Nathan Exposed » Political Venting

Political Venting

Sometimes I get worked up about the most insignificant things. And it doesn’t happen all at once… it happens over a period of days, like a volcano that is slowly building up until it erupts. Yes, I know it’s ridiculous. But it seems like little things drive me crazy while big things roll off my back.

But I must bitch and moan a little, so just look the other way…

Recently a friend was over, and the news was on, so we began having a casual conversation about Super Tuesday. Rodney chimed in that we were big Hillary fans, and then he asked our friend who she voted for.

“Oh, I haven’t really had time to think about it. So I just voted for a Republican,” she said. She then went on to explain that her husband did too.

(Picture me… biting my tongue very hard.)

“Did you not like Obama or Hillary?” Rodney asked her.

“Obama’s a radical Muslim and I don’t agree with his religious background,” she said boldly.

(Bite tongue, bite tongue, bite tongue….)

“And I don’t know anything about Hillary,” she continued.

(Oh shit… bite tongue, bite tongue, bite tongue HARD! Hillary was the First Lady for 8 years. How could you not know anything about her?)

Damn, I couldn’t hold it any longer…

“That’s a huge rumor about Obama, and it’s false. It was part of a smear campaign started by the media and I’ve taken the time to research it to get to the bottom of it. Obama is not a radical Muslim,” I said with a friendly smile.

She rolled her eyes at me and said “Yes, he is. I saw it on TV.”

(Oh, fuck! My tongue is going to be bitten right off!)

“That was a false news report. I’ve checked up on this rumor, and it’s simply not true. Obama is not a Muslim,” I said, trying to keep my cool.

To that, she gave yet another sarcastic face, as if to say “Whatever” and just shook her head like I was an idiot.

The conversation came to an abrupt end. She didn’t argue with me, but her gestures and facial expressions are what really make me angry. She clearly stated that she hadn’t taken the time to research the candidates, and yet she treated me like a total moron in my own home just because “the TV” told her Obama was a Muslim.

Maybe I should put on a suit and stand in front of the TV like I’m a reporter, and then she’ll believe what I tell her too.

Fuck. I get so angry at people like that. I can’t believe one of my own friends makes such bad decisions.

But unfortunately, I think I’m going to have to continue to bite my tongue on this issue. I do believe that communication is important, but I don’t think anything positive would come from this debate with her. If Barack does happen to come up again, I do think I’ll kindly and calmly explain the origins of the rumor and point her to some informative sites online that explain how it all started. But as for her haphazard voting style; that’s something I’ll just have to suffer through. Is this how the minds of all Republicans work?

Sat, Feb 9, 2008 @ 1:18 am | Filed in Life | Permalink

2 Comments

I LOVED this story. I so feel your pain. My mother forwarded the whole “obama muslim” e-mail to her whole address book and I totally freaked!

PS, I’m a Hillary fan too!

Posted by Ken on Sat, Feb 9, 2008 @ 10:43 am

I nearly got in trouble at our sales meeting the week before last because someone said the same thing and I replied, “Well that’s just a bunch of crap. Maybe you should do some research before you make boldly false statements like that.” Heh. Then I later emailed a link to the snopes.com and urban legends sites about the lie - I’m such a BITCH! Ha!

Posted by Kathy T. on Sat, Feb 9, 2008 @ 7:01 pm