I think I may have just lost a friend.

[Rainbowreflect]

My friend sent me the following and although I usually just delete her right crap, today I couldn't and I had to send a reply. I know she does not really keep up with what is really going on, but I am tired of getting this kind of email.

Her email:

The ant works hard in the withering heat all summer long, building his
house and laying up supplies for the winter. The grasshopper thinks
he's a
fool and laughs and dances and plays the summer away. Come winter, the
ant
is warm and well fed. The grasshopper has no food or shelter so he dies
out
in the cold. MORAL OF THE STORY: Be responsible for yourself!

MODERN VERSION:

The ant works hard in the withering heat all summer long, building his
house and laying up supplies for the winter. The grasshopper thinks
he's a
fool and laughs and dances and plays the summer away. Come winter, the
shivering grasshopper calls a press conference and demands to know why
the
ant should be allowed to be warm and well fed while others are cold and
starving. CBS, NBC, and ABC show up to provide pictures of the
shivering
grasshopper next to a video of the ant in his comfortable home with a
table
filled with food. America is stunned by the sharp contrast. How can
this
be, that in a country of such wealth, this poor grasshopper is allowed
to
suffer so? Kermit the Frog appears on Oprah with the grasshopper and
everybody cries when they sing "its Not Easy Being Green." Jesse
Jackson
stages a demonstration in front of the ant's house where the news
stations
film the group singing "We Shall Overcome." Jesse then has the group
kneel
down to pray to God for the grasshopper's sake. Al Gore exclaims in an
interview with Peter Jennings that the ant has gotten rich off the back
of
the grasshopper, and calls for an immediate tax hike on the ant to make
him
pay his "fair share." Finally, the EEOC drafts the "Economic Equity and
Anti-Grasshopper Act", retroactive to the beginning of the summer. The
ant
is fined for failing to hire a proportionate number of green bugs and,
having nothing left to pay his retroactive taxes, his home is
confiscated
by the government. Hillary gets her old law firm to represent the
grasshopper in a defamation suit against the ant, and the case is tried
before a panel of federal judges that Bill appointed from a list of
single-parent welfare recipients. The ant loses the case. The story
ends as
we see the grasshopper finishing up the last bits of the ant's food
while
the government house he's in, (which just happens to be the ant's old
house), crumbles around him because he doesn't maintain it. The ant has
disappeared in the snow. The grasshopper is found dead in a drug
related
incident and the house, now abandoned, is taken over by a gang of
spiders
who terrorize the once peaceful neighborhood. MORAL OF THE STORY: Vote
Republican

My reply

I know this is just a joke, but it is full of the anti democrate B.S. that is put out by the hate filled right wingers everyday to divide our country.
Only problem with the modern version is that ants actually have a socialist society.
Ants work together for the greater good of the all the ants and the lone ant would have nothing if he did not work together with all the other ants.
Sorry, but the republican's just pushed throught a bill to end over-time pay for many hard working americans.
We had peace, prosperity, low unemployment and a budget surplus under democratic leadership and war, recession, high unemployment and the largest deficit in history under republican leadership. To say nothing about about all the lies this president has told in his push to send our troops to war to make money for his rich buddies. How many troops have died in Iraq since Bush stated that the war was over? Where is Sadam? Where is Bin Lauden? When will our troops be able to come home? That shit that is going on right now is not a joke.

[PretzelWarrior]

1. cheers. it's tough. we are in a low-grade civil war

some of my friends and family are out of step with me, and sometimes if a person is receptive I share my thoughts. otherwise, I just agree to disagree with them and don't do much with them because I don't really live near much of my family.

[WhoCountsTheVotes]

2. I've read this garbage before

The GOP has someone pumping out this crap on a regular basis. It's meant to appeal emotionally to people, and make them feel superior if they vote Republican. Plus, it pretty much suggests that you shouldn't help you fellow human being.

I know how it feel to have Republican friends - it drives me crazy - but what are you gonna do? Try to get them to watch less television, that usually works.

[GumboYaYa]

4. and read the Internet,

but until the idiotic repuke policies actually bite them in the ass it is hard to get them to listen or be proactive about learning.

[Ellen Forradalom]

3. WOW THAT'S RACIST

Your replay to that was comparatively gentle. She got off easy.

[linazelle]

8. It was definitely racist....

I avoid political talk with many as well. I don't dare share the things I readily talk about here with my other email circles because I know they'd be pissed. In fact, I'm playing cards with friends tonight and for the past months--especially since the war--it's been a little bit chilly because I've not wanted to bring up any issues.

One woman brought yellow ribbons to our monthly game a while ago. I took one and never put it up. It just goes to show you how divisive this has all become--when Bush said "you're either with us or against us" I didn't know how far reaching that statement was. He was right.

[Iris]

14. It was racist and a slap at the poor and it was NO JOKE

I'm sick of people picking on the poor. There were always be poor people; I think that's pretty much a fact of life. I think how a society treats poor people is pretty indicative of what kind of people make up a society. Today I had to drive by a homeless man on my way to the BANK and the GROCERY STORE. I had no cash to give him at that moment.

You should suggest your friend read "Fast Food Nation" or "Nickled and Dimed to Death in America," so she can see how unevenly the deck is stacked against ants and grasshoppers thanks to the corporitization of America.

[Rainbowreflect]

15. That is part of the problem, she does not read anything.

She hears what is on the local news and that is it.

[Iris]

16. yes, that is a problem

but I've found I have fewer and fewer friends like that because they are just too boring for me.

[leesa]

24. Well Republicans are racists, no surprise there

I can never figure out how these supposedly christian people, which many of them think they are, rationalize this position with Christian compassion. I guess greed trumps compassion in their world. If you call it compassion, it becomes compassion??

[ewagner]

5. To You:

:toast:

[sandnsea]

6. Your concern is sincere

I've noticed my family quit sending stuff like that. I don't know if they know I wouldn't appreciate it or if they're just not sending it out anymore. Hopefully if your friend is a real friend, he/she will respect your sincere response.

[Clete]

7. The childlike references to ants and grasshoppers,

Kermit the frog and Oprah should tell you what mentality is being pandered to. It's time to tell your friend to grow up, leave the fairy tales to the Brothers Bush and start thinking for herself.

[soupkitchen]

9. Yeah, I got real tired of getting this type of crap from a friend recently

and told her to delete me from her buddies list. And it's not the politics that bothers me it's the stupidity. I just can't take the stupidity of these simplistic arguments and parables.

[ronnykmarshall]

10. Same here.

A High School classmate that I had been keeping in touch with sinc our reunion in 1999 forwarded me one of those "this a Christain" nation. I told her that a Jew I found that to be offensive. She got all defensive and I haven't heard from her since.

[starscape]

13. great response

You were right on target!

I've stopped getting those emails. I guess I got my point across to my friends the few times I wrote back, saying "I don't appreciate that stuff, please don't send it anymore. It isn't cute, it isn't witty, and it isn't true."

Or something like that.. anyway you risk losing some friends, but it saves you the irritation of having your day ruined by some stupid email!

[Native]

22. Exactly!

It is the sheer stupidity and ignorance that puts me over the edge also. They never send anything that is even remotely factual, and even the more intelligent purveyors of this type of crap turn out to be just as stupid as the rest upon closer inspection. I have always been able to handle bravado and ego when it corresponds with talent of equal measure, and I can also tolerate ignorance when someone is kind, tries hard to educate themselves, and recognizes their limitations, but idiocy coupled with an obnoxious and egotistical personality makes me want to gnash and wail!

[demnan]

11. Your reply was really good

You didn't attack your friend personally, so if they don't want to be friends with you because of your ability to provide contrary discourse then they are a damn jerk. You did ok.

[soupkitchen]

12. I agree, your response was very good. N/T

*

[Qutzupalotl]

17. Good going. Here's another good one I saved

from an earlier thread...sorry, I didn't save the poster's name.

An ant is born very wealthy.
He gets into college because he is a legacy.
He runs three businesses into the ground but still manages to make money.
He is a heavy drinker.
He decides to run for public office and wins because his dad held the same office.
He cuts out every tax that benefits the wealthy.

The grasshopper is too disabled too work because he fought in a war that the ant started.
Because the grasshopper cannot work has no health care and is denied veteran's benefits, he becomes more ill.
The ant denies the grasshopper a tax cut because the ant says the grasshopper does not pay "income" taxes.

[pw]

18. The real modern story

Goes a little more like

And the grasshopper says, "Well, the title to the land you built your house on and gathered your food from belongs to the President of the Insects, who leased it to my father, so I'm afraid I'm just going to have to evict you. But if you don't fight about my moving into your house, I'll let you build a shack out back. And if you want to clean and cook for me during the winter, I'll feed you with some of my grain that you so kindly gathered for me."

[NNN0LHI]

19. You didn't lose no friend. You ditched an idiot. Congratulations n/t

[roguevalley]

20. good for you.

don't feel bad. if she can't share a difference of opinion with you,
since she was forcing hers on you without your consent, you didn't loose a friend.

hugs.

RV

[mitchum]

21. No great loss...because your friend is a fucking idiot...

who can't even make up his/her own idiocies.

[matt819]

23. The other story making the rounds

is about a lost balloonist. It would appear that this is the latest in the rw dem-bashing campaign. You can put money on the fact that this comes straight from the wh. This is about the depth of republican understanding. It's a short story, great for their rw attention spans.

[Native]

25. I think it would be great to have a forum soley devoted to these

Repuke e-mails. Just post it when you get it, and let everyone make stabs at a decent reply. This would give us ammunition to counter their crap. Think about it . . . you get an entirely unseemly piece of Repuke bullshit from dear uncle Bob, you post it, you wait a day for everyone to tear it apart, and then you post a reply to "Bob" courtesy of the collective DU wit. By keeping this stuff in perpetuity, we'd soon be able to simply search for a response to e-mails already posted. Notice how variations of the same crap keep circulating?