My largest grievance about the Bay Area is this: it’s full of a bunch of hypocrites. People who reside here portend to be open, liberal, accepting. Mark my words, the same people who believe this will shout obscenities as soon as they see the word ‘Republican.’ It is a disgrace. All those hippy-loving Californians will turn on you as soon as they learn that 1) You’re a Republican, 2) You’re religious, or 3) You work for a corporation. Get ready for the fires of hell if you voted for McCain, go to church, and work for Walmart. Holy fucking shit, these people are hypocrites.
It all started with the race to fill the Massachusetts seat vacated by Senator Ted Kennedy. Don’t get me wrong. I love me those womanizing Kennedys. But I do not want to see a political dictatorship. That’s what filling the seat with another Democrat would have done. ONE-SIDED POLITICAL DICTATORSHIP.
Let me come clean. I grew up in a very democratic, immigrant household. My dad pounded signs for Mondale and Ferraro on our front lawn. Notwithstanding, I politically leaned conservative. I still do. As my best friend likes to say, “Cath, you know you’re really just a conservative Democrat.” What I really am is a Libertarian. But that’s beside the point. The point is, I vote the way I want to vote. I am not aligned to a political party. I was a Republican. I switched to campaign fervently for Hillary Clinton. I voted for Obama. But I did not want to see Democrat Martha Coakley win the election. Why? For one, she’s a fool. She ran a complacent campaign and lost dearly. Two, if I wanted to be ruled by a government controlled by one party, I’d move to communist China. What? No Facebook, no Google? How about North Korea then?! Whaddup Kim Jong—you be illin.
I posted the following on my Facebook wall “As a capitalist, I am rooting for the Republican to replace Senator Kennedy’s seat,” and you can imagine the maelstrom I instigated. Brutal messages insued offset by some messages of support.
In retrospect, I should be proud of the overwhelming response I received. Wooohooey! But towards the end, it became deconstructive. That’s when you gotta say, stop. Let’s agree to disagree. The voters have spoken. Let’s move forward.
Jim Wolff
I agree the reaction was way too harsh. I respect you postiion and value diversity. You are great.
Jim aka serg
Kristy Alexander
I love your post. I totally agree. Democracy is all about voicing ideas and being respectful and thoughtful about opinions other than my own. There is a lot of anger and many blinders in the bay area. Sadly, your wall proves it.
Atalanta
Firstly I’d like to say thanks for putting your opinion out there,it’s important to have diversity. Secondly, the government structure in this country is specifically set up to avoid one-sided political dictatorships. Whether you’re on the left or the right or somewhere in between the fact that we’ve all be politically frustrated proves that it works most of the time. On a little side note, I think most political debate misses the point entirely. We’re all so concerned about our own point of view that the glorious freedom of debate and speech is totally taken for granted. As Americans we just don’t get how much freedom we really have.
So, putting your opinion out there is great, expecting the climate to be all lovey-dovey and agreeable in response is naive. I think there should be a degree of respect but I also am open to the idea that we all have wildly differing values that we all take very personally. So, I expect if I make even a slightly inflammatory statement in a public forum there will be backlash and friction.
There is hypocrisy everywhere, I believe it’s part of what makes us human. When we can see the own irony and contradictions in our own life then we truly become sensitive to the world around us. I’d also like to point out that I’m a little tired of the implication that those brought up one way and then begin to vote another are somehow more entitled to be deemed free-willed in their opinions. I vote with my heart… and more importantly my mind, every time. So I reject being labeled as hippy-loving, liberal, or hater… agreed?
Catherine
atalanta, your points are constructive and well-taken. i agree with you that americans take a lot for granted. i’m personally tired of us belittling our leadership, our health care. we have a lot to fix, but try moving to a third world country. we have so much to be grateful for.
please know that i did not expect people to gush agreeance given my comments. i’ve been writing a blog for half a decade and a newspaper column prior to that to understand being widely criticized. if i didn’t want people to express their opinions, then i’d make my wall or comments private. i don’t do that. but when someone starts calling another a moron for voicing their opinions, that’s when i drew the line. we’re all smart, free thinkers so not sure how that was constructive.
i don’t deem to be more entitled because i grew up one way and vote another. so i disagree with you there, too. i was merely defining my universe and background for context.
my statements are not blanket statements so i wouldn’t take my labels personally. if there’s anyone who votes with their heart and mind, i absolutely know that you do.