Crushing of Dissent: Mark Attacked at Book Store
From The TIB Network:
As I was looking for some new books about Ronald Reagan, I passed a group of LOUD, angry liberals berating the current administration, talking the 'selected not elected' screed and praising the administration of Bill Clinton. I was not looking for confrontation, though they were very LOUD, in a bookstore, and many people were visibly annoyed. I just walked past without looking over and went to look at my section. As soon as I pulled a book out to look at it, I heard voices cursing at me telling me to put down that garbage, that I should get a book about Bill Clinton. I looked up, and it was the trio sideshow of two elderly women liberals and an elderly man liberal. The ringleader and loudest was a woman with a gray buzzcut, short shorts, and flip flops (insert Kerry joke here). Before I go into the conflict, let me give you some excerpts from their screeds:
"I hate the fact that I AM FORCED TO GET satellite radio because THE ONLY THING on the air is Sean Hannity and Rush Limbaugh...."
"Al Gore is our President, he won the popular vote BY A MAJORITY, and THAT MAKES HIM PRESIDENT..."
Well, they begin to assail me with questions and indignation that I would think to read a book about Reagan or conservatism. I tell them they are welcome to their opinions, making sure to use Sir and Ma'am. They continue to get closer to me, encircling me and their faces contorting and voices turning more shrill as they bombard me with Bush Hate and theories about media control by some corporate giant, as they tell about how terrible the economy is, and even as I try to end things, they get closer, blocking any means of escape. I am embarrassed because I JUST WANTED TO LOOK AT FRIGGIN BOOKS!!!! However, I see that I will have to talk with them, so that is what I try to do...
"You know, it is amazing that you cling to this inaccurate screed that Al Gore really won Florida, when EVERY recount by liberals, Conservatives, Republicans and Democrats showed Bush had won. And you talk of discrimination--what about Gore's attempts to throw away thousands of votes by military folks for no other reason than they didn't vote for him?"
Now, I get a lecture on the intelligence of the butch ringleader. She tells me she is retired, and she HAS HAD TIME to read up on these things and is quite learned. She tells me that she could be my "worst enemy." (I didn't know this was a war, I thought it was a discussion)
Then I say, well, for someone learned you and your friends misquote the facts about the election. Gore did not win "a majority": which is over 50%. And, the popular vote is not the determinant of the winner, it is the electoral vote. According to the electoral vote, Bush won. According to the recounts, Bush won. Bottom line, Bush won.
In true liberal fashion, they simply repeated their mistruth louder: Gore won a majority of the popular vote, he should be President. I guess they don't believe in following the law. Now, remember, I am addressing these people as sir and ma'am, not raising my voice, speaking a little over a whisper. Meanwhile, I am getting screamed at. They tell me that I am young and therefore ignorant.
I reply: now you are engaging in age discrimination. The fact of the matter is that I am a teacher as well, and I read quite a bit(as evidenced here, I hope). And I know about the free market of ideas. You see, the reason why Rush and Sean Hannity are on all over is that that is what the people want to hear. You see, in business, the market deterimines what is sold and acceptable. Because more people want to hear these programs, they are on. You have the choice to change the dial, or to organize a movement to get more liberal programming on the air. It is called fair play. It is your choice to listen or not, you know, freedom of choice. If you want to change things, then organize a group to get things going.
The group continued on a rant about mass corporate control of the airwaves and mind control, and I replied I was tired of hearing black helicopter theories about Halliburton and secret orders. "We didn't talk about helicopters." I said that if I have to explain the analogy, then where is the 'learning?' After this, she proceeded to prove my point by citing moveon.org, Michael Moore and others as objective sources and screeding on. I tried once again to calmly discuss the issues, but then the cursing about conservatives and even myself continued. I then stated that I thought that liberals were for equal ideas and choice, so why was she and her cadre bullying me? That elicited a "YOU DAMN CONSERVATIVE PIG!" I then said, "you know, you show the fallacy and limits of your arguments when you resort to simple namecalling. Therefore, you effectively have lost the argument. I did not attack you. You came after me. I thought I could engage in a calm discussion, but obviously your anger at your own sad affairs has colored your beliefs, and you cannot make rational arguments." With that, they harumphed off.
It was then that I noticed a small crowd had gathered. As the crotchety cadre moved off, people came up to me and said thank you for standing up to them, that they were annoying and had been screeding on there for about 20 minutes before I arrived. I myself wondered where the employees were, to tell these people to quiet down. I found they were watching, and a few of them gave me some plaudits. I told the manager he needed to put a warning to walk in packs for the customer's own protection. When the crotchety crew saw that people were congratulating me for keeping my cool, they yelled an obscenity or two at me and said something about how Borders had become Rush country, and they would go somewhere else....
Chalk up one more for the good guys, I say...Another place set free from the crushing and bullying of liberal dimofascists bent on hate and anger.....
