There was an episode of the Star Trek TV series titled “Let That Be Your Last Battlefield” about two warring aliens that appeared identical except one was black on one side and white on the other, while the other was the reverse. The difference was all important to the aliens, but the Enterprise crew could hardly tell them apart.
I think of that when people immediately identify someone as left or right, Democrat or Republican, Shia or Sunni. As if their faces were painted a certain way so you can immediately tell. And once you know their political party or religious sect, that’s all you need to know. TV is that way, if they are interviewing someone, the most important thing is to have a graphic that tells you if they are a D or R. It’s like a sporting event, you need to know what team someone is on, and then can cheer or boo accordingly. Our political parties take themselves way too seriously, they seem to believe people are born either D or R and that party owns them. The parties don’t seem capable of running capable candidates for office and governing well in order to earn votes. But when they eek out an election victory, they proclaim it a landslide and believe they have a mandate. Rather than accept that voters hated the other guys a little more. This time. It’s kind of ironic with Trump and Putin in the news, neither of whom really care about ideology, it’s all about power and personality. Yet we still want it to be a story about left vs right, my party vs your party. From: Af [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of [email protected] Sent: Friday, February 24, 2017 9:51 AM To: [email protected] Subject: Re: [AFMUG] OT trolling Yeahbut they are democrats so they are leftists so they are inherently truthful and trustyworthy... From: Adam Moffett Sent: Friday, February 24, 2017 7:45 AM To: [email protected] <mailto:[email protected]> Subject: Re: [AFMUG] OT trolling The statements come from representatives of the "Sweden Democrats" party. Skim the wikipedia article about who they are. Some choice quotes: "The party had its roots in Swedish fascism <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sweden_Democrats#cite_note-r1089-15> [15] and was a part of the <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_supremacy> white supremacy movement; <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sweden_Democrats#cite_note-telegraphboots-16> [16]" "The Sweden Democrats, however, remain isolated in the Riksdag because the other parties are staunchly maintaining a <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cordon_sanitaire#In_politics> policy of refusing cooperation with them. <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sweden_Democrats#cite_note-25> [25]" "The Sweden Democrats believe that the current Swedish <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Immigration_to_Sweden> immigration and integration policies have been a failure. They oppose integration because they believe that integration involves "meeting in the middle" and do not think that the <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swedes> indigenous Swedish people should have to bear the burden " The section on ideologies is interesting too. They might as well have "Make Sweden Great Again" hats. ------ Original Message ------ From: "Chuck McCown" <[email protected] <mailto:[email protected]> > To: [email protected] <mailto:[email protected]> Sent: 2/23/2017 4:15:29 PM Subject: Re: [AFMUG] OT trolling My only point is, Trump made one of his typical off-the-cuff/out his ass utterances, he was excoriated by the left press. Now it seems there was something of substance behind his comment. From: Ken Hohhof Sent: Thursday, February 23, 2017 2:12 PM To: [email protected] <mailto:[email protected]> Subject: Re: [AFMUG] OT trolling Sweden has accepted something like 25 times as many refugees per capita than the U.S. And they have been mostly men who can’t find work. Whereas the U.S. accepts mostly women and children, who have been heavily screened, and there are usually communities willing to help them integrate. I’m not sure why we are wanting to point fingers at Sweden and make some political issue of this. Why not instead look for a model of how to do this right? By all accounts, Canada is very good at this, with families virtually adopting refugees and helping them resettle and integrate into Canadian society. Just be happy we get some choice unlike Europe which doesn’t have the Atlantic ocean between them and disasters like Syria. From: Af [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Chuck McCown Sent: Thursday, February 23, 2017 2:48 PM To: [email protected] <mailto:[email protected]> Subject: Re: [AFMUG] OT trolling One for Jaime: http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2017/02/23/sweden-democrats-trump-was-right.html From: Chuck McCown Sent: Thursday, February 23, 2017 1:42 PM To: [email protected] <mailto:[email protected]> Subject: Re: [AFMUG] OT trolling Oh, and I had a business partner for 30 years that was trans.... yes I have known trans people.... From: Ken Hohhof Sent: Thursday, February 23, 2017 1:33 PM To: [email protected] <mailto:[email protected]> Subject: Re: [AFMUG] OT trolling Once you know someone who is transgender, it turns out not to be like that at all. There are exceptions to everything, but if the first thing that comes to your mind is identifying as a girl to shower with the girls, then probably you don’t have any friends or relatives that are transgender. Well, that is unlikely, more likely you just don’t know they are trans. And school kids unfortunately take the brunt of this. Anywhere else, are there really going to be bathroom police checking birth certificates? There’s a creepy thought. From: Af [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Chuck McCown Sent: Thursday, February 23, 2017 1:52 PM To: [email protected] <mailto:[email protected]> Subject: [AFMUG] OT trolling Bored. If this was mid 1970s and if I discovered that the president said I could shower with the girls at school it I “identified as a girl”, I sure as hell would have identified as a girl.... I have not heard a single commentator address this issue. Boys will be boys. What do the lgbtqrstuv folks have as an answer to this situation? They don’t seem to be interested in protecting the rights of my granddaughter to not have the boy’s football team in there after volleyball practice.
