Freeper Encounter Just Now at My Local Walgreen's!

OK,I am in shock. I have in the past encountered freepers at work and even in my own family at holiday get togethers. However, NOTHING compares to what just happened to me.This just happened about a half an hour ago. I am not exaggerating or embellishing this at all.This is EXACTLY what happened.

I had some photos on my camera and downloaded them and sent them to Walgreen's last night. I was driving into the parking lot to go pick them up.I noticed another car pull in right next to me. As I got out the driver from the other car got out as well.I noticed a bumper sticker on her car of Obama as the joker with the words SOCIALIST on it. I have seen it on the internet and the news and at videos of town hall meetings and tea party protests but never actually saw a bumper sticker with it. I glanced down,never looking at the driver, and I just smirked. THAT WAS ALL I DID. Well, the driver,this soccer Mom, saw my smirk and just went off on me.She started in on this rant about Obama and socialism and how liberals are destroying the country and so on. Having said that,this woman who I describe as a Soccer Mom in her mid to late 30's called me something I had never been called before,especially by a woman. She called me the C word (???) She said the C word 4 times. I noticed a baby car seat in the back but luckily no kids were with her. Only one person exited the store and it was an elderly woman who looked surprised to hear this angry rant. She looked at both of us and went to her car and got the hell out of there. The entire rant lasted about 20 seconds and I at first ignored her and started walking to the entrance.I then said to her to SHUT UP!(only thing that came to mind) I am terrible in situations like this. I always just freeze and never say what I should. It's always afterwords when I think of things to say but I was in total shock. For someone to freak out over me smirking at a bumper sticker.Can you imagine what she would have done if I said something? What would she have done if I had a Pro Obama sticker on my car? All I could think of was to tell her to shut up in which she responded, "WE WON'T BE SILENCED!!!"

She then got back in her car and left and when she did she peeled out of the parking lot at full speed. No, I did not get her license plate number. I guess she was so angry she decided not to go in the drug store. Maybe she was angry with me she did not want to be in the same store as me,who knows. I just felt it was odd that we both pulled into the parking lot at the same time and she did not even go in for whatever it was she came here for.Guess I should have waited to see if she came back.I know a lot will get on me for not speaking out and be pissed I let this freeper rant without me doing anything about it. I can not say enough how shocked I was. I had only been awake for about 20 minutes or so, no coffee and like I said,who freaks out over just a smirk? I mentioned it to the clerk inside and he just shrugged his shoulders. I came home and needed to vent. I PRAY I see this woman again. I am going to be on full alert watching for this car and woman. ANYONE,liberal or conservative who goes of the deep end over something like this needs help. I assumed she had the sticker on her car as a way to express herself and her views. I smirked and found it amusing and also disgusting and she freaked out. She can express herself but I can not? Like I said, I wish I had thought of that to say to her.Anyway, sorry for the rant. It was too much excitement for me this early in the AM without my coffee over something so minor.I am more terrified of these nuts than I am any foreign terrorist.

I feel for the kid(s) in her life.


Tikki

I am more afraid of them than of foreign terrorists as well.

And I think you did the right thing there; it is of no use arguing with these lunatics.


♫

she was rabid. I know that sounds a bit dramatic but she was beat red and visibly shaken. Sounded like she had a lot to get off her chest. Like I said,only lasted 20 seconds or so but she spoke so fast and got so much out there it seemed like it was longer. I am angry with myself for taking it as long as I did without either walking away or telling her off myself. Why did I just stand there and let her rant? I think I was in shock. This woman looked like she was about to cry.Maybe she got some bad news before hand, maybe she was having a bad morning or maybe she has so much anger and hate towards Obama/Democrats that she needed to let me know about it. Just told a friend and he said I should have told her that i smirked because I just bought the same sticker for my car and see what she would have done.LOL! I will be thinking of this poor woman all day.

I've been in similar situations before and always think of great comebacks AFTER the fact. Don't let this crazy freeper ruin your day!

impressive at the UN yesterday. He's getting great reviews. This has to be driving them up a wall, i.e. the reason they are pushing the "he's over exposed" meme. I would have done the same as you. Who ever is prepared, early in the morning for a nut job like that?
Don't let it ruin your day. Make yourself a super-delicious breakfast and play some music....lol.

I have a friend who helped me with a non-profit project in our small town - he is an ex-marine who is a pilot, and has several rental properties. He works with low income people and is caring of them, and used to have his office in the middle of our community park, and frankly distracted himself trying to figure out how to help the troubled adolescents who hung out there.

I like him personally, and he is a genuinely good guy.

I used to stop by his office, and we would talk for a couple of hours every now and then. He knew my politics, and it would ultimately turn that direction. He would increasingly get worked up, got all red and at times came totally unhinged - all of the socialism crape and everything else. Again, I like and respect him a lot, and always was very civil and kind during these discussions. When we would end the conservations, he would always extend a strong and real handshake and say thanks.

I have MANY, VERY good friends who are Rs, and to some degree share these sentiments. As my friends, they are always very respectful and supportive of my efforts ... I let A LOT go with them on it. But, again, friends are friends.

I share the same GENERAL disdain for lunatic right wing beliefs, but again, in real life, with real people, it just is something I deal with, everyone has their things ...

It is tough, and to me a bizarre disconnect, that really, TRUELY decent and community oriented people have these beliefs.

A stranger, I probably would be less caring or empathetic toward, but I can't disown people because of their politics when they are good people ...

How "good" can they be and still say and do the things they do?

I will never, ever understand right-wing wackaloons. They all just seem crazy to me.

You never know, with a stranger, what they are going to do next. It's never a good idea to make a stranger more angry. Anyway, then you would be justifying her ranting at you--you'd then deserve it. The best thing is to play dumb and say nothing, or else say, "excuse me?" or something as innocuous.

I think these people get so pumped up by pundits like Hannity and Beck that they feel justified in doing the same thing to the nearest target. People forget how to behave in public. Or they stop seeing family members as who they are and suddenly see only a target for their invective. They are being programmed and the merest trigger sets them off.

Works like a charm with insanely angry people.

that summed it up. For eight years these people convinced themselves that they had voted God back into the WH and a true conservative was in charge. Now with hindsight, they see * was neither a conservative nor practiced their religious values, and grew the Fed and the deficit by leaps and bounds.
We are the innocent victims of people just now realizing that they were 'had' in a big way. That's where the anger comes from.

If this is true for many of them, I suppose they are still in the process of connecting the dots. Maybe the anger will subside over time.

I worry the most, though, about those that don't have the capacity to think and reason.

I hope this boorish behavior doesn't ruin your day. There is no excuse for this behavior, but those who are listening to Beck, Limbaugh, Savage, et. al., are being driven mad with the hate.

What a lousy way to start the day!

Yes, yes they will.

...angry little people.

n/t

I guess the teevee never talked back to her like that, so she didn't know what else to do

gets her coverage for mental health treatment.

after years of listening to rush and fox they have become full of hate. Yes, best not to say anything to these people.They are beyond reason.

propaganda for all of Clinton's presidency and eight years of bush, 16 years total that is probably about half her life and she wasn't paying attention before then and she did not study history or politics in school. She may not have been even taught about the Constitution in school, like I was. I am in my sixties and my children did not get these courses as we did in school.

Of why they make those little cans of MACE you can attach to your car keys.

deeply in whatever her malfunction is.

Sounds like she was off her meds.

She called you a...a...a COMMUNIST?????

But seriously folks...this woman sounds like she has serious problems. She's been dittoed to death, Becked to bits and royally Foxed up. Good thing she just peeled out of there--she was probably sparing you her wrath and she knew it. Sounds like she has poor impulse control but managed to get herself to leave before she tore you apart.

Be careful out there, kids.

Well worth repeating!

That's not the C word she called me. She called me a word I NEVER use. A word that makes me uncomfortable when I hear ANYONE use it. A word that starts with C and ends with T. So, having a female call me this word shocked me even more (and I at this point was pretty shocked)

Thanks for the support everyone.I will be watching for this car because we live in a rather small town so I am sure I will see it again. Doubt I will say anything unless next time I am prepared and get out of my car and start laughing hysterically at the sticker and then laugh and point at the woman. Of course, I will be asking for trouble and this woman may be so crazy she might even carry a gun in her car.

I guess the other question I have is why would she assume just because I smirked that I was disagreeing with her. I mean, couldn't I have agreed and smirked because I liked the fact she was displaying this image of Obama? For her to assume I was a liberal just because I smirked is confusing.

Who knows what issues she has from her past...maybe her parents smirked at her when she did something wrong or whatever.

I remember my mom having a smirk that I hated. The other thing was the one raised eyebrow.

Both of them meant (to me) that she thought we kids were lying through our teeth. She never believed us even when we told the truth.


so now, as an adult, I have issues with smirks and raised eyebrows, although I've never gone off on a stranger for doing them.


The thing that concerns me with people having anger issues and all because of maybe the economy or whatever is, what if you had a child/children with you...what if she had kids with her...

Having anger is understandable...venting it on a stranger in such a shameful, totally disgusting manner is not.

and we kick her ass for you

It appears her rant and tirade were unprovoked.

It doesn't matter if you are a guy or not. Cops deal with batshit crazy women all the time.

I tease.

see you next time? whatta bitch. if kids today can't play nice, gotta give 'em a time out...

I am so going to remember this and use it often. Without attribute. Thanks in advance, BC.

Just let it go. She sounds unstable and may possibly be dangerous.

And if you do stumble across her, just turn and walk away.

Trust your intuition but be ready to bug out and dial 911 if the batshit crazy reappears.

But a dialog might be a good thing.

The woman isn't interested in dialog. She's interested in one sided diatribes in response to facial expressions she doesn't like.

There's not much to say to this type of lunatic without inciting them further. The way this sounds to me is that it was barely political and mostly mental.

renounced the use of reason is like administering medicine to the dead".
Thomas Paine

In this man's last name is what she is feeling. Lots of pain. Stupidity hurts a lot.
Imagine what is churning in her, she is to be pitied.

But I would have, I admit with shame, gotten into a screaming match with her.
That's too bad, but true.

Recommended

Never argue with a fool, they will only drag you down to their level and beat you with experience"

Goes well along with "Always forgive your enemies, nothing annoys them quite so much"

It would be interesting to see how the crazed freeper would have reacted to a gently expressed response like that.

you could add to the above, and I'll pray for you too.

Seriously though, after the incident where the guy at the Cracker Barrel beat up a women in front
of her child I would be very wary of inciting any of them further. Savage, Beck and others seem
to be courting violence against liberals with their rhetoric. Some of these loonies may carry guns
around in their cars and some are so unbalanced they may use them with very little provocation.

... they really don't realize they've been used by the GOP and the Christo-Fascist movement for the last 30 years.

They don't realize that the very companies who are organizing the Tea Bagger Rallies and inciting all this low-information-voter paranoia are the ones who will pull the plug on grandma, ship Cousin Jane's job to India, and who - by dodging business taxes - are shorchanging local infrastructure so Jimmy and Julie can't read an' cipher or have safe roads to drive on, or clean/safe parks to play at because there's no money for the parks department anymore - or for public safety officers to keep the pervs in jail and out of the parks.

They know they're being hosed - they're just aiming their anger at the wrong boogeyman.

which are fear, hate, and closet-bound kinkiness.

I let them run their mouths until they're done, then ask, "Feel better now?" Then I get in my car and leave. You can't argue with them.

Another response is to just walk away while they rant. Often, you'll get a, "Don't you dare walk away from me!" If that happens, just keep walking, but listen carefully to make sure they aren't coming up behind you.

Engaging these morons is never a good idea. You just waste your time and infuriate them further.

That said, if you enjoy infuriating them further, go for it.

i know this because i was verbally put upon by an anti-abortionist while registering voters during the campaign. he essentially said obama wanted to murder babies, but what i remember the most is how his face was red with rage. i could not think of a word to say to him. until much later of course.

there is just no reason for such ugliness. i don't get what drives these hateful people. try not to let it get you down, even though i know it will be very hard to forget.

these 'morans'. By the time I was finished with her, she would have left that parking lot ten times faster.

When encountered with the bat shit crazy people of the world, I call upon my earliest days in the theatre where we used mirroring exercises... you ain't seen bat shit crazy 'till you've seen my impersonation! LOL! Plus, I've had vocal training and can project my voice with astounding volume and clarity... I've scared myself a couple of times If you happen to see HowardX around here, ask him how loud I am... I thought his eyes were going to pop out of his head the first time he heard me project

You can't reason with her or argue with her, so just dismiss her with a regal flick of your hand and walk away. No sense in standing there and letting her cuss you out like that.

Damn, that sucks, though. Hope you're feeling better.

Some ignorant old woman was at a breakfast event hosted by our Congress rep. She was handing out anti choice fliers and lying about Obama wanting to abort black babies. I did the hand flip and she literally slunk away. I enjoyed it a great deal

I think many of these doofuses just don't expect us to stand our ground, so when we do, they don't know how to handle that.

"We are not amused!"

by looking at them and making the sound of a crow. CAW! CAW! CAW! CAW! CAW!

As they don't seem to understand English, or much less hear it. Then I pepper spray them and try to get them to chase me across a busy street.

My friends call me the "Spicy Crow".

hahahahahahahahahahaha

They want you to fear them. That's what they've been indoctrinated with, and they believe that they must intimidate to get their message across.

Just stand up to them. They aren't the bad-asses they puff themselves up to be.

They organize their lives and their thoughts on paranoia and neurosis. They can't or won't use logic or listen other views that digress from theirs. They are all emotion and no brain. And yes, they will "explode" in order to attempt to intimidate you because that's all they have: threat of violence and violence. They aren't in power right now so they can't threaten to use "The System" to neutralize you, so violence is their only card left to play.

Next time, call the police and file a disorderly persons violation against any person who does this to you.

because all words are lost on that degree of crazy, best to visually marginalize them.

Stealthily, but in some fashion not deemed appropriate or fully within the law.

I so hate that image.

Imagine **only** reading RW books, watching RW television, listening to RW talk radio- There is a new, isolated class of Americans out there who are regularly warned about the imminent Islamic/Marxist/ Atheist/Socialist/Commie/Nazi takeover. The number of people with untreated mental illness is torridly high; they are vulnerable to this bullshit, and we are vulnerable to them.

I Smiled at a Bumper Sticker and She Exploded. I know I should not even attempt to figure a nut like this out,but how can such an innocent gesture like a smile piss someone off/ How did she know I was not one who agreed with her politics? I had no left leaning sticker or shirt or button or anything showing my political leaning.She based SO MUCH rage on a guess.That just blows my mind. To say she was crazy is an understatement. Bulging eyes tearing up,red face,speaking so loudly and fast spit was flying everywhere and then dropping the C word. Yeah, she threw in the F word also but it was the C word that shocked me. Calling me a dumb liberal C *** just really floored me.

but I'm afraid that because of the way they are wired they can't be reasoned with. They don't have the ability to understand facts and how things work. They've had rapid right wing talk shows freaks tell them how to feel and what to think. So, if you were to try and respond to this rapid hate, it would be wasting your time. I would avoid them like that had H1N1 virus. Remember that they are a declining minority and that may be where this fear is coming from. Too bad, too sad for them.

I know that my blood pressure would have sky rocketed if I had that happened to me. I would have wanted to tell that bitch off. What would have been funny to say to her "I'll pray that god heals you from your hatred of mankind and to unhardened your heart. Peace." But, someone being that angry is going to kill someone and I would not want that person to be me.

I think your a swell person. Don't let this person fear become yours. You did nothing wrong.

likely gotten the short end of the stick.

for dealing with the lunatic fringe is to have them repeat what they just said, only louder as I couldn't hear them the first time. My hope is to give them a stroke.
As I've said many times here, these people are driving at high speeds on our roads, and that is sufficient reason to be in fear.

repeat as needed.

she might have physically assaulted you and while that might be a good story to tell... I don't think you want to go there!

as the wicked witch of the west said "what a world, what a world, what a world"

But if you think about it she's obviously so defensive about her precious sticker that your tiny reaction set her off into some insane rant. She lives in a world that elected Obama so she's in the minority and that obviously unsettles her mentally. Just telling her to shut up seems to have been enough for her to hightail it out of there. Why would you think she 'won'? She didn't. For all you know you may have been the tenth person in a row who reacted with a smirk to her sticker.

Consider it a victory. The Bush era is over. She's the loser now.

(and likely accurate) way of seeing it.

Number one, I'm like you. I never think of a good comeback until much later. I envy people who do think of stuff on the spur of the moment. My problem is that I just never expect people to go off on me like that, even though it's happened more times than I care to remember. I'm just never prepared.

Number two, it's better sometimes NOT to answer these crazies. In fact, it's probably better to just turn and walk away. Of course, you're taking the chance that the crazy will wait till you've turned your back and then vent their anger on your car, but this is where a cell phone with a camera comes in handy for getting proof in case you ever want to take the asshole to court.

anyway, it's ironic, isn't it...

the party of "Family Values" is represented by people who explode at the slightest provocation, and spew the most disgusting epithets you could imagine. I'm sorry you got called the "c" word. It hurts, but it's more a reflection on the type of person she is than on you.

change the mind of an on-looker, or (3) you can learn something from the argument

If somebody starts going off on me in public like that, I'll pleasantly tell 'em Have a nice day! as I amble off in the direction of somewhere where they ain't

Every time I go there it seems I run into a case of teh stupid so bad it burns

spectrum of people, including abject morons.

lately the pharmacy counter seems to be the place where the teabaggers like to loudly spout off about how bad the "socialist government health care" is going to be. I generally just roll my eyes and let them get it out of their evil systems.

Walgreens I go to. I do remind such people that they're already using socialized, government-run healthcare. That usually shuts them up briefly.

A pharmacist beat me to the punch on that that the other day, took the words out of my mouth. I could tell he was disgusted, he's been hearing it non stop every day. I did take one lady to the woodshed who wouldn't shut up, got her to admit that 1/4 of her husband's paycheck was going to premiums and the company was still trying to deny claims every chance they got. I just asked her "don't you think the system you described needs some kind of reform if it's causing your family and a ahole lot of other working families that much grief?" She just stared at her shoes in silence after I asked her that.

Last week Mr Pip had some very painful oral surgery done. Then he had to go pick up a couple of scripts for aftercare...one of those things was painkiller.

Instead of going to CVS (where they make you wait an hour and practically want to know your life history before handing over the meds) he went to Walgreens. Turned over the scripts and asked how long it would be...OK at this time there are THREE people waiting. He's thinking, 15, 20 minutes tops.

No...an hour!

He explains he's just had oral surgery, is in pain, and it's a 40 mile round trip to go home and wait then go back again.

The person at the counter says she's very sorry, but they're very busy and are in the middle of a "Flu Clinic"

remember, there are 3 people there...no line....nobody giving or getting flu shots...nothing.

So Mr Pip tells her what he thinks and takes back his scripts, and goes into the Super Stop and Shop up the street, where they also have a pharmacy.

When he gets home he's fit to be tied...writes a letter to Walgreens...tells them what happened...includes phone number. Two days later he gets a call from Walgreens. They are very apologetic and admit that this NEVER should have happened. The person who lied probably didn't get fired, but I'll bet she did get her ass flamed by the store manager.

I was there 2 weeks ago getting scrips filled for pneumonia and they left me sitting there for an hour. I felt awful and just wanted to get home and get to bed and I didn't think they were EVER going to get them filled....

sigh...once upon a time, there was respect/compassion for sick people.

The doctor made house calls...often had medicine with him. Or, you went to his office and he had samples. I remember many times my parents getting those little bottles of liquid penicillin that were either cherry or banana flavored.

Now?

Hah. Make an appointment, sit in an overcrowded waiting room for an hour if they're running behind, then get your prescription and drive over to some pharmacy where they're going to make you wait another hour.

Lord, I remember one time I had a raging earache and had to sit in a waiting room while a bunch of little kids screamed and ran around like savages and their moms ignored them. I was on the verge of tears and wanted to strangle everyone there.

ugh.

anyway, enough of my rant... hope you're feeling better now

I'm much better now.

It's noteworthy that what you describe about sitting in the overcrowded waiting room and pharmacy is what the scenario the right wing loons are pushing against "gubmint run health care". I have to wonder if any of them have been to the doctor lately or if they are truly that irony impaired.

Doctors are only human beings, subject to temptation and addiction like the rest of us, so it turns out sending Dr. Feelgood home with a bag full of awesome was a great way to turn more than a few perfectly good physicians into marvels of malpractice.

Sending every patient home with little bottles of banana flavored penicillin and passing out antibiotics like Skittles also turned out to be a spectacularly bad idea. It's that very practice that has given us MRSA (methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus)and other lovely superbugs.

That said....

I totally agree with you about the waits at clinics and pharmacies. My mom has gone to the same clinic since I was a small child a little over four decades ago. We absolutely LOVED the physician she saw there, but the service and operation of the clinic itself has gotten so deplorable (just last week a nurse from a different physician gave us a callback with someone else's test results - which she left on VOICEMAIL) that I've finally been able to talk her into switching to the only other clinic in town - a move I made six years ago.

I know not everybody has options, we live in a really small town with very limited options too, but where and when one is able, I highly suggest looking for the smallest clinics and smallest pharmacies you can find. I like the fact that when I call my clinic I talk to a human, not an automated phone directory and my doctor calls me back herself with my test results. When I take my script to the pharmacy I don't have to stand in a line three deep, give my entire life's story and provide 3 forms of I.D. It's nice. It's the way it should be.

than having to go to the city doctor's offices/clinics.

Same as you...we have the same doctor, if you call and want to speak to the doctor you usually can (at some point).

The only thing I do regret living way out here is that the nearest hospitals are both at least 20 miles away. It wasn't such a problem when we were younger, but as we've gotten older we have gotten a bit concerned about the distance. Especially scary was the year Mr Pip had a dire medical emergency and I had to drive him to the ER and back home TWICE in the same night over winding country roads and hills. The third time we got home and he started bleeding again I was exhausted and had to call the town ambulance to come pick him up. He ended up staying in the hospital for four days. Don't know why they released him TWICE before that.

Since you weren't wearing your politics on your sleeve, I wonder how she would have reacted if you had just said, "I KNOW, Right?"

The C word would have made that difficult but ... I'll bet the expression on her face would have been priceless.

You didn't need a snappy come back, that woman was already a train wreck.

there is no way to reason with people like that. They don't want a debate or have a reasoned discussion, they are robots programmed to shout and scream talking point.

You would have a more effective conversation with an ATM machine, at least that spits out money. LOL

A friend of mine is a republican. I bumped into him the other day. He was with some other people. He introduced me as his "socialist" friend. I laughed and said, "that's okay, I have to do my best to keep you fascists in line". They all scowled at me. Even my friend.

I looked him sideways and said, "you can dish it out but you can't take it, huh?"

He looked down at his feet and said, "you're right". I shrugged, slapped him on the back and said, "no worries, just be prepared for a retort next time to introductions like that".

we are still friends.

to be able to give back as good as I got, with good humor...

yay for you!

... you get her license plate. Tape recorders are good, or just a pencil and post it note. If you have a digital camera, or camcorder, get it on record. Then, report her sorry ass as an act of assault (fearful of battery to come?)

If they won't be silenced, then we'll make sure it's on the record.

Battery is, well, battering.

like that; you might as well try to teach a rabid dog to fetch, sit, etc.

But so what if she called you the C word--you're a guy, right? Isn't that like someone calling a woman a dick? It just don't compute.

Try to put her out of your mind. She sounds mentally ill.

Someone wrote into The Young Turks and made a very interesting observation: That the last time he saw this type of hate, rage, red-faced, screaming, rabid behavior was in the 1950's-1960 during desegregation.

Now I'm not saying this is all racist (it may be a part though I'm sure), but it is the deep seated FEAR that these type of people have with the chance that *someone else* might benefit at their expense. And that their "world" is changing and they have no control over it.

Ironically, it is the very people they have voted into office that have fucked them over. They just dont see it.

Next time simply point to her or to the bumpersticker and laugh. Her head will explode. Or ask her if she kisses her children with that filthy mouth.

. . .in fact, they count on it as a bullying technique to scare people into not responding to their attacks. In their minds, no response means they are right and have "won."

Frankly, her tantrum would have made me laugh out loud - yes, right in her face. There are few things more comical than someone who claims to be a "patriotic" American and yet has to be spoonfed by a cabal of radio talk show host and a television "news" network that do her thinking for her. I'm afraid I'd be tempted to just say "The only think ruining this country are people who choose to be ignorant because they want some talking head to tell them what to think and do."

Frankly, I've rarely had to deal with these people - they just aren't part of my social circle. I've had a few students who like to start their memorized rant about the "liberals" but then don't know what to say when I ask if conservatives are "con-artists."

I don't think these people realize that the large majority of Americans are getting increasingly fed up with their tantrums and demonizing rhetoric - it just doesn't overwhelm people with fear the way it used to - and I wonder if the best approach to dealing with this kind of tirade is not to just break out in laughter. Yes. . .laughter. If we would all learn how to just laugh at these clowns, their tirades wouldn't be able to bully people for long.

Laughter works because those types of people hate to be ridiculed.

Happened in the parking lot in Avon,Connecticut.Same parking lot I saw Lowell Weicker at about 6 months ago.

I live right near there.

If you calmly said to her, "Just a sec please, I want to get this moment captured. Especially your face and license plate number.
Then I will run it back for you so you can see what you look like.
"Now.....please continue....what were you saying again?"
Do you think she would have attacked you?
If she did, could you kick her ass?

There's nothing these people hate more than being ridiculed.


And there's no ridicule that sets them off more than a simple smirk, snork, or laugh.


That one act is worth 1000 words shouted back at her.


It proclaims your superiority, your disdain for everything she stands for, and your contempt for her all in a single second or two.


You don't think you knew what to say?


Your smirk was all you had to say.


You ruined her day.


Bravo!

She had that bumper sticker on her car for one reason only: to get a reaction so she could cut loose with her insanity. That's why she was on high alert when you saw the sticker and reacted to such a minor facial expression.

I agree with those who said you should have just turned your back and walked away from her. I wouldn't have let her stand there and repeatedly use vile profanity on me. That's EXACTLY what she wanted - an ugly confrontation. I'll bet she's bragging to her fellow freepers about how she 'confronted' a "socialist".

If you see her again, let her stew in her own shit.

Perhaps she was looking for a face full of pepper spray. Or a tasing. The original poster would have been well within the law to provide this charming woman with either.

I never engage right wingers. They are that crazy. Furthermore, you can't influence someone who is so closed minded. Thank goodness there were no children around.

In the words of Betty White when she was talking about Sarah Palin, she's "one crazy bitch". Sounds like you had your own version of that to deal with!

There must be a real sense of desperation among these types to just go off on a complete stranger. And you did the right thing to refrain from engaging her any more than you did.

I do think it's interesting that after you told her to "shut up", that all she said was "We won't be silenced" and then left without even going into the store. She was so angry that she couldn't function. So truthfully, your actions (or inaction) probably unsettled her a lot more than the whole situation unsettled you.

So on behalf of all of my fellow Dems, thank you for giving the likes of her a bad day!!!

"I was insulted and mercilessly attacked by a lying, Socialist liberal c--- today".

Or did she merely send an enraged e-mail about the incident to every wackaloon in her address book?

She and the rest of her wingnut, racist, religious friends all live in the same psychotic mindset.

OFF. There is no other appropriate response to such childish outbursts.

It completely sucks the wind out of their sails.

the woman probably wouldn't know socialism if it bit her in the ass!

Obviously.

beyond reason. To say the least.

Next time you encounter her, tell her God loves her and so do you, and that you're praying for her. Then step back and watch her head explode. Works every time!

Most of the time I am extremely fast witted in those kinds of situations. I would have backed you up on this, provided that my quick assessment of the woman was that she was just repub crazy and not bonifide whackjob crazy. There is a difference, in that the former can be messed up badly with choice words/ideas, but messing with the latter can get you hurt or killed.

But learning to assess what kind of response to give is part of choosing to be confrontational back at someone who is unjustifiably tearing your hide off in public. Most of the time if it is directed at me, I choose to leave the situation, because being alive is always preferred to ending up dead over some complete stranger's ranting and taunting actions. Boy, what a change for me who was a quick witted, smart ass, hot tempered young part Irish girl, who has tried really hard to mute her fierceness so that it is more useful - like using it to come to someone else's defense. I still do that whenever it is safe to do so. If I thought she was whackjob, I'd have still come over and given you enough cover to get the hell away from the danger. There is no reason for any of us to give up perfectly happy and good lives due to a chance encounter with a person whose threshold for frustration is sub-normal and who acts out regularly because they have no self control or ability to think or reason anymore. That needs to remain their problem, and not be allowed to intrude in our lives and be made our problem as well.

Good news is that you'll likely be more situationally aware of things around you now, so that in the future if this were to happen, first thing you'll do is take her license number or pull out your cell phone and ask her to hold still and try to speak more clearly and with less spittle while she threatens you because you are filming it and forwarding it as she speaks to the local police station and your attorney - and you want it really clear for the prosecutor. And tell her "ain't technology grand?"....

Don't seek her out. Don't say anything to her. She obviously has some very serious problems. Leave her alone and give her distance.

Realize that you did nothing wrong. Your saying "Shut Up" was a perfectly responsible reply. She had no right to call you out for a
facial expression. Don't kick yourself for doing what you should have. You were not impeding her 1st Amendment rights so her reply was ridiculous. You had every right to defend your integrity and to tell her to "Shut Up". She is obviously unstable and hopefully someone will help her before she endangers herself or others.

I see this Toyota Prius all the time not far up the road from your Walgreens - it has a McCain-Palin sticker on it, as well as a "Obama the next JC" - and a picture of Jimmy Carter there, and another one that says "just say NO to socialism" or something like that.

it's a toyota prius, too.

when someone makes you angry and you can't think of anything to afterwards about what you should have said at the time. Now,don't you understand that they are hypocrites. Bush didn't win but we couldn't be angry and we had more of a right to be angry,they couldn't be upset about spending with all of Bush did. So,the only conclusion I can come to is racism.

They thought that we couldn't say anything when they stole the election and we aren't suppose to say anything and we won. They want to kill us and call us unamerican but,I have realized that they are completely insane... In their minds they really do think that we aren't real americans.

you can consider it your "dose of suffering" for doing what's right and that you've joined, in a small way, the ranks of all the people that have suffered unjustly at the hands of Nazi's, fascists, and bullies everywhere.

If you aren't really pissing off the evil people around you, you aren't doing something right.

A good way to respond to people like this is to smile and give them the peace sign. But be ready to run if you do because they'll go ballistic. You can also smile and say in a condescending voice, "Oh, you poor dear." (Sometimes I'm glad I'm 6'1" and weigh 250 - these idiots tend to leave me alone)

Maybe you could write a letter to the editor of your local paper recounting the episode. I'd leave out the word smirk. It's her call to interpret a facial expression. I was once carrying equipment into a hotel for a job and had to wait for a woman who worked at the hotel to move from in front of the elevator. As I stood watching her, she turned and looked at me and said, "What are you smirking at!" The plain fact is that we feel sorry for these people.

Just be glad you don't live in her head - no telling what that scene looks like. Your level of discomfort at being called the C word is her normal state of being.

I too get unhinged -

But I think we need a mantra for all of the DU'ers that 'freeze' when confronted with this complete fringe lunacy . . .


"Hey lady! Get f*cked!" Lather, rinse, repeat.

It's short, sweet and to the point. Then again, I drive down to the shore on Sundays (Jersey) all summer - and all the "Get f*cked's!" and ranting and raving in traffic is in good humor.

Oy! Sorry you had to deal with that but in the future - don't freeze.

Just throw a "Get f*cked!" out there and keep walking.
Or if that's too much for you, "Get bent" works well too!

Oh Almost forgot! I had to do that a few times during the 08 election due to my bumper sticker. So I speak from experience. Especially if you are a woman and it's a man???? They are stunned 9 times out of a 10 that a woman is getting lippy and putting them in their place. Kind of silences the Stupids when they step out.