My neighbor down the street had a nervous breakdown over Obama's win, left his w

[Attero Dominatus]

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x5194093

EmilyAnne  (1000+ posts)  Journal  Click to send private message to this author  Click to add this author to your buddy list  Click to add this author to your Ignore list      Thu Mar-05-09 07:06 PM
Original message
My neighbor down the street had a nervous breakdown over Obama's win, left his wife and moved to
   
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Edited on Thu Mar-05-09 07:37 PM by EmilyAnne
Florida.

When I moved to Pittsburgh from Austin three years ago, I walked around the neighborhood and couldn't help but notice the political bumper stickers I passed.
I sized up my particular area as a Democratic stronghold and it turned out to be true in our last presidential election.

One of my neighbors had three Kerry/ Edwards stickers and I eventually got to know him and his wife and their two dogs.
He was a Vietnam Vet who went on to be a mail carrier and had recently retired.

During the primaries, he had a Hillary sign in the yard.
After Obama won, an "I'm a bitter gun owner and I vote" sign was placed next to it. That sign was produced by the NRA, by the way.

Well, apparently, he has completely lost it since Obama won. According to his wife, he would listen to nothing but Hannity, Beck, Savage and Limbaugh. He stopped leaving the house or walking their dogs. He bought more guns and more ammunition. He had extreme insomnia and would sometimes pace around the attic all night long, then stay up all day, delirious but unable to sleep.
I hadn''t seen him for a couple months, but didn't think too much of it.
His wife's suggestions that he get some help made him extremely angry. Her suggestions became demands, then finally an ultimatum.
He chose to leave rather than see a doctor and moved in with his elderly mother in Florida two weeks ago.

He is convinced that there is going to be a Civil War soon between white conservatives and black and white liberals/ socialists.

He was a nice guy.
He was always in his yard come springtime and his flower garden was always the most beautiful on our street. I was looking forward to it this year after such a long winter.
When I rescued my dog from a puppy mill, he gave me invaluable advice on training because she had a lot of behavior problems.
When there was a summertime crime wave on our street, he organized a watch group. It was then that I realized that he was a pretty fearful guy who owned a lot of guns. Still, that was his right and a years before I moved here, someone a few houses down had been shot by an intruder who was never caught. So, I could understand his fear of crime.

It was my suspicion that he went from being a Hillary supporter to a passionate Obamaphobe because he was racist.
When I mentioned it to a good friend, she called me out, saying that when a black neighbor was dying of cancer, no one was as kind and helpful as this guy.
When things had gotten so bad toward the end of her life, it was this neighbor who could be seen carrying her out to his car to take her on errands and to the hospital.

He was very scarred by his experiences in the Vietnamese jungles.
One recent afternoon he was raking leaves in his yard. I felt a bit of tension as I approached since the Obama signs went up in my yard, he had stopped saying hello on my almost daily walks past his house.
I wanted to break the ice and said hello, trying very hard to ignore the NRA sign that was right next to a leaf pile he was working on.
I then asked him about the POW cap he was wearing, mentioning that my father was a B52 pilot in Vietnam.

He talked about the men he served with, the closeness they had, that there was nothing else like the bond they shared while in Vietnam.
He seemed nostalgic, not for the war but for the kind of camaraderie shared by people who had been put in an extremely dangerous situation.
I told him that when my father came to visit, I would introduce him.
Then, he thanked me for asking about it, which was weird. * I mean that it was weird that he would be so grateful about someone acknowledging his POW cap, something that should be a simple, respectful gesture. Not that he was weird, but that people who ignore such things are weird.*

That was the last time I talked to him.

Hearing about some anonymous person with such ridiculous beliefs about Obama, socialists and impending race wars, my first thoughts are that the person must be a blithering idiot, selfish, racist and full of hate. I guess its sometimes true. Still, there are a lot of vulnerable people who are being manipulated by the media.

This former neighbor is the kind person who could be victimized by the hate speech of certain RW pundits.
He was screwed by his country once before in a war that is now the single defining experience in his life.
Of course he is naturally fearful, ready to believe in all kinds of conspiracies.
Of course he is prone to feeling marginalized considering that his return from Vietnam was so inglorious. People didn't want to talk about it. No one but another vet understood what he went through, nor did they care to. They wanted to move on.

So, now we have these right wing purveyors of misery who appeal to people who feel screwed by the government, who feel naturally fearful, who believe in elaborate conspiracies, who feel marginalized, who feel misunderstood.
How do they do it?
They tell them that they are, indeed, being screwed by the government, they should be very afraid, there are elaborate conspiracies afoot, that they are marginalized (as Rush calls it "in exile") and misunderstood (like Rush says, the liberals won't acknowledge that we conservatives are the ones who LOVE people).

Do these messages of fear and doom and paranoia make people like my former neighbor feel content?
Are the victims of this RW bilge happy to hear that their worst fears have allegedly been confirmed?
Did my neighbor think to himself, "Yes! I knew it! It feels so good to be right about this stuff and to know the truth. Since we've been taken over by socialists there is nothing I can do but get back to my simple, happy life tending my garden and walking my dogs."

Hell no.
There is nothing proactive, useful, inspiring or comforting in their words.
They want people to live in despair and hopelessness.

Its the worst kind of hate speech because while the Limbuaghs and Hannitys promote hatred of liberals, they seem to also hate their audience.
Why else would they go to such lengths to make them feel powerless and miserable?

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I cant go higher than one bong on this bouncy. A little more creative than most but still the usual BS strawman picture of conservatives they always draw.

GentryDixon  Donating Member  (383 posts) Click to send private message to this author  Click to add this author to your buddy list  Click to add this author to your Ignore list      Thu Mar-05-09 07:25 PM
Response to Reply #1
10. It is about ignorance.
   
The sheep who follow the herd do so because they cannot think for themselves.

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A picture perfect description of the fools who voted for Obama.

EmilyAnne  (1000+ posts)  Journal  Click to send private message to this author  Click to add this author to your buddy list  Click to add this author to your Ignore list      Thu Mar-05-09 07:49 PM
Response to Reply #1
26. But what I don't get is, what exactly is Limbaugh etc afraid of? Having to pay a whole bunch of
   
taxes?
These talking heads seem like idiots, but do they really believe in all the extreme stuff about a socialist takeover?
Did Sarah Palin really believe that Obama was palling around with terrorists?
I don't think so.
I think they use this rhetoric to whip people up, to scare them into supporting an agenda that is most likely against their better financial interests.

How else can people like Joe the Plumber who makes 40,000 a year be made to vote for a party that promises to cut taxes for the wealthy and for corporations. There has to be something extra to pull them in. Something purely irrational and emotional that blinds them to the realities of the conservative economic agenda.

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Nationalizing the economy, healthcare, giving handouts to people who live beyond their means. Sounds like socialism to me!

EmilyAnne  (1000+ posts)  Journal  Click to send private message to this author  Click to add this author to your buddy list  Click to add this author to your Ignore list      Thu Mar-05-09 08:17 PM
Response to Reply #8
33. This describes my late father-in-law. He was always a conservative, but suddenly his rants became
   
more and more extreme. I sweat to god he gave his three year old grandson a copy of O'Reilly For Kids for Christmas. Brother-in-law trashed it, by the way.
He was angrier and angrier, flew off the handle and was literally unable to speak whenever any of his political beliefs were questioned.

Perfect example: Someone mentions that they do not agree with the death penalty. His response is that liberals just want to open up the prisons and let every one go. Irrational and paranoid, for sure.
He said that it was wrong for us to vote for Kerry because Kerry was EVIL. Hmm....quite an argument.

Well, it turns out that he had a fatal illness that caused high levels of calcium in the blood. Hypocalcemia causes anxiety, confused thinking, depression and anger. It just exacerbated his already conservative political leanings. He probably knew he was slipping, so he clung even more desperately to simple black and white thinking.

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An even worse bouncy. Negative bongs.

specimenfred1984  (1000+ posts) Click to send private message to this author  Click to view this author's profile  Click to add this author to your buddy list  Click to add this author to your Ignore list      Thu Mar-05-09 07:26 PM
Response to Original message
11. Any number of "triggers" can set off mentally ill repukes
   
You can pretty much assume something is mentally wrong just by the (R) next to their name. I'm not kidding either.
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All I will say is that Liberalism Is A Mental Disorder.

[Carl]

specimenfred1984  (1000+ posts) Click to send private message to this author  Click to view this author's profile  Click to add this author to your buddy list  Click to add this author to your Ignore list      Thu Mar-05-09 07:26 PM
Response to Original message
11. Any number of "triggers" can set off mentally ill repukes
   
You can pretty much assume something is mentally wrong just by the (R) next to their name. I'm not kidding either.
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Please tell us what percentage of posters at the DUmp constantly go on about seeing there therapists and/or what meds they are on for depression...etc.

[ReardenSteel]

EmilyAnne  (1000+ posts)  Journal  Click to send private message to this author  Click to add this author to your buddy list  Click to add this author to your Ignore list      Thu Mar-05-09 07:06 PM
Original message


... purveyors of misery who appeal to people who feel screwed by the government, who feel naturally fearful, who believe in elaborate conspiracies, who feel marginalized, who feel misunderstood...

I've heard of people like that. Hmmm. Damn it's on the tip of my tongue. 

[Vagabond]

Where is the notion that the communist organizations that exist within the United States were funded by George Soros a conspiracy theory?  He admits as much himself?  How is it a conspiracy to suggest that these organizations, after essentially buying the Democratic party, put forward a candidate with only a sketchy history and no resume or accomplishments?  How can Obama be termed as anything other than a communist, judging by the positions he is known to have advocated up to this moment in his lfe?

As far as conspiracies go, this is far more straight forward and direct than anything coming out of the left's fever swamps.  It also has some evidence to support it, unlike the left citing lack of evidence as prima facie evidence.

[USA4ME]

EmilyAnne

They tell them that they are, indeed, being screwed by the government...

This from the same idiots who screamed for 8 years "The gov't is listening to my phone calls and reading my e-mail!!"

0 bongs.

.

[JohnnyReb]

From the DUmmies own mouth....

"There is nothing proactive, useful, inspiring or comforting in their words.
They want people to live in despair and hopelessness."

....a perfect description of their socialist utopia.

[The Village Idiot]

<I>When I rescued my dog from a puppy mill

You mean you supported your local puppy mill with your business?

Again and again they build stupid strawmen and knock them down. Rush and Hannity NEVER say anything about race wars and stuff like that. These people know they are lying, hateful idiots and they don't care about accuracy. You cannot get delusions about 'race wars' from anyone I ever hear on talk radio, cuz they would lose their audience and be taken off the air within days DUmmie.

Your former neighbor is not scared of Obama because of race DUmmie, he has fought commies and now there is one in the White House. Thats what scares the crap out of your Democrat, Hillary-voting veteran neighbor.

[The Village Idiot]

 I sweat to god he gave his three year old grandson a copy of O'Reilly For Kids for Christmas. Brother-in-law trashed

uh huh. good leftwingers burn books. we know where that goes don't we?

[The Village Idiot]

11. Any number of "triggers" can set off mentally ill repukes

You mean this Hillary voter in the bouncy right?

[Chris_]

I've heard of people like that. Hmmm. Damn it's on the tip of my tongue. 

I'm not sure, but I would imagine if you put together an experiment with cinder blocks, chicken wire, and kerosene that it would jog your memory.

[jukin]

When is the SEIU going to take over the projectionist union?

There are lots of dues to be had there.