When my family and I lived in Kansas City, there was a little newspaper that circulated in the Waldo area that provided a venue for angry old white people to air their grievances. My wife and I would read through several pages of editorials, opinion pieces, and LTEs for a laugh.
We've lived in San Diego for a couple of years now, but we're pleased to find a similar publication in our neighborhood called the Sun Signature, which claims to be "The 'Voice' of the Community". This week, their front page really caught me by surprise. Not that I'm surprised to find wealthy white retirees complaining about how everybody treats them so badly, but the photo they chose to run with the story gave me pause.
The story chosen by the Sun to run in its front-page pole position is a whining diatribe about how nobody ever wistens to the poor widdle Tea Partiers, and they have all the good ideas and the years of experience to back it up and everybody who votes Democratic is a Commie. Pretty typical stuff for a wingnut opinion piece, right? The whining about how you better start running things their way was capped off with the soft threat that, although Tea Partiers are a peace-lovin' bunch, things could get ugly if it don't go their way in November.
The undertone of threatening language aside, the thing that really caught my attention was in the top-center of the photo that runs with the story, a sign with the words "IF IT'S BROWN, FLUSH IT!".
OK, sign-holding Tea Party clown, I get it - you don't like Jerry Brown. But I gotta believe that one of these two statements is true: Either you a) Fully realized that you were making an incredibly offensive and racist statement to a huge number of people who live in your community or b) you're a fucking idiot.
Now, I understand the joke and its oh-so-clever implications. I understand that the only brown-skinned people you want to see in your gated community are the gardeners and housekeepers you underpay under the table. Most of us in this country, regardless of our age, experience, ethnicity, gender or religion (or lack thereof) get it - we understand exactly what you are saying. We disagree wholeheartedly, and we don't want to hear any more.
Tea Partiers, whether it's fair or not, you will be judged by the company you keep. If you continue to hang out with fucking idiots, we'll treat you accordingly.