It is election season and once again the minions of Wingnutopia are getting their old Red Shirts out of the closet to go once more into the fray to see how many voters they can intimidated, how many voters they can block from the polls and how they can continue the voter suppression effort they’ve embraced for almost 150 years.
Actively working to prevent folks from voting is a keystone to every election victory strategy of these weasels from Mississippi in 1875 to Florida in 2000 to many states across the Nation this year. This is an election strategy rooted in white supremacy and hate that grew straight out of the Confederacy. The Confederate Party took over the Democratic Party for a hundred years until they lost their grip in the wake of FDR and Truman. Once LBJ passed the Civil Rights and Voting Rights Acts, this movement of hate went looking for a new home. They found it, ironically, in the Republican Party (one could probably power Chicago from the energy of Lincoln spinning in his grave).
And so here we are on the eve of another election and once again these neo-Confederates (or TeaBaggers, or ‘Conservatives’ or ‘Republicans’ or ‘Concern Citizen Councils” or whatever mask of a name they ride into battle under this time) are up to the same old game of intimidation, dirty tricks, law breaking, threats and real violence.
Now some think this movement is new. It is not. Or that these tactics are are new. They are not. Others think they go back a few years or a few decades. Truth is, these voter suppression tactics were developed and written in blood over 140 years ago and that there are direct links between the TeaBaggers of the 1870s and the TeaBaggers of today.
The main link is the idea of white supremacy, although your modern TeaBagger has learn to discuss that only in code. That is a trick that they learned from their Confederate Founding Fathers of their movement. After the Civil War they learned that they could no longer openly support slavery, so they learned how to talk about their that issue in code. Using white supremacy as the glue, they created myths to excuse their treason and they developed a plan to retake control and institutionalize a system of racism that functioned as slavery by another name.
The key to these Confederates re-taking power was voter suppression–and they used any means necessary to suppress the Black vote and intimate white voters into letting them get away with it.
The Mississippi State elections of 1875 were the laboratory of intimidation where these tactics were developed into a model other states could follow. By the end of the year, organized violence had over turned results of the ballot box and created a political climate that would disenfranchise African American voters for a Century.
By the beginning of 1876, these TeaBagger founding fathers were spreading a step by step action guides–know as The Mississippi Plan–to other states. As recorded in Stephen Budiansky’s recent book, The bloody shirt: terror after Appomattox–a former Confederate General, Samuel W. Ferguson, wrote a letter detailing how to get it done back in the day (emphasis added):
Greenville Jany 7, 1876
Dear T.
I cannot tell you exactly how they did in other parts of the State, but will give you a sketch of the modus in Washington County, where the odds were the most terrible and where success has been the most complete.First, look at our geographical position and political situation, consider the odds against which we had to contend, and in contemplating the result of a determined effort, you will feel that it is entirely practicable to redeem So. Ca. if the people choose so to do. Our registered vote shows 6390 voters; of this number not over 1200 at the outside are white. The only town in the county Greenville with a population of 2000—the whites slightly outnumbering the blacks.
Still, we determined to carry the election at all hazard, and, in the event of any blood being shed in the campaign, to kill every white Radical in the county; we made no threats, but we let this be known as a fixed and settled thing; the white leaders knew that we meant it. So, instead of fomenting strife, they counseled peace. When they had a political meeting, and we could find it out in time, we sent speakers to meet them and denounce their rascality. They, afraid to provoke a contest, which, end as it might, would be the signal of instant death to them, replied to specific personal charges, only by vague generalities-and the moral effect on the negro was to our advantage; he saw his leaders cower and finally retire from the contest, and this prepared him to submit to what was to follow.
To such an extent was this intimidation, not of the negroes, but of the white aspirants for office, that, when the election day came, none of them even came to the poll to vote. All that is necessary is to obtain the result, no matter how, and Mister Nigger accepts it as satisfactory.
The success of our plan depended, at last, upon our being in condition to make a fight if necessary, and to impress on the leaders, the individual danger each of them ran if ~ disturbance took place. To accomplish this, a thorough organization and arming were essential. Winchester Rifles and Colt’s peace-makers kept the peace. Money freely contributed, and freely used accomplished much, not by buying votes, but in carrying out well devised plans, such as sending competent speakers stumping the county, attending all the meetings called by the other side, and abusing the candidates to their faces when they put in an appearance. Then, the day of the election, the white men went to the polls when they were opened at eight o’clock, and remained until they closed.
Be assured that if you determine to strike one good honest earnest blow to free the State, I will be with you, and I think that thousands from all the Southern States will be ready and willing to quietly take their arms and come, if needed—to judge from the feelings and expressions I have heard in this section.
Let your motto be Suavitur in modo, fortiter in re. [“an iron fist in a velvet glove”–dg] Never threaten a man individually; if he deserves to be threatened, the necessity of the times requires that he should die. A dead Radical is very harmless—A threatened Radical, or one driven off by threats from the scene of his operations, is often very troublesome, sometimes dangerous, always vindictive. Pray write to me again, for I am most deeply interested in all you may do in the coming campaign.
Yrs &c.
S. W. Ferguson
Copies were circulated far and wide and one made it into the hands of an to an old comrade of Ferguson, Martin Witherspoon Gary of South Carolina, who was yet another former CSA general and an unrepentant American traitor. He was deeply inspired and wrote down a list of action steps to replicate the Mississippi Plan in South Carolina (emphasis added):
“Plan of Campaign”
- 1st Determine if necessary to kill every White Radical in this county—
- 2nd Every mulatto Radical leader
- 3rd Every negro leader—make no individual threats but let this be known as a fixed settled thing—
- 4th We must send speakers to all of their political meetings, who must denounce the rascality of these leaders face to face. The moral effects of this denunciation will be of great effect—
- 5th Thorough military organization in order to intimidate the negro
- 6th Every white man must be at the polls by five 0 clock in the morning of the day of election, and must go prepared to remain there until the votes are counted
- 7th Make no threats — “Suave in modo fortite in re”
- 8th There is no use in arguments for the negro.
The forth item on Gary’s list (and the similar advice in Ferguson’s letter) was the exact strategy that the TeaBaggers used in their effort to try and kill HCR and undermine politicians they disagreed with in the summer of 2009. The 6th item on the list is the strategy of voter suppression that is underway now. It is a strategy that follows the advice written down and practiced by these and other Confederate terrorists for the last 150 years.
Ferguson and Gary were leaders of the Red Shirt movement that openly practiced terrorism across the old South after the first wave of the KKK had been suppressed. From 1865 through 1965 more than 6,000 people were recorded as killed by white supremacist violence and most of that violence was related to suppression of the right to vote (it is safe to bet that many thousands more deaths were never recorded). Since the 1970s it has been harder to get away with using outright violence as a tool in the voter suppression effort, but intimidation with the implied threat of violence is alive and well. Examples of this in 2010 are easy to find.
When Gary organized a meeting to implement the Mississippi plan in South Carolina he called it as a “tax union meeting” to rail against the taxes of the day, but that was just a dodge for their real goal which they announced in a local paper as organizing to be “ready to strike for white supremacy”. (Using ‘taxes’ as a stalking horse for your real goal seems to be yet another tactic our current crop of TeaBaggers have learned and embraced from their founding Confederate TeaBaggers, but I digress).
Attending Gary’s meeting, and helping to carry out the campaign of voter intimitation–including the Hamburg Massacre was a young man named Ben Tillman. On election day in 1876, Tillman and his gun stood guard at a polling location to ensure that only white folks voted. He learned well from his Confederate mentors and became a violent and active leader in the Red Shirt movement. In the 1890s when populism swept the land, Tillman made sure that it had a white supremacist tilt and rode that wave to become South Carolina’s Governor and later its Senator for almost 25 years. Tillman pioneered the racist/populist politician that one could find in every election cycle ever since, including many a TeaBagger candidate in 2010.
As an old man, Senator Tillman befriended and mentored a young Strom Thurmond, the son of a close advisor and fellow Red Shirt terrorist. Thurmond would grow up to follow in Tillman’s footsteps and carry the racism and voter suppression efforts of his mentor into the Confederate Party’s transition from control of the Democratic party to control of the Republican Party. Many a TeaBagger and professional Wingnut operative in DC can trace the roots of their activism directly through Strom Thurmond to their Confederate founding fathers.
And key to it all–in election after election–is suppressing the right of people to vote. Especially people of color and people who do not share their white supremacist world view. They are at it again this year.
We must stand up to these asshats and bullies.
VOTE.
And protect the right to vote.
Early voting is now active in 29 States (Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Vermont, West Virginia, Wisconsin, and Wyoming), while another state, Virginia allows early absentee voting under under certain circumstances (follow the link if you live in the Old Dominion to see if you can make the cut).
There are lots of ways to get involved in getting voters to the polls. You can sign up to GOTV here, or here or here or just your contact a local GOTV effort and join in the fray.
On Election day keep an eye out for folks at the polls intimidating voters and call these weasels out.
It is action time.
The right to vote is sacred. There can be no higher duty as an American to protect this right form those who would take it away from our us and our fellow citizens. These neo-Confederate Teabaggers working the same old plan to suppress the vote are traitors and should be called out as such.
Cheers
dengre
jrg
I live in N.C. I early voted today. Everyone get out and get it done.
freelancer
Tom Lev : Nazis :: Dennis G : Confederacy
I’m guessing ABL is gonna be covering the Apartheid metaphors?
Dennis G.
@freelancer:
One can hope…
General Stuck
Let’s send em here. If not, then I will hitch a ride. Beam me up Scotty!!
beltane
Garibaldi’s Red Shirts were so much more interesting than these assclowns. I dislike that the color red has been co-opted by the right in this country.
beltane
@General Stuck: Imagine a wingnut version of Star Trek. That’s what you’re trying to inflict on the whole galaxy.
S. cerevisiae
There is no use in arguments for the negro
That is what we’re up against.
General Stuck
@beltane:
Better them than us
Greenhouse Guy
@General Stuck:
I get the bigger picture, perhaps the Moon or Mars for starters would be a better idea for a try at a new civilization. Except, well, Venus would be better for our tea party friends.
Just a thought.
Kilks
Good post, but damn its depressing. As a young guy, I used to think we could out race history.
GOTV is a better response than incoherent swearing, at least.
freelancer
@Dennis G.:
Agreed, and I just gotta say, I’m exhausted. My whole adult life, I’ve always tried delving into why people that I disagree with think the way they do. I’ve had the kind of mindset that at its foundation has been “I must understand my enemy before defeat him”. Considering my ideological enemy couldn’t get any more ignorant or craven, I think I’m done with that phase of my life. This year, I’m okay with skipping the empathy portion of the debate and just calling the Tea Party out to be the proudly ignorant fucktards that they are. Seriously, this is America, we’re supposed to be the best and brightest, put the foam finger and the Mickey Mouse hat away once you’re grown up.
BR
It’s too bad you posted this so late – it’s such a powerful post.
KG
@beltane: wasn’t the wingnut version of Star Trek the parallel universe, the one with the bearded Spock?
Emerald
Keep these posts coming, dengre.
This is the clearest description of the Teatards I’ve seen, along with your earlier post about them.
I think you are correct.
Jewish Steel
Wow. Fascinating. And horrible.
Artfully wrought as ever, Dennis.
Bob Loblaw
@freelancer:
So I’m guessing you didn’t pick up the contradiction in that sentence then…
freelancer
It never hurts to add SkoalRebel to the conversation, since we’re on the subject of Bigoted hicks with no sense of history or grasp of the facts, who would embrace fascism as long as the fascists sold Whiskey-flavored Copenhagen dip. Fascists who don’t sell dip are fukkin’ gay.
eric k
This is one of the benefits of vote by mail here in Oregon that doesn’t get brought up much. Hard to intimidate people voting in the comfort of their own homes.
Karen
If black people voted overwhelmingly Republican, would there still be the vote suppression for them? I wonder….
Davis X. Machina
@eric k: A two-edged sword. I’m waiting for the megachurches to have ‘voting parties’, on Wednesday night after Bible study, where Pastor Whodinkus and other members of the pastoral care team will be available for prayer and counseling as to the Godly way to carry out your civic duty.
Don’t have a ballot? ‘Forgot’ about the ‘party’ and already mailed it in? Forgiveness for these and other sins will of course be freely available.
Of course.
Jewish Steel
@freelancer: David Foster Wallace dipped. High strung. Wildly erudite. Armed with a plastic bottle filled w/brown saliva. Weird but true.
Lolis
I am so glad you write for this site.
John S.
@Davis X. Machina:
Your scenario brings back haunting memories of things I learned as a child being raised as a Jehovah’s Witness.
There is a rather vivid piece of symbolism in the book of Revelations that is the Whore of Babylon (the world of organized/false religion) riding the Beast with Seven Heads and Ten Horns (the world governments). As the interpretation went, for millennia the Whore was riding the great Beast, controlling it and manipulating it as she saw fit. But at some point, the Beast turned on the Whore, devastating her and devouring her whole. This a common metaphor, which is known also as riding the tiger.
It has been over 15 years since I set foot in a Kingdom Hall, but your comment brought it all back in an instant.
freelancer
@Jewish Steel:
Might be why he voluntarily shuffled off this mortal coil, then. Obama banned flavored tobacco items (which irked me too, as I occasionally indulged in the clove cigarette, dammit) as it was considered a detriment to teens, and he couldn’t handle it.
However, I didn’t say all dippers are ‘tards. There’s still room for one to be a great literary (or any other) mind and still make dumbass decisions (I, for instance, still occasionally take advantage of the loophole the import companies exploited and sometimes smoke a “clove cigar”. Not that different from the original product, just slightly bigger.)
Nick
Got my first phsyical threat from a (former) wingnut friend. Told me liberals are wusses and that lady deserved to have her head stomped on, because “that’s how you deal with traitors”
Told him I was Italian and I was radically left wing. “We know how to deal with you fascists. So stomp on my head. There’s a butcher shop down the block and a Hess around the corner.”
(Mussolini reference)
Jewish Steel
@freelancer: right, I picked up that you weren’t calling out all dippers. Just offered for interest and enlightenment.
DFW faced a host of brain chemistry challenges. IIRC, nicotine was a vice too marvelous in all its properties for him to foreswear. Been there.
suzanne
I need an open thread.
I just found out that an ex-boyfriend of mine has this idiotic, wackaloon, not-even-funny libertarian blog, and I’m so depressed. For fuck’s sake, WHY did I bang a libertarian? I mean, my ex-husband is an asshole, but at least he’s not an idiot.
God, I feel dirty. GOD.
freelancer
@Jewish Steel:
Picked that up, only too late. Apologies, I saw you had no malice. We’re good. I’m kind of craving nicotine right now, but I’m thankful it’s late enough that seratonin will be my relief tonight.
Odie Hugh Manatee
@Greenhouse Guy:
Fix’t.
Another excellent post Dengre. Sick as hell to read but important to do so.
Martin
@suzanne: You didn’t bang a libertarian. Clearly he went batshit insane because of breaking up with you.
For example, I’m 99% sure I’d go batshit insane if I broke up with my wife.
morzer
@suzanne:
Living well is the best revenge. A year from now, he’ll still be an idiot with a lousy little… blog, and you’ll be golden with lots of friends and cool people here. Also too, Tunch.
morzer
@Martin:
It’s impossible to bang a libertarian. The correct term is “mooching the seed of the producers”.
freelancer
@suzanne:
At least it is evident that, for the life-altering decisions, you have good judgment. Ish. You need not feel dirty, because you aren’t. You don’t need to worry about feeling depressed at this stage, place, and time, because if you’re blissfully happy, and ignorant to what’s going on, then you’re not paying attention. The sane reaction is to be bummed out. Seriously.
Last week, You and I were at each others’ throats (over opinions about a bad video game, no less), but we have way more in common than we have separating us. I’m sorry for your duress, and you should know that even if it isn’t me (and I am listening), there are voices here that are willing to listen. Trust me. And trust them. Feel free to share and you will not regret it.
Cheers,
Nick
Martin
@morzer: So is masturbation some kind of embezzlement then?
suzanne
@Martin: I actually knew he was a libertarian when I banged him, but I thought that he, like any sentient being, would realize that it’s sub-moronic.
God, I am so grossed out.
I think he did go a little nuts when I dumped him, though. Fucker. I mean, on his blog, he talks about how much he respects ALEX JONES. WTF was I thinking? I mean, I know I was horny, but that’s why God made vibrators.
morzer
@Martin:
It depends on whether you take a randy or Randian perspective. Self-mooching seems the likeliest verdict.
suzanne
@freelancer:
I don’t know if I would go that far.
Roger Moore
@Odie Hugh Manatee:
I’ll give them Venus over Mercury. The surface of Venus is actually hotter than Mercury because of a runaway greenhouse effect; the irony alone would justify using Venus. I also has an atmosphere almost 100 times denser than Earth’s that is mostly CO2 with a leavening of sulfuric acid. It’s far nastier than Mercury.
morzer
@suzanne:
His derangement is a clear tribute to your charm and beauty, madam. This desperate fluffing of Alex Jones is the clearest possible sign of a mind overthrown by a great loss.
morzer
@Roger Moore:
On the other hand, Venus is clearly visible at night for much of the summer. I don’t really want to look at it and imagine a babbling population of GOP fools messing the place up.
suzanne
@morzer: Awww, why thank you. :)
I’m just ruminating on how insanely strong the human sex drive has to be to make banging a libertarian seem like a good idea at the time. Christ.
morzer
@suzanne:
I once spent some unrewarding weeks banging a chunky Republican mathematician from Nebraska. The great god Fuck is a pitiless master.
And yes, she was blonde.
Mnemosyne
@suzanne:
I once had a boyfriend who was a meth addict. He was my boyfriend briefly, for obvious reasons.
No, you’re right, that’s still better than a libertarian. ;-)
suzanne
@Mnemosyne: My ex-husband is a recovering addict. What was he addicted to, you may ask? Pretty much everything. And that relationship seems eminently logical in comparison.
Did she look like Reese Witherspoon? ;)
morzer
@suzanne:
Look at it this way – your previous, admittedly unsatisfactory experience will just make the good times seem even better in future. He, on the other hand, can only find the future looking less rewarding than the past.
Martin
@suzanne: Or did she look like Ross Douthat?
morzer
@suzanne:
More like late period Britney Spears, plus about twenty pounds. I blush as I recall the folly of my misspent youth.
morzer
@Martin:
She wasn’t that close to a pedophile werewolf in appearance.
suzanne
@morzer: Yeah, you’re right. The sex wasn’t even good. Readily available, but not quality.
Weird story: One night when we were sleeping, he started saying,”Suzanne, I love you!” over and over, even though we hadn’t ever said that to each other while, like, awake. The next morning he said that he had had a nightmare in which I got cut up by an axe murderer. So I decided not to bring it up, because he had no memory of saying it. Then, a couple weeks later when he DID tell me he loved me for real, I had no friggin’ idea how to react. So I banged him and went home. God, I am weak.
morzer
@suzanne:
Compassionate, not weak. Anyway, Fuck made you do it, although Fuck only knows why.
suzanne
@morzer: Oi. Well, whatever. Obviously, we’ve all made some crappy choices in the fuck department.
Martin
I have to say I don’t regret any of my relationships. I regret that some didn’t end on better terms, but I gained something from all of them. One of them was bugfuck crazy, which was fairly stressful, but I got a LOT more attentive to relationships after that. Well, not right after that. Right after that was a lot of rum and hooking up with a smokin’ hot girl and her roommate on occasion (I credit the rum, entirely). But after that, I got a lot more attentive.
suzanne
@morzer: No, compassion was not a factor. I was horny. I dumped him over the phone. He took it so hard he moved to another state. No mercy fucks. I’m not that nice.
suzanne
@Martin:
SEE? Human sex drive is one crazy motherfucker.
morzer
@suzanne:
Well, seems to me you swept the series pretty decisively there.
Mnemosyne
Of course I have to go to bed right when the bad breakups thread begins. I don’t have many myself, what with being an antisocial hermit most of my life, but my friends had some doozies.
Like the guy who was dumped on Valentine’s Day. By voicemail. Which she left after he dropped her off after taking her out to dinner for the holiday.
But don’t feel too bad for him — as I had long suspected, it turned out he was actually gay and ended up happily settling down with a nice man once he was able to work his way out of the closet.
morzer
@Martin:
I am trying so hard to feel sympathy rather than envy right now….
suzanne
@Mnemosyne: God, that’s fucking cold. And my heart is black and shriveled, so that’s saying something.
morzer
@Mnemosyne:
I can do you one better than that. I had a friend who got dumped as he arrived in the airport in Louisville to spend a fortnight with the girl and her parents. He spent the fortnight taking long, solitary walks and developing a passionate hatred of Kentucky.
M. Bouffant
Suzanne: Yowtch!
I’ve discovered, through Internet stalking, that of the two women on campus I knew & liked best in my college yrs., one has become an Episcopal priest (after a career as a police officer, which was an astounding discovery too) & the other (w/ whom I was romantically involved, & apparently drove to lesbian “experimentation,” or something) had married a Congregationalist (or something) pastor. Just discovered the ex’s marriage yesterday.
As a criminal & anti-theist, I’m wondering where I (or they) went wrong.
M. Bouffant
And on topic: Excellent post, dengre!!
(I think it’s the Council of Conservative Citizens, formerly the White Citizens Council.)
suzanne
@M. Bouffant: Damn. That’s a trip. I wouldn’t know how to interpret that, either.
Poontang, why do you cause so much trouble?
morzer
@M. Bouffant:
Maybe none of you went wrong? Sometimes things happen, and we can’t say why, and after a while we move on towards our destination.
Martin
@morzer: Yeah, its hard to not look back at that semester as my single male high point.
Martin
@morzer: I dumped the bugfuck crazy one following a week or two stay at her parents place. I decided to dump her a few days into it (half her family was thoroughly fucked up, the other half quite awesome, and I had overlooked that the fucked up half actually worked its way into her) but waited until we got back to school. Her dad (awesome side, thankfully) was the chief of police for the state and I wanted to be out of the jurisdiction when I dumped his little girl.
Calouste
@Mnemosyne:
I once had dinner with my other half on Valentine’s Day in a restaurant. At a table behind us there was a couple who were on a blind date or something, or maybe not. At one point, she got up and went to the restroom. Then he got up, paid the waiter and left the restaurant. She came back and spend a lot of time looking at her phone, probably assuming he went to the restroom as well.
Another case was a friend of mine who dumped his squeeze at the airport when she was about to fly back home after a weekend at his place.
Calouste
On topic:
The biggest mistake in US history was that the leaders of the traitors were not tried and sent to the gallows in 1865. The second biggest mistake (although this one was a lot harder) was not rearranging the traitorous states in different entities to break up the local allegiances. At least they had learned by the time WWII finished and dissolved Prussia (although they forgot about Bayern.)
Phoenician in a time of Romans
I think he did go a little nuts when I dumped him, though. Fucker. I mean, on his blog, he talks about how much he respects ALEX JONES. WTF was I thinking? I mean, I know I was horny, but that’s why God made vibrators.
I’m reliably informed that God didn’t make vibrators. God made the little vibrating rabbit ear thingies on the side of vibrators. This is because God loves women.
Michael
Fun thoughts in my insomnia over the past few hours:
1. The teabigots are creating the third term of George W Bush, sans the figurehead.
2. This could be the second major election which the SCOTUS directly affected by a 5-4 conservative decision in 10 years, and look how well THAT turned out.
3. Of my last five client interviews, none of them had a home phone – all had only a cellphone.
4. If the cellphone factor has completely undone polling, can we now consign the analysis and predictions of the punditry to the same trash can where we’ve consigned the analysis and predictions of the equities ratings industry? I’m finding a great deal of similarity among all these “Smartest Guys in the Room”.
5. Fuck me in the ear with a blunt instrument – I fell asleep again (finally) at 5, only to be awakened by my TV alarm and Robin Meade earnestly prattling on about “the power of Sarah Palin”. If I kept a gun in the nightstand, my TV would be history.
asiangrrlMN
dengre, you keep bringing the strong. And the depressing, but that is to be expected right now. Keep on banging home this point, please.
To everyone and their sex/breakup stories. You guys cheered me up. Thanks.
Michael
Wow – scrolled down to the end – this thread took a very fun turn.
If I had a nickel for every time I banged a crazy, I’d be rich. Crazy women are teh awesome.
On a side note, do the wimmenz on here have as negative an opinion of my youthful method of breaking up, which was usually to disappear from the planet and pretend I was dead?
My wife and teenaged daughters scolded me roundly for it. I defended the practice, figuring that a discussion would make two people unhappy, whereas the disappearing act would only upset one person who would already be upset anyway. In the cosmic “numbers of unhappy people” scale, I left the universe slightly happier than the conversation would.
Svensker
Sorta OT, but did y’all know about the Confederados in Brazil? The Brazilian government offered a place for disgruntled Confederates at the end of the Civil War and a huge bunch went down there and set up shop. Apparently, they are still a big thing, have regular parades, wave the Confed. flag, etc. Only difference is the families have all intermarried with Brazilian blacks so that in modern times the Confederados are all mixed up.
Had never heard of it — ran across the wiki article by accident.
aimai
One of the great posts, DennisG. I’ve bookmarked it and will be circulating it. Its not too late for this election cycle, and should be in very wide circulation for the next one that’s for god damned sure.
aimai
Svensker
@morzer:
I got a better one. Very lovey-dovey married couple, 20 year anniversary night, wife comes home from work to find a post-it note on the fridge that said “I never really loved you. I’ve moved in with Janet.” Janet was wife’s best friend. Swear to dog true story. I got the first phone call.
soonergrunt
@Karen: Yes. Democrats would be doing it. Just like in the 1960s and earlier.
Linnaeus
First comment ever here at Balloon Juice. Huh.
Michael at #71 wrote:
Speaking as a guy, I’m not a big fan of this breakup method, though it’s perfectly understandable to want to avoid an unpleasant and uncomfortable conversation. A version of this was done to me recently when the woman I’d been seeing for about three months decided she didn’t want to see me anymore and began to phase out communication with me (taking a longer time to respond to calls, texts, etc.) and finding ways to avoid doing things with me (including lying about prior commitments). As I see it, the uncertainty about what the hell is going on is (for me) worse than having a woman tell me she’s not interested in me anymore.
Redshirt
I take offense to all this bad talking about Redshirts. We’re good people! In the 24th century, of course.
The Thai Red Shirts are OK too.
Mnemosyne
@Michael:
Of course, that upset person was actually your ex-girlfriend, and not you, so you didn’t actually lessen any suffering. You just pushed it off on someone else to make it easier on you. In fact, you probably made it worse for them, since at least some of them still wonder to this day what they did that made you leave so abruptly.
Sorry, it was a dick move on your part and you should be thoroughly ashamed of yourself.
Original Lee
@Svensker: I think this one is about at the same level:
After the couple had been married about 15 years with 3 kids, they decided to move into a newer, bigger house (partly for FAF data purposes). Hubby had to take a 2nd job to afford the newer, bigger house. He hated the 2nd job with a passion but told himself it would only be for a few years. While he was gone to a week-long mandatory training for said 2nd job (taking vacation time from first job), Wifey packed up everything they owned except his clothes, stripped the house of all furniture and fixtures except the entryway light bulb, maxed out the credit cards, emptied the bank account, bought a new car (with a huge loan), changed the locks, and turned off the phone (this last after he was on the plane on the way back home). She moved in with the next-door neighbor’s Hubby in a newer, bigger, more elaborate house in another state. No note, nothing.
Eric Shaw
I used to think I banged crazy women. Then I realized I was a solipsistic asshole whole drove caring women crazy.
Later yet I realized that women who fall for solipsistic assholes are also crazy.
Mnemosyne
@Original Lee:
I think the moral of the story there is, if your spouse insists that you move into a house that will require you (and, apparently, only you) to get a second job in order to afford, you should probably cut to the chase and suggest that said spouse move into a home of his/her own that they feel is more suitable to their position.
ellid
I came home from work one night ten years ago to find that my ex-husband had left and taken the living room furniture, his car, his cat, his books, his computer, his clothes, and my dresser, and left only a two page bullet point memo saying “you suck.” Not only that, he refused to file for divorce for three years (I finally did so after one of his creditors tried to get me to pay), did his best to wreck my reputation, and screwed up our credit so badly that it took years for me to get his mistakes out of my credit report.
It was a mess. Even worse, it nearly killed his mother, and I mean that literally. She was under such enormous stress thanks to his bad behavior that she was convinced that it was a factor in the inflammatory breast cancer that showed up a year later on her mammogram. She had to have a double mastectomy and extensive chemo, and Idiot Ex didn’t even have the grace to visit her in the hospital.
Best of all…he ended up marrying his girlfriend, who is 19 years younger and used to play his “daughter” in a roleplaying game. I’ve wondered for years if she still calls him “Daddy” in public….
Karen
@soonergrunt:
They can’t get a break. :(