The things you hear over lunch

[morganskye]

Alison and I went to a hibachi place for lunch because she had a bogo free lunch coupon. Anyway, we were seated with 6 old people (est 60+). All in all it was nice conversation until the topic rolled around to politics. UGH! Apparently only one guy was pro-Obama. The rest were militant McCain supporters. Fine, you can chose who you want. That's what makes America great. However, they were also incredibly racist. One lady was telling off the Pro-Obama guy over that 'anti-America' speech his former pastor made. I also heard another lady at the end of the table say "If Obama gets voted in, they'll have to rename it the Black House." This was followed up with various stereotypical comments about rims on the limo and 'blacking up' the Oval Office. Alison looked at me and said "Let's get out of here before the Klan rally starts."

There are many things once can expect when living in the South, however I still get shocked when I see/hear things like this.

Comments

[ssfseiyakou.livejournal.com]

Stuff like that breaks my heart. It shouldn't be like that. Dislike his political views - fine. But racist crap just makes me want to break things...

[morganskye.livejournal.com]

Agreed. Why should it matter what he looks like? It's his views that should be the issue. However, it'll take YEARS for racists leanings to go away, if ever.

[evilcatsterer.livejournal.com]

I'm not even in the south and I get to hear stuff like that... One woman I work with (wonderful lady, but very racist too) said that if Obama gets elected he's doomed to be assassinated, and its sad but unfortunately probably true, given how people in this country are. So much for everyone being treated equally... :(

[amayagoddess.livejournal.com]

My supervisor is a blatant Republican. Good for her. I have no problem with this. I have a problem that she flaunts around the stupid chain emails that say "Obama is a Muslim", "Obama didn't put his hand over his heart", and "Obama is a racist". Today I got to hear "Obama wouldn't be approved for the FBI" which incidentally I had JUST fact checked to be false. It burns me that she believes every word in them without finding out the truth for herself.

People believe what they want to, and it's sad to think that racism is still alive and kicking.

[morganskye.livejournal.com]

That's one of the reasons why Colin Powell never ran for Prez. He'd be on the hit list fast. It's a shame that people can't seem to think past their up-bringing.

[morganskye.livejournal.com]

Even with the facts presented to them they wouldn't believe it. The world would be a lot easier to live in if people made an effort to think freely instead of living like cattle.

[amayagoddess.livejournal.com]

I hate to think what I will have to endure here at my workplace (small, family-owned, Republican) if Obama is elected. I feel like I'm in a different world sometimes it's so painful.

It's sad to think that my coworkers might not be phased if he was assassinated. :(

[morganskye.livejournal.com]

I, personally, am amazed that no one's made an attempt on the current Prez. You're right though, a lot of people are expecting it to happen to Obama if he gets elected.

[burnslikeice.livejournal.com]

I don't like Obama...but it has nothing to do with his skin color. I also don't like McCain. It's more of a "these candidates suck" issue than anything relating to ethnic or religious background.

I hear racist comments around my area, too. Usually they're conservative to the begin with, the race thing is just something else to us against the opposing candidate. If Clinton had been nominated, we'd be hearing about how a woman can't handle being president. The extreme supporters will use anything, and I mean anything, to discredit their 'enemies'.

And i've seen the reverse of this problem as well. In the 'black' areas of the local cities there are Obama posters everywhere. Last election, you hardly saw any political posters in these areas, and now the inhabitants are suddenly interested in politics. "Vote Obama 'Cause He's Black" seems to be the message.

I don't think you should vote for or against anyone based only on the color of their skin. Sadly, I can see Obama being elected for that very reason.

[morganskye.livejournal.com]

Agreed on all points. I think the reason they put Palin as VP is to try and get the women who would have voted for Clinton.

I want to believe what he has to say, but the jaded part of me says he's getting attention because of his color and that all politicians lie anyway.

[broccoman.livejournal.com]

Well, SC is about as bad as you can get for stuff like that. AL might be worse, but that's about the only Southern State I haven't been in so I can't tell for sure.

[broccoman.livejournal.com]

I thought Palin was a pander to religious loonies, not women. Palin cost McCain my vote, literally.

[morganskye.livejournal.com]

It seems like forward thinking doesn't exist here. I've had to warn friends about what will happen around here.

[broccoman.livejournal.com]

Seriously, I always felt when I left SC that even the colors became brighter.

[morganskye.livejournal.com]

*nods* You're right, yet somehow I can't seem to live anywhere else. I guess Charleston has its claws in me. ^_^

[caelumgrey.livejournal.com]

I'm glad they haven't. I don't want to have to mourn W. like we still do Kennedy. I'd feel dirty. :-)

[caelumgrey.livejournal.com]

Blacks overwhelmingly vote Democratic anyway, so the only difference this time is the passion behind it.

"These candidates suck" is, of course, the easy way out. That way you don't have to run the risk of being wrong or having your opinions challenged.

Personally I'd vote for Obama even if he was a gay Muslim giraffe. I agree with him on most of the issues and he's the only candidate capable of leading the country out of the quagmire the Republicans have gotten us into.

[caelumgrey.livejournal.com]

I would imagine Mississippi would be the worst offender. South Carolina seems to have more urban and coastal cultural input.

[broccoman.livejournal.com]

Mississippi wasn't as bad, at least in the Bilozi area. Upstate might have been worse, never left the coast really when I was there due to no reason and military garbage.

*rolls her 2 pennies acrost the floor*

[keita-yuki.livejournal.com]

personally I think our choices suck ... so whos the lesser evil?

But for me... the main reason why I will not vote democratic for the first time in my life is because Obama approves of the partial birth abortion, saying women have a right to choose. Which at first I was agreeing with because my personal choice is pro choice as well. Till my mom described to me what partial birth abortion is, then I was horrfied this procedure is allowed and happens.

*copies and pastes from medical site description*
Partial Birth Abortion - The partial-birth abortion procedure, used from the fifth month on, involves pulling a living baby feet-first out of the womb, except for the head, puncturing the skull and suctioning out the brain. The great majority of partial-birth abortions are preformed on healthy babies of healthy mothers.

If an abortion is to happen I think it should happen sooner not this 5 month and later one. At 5 months that child might surivie being born to soon if it was given the chance.. so to me at that point its a little person.

**though Im pro choice, my personal choice would be to turn down any form of abortion if I was carrying a baby.**

[morganskye.livejournal.com]

Good point. He doesn't deserve it in any way.

Re: *rolls her 2 pennies acrost the floor*

[morganskye.livejournal.com]

O_O That's sick. If you've carried for that long then you should give that baby a chance and put it up for adoption. I feel nauseous.

Personally I also believe that a woman has the right to chose, but I also think that it's being abused. "I don't have to be safe. I can get an abortion." It's disgusting how some women just don't care about what they're doing.

Re: *rolls her 2 pennies acrost the floor*

[sarcasm-hime.livejournal.com]

I doubt it's that simple, that Obama is like "I am in support of dragging healthy babies out of wombs"; the definition and timeframe is still under a lot of debate AFAIK.

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5168163

I agree that abortion should happen as early as possible but as detailed in the link above some serious deformities and problems do not show up until later in the pregnancy.

Honestly...of course who you vote for is your business and your decision, but IMO choosing not to vote for someone just because of one issue is questionable. Do you think he is otherwise the better person to lead the country? It may sound callous, but I think the US has far bigger problems to deal with than whether a couple thousand woman are allowed to have abortions.

Re: *rolls her 2 pennies acrost the floor*

[morganskye.livejournal.com]

Hmm, I didn't know that was a political term. Makes sense since it's worded for shock value. *rolls eyes* I hate lobbyists.
Indeed, when some members of Congress tried to amend the bill to ban only those procedures that take place after viability, abortion opponents complained that would leave most of the procedures legal.

Yeah, we have a LOT more to work on, like the budget, welfare, health care, the military, taxes...It makes me wish we'd get invaded by aliens so that everyone would be on the same page for once.

Re: *rolls her 2 pennies acrost the floor*

[sarcasm-hime.livejournal.com]

AAAAND CUE THE WATCHMEN! XD

Re: *rolls her 2 pennies acrost the floor*

[morganskye.livejournal.com]

LOL!!! Dibs on NiteOwl!

[kuhpuh.livejournal.com]

Ugghhh... see my latest post.

[morganskye.livejournal.com]

I don't understand why this is still a problem. I want him to win, but I can only imagine the stuff that will happen if he does...

[kuhpuh.livejournal.com]

There's an African American woman at my work that believes he'd never make it to Inauguration Day if elected. I really don't believe it, but maybe I'm naive?

[morganskye.livejournal.com]

You'd think race wouldn't be an issue anymore, but it's hard to have faith when nearly everyone has the same thought.