If that's the case they shouldn't accept people like Sarah Palin as their leaders and should strongly discourage people from coming to their rallies with signs like "Obama is a terrorist" and equally retarded things.SonicWaffle said:I was reading about the Tea Party Movement the other day, and what I read seems to ring true - our perception of them is largely filtered through media spin. We see lunatics on the news dressed like old-time revolutionaries, waving signs about Obama being a Marxist/Kenyan/Nazi/Supervillain, rambling endlessly about birth certificates and how 'libruls' hate America, want to kill puppies and ban candy. You get nutbar politicians like that O'Donnell woman mumbling nonsense about withcraft. This is what we're shown, and this is what the mind flashes up when we think of the Tea Party.tellmeimaninja said:Fuck, the Tea Party Movement in the United States got followers by discouraging people from moderation and compromise.
All of which ignores the fact that most members of the Tea Party Movement are probably ordinary people who want their views represented. The lunatic fringe with the signs and the costumes take all the attention away from people who are presumably far less...well, fucking insane than those we see on the news. Hell, if I were a Teabagger, I'd be pretty annoyed at being associated with those fuckwits.
It's kinda like saying that all liberals are moss-munching hippies or all conservatives are bible-bashing fundamentalists - it's the ones you don't see who are more important.
I'd disagree with the word 'active'. It's a grass-roots movements, so it has many active members attending rallies, presumably lobbying politicians, signing petitions and so on. However, they don't receive media focus, because they're not as funny or ridiculous as the extremist fringe. Conservative news sources likely use these people to draw attention to the movement while more liberal sources like to point at them and say "look how ridiculous these people are!", but both sides marginalize the majority.tellmeimaninja said:It's the more important ones who are not as active.
While this is true to an extent, it still doesn't mean that the majority of the Tea Party are extremists. It just means that the extremist faction grows due to some high profile figures with insane views, and the silent majority just struggles by and pretends not to know the crazy ones. I can't help feeling sorry for them, despite being politically opposed to them; imagine being undeniably linked in the public consciousness to people like Sarah Palin or Andy Schlafly.tellmeimaninja said:I'm saying that people such as Sarah Palin attract more people to the Tea Party (more specifically, the "lunatic fringe", by promoting mostly extremist views.
I don't see how they could stop them. Like it or not there are many, many people who think Obama is a terrorist, out to destroy the country or bring it under Marxist or Muslim or gay rule, whichever it's supposed to be this week. Are these people idiots? Generally, yes. Is saying "please don't do that anymore, it makes us look bad" going to stop them? Fuck no.HK_01 said:If that's the case they shouldn't accept people like Sarah Palin as their leaders and should strongly discourage people from coming to their rallies with signs like "Obama is a terrorist" and equally retarded things.
Yay! More Tea Party discussion!tellmeimaninja said:It's the more important ones who are not as active.SonicWaffle said:I was reading about the Tea Party Movement the other day, and what I read seems to ring true - our perception of them is largely filtered through media spin. We see lunatics on the news dressed like old-time revolutionaries, waving signs about Obama being a Marxist/Kenyan/Nazi/Supervillain, rambling endlessly about birth certificates and how 'libruls' hate America, want to kill puppies and ban candy. You get nutbar politicians like that O'Donnell woman mumbling nonsense about withcraft. This is what we're shown, and this is what the mind flashes up when we think of the Tea Party.tellmeimaninja said:Fuck, the Tea Party Movement in the United States got followers by discouraging people from moderation and compromise.
All of which ignores the fact that most members of the Tea Party Movement are probably ordinary people who want their views represented. The lunatic fringe with the signs and the costumes take all the attention away from people who are presumably far less...well, fucking insane than those we see on the news. Hell, if I were a Teabagger, I'd be pretty annoyed at being associated with those fuckwits.
It's kinda like saying that all liberals are moss-munching hippies or all conservatives are bible-bashing fundamentalists - it's the ones you don't see who are more important.
I'm saying that people such as Sarah Palin attract more people to the Tea Party (more specifically, the "lunatic fringe", by promoting mostly extremist views.
Aw man, when I saw the title, I had this great response, and you just took it.Greyfox105 said:No. Not unless we start handing out free, compulsive, lobotomies.
People will always find something to dislike about each other, it is in our nature. Even if we unite as one race against some greater threat, there will still be dissent. But then, rivalry does help to progress things.