Heroes, and messy democracy

Young Americans

The three of them stood there, holding three hand made signs, protesting Trump. as a constant stream of all kinds of people flowed by, heading for the rally inside the Oklahoma City convention center yesterday.
Two of them are students at Oklahoma City Community College, the other a student at Mid-Del High School. 
I spotted them as I rounded the south side of the building, curious about the types of people and the event. No, I didn't have tickets and intended to hold up my own protest sign, hoping to find others.
They were the only ones,  there of their own volition. Two were registered Republicans, one wearing a Tea Party shirt. The other was too young to vote.
Their courage inspired me  and since my sign was disrespectful compared to theirs, I just talked with them, watched from a respectful distance, and then had my photo taken with them.
They were polite and respectful, greeting passers by with "Hello, how are you?" Sometimes saying  things like "Don't build walls," and from one sign, "He's a fake conservative." The youngest one, always ended the conversation with "feel the love."
A few passersby who stopped got into respectful conversations.
But more of the people just flowed by, or were rude. 

Rudeness, cussings, fingers

One dumpy, frazzled woman, when greeted with "How are you?" wouldn't make eye contact, and replied "Better than you, go home."
Another 30 something, on hearing something about the wall, said "He's not going to build a wall." One of the protesters replied, "But he says he is." 30 something replied, "He's not going to build a wall." Reply, "Are you calling Trump a liar?" That got them a finger.
Worst case was one rough looking, big buckle, cigarette, who started loudly cussing them as he walked by, including the "F word," in easy sound of smaller children. (His Momma didn't teach him any manners)
I said to them, "Great vocabulary," and one smiled back at me, "Trump sure attracts well-educated, doesn't he?"
Another snipped from them: "It'd sure be nice to have a rational conversation with these people."
Others were outside too, passing out leaflets, selling campaign signs.
I saw one guy with an old campaign hat on, with a sign scratched on cardboard: "When tyranny comes to your house, it will come armed and in a uniform." We smiled at each other.
Another group (all men), one in an American flag shirt, was passing you pink sheets, urging women to vote for a candidate.
Teachers were everywhere, getting people to sign the petition for the one cent sales tax.
One young couple had driven up from Fort Worth and were passing out fact sheets on Trump, polite and smiling, unaffiliated with any campaign. They cared--they had information on how much money he'd given to politicians in both parties, including Hillary, and several who had voted for Obamacare. In addition, his past use of, and support of illegal immigrants. Here's their link: http://goo.gl/ochUxm if you care to see the research they did.

Most disturbing were the people passing out an eight page leaflet, "The Pope's Secrets," attacking Catholicism and the pope as part of an international conspiracy controlling the IRS, FBI, Mafia, and more.
Here's the first sentence: "The Vatican is posing as Snow White but the Bible says she is a prostitute, "The great whore." a cult (Rev 19:2.)" Oh and by the way, backing up  the claims are Bible references, but you're urged to use only the King James Version.
I went home and looked up the author, Tony Alamo, "World Pastor, Tony Alamo Christian Ministries."
Turns out that Alamo is not his real name, and he seems to have some trouble with the law. He moved from California back to his wife's home state in Arkansas. But in 2014 seven women who say they were sexually abused by him as minors were awarded $525 million.Church tycoon.
There are all kinds of tales, including an FBI raid on his Fort Smith compound in 2008. Fort Smith raid. Google some more and you'll find arrests and stories of child abuse.
I just wonder if all those people passing out the Pope article, calling the Vatican a "cult" knew any of this, or were deluded..
(Snarky comment about deluded people hinted at but  suppressed.)

Democracy and The First Amendment are messy.

Back to these three protesters -- I'm so encouraged by them, not because I agree with all their politics, any more than agreeing with my young family members supporting Bernie. 
What stands out is their commitment, their courage, their involvement in this Democracy--hope for the present and future.
Oh, the messages on their signs:
"Republicans Against Trump"
"Build a wall around his house"
"Trump is a fake conservative"
"A vote for Trump = A vote for Clinton"
"When the power of love overcomes the love of power
Then this world will know peace."

Their parents have done a great job, and should be proud--they have manners, conviction, and courage. They're a real contrast to all the anger and negativity of this campaign. I think that also is grounds for being proud of a still great America. Thank you, Americans.

Proud to pose with some dedicated conservatives

Hatred on the phone, gnashing of teeth

It's been a week since I was called a Nazi and coward on the phone.

Other than that, it was a good evening, but I've been postponing, avoiding writing about it, because it was so, so violent a verbal attack, so filled with rage.

Several ironies of the incident were apparent to me immediately, especially since I'd been meeting with a group of Christians the day before, discussing nonviolence as modeled by Jesus, Gandhi, King. I'm not sure I really want to write about it still, but think I must, not to get even, but as part of a personal solution.

Here's the background.

I was recently voted into membership with the Oklahoma City Gridiron club, which is an honor. They've raised hundreds of thousands of dollars since 1929 for scholarships for journalism students. They raise money by putting on a once-a-year political satire show, filled with songs and scripts poking fun at politicians and more, from the state to the national level. See a post about last year's show here, for an example. Members of the club are journalists of all sorts, and former journalists. I think I'm one of few professors to have been a member.

At any rate, the club holds some meetings at the OETA facilities, and in trade for that, members run the phones for three hours one night during the OETA August  fund drive. That was last Monday night. It's all highly computer-operated, and in spite of training, it takes you a little to figure out all the intricacies of taking a call and filling out information on the computer.

It was the first phone call. I picked up the phone, said "Good evening, thanks for calling OETA. May I take your pledge?"

He started immediately, saying he was a member of the Tea Party and why should he support a tax-supported station that labeled the Tea Party "racist."

At first, I thought he was joking, but the venom in his voice changed that. I knew better than to try to argue or answer him, and just remained silent. He kept going, implying I worked for the station. I told him I was a volunteer, and he kept a barrage of questions coming all along the same line. 

I know OETA has never referred to the Tea Party as racist, but it wouldn't have mattered to him. I tried to tell him he was welcome to his opinion as an American, but that infuriated him more. He then said that being a volunteer for OETA was like being a volunteer for Hitler, and when I refused to answer any more questions, getting ready to hang up, he called me a coward for not answering his questions and slammed the phone down.

Yes, I caught the ironies of someone in the right-wing Tea Party calling someone a Nazi, and hiding behind a phone, calling someone a coward.

He called a couple of others during the evening and I guess, being satisfied, shut up.

The volunteers sitting next to me joked about it and that helped. And from then on, the phone calls were from friendly people all over Oklahoma, saying how much they appreciated the programming on OETA and pledging money to qualify for 1950s and '60s music CDs andDVDs.

Afterward, I wished I'd asked him if he were a Christian, since many Tea Partiers are, and if so, how he could be so full of hate and condemnation when Jesus preached love and forgiveness. But I wasn't that quick. It was a shock.

What disturbs me most  was the black-and-white, ignoring the facts attitude of this person, and wondering how representative he is of the Tea Party membership? Where does that hatred come from? It it typical of propaganda techniques--using labels, being unable to think, unreasoning action fueled by a mob mentality, an lack of being able to consider other peoples'  views--totally anti-government, anti-education, anti-science, mixed with complete lack of concern for others. 

For me, I came face to face with crackpot extremism and hatred that endangers our freedoms and our government which is based on working together. And with my personal restraint. I thought about Scripture saying  a soft answer turns away wrath, but it didn't work here. 

Then I thought about scripture telling how the Pharisees "gnashed their teeth," at some of Jesus' teaching. This guy went to bed that night, and probably every night since, very unhappy, grinding his teeth.  Really sad.

But he made me much more thankful for the other callers like the  lady (probably about my age), from Salina, Oklahoma, who called to pledge. We proceeded to have an intelligent conversation about the history of her town, and how thankful she was for OETA, supported by tax dollars, providing good in her life. 

I won't forget the angry crackpot. He actually enriched my life, because I value even more  the good people who called.

The second caller of the night said he'd already pledged, but he just wanted to call back and say how much OETA meant to him. I wrote down his name and passed the message on to the people in charge.

Scriptures according to narrow-minded liberals

In order to be "fair and balanced," I found these alternative translations of the Tea Party scriptures quoted earlier, intended for narrow-minded "liberals." It's ironic to me that people who are supposed to be open to all views can often not tolerate those opposed to them. (Lesson--fanatics of any extreme are close-minded).

This is particularly bothersome in a country that is supposed to be founded on the sanctity of the "free marketplace of ideas," which Milton envisioned  in "Aeropagitiga" in 1644, adopted by John Locke,     http://www.stlawrenceinstitute.org/vol14mit.html 

and Thomas Jefferson and John Stuart Mill in "On Liberty." Let everybody have their say, tolerate it, argue it, and since we are rational beings, we'll always choose the best answers and opinions. Thus the First Amendment, from our Founders, steeped in the philosophy of The Age of Reason.

Of course we no longer completely believe that in our society. Proof? We're not always rational--go to a grocery store when you're hungry and watch what you buy that's not rational. Darwin and Einstein have had a huge impact on our thought processes as society has evolved into the dawning of the ages of relativity (double pun). So also has increased urbanization, and multiple other factors.

Our current polarized political situation sadly but definitively reveals how lacking in reason we humans are. A great Republican senator from Maine is stepping down because she can no longer function. Conservatives will rue the day that they allowed extremists to force people like this out of office. In fact, we all will.

But, in the spirit of what America is supposed to be about, and about being able to poke fun at all sides in the tradition of Will Rogers, here are some liberal-approved translations of Scriptures. Notice that two of them didn't change! (That's one of my two allowed annual exclamation points)

• "In the beginning, something, we're not sure what, but don't say "God," did something, from nothing."
• "Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will cease to exist." 
• "To everything there is a season, but it's all relative."
• "My iPhone has a lamp unto my feet."
• "Suffer the little children to liberate themselves from their conservative parents."
• "I am not ashamed of being an open-minded liberal, what I stand for, but if you stand for something religious, I might make fun of you."
• "God  is love, and we get to say who he loves and who he hates."
• "Blessed are the people who can't stomach Fox and Rush."
• "Vengeance is mine if I control the majority in Congress."
• "Woe unto you Republicans, for you deserve your current presidential candidates."
• "Render unto Caesar always for my pet causes, but not for the military which defends them."
• "Turn the other cheek only if you can get tax money to do it."
• "Go into all the world and make them believe like us, and invade them if they don't or have oil."
• "The poor you shall have with you always, and we'll fight for them so they can keep doing our lawns." 
• "I am the only way, truth and light."
• "Let a woman named Palin or Bachman please keep silent." 

Scriptures according to the Tea Party--part 1

Translated the way God intended it

• "In the beginning, we founded this country, and it belongs just to us and people who believe like us."
• "Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil because of my assault rifle, and the fence we build to keep unwanted people out."
• "To everything there is a season, a time for us to rule the country and take it back from unbelievers."
• "Fox and Rush are a lamp unto my feet."
• "Suffer the little children, especially if they're poor and not white. No money or food or schooling for them."
• "I am not ashamed of the gospel that gives me power to take over the country and make everyone believe like us, or be shouted down or deported."
• "God is love, and we get to say who he loves and who he hates."
• "Blessed are the white, right wing fanatics, for they shall shout down all moderation." 
• "Vengeance is  mine because I am God's appointed."
• "Woe unto you journalists and liberals, for you don't agree with us, and you'll be cast into to book burning."
• "Render unto Caesar--especially the military, but never for poor people."
• "Turn the other cheek  to put them off guard before you blow them away with your assault rifle."
• "Go into all the world and make them believe like us, and invade them if they don't or have oil."
• "The poor you shall have with you always, and we intend to keep it like that. Just let them do our lawns."
• "I am way, truth and light, and there's no room for discussion or compromise since we are always right."
• "Let a woman keep silent,  except for Palin and Bachman." 
• "Death to the infidel...uh, ooops."

Happy Halloween

Hippie and Tea Party Geezer

Boo!

Katherine and Sarah Clark

Wendy and LadyBug, and Kerin

Erin, Abby and Max Bell