It all started with my posting on Facebook the albeit provocative but IMO very funny picture of a gynecologist examining a woman to whom he is saying: "I see the problem. You have Republicans in your vagina." The comments started off harmless enough but quickly degenerated. Because the person whose comments are in question was someone I would see again and again at dog events I tried to keep this from exploding. In the end I did the harshest thing and reported him to the authorities. The reason this is at all worth discussing is how it reminds me of virulent comments I experienced when canvassing for Obama. It reminded me of how outside the poling place in Roxboro, NC a man yelled at me: “If that nigger wins we are all finished!” To which I replied “Jimmie Johnson endorses him.” And how I saw that made no difference to him though he had NASCAR all over his clothes. I believe that virulent racism underpins the mindless hatred of Obama by a certain segment of our society.
What impressed me after the Tea Party made its appearance in the first year of Obama’s presidency was how its message looked like the hatred I had seen during the campaign. And farther back the hatred I had seen when I was in high school in Arkansas. How people I knew went to the black parts of town and threw bricks. When Obama was elected, I kept thinking that those white boys in Washington did not and maybe still do not realize how alive-and-well the hatred of black people is in this country. I truly believe Obama never saw it coming. His insulation from this facet of America might explain a lot. The Democrats in the 2008 election cycle unknowingly courted the twin horns of deep-seated American hatred—black people and women. It is on these horns that the Tea Party and the Republicans have attached their attack on liberal America. After the squiggle is the Facebook thread (replete with misspellings). And a bit more from me.
RICHARD: No wonder she is enjoying multiple orgasims...Lucky Lady..
ME: Yeah from an army of guys with tiny dicks.
RICHARD: At least they have THEM! For sure better than a bunch of neutered (as they should be so they don't reproduce) Democrats! ;-)
L(male).: Lol wow, you're name is Dick ___(unfortunately I do not want to post his last name which made the joke the hilarious joke it was. So just add a verb to Dick and imagine)
RICHARD: FUCK you L.
RICHARD: Typical liberal, name calling is your only response! Sucks when the truth hurts!
ME: You know what hurts--misogyny and denial of reproductive health options for women! He made a joke and you called names. So lay off Richard.
RICHARD: That was not a joke! That was crude and uncalled for!
ME: No sorry--I don't see it that way.
Let it go, please.
RICHARD: Women have every reproductive health option that men have...I do not agree with abortion! Unless in the case of rape, other than that..
ME: And I don't agree with forced birth.
M(female): I can't get past a male who sees an orgasm on the gynecological exam table. Whether it's misogyny or ignorance I don't know, but viewing an internal medical exam as a sexual moment is shocking. Sadly it's the same line of thought that believes "women have every reproductive health option that men have..."
um, no.
(Nor for that matter, do men have the same reproductive health options that women have.)
Which is why the outrage from those of us, male as well as female, who recognize that those kinds of non-facts are being used to pass laws that affect us, our daughters, and our world.
ME: I know--that comment is woefully ignorant and arrogant.
J(female): I'd love to hear what Dick would have to say about the pleasure of an internal exam after someone bent him over an exam table and inserted a speculum.
(The following is the comment I reported to FaceBook as hate speech.)
RICHARD: Dick says you are a BITCH..by the way my name is Richard! To me this looked like a slam for the folks that want to truly help the USA. Not destroy like the Head Nigger in Charge is and his clueless cronines....so BIT ME!!!
I let this comment sit for awhile hoping our mutual friends would see this hideous posting and get a picture of what he was like but I could not keep it on my wall overnight so I assessed my options.
I wasn’t sure how FaceBook handled these things (don’t expect the FAQ to help you) but I hit the “report as abuse “ button and counted on figuring it out from there. From the dialogue box that appeared I went for 'hate speech' where you get a pull down menu giving you the choice of gender, race, disability and I chose race. I had FaceBook send to Richard my request that he delete his offensive comment. (I could have deleted it forthwith but I thought he should take it off himself in response to my objection. That would show some modicum of respect, I thought.) This is what FaceBook sent:
Hey, I don't like this comment. Please remove it.
------------------------------
The comment:
Richard Xxxxxx (February 25, 2012): Dick says you are a BITCH..by the way my name is Richard! To me this looked like a slam for the folks that want to truly help the USA. Not destroy like the Head Nigger in Charge is and his clueless cronines....so BIT ME!!!
Along with the URL where he could access the comment.
I waited and within a half hour I got the following response from him.
RICHARD: I don't like the bitch calling me Dick..very insulting..this started out as a joke, some folks have no sense of humor...
ME: The way I see it--you made a joke that to some was kind of hideous but I knew it was a joke and then someone called you Dick with a LOL in front of the remark which you responded to in fury. So you are as guilty as anyone for not having a sense of humor. Whether you agree with my perspective or not, you don't then raise the ante and start making racial insults. It isn't necessary, it is very disrespectful to me to put something like that on my wall. So please remove the comment and let this thread go.
RICHARD: Calling me Dick is not funny nor was it meant to be funny, it was meant as an insult. I can't remove the comment...I can't get to it..you can remove anything since you started the thread...What racial insult...? Nothing racial about it...it was the truth..at least how I and many other see it...He has earned the title..he is not better than a corner drug dealer..that is what I call them also..
ME: My brother is named Richard and we used to joke about Dick all the time. He thought it was funny. Seriously though you should know better than to use the n-word on someone's wall. That in my book is hate speech. And of course it is racial--honestly! If you say it in your house around like-minded friends, well, it is between you and your conscience. I don't think you would use that word in K's front yard or at a UKC event and a FB wall is like that. Public. Probably best we are not friends on FB.
He unfriended me.
………….
ME: There will be no more comments from "Dick."
We should reflect on this poison. These are the people we work with; they are our neighbors. What is the antivenin? What do we do?