would be KTVU in Oakland, which had better coverage than national sources of last weekend's Gilroy Garlic Festival shooting. KTVU is based in Oakland, but had better, more usable, coverage than NBC's much closer to Gilroy San Jose affiliate, KNTV.

[YupItsMe]

Shorter version: 

    I was trolling a Trump supporter to see if I could blow him.

[freedumb2003b]

From the DU OP:

Either the morally and intellectually superior (in his own eyes) Buckeye_Democrat screwed up his storytelling or was counter-trolled and didn't pick up on it.

Like I keep saying, when DU-grade Progs profess to know or understand conservatives, be prepared for hilarity.

I use several sites as starting points, and those mix original material with a wide range of external sources. I neither watch Fox nor use its website a one of my starting points; I probably view stories on Fox's main site (i.e. not a local affiliate) 2-4 times a day out of 10X or 20X that. As to Fox affiliates, an example would be KTVU in Oakland, which had better coverage than national sources of last weekend's Gilroy Garlic Festival shooting. KTVU is based in Oakland, but had better, more usable, coverage than NBC's much closer to Gilroy San Jose affiliate, KNTV.

They seem to think strawmen actually WORK.  And that Conservatives actually say the things they put in the mouths of Conservatives in their bouncies.  Like the argument that wages are low is NOT that corporations are taxed too much.  The Conservative argument is that people made life decisions that put them into low wage jobs.