A proposal to eviscerate the Republican Party / Rightists once and for all.

[Leftist Agitator]

Refuse to speak to anyone you know who espouses Fox News / Neoconservative / Bushist views, including friends, family members, acquiantances and business contacts.

Have absolutely nothing to do with any of them, and tell them precisely why you have chosen to do so.

If you absolutely insist on maintaining contact with these people, make it a point to mock their beliefs and their lack of intelligence at every opportunity.

If being a Republican is cause for being ridiculed by every sane person with whom one comes into contact, you will see their ideology perish within a decade.

Now go ahead and tell me why I'm wrong, why I haven't thought this through, etc, Ad Nauseum.

[left coaster]

1. I already do this..

;)

[Leftist Agitator]

3. Good for you!

This proposal should be made an official plank in the Democratic Party's platform. Refuse contact and/or ridicule those with whom you cannot feasibly sever contact.

Mocking these idiots for their idiocy is the only humane way to destroy their poisonous beliefs.

Mind you, I said HUMANE way...

[nadinbrzezinski]

2. Been doing this for a while, BUT

here is where this is dangerous and I know this.

This is the kind of division in a society that predates hot civil wars.

[Leftist Agitator]

4. If they want to fight, bloody and terrible though it would undoubtedly be...

I say let them fight us. There are more of us. We would win. And if horrific bloodshed is what it takes to make our nation sane again, so be it.

I don't relish the prospect in the slightest, but if that's how it has to be, well then...

[nadinbrzezinski]

5. I take it you have never been in combat

or interviewed survivors of civil wars.

I'd rather not.

Though I expect it.

[Leftist Agitator]

11. No, I have not been in combat.

But my brother has done two tours in Iraq and one in Afghanistan.

Having just discussed this matter with him recently, I can definitively say that he wholeheartedly agrees with my position.

Neighbor against neighbor is far preferable to letting that neighbor destroy us all through their willful ignorance and malfeasance.

[abq e streeter]

6. I've been tempted to do the same, but the humanity of my friends ends up trumping everything else.

But I really do think of this same thing from time to time, and I have tried as hard as possible to not add any more repubs to my life beyond what I have already ( only a few, and that's not by accident). I don't talk politics with any of em any more; no point to it, except on the rare occasion when I sense a glimmer of open-mindedness ( my Christian conservative friend who agreed to watch Sicko , against the "warnings" of her repub friends. I respect that she did that, even though she will never connect the dots between what she genuinely learned from watching it, and all her other beliefs. she's, needless to say, pretty uninformed generally, like almost all the rest of em).I understand where you're coming from, I really do, and used to mock their beliefs, but they're irrational, or else they wouldn't have those beliefs in the first place, and mocking em just seems to make em more fiercely defensive of their irrational belief system. But I just don't think it's practical, especially business contacts, co-workers... although I will say this, beyond a band that does a reunion show once a year, that contains 2 Christian repubs among the 11 members ( 3 female singers, horn section etc), my intent is to never knowingly make music with repubs again either, except as a hired gun and not actually being a part of the band...I will NEVER again actually be IN A BAND with a repub. And I have no intention of adding a single solitary repub to my life beyond those few that were friends before they joined the dark side or before I realized it. I can't say that you're wrong; I just don't think it would accomplish anything except making you feel better about making a stand and not compromising in any area of your life, which I respect.

[Sinti]

7. I know you mean well, but I honestly don't think this is a way to win mind share

If you simply want to fight and get in their face, it's fine. But, mocking them will only entrench them even further. They already realize you think they lack intelligence, and will not listen to you for this very reason. Sometimes we communicate poorly, because their lack of information makes us crazy/frustrated/angry/feeling the need for a lobotomy, it's very difficult. Nonetheless, I think we need to communicate.

Rabid RW folks are very easily frightened people, especially the super-religious. They feel the need for strong authority. They have really bad information, and are afraid if they think differently, lest they become one of those soft, vulnerable liberals that their "authorities" would rather see dead. It's a tenuous situation in this country at this time, IMO.

As nadinbrzezinski said: This is the kind of division in a society that predates hot civil wars.

I don't want that. War kills people, innocent people as well as those who have picked up the guns and agreed to kill and die. I'd rather convince them that I want the best possible world for them also. If you can't make peace at home, how do you make it with the rest of the world?

:hi:

[Leftist Agitator]

9. "If you can't make peace at home, how do you make it with the rest of the world?"

You can't make peace with monsters or those who refuse to live in the real world.

You can exterminate them, or, failing that, ostracize them to the same effect.

Letting things continue as they have thus far will get us naught but more of the same.

And more of the same means "The utter destruction of the United States of America".

[Sinti]

17. I realize they're extremely brainwashed people - their minds are full of

really corrupted information and they can't see through that haze. They weren't born monsters, they're not tigers in the forest, they're human beings. They actually have reasons for being the way they are, upbringing, television, church, lack of intellectual stimulation and the fear - fear of hell, fear of the future, fear of the "other," combined in many cases with systemic poverty - so the schools are worthless.

It must be difficult to come out of such a society with an open mind. I can't imagine living with the weird terrors they have, it must be hell. For many of those Christians every day is wrought with temptations from the devil, unless it was what the pastor told them to think and do.

They need to be deprogrammed, as a whole. It's like a cult. Ignoring them would be the best solution if you can't find a way to communicate in a respectful manner. Not that I'm suggesting you're a disrespectful person, but they can get pretty shrill if you touch their panic buttons.

I understand your sense of foreboding as to what the future holds if these Radical RW people managed to get power over the reasonable majority somehow, but I don't think mocking people helps your cause. People who are not so crazy, but love them, will see you as an example of the left, and reject leftist thinking out of hand. Many non-political folks are just not particularly well versed in the nuances of things, and it plays into the elitist, mean-spirited, socialist dictator meme they've already got going.

I must say, I do understand your point of view, here. I'm just not sure it's productive. Ignoring is the better choice - OTOH, that drives them further into the isolation of the cult, so you might want to think about that :)

[tblue]

8. I just lost a recently found long-lost friend because I made a joke about Sarah Palin.

She cut me off, called me 'crazy,' and I believe in no longer speaking with me. Sad because I have not talked to her for 20 years, and she had just told me she has never been as close to anyone as she once was to me. (Truth be told I thought I didn't know a soul who liked Sarah Palin. Not a soul!) It hurts to lose a friend. This was not my choice. I would absolutely not become friends with any right winger/republican/dittohead/arch conservative. I just don't have the strength. I just think we have very different values and I believe they stand for everything I'm against and against everything I am for. But very dear old friends I try to make an allowance for, though we're not as close as we would be otherwise. I just avoid the subject as much as possible when I'm with them, which isn't very often. It is hard to watch what I say because my politics is such a huge part of who I am.

[Leftist Agitator]

10. "I just avoid the subject as much as possible when I'm with them, which isn't very often."

Then with all due respect, you have sold out your principles, and have let them win.

Your silence is tantamount to agreement with their corrupt, twisted ideology.

[tblue]

18. Oh no. Not at all. We talk about our kids and the things we do, or once had, in common.

It's really not always appropriate to delve into why someone should or shouldn't vote a certain way when you're asking 'How are you after all these years?' I'm thinking in particular of a friend who saw me through some of my darkest hours. Truly she did. She moved to a Bible Belt and drank the koolaid. I can't change her. We hardly ever even see each other, but she knows my politics and we've discussed them in the past, and we each respect our differences. That being said, I have no other friends who are not liberals and I've been accused by some people of not being flexible enough in this way. I really have no tolerance for conservative ideology, but I am not stupid enough to think I can move the unmoveable. Let's just say I know my limitations.

[Angry Dragon]

14. Ponder on this

I feel that where the problem lies is in the labels that we put on each other. We don't take the time to look at what each other wants. What are your wants?? A military that can defend you?? A strong education system?? Well paying jobs?? A fair and honest government?? Leaders you can respect?? People that are tolerant of each other?? And perhaps a host of other things. I do not feel we take the time to ask each other what the basic things are and we just differ in the way we achieve them. Once we can decide on what is important to us then, and only then, can we work together to solve the problems. Everyone yells and blames the other for the ills of the world and we forget to actually talk to each other

[alittlelark]

12. I've been doing that since the 2004 elections.

I've changed a few minds... Ignoring them freaks them out.

The mocking I do not engage in.

I follow Miss Manners rules in dealing w/ the insufferable.

[Leftist Agitator]

13. You might want to consider the ridicule tactic.

There is nothing that an idiot hates more than their idiocy being mocked.

Will you make converts? No.

But you will make idiots feel foolhardy for endorsing such idiocy.

These people can't be reasoned with. Thus, they should mercilessly be made the object of fun.

[alittlelark]

15. I do - Miss Manners was an awesome person.

I follow her rules. I don't know why, but she always made sense to me.

I will make a brief derogatory statement concerning an issue I am interested in and then ignore those that become over-emotional or preach. I look at and interact with those who are behaving in a civilized way - Those that do not are overlooked.

[DepletedCranium]

16. What some are trying to do

is to break both camps out of their cage match.

That everyone is acting like huffy children tickles the powers
that be to no end.

They're just going to go ahead and have their way with us.

Congress shows infinitely more solidarity than the people, and
THAT scares the hell out of me.

[SalviaBlue]

19. To those of you who say you have already done this

I wonder who you had to sever ties with.

If you had said this last year, I would have to separate from my husband and son (they both have changed their opinion since Obama came on the scene, but they were pro Bush for most of the 8 years).

Currently, I would have to sever ties with my mom and dad and sister and a nephew and a niece and my sister in law and mother in law and my best friend.

As far as business goes, I would have to quit my job. My husband's business would go broke.

This is really just too much to ask of someone living in a red area.

I'm thinking those of you who have done this didn't really live in a very right wing area or have many right wing family.