Me, to a Tea

I warned of the potential for political rants on this blog. If you don't like those, you don't have to read it, unless you want to. This is going to be one of those rants, and then I will get back onto the farm.

Those of you who came to this page from Facebook or Twitter, as I assume most readers will, may have noticed me making argumentative responses onto Tea Party links and posts and whatnot. A Confession: I am fascinated by politics, kind of oddly curious about how a civilization chooses to govern itself. I like observing the mechanics of political parties and grassroots movements and elections. I also like seeing how popular culture changes along with national and local politics, especially in new media where everything, even politics, is new.

I honestly don't know if that's a weird thing to think about, but there you go. I'm a junkie for this stuff. My own political persuasion, if it isn't obvious, is bleeding-heart liberal. My husband's description of my politics: "You love causes. You care about people of other cultures and races and sexual orientations and you stand up for them. And you love getting mad at people who don't do that."

He has me on that last part, especially. I am not a person to get angry, but on this stuff, I can be sharp-tongued. I care about the environment, and how the cultures and generations relate to each other. Intolerance and ignorance make me angry. Which brings us, naturally, to the Tea Party.

It all started with a link. A distant cousin, a Friend on Facebook--which is now a thing, different from a Regular (or IRL) Friend--shared a link from the Tea Party's Facebook page. Being the junkie that I am, I clicked. I don't have a clue what the story was about, but it. Pissed. Me. Off. I dashed off a witty, indignant comment. Immediately, a response! I'm an idiot! Wait. What?

No, I'm not. I simply have an opinion. I may be a liberal, but I am certainly not a libturd. Or a Marxist - because according to this Tea Party guy, there are still lots of Marxists running around and I am one of them. He could not explain to me how my comment demonstrated that I am a Marxist, but he was kind enough to point out that I was an idiot for not realizing this myself. Idiot was a big one. I was frequently an idiot, apparently for having the opinions I do.

Whatever that opinion was, it seemed that it was always exaggerated to a ridiculous place, and thus it could be instantly assumed that I was simply stupid or offensive. I like the President well enough, and think he's doing OK against some massive challenges, but he isn't my Messiah. I believe the scientists who say evolution and global warming are real, God notwithstanding, but I don't hate Christians, nor am I persecuting them by saying so. I believe marijuana should be legalized, for both medicinal and recreational use, but I am not a stoner living in my parents' basement. (Though I did buy their old house, and I do share an office with them. Okay, maybe I am a stoner living in my parents' basement.)

My politics are not generally off-putting. I like people. I believe in respecting others and being nice. I suppose that can get naggy, but they HATED me. They called me names, and yelled at me, and told me I was stupid. I argued with them, because by now it's personal. And I said some bad words. I believe the phrase that got me kicked off the Official Tea Party dot Org Facebook Page was, "Oh my fucking God, haven't you people ever heard of a metaphor?"

I went back on to another Tea Party Facebook affiliate today, to remind myself what an unpleasant experience it is. I don't hope to make it a habit, but really, it was an interesting learning experience. If you don't like them (and seriously, if you've read this freakin' thing, I know you had to have looked for the Facebook posts by now) don't read them. Or do. Hate read them if you like. Just don't call me an idiot. It's rude. Oh my fucking God is it rude.