I try – oh, Lord, I try – to be civil. To exercise the better me. To disagree without being disagreeable. I try to let the better me shine through as much as I can. I truly do.
But when the subject is The Minnesota Tragedy of Spyrchaetal Paresis “Progressive” Project, it’s truly difficult. Because the MToSPPP writers whose entire oeuvre isn’t dim-witted lying or disingeuous babble…
…are just so very, very, very, very dumb. A writer called “Mark My Words” wrote this piece, about a bit of anti-gay graffiti in Washington County:
Imagine getting up in the morning, grabbing your coffee thermos and heading for the garage ready for work. You hit the door-opener, and you back your sedan out and mindlessly hit the clicker to close the garage-door. And while you’re in reverse, aiming your trunk-lid into traffic on your country-lane, you realize that this has been spray-painted in giant-sized green letter across 13 feet on the front of your house:
Right?! HIV AIDS gay help
Welcome to Ross Sveback’s world.
I’d say “read the whole thing”, but I’m not sure if your next of kin might not sue me for endangering your sanity.
No, it’s not the piece itself, which is a fairly rote recitation of the facts of a case the WashCo Sheriff is looking into.
No. It’s the title. “Homophobic Vandalism hits in Bachmann Country“.
Not one word connecting the vandalism (which, incidentally, I condemn) to Minnesota’s most conservative representative.
Not one bit of evidence that indicates the graffiti was politically-related at all.
Bachmann’s opponents are to derangement what Nicole Ritchie is to “vacuous”.
UPDATE: I’m going to recap what commenter Thorley Winston said; the correct response to this crime is to condemn the act of vandalism without qualification. And I do. I hope they catch the little twerp – and I’d suspect Rep. Bachmann does, too.
Just a hunch, but I’m comfortable with it.
Did the green paint clash with the exterior siding?
At this very moment I am holed up at the family estate outside of Chisago in Washington cty. The air stinks of exclusion and homophobia. They bowl here without irony. People openly discuss the use of firearms. Many homes display the symbol of intolerance and oppression known as ‘Old Glory’. There are no Obama or Franken bumper stickers.
So I’m going for pancakes! And that will be with plain ol’ maple syrup. Asking for blueberry or coconut syrup here might be mistaken for a bit too much ‘flamboyance’, if you know what I mean.
Huh?
The graffiti message seems a little… vague. Sure, the knee-jerk reaction to any graffiti using the words HIV, AIDS, and gay is to assume it’s some jackass mocking HIV, AIDS, and gay folks.
However, upon reflection, I can’t quite see how the scrawl actually mocks gays or someone with HIV AIDS.
Better ask the local representative of the Perpetually Offended Class.
Peeve, is this hate-speech?
(Of course, it is… everything is hate-speech to Pernicious Peeve. Ooops! More hate-speech.)
So what about the roadsign at Lexington and Energy Park Drive that had “assassinate Bush” spray painted on it for most of the summer of 2007? Or the swasitikas drawn on Norm Coleman’s forehead on the billboard on I-94 in Betty McCallum’s St Paul?
Personally I think that graffiti vandals should be required to repaint the defaced area or building in the owner’s choice of paint while wearing a pink sun dress.
And a matching feather boa if they only used one syllable words or misspelled any words.
This happened in Minnesota, and Obama easily carried Minnesota, so the correct title for this should be
“Homophobic Vandalism hits in Obama Country“.
Mo’N – great idea. We could blame every big of bigotry on the candidate that won the state, as if their politics are the direct cause!
We could do that!
Except that we’re not stupid!
Number one link when the words “homophobic” + “Bachman” are entered in a Google search? Link to article by Mark My Words in the MNProgPro mentioned above. Some of this stuff must be done so that a lazy reporter at the NYT, WaPo or BosGlo who Googles instead of reports gets a certain impression of the district/Representative Bachmann courtesy of the regressives at MNProProg.
If Ross lived in Islamabad, Teheran or any one of thousands of Muslim dominated communities in the world he might have something to worry about other than filing an insurance claim to cover up the vandalism. But he doesn’t, so the fear mongering lefties have to imagine that white hooded, slack jawed morons are preparing phase two of their assault on his house.
10 bucks sez that this was the work of demorcratic operatives just like the incident out in CO last week.
If Ross lived in Islamabad, Teheran or any one of thousands of Muslim dominated communities in the world he might have something to worry about other than filing an insurance claim to cover up the vandalism.
I think we need to be careful in how we respond to crimes like this.
It’s obvious that some (not all) people on the other side like “Mark My Words” are hoping to exploit this as a cudgel to bash conservatives like Representative Bachmann. We don’t have to and shouldn’t stand for it but trying to minimize it by saying “good thing he wasn’t living in a Muslim country or he’d have to worry about more than filling an insurance form” can be construed as apathy to what is unquestionably a crime.
(Also what do Muslims have to do with this? Is that going to be the standard response anytime someone who would likely be persecuted under countries that follow Sharia law is the victim of a crime or some ill treatment – “quit complaining, you’d be a lot worse off if you had to live there instead of here?”)
Mitch I think had about the correct response – condemn the crime without reservation and then challenge the person who tried to politicize it. This guy’s home and business was vandalized by a cowardly moron who should be found and prosecuted. Full stop.
I think Congresswoman Bachmann would absolutely agree with that.
I’m not so sure, Ben… they might have used real insults and “jazzed” up the graffiti with something vicious.
That said, the thought of it being a fake to smear others (like Angry Clown would do) had crossed my mind… and I wouldn’t be entirely surprised.
Ben might be right. If it was wingnut homophobe Bachmann supporters they would have written “FAG”, not “GAY”.
I’m not so sure about that, Kermit. From listening to teenagers these days I can say that calling something or someone “gay” is just about the supreme insult.
Next time a gay guy gets killed, beaten or has his house tagged in Minneapolis will it be connected to RT?
nah, that is “retarded”. “gay” is just something that’s lame or isn’t a fad anymore.
also fag is making a comeback. I’ve actually been able to use it a few times without any blacklash from the PC police.
As in “No Tracy, I’m not a fag”?
I like to use the term “special” you get the same zing and you can zing the PC police at the same time.
No matter what word you attach to certain subjects those subjects don’t change.
As in “No Tracy, I’m not a fag”?
oh, snap!
“Free the RNC 8”
Drive around the southern part of the People’s Republic of Minneapolis an you’ll see that vandalistic statement put on sides of building, fences, as well as street sign.
I don’t recall that those messages – where liberals were charged with vandalism, as well as “furtherence of terrorism” against Republicans, were ever blamed on Hakim Ellison.
Vandalism? Yes
Hate Crime? No.
Correct me if I’m wrong, but HIV/Aids has overwhelming afftected homosexual men. Help? Like you Mitch, I’m struggling with the assertion that it’s a “homophobic” message.
MPP consistes of bloggers that don’t know their ass from 3rd base.
I just ran across this article and after reading all of the comments, figured that I would respond directly.
Starting with Michelle Bachmann, although I did not vote for her – I do believe that she would not support this type of action against anyone and would seek the person(s) be brought to justice.
Is this a hate crime or vandalism, I believe it is both. My reasoning behind my answer is because it is known who did the crime, when I called the Sheriff and reported the crime – he himself named the person(s) that committed it stating that he knows that these people are angry about a lot. This same Sheriff has commented to me direct in the past that he is a friend of these individual(s), so this puts him in a predicament.
The Sheriff in question was requested to block off the area so an investigator could look at it, this was not done. When I got home, my neighbors had already painted over the vandalism because they felt bad for me. Crime scene and evidence – gone.
The City of Afton has taken their usual posture – which is no posture. Afton cares more about the type of siding on your home as opposed to people’s safety – I have seen this on BOTH sides of the political fence, so I am not giving preference to anyone. In instances like this, it is the hope that this goes away with little to no mention – which is why Afton is keeping its’ eyes closed and fingers crossed.
Afton pays for an extra officer to patrol the area on top of the one that is normally on payroll, yet it takes 20 minutes for them to reach downtown even though they are parked at the Fire Station 4 minutes away. I challenge anyone reading this to see them for themselves – it is a known fact that is well discussed. If you want to commit a crime, come to Afton – unless they catch you with the crime direct, you are off. And you can safely know you have 20 minutes lead time.
The sad thing to me personally is that no one can feel safe. I have a daughter and also run my business out of my home. We all count on the police to ‘protect and serve’ – that just is not reality. We are not safe even with the police.
I worry about my daughter and if this will haunt her in school or in the community. I keep my sexual preference to myself and feel no need to flaunt it. I am a person that lives my life and believe that who I sleep with is my personal decision. There is no need for me to put it in the paper or the six o’clock news.
I do not condone vandalism in any form or the defamation of a person due to their political, ethnic, religious, etc. beliefs – it is not my place to judge anyone for why they stand for what they do until I have lived in their house and gone through their experiences.
Acts like this to me are a culmination of a lot of things, not just one. Education, psychology, socioeconomic situations – the list goes on; I do believe that anyone that commits a crime like this needs to get counseling or psychologically evalutated and/or be medicated. This is not the behaviour of a well, rounded – happy individual who is going down the right path of life. Whatever their circumstances are, they need help – this should be done for them.
Thank you all for caring enough about this situation, I think it is good to have a free debate about the topics that face us all.