(no subject)

[tingilya.livejournal.com]

This is video from inside the Tampa townhall yesterday. The room was filled first with union members and Organizing for America brownshirts. They were placed throughout the room and given signs and literature with talking points. Only then were the doors opened to let a few people in who are not paid activists.

At 2:46 you can hear someone inside the room saying, "They're not allowed in here." That person is talking about people in opposition to the health care bill.

This is happening right now, in your America. And they think we don't see it. They think we're going to go away.

Comments

Thank you for posting this...

[ramaustin.livejournal.com]

I've linked your post in my journal and sent it to some friends. This video needs to get out everywhere...

[ccr1138.livejournal.com]

Unfortunately the rudeness of the protesters isn't doing our cause any favors.

[carbonelle.livejournal.com]

I agree.

My husband doesn't - he's too angry.

Edit for clarity: He believes that if we don't adopt the tactics of the left, i.e. shouting down people angrily at meetings to "show how passionate we are" etc. we'll lose. My fear is that he is correct.

What a choice!

[mosinging1986.livejournal.com]

It's extremely difficult to remain civil when people are not listening to you and they are standing right in front of you, when they babble doublespeak that you KNOW is a bunch of lies, and treat you like you're stupid. The people shoving this healthcare crap down our throats are bullies. They do not care about us and have no interest in what we have to say. They have proven that repeatedly, by their words and by their actions.

I'm not saying to start off being rude. I'm not saying people need to be swearing or insulting people. I am saying that in extreme circumstances, I see nothing wrong with shouting, especially when the people you are trying to communicate with are *that* obstinate.

You shouldn't *have* to shout, if people were reasonable and showed the slightest bit of evidence that they actually want to hear you out. And that is the whole problem in the first place - over and over and over again, they have shown they don't want to hear us.

[ccr1138.livejournal.com]

The shouting doesn't really convince anyone, though. Better to position ourselves as the ones with manners and integrity than stoop to their level.

Yes, but

[carbonelle.livejournal.com]

I was going to just agree with you (because I do) but since then I've discovered two things:

1. The video was taken from a "townhall" meeting organized by the politician and ***the SIEU***
2. Which makes the packing the hall with SIEU members and their allies, handing out SIEU talking points memos, and professionally printed "I support Pres. Obama" signs perfectly legitimate. They were staging political theater. Not **calling** it a "rally for healthcare reform" mind you, but that's what it was.

Thus the hecklers and shouters were completely correct in their behavior.

The only ones at fault were: innocently, anyone who actually came expecting to get to talk to their elected representative about an issue of vital concern; egregiously, the sleazoid politician and union members who tried to scam people into thinking this was a "townhall meeting" and their slimy lying enablers in the mass media.

[tingilya.livejournal.com]

They're being ignored and patronized and locked out of rooms they're allowed to enter. Heck yes, they're getting loud. It's about time. This is exactly what we need in order for our voices to be heard. They can't ignore us now.

[ccr1138.livejournal.com]

No, they just dismiss us as crackpots. Much better.

We'd do well to copy their other tactics, such as TV ads. Also I'd like to give Glenn Beck, Rush Limbaugh, Ann Coulter, and a few others a maturity pill. Hooliganism and hyperbole should be left to the other side.

[tingilya.livejournal.com]

That's some big ole moral superiority right there. :)

Er, wait a minute

[carbonelle.livejournal.com]

Hyperbole, yes: I agree with you, but I don't perceive that Beck, Limbaugh and Coulter (et al.?) are hooligans. Neither were the protesters at the rally.

The only reports coming out of these protests of violence or property damage comes from the leftwing side (union thugs attacking that MO man and hospitalizing him; but that's typical of union muscle, no matter who/what they're supporting)

Why aren't protesters **from the right** allowed to chant, shout, etc.?

Re: Er, wait a minute

[ccr1138.livejournal.com]

The pundits I singled out are just a few of the many on all stripes of the political spectrum who specialize in hyperbole and juvenile name-calling rather than civil discourse. And IMO it's not okay for anybody to be shouting anybody else down, period.

[karmic-serenity.livejournal.com]

Sometimes I think it's time for another revolution.

[ccr1138.livejournal.com]

Love the icon!

[karmic-serenity.livejournal.com]

Thanks! It was posted in republicons last night. :)