Bad Gopher
11-29-2008, 12:32 PM
Disturbing stuff, in my opinion.
My wife teaches at a Catholic school up in Bachmann country (northwest suburbs). One day, the week before last, one of her fourth grade students came up to her and asked what "assassinate" means. When she explained it to him, he replied that that's what he hopes will happen to Barack Obama. My wife, of course, calmly told him that what he said was very sinful and he should take care of that when he goes to confession next time.
Regardless of what this means about what this kid is hearing at home, it's definitely an indicator of where a certain sector of society is right now. You don't have to look very far on the Internet for more of the same. There was the story of the corner store in Maine that had posted a pool on its bulletin board regarding when Obama would buy it, along with the note, "Let's hope we have a winner." My brother in law was shopping in a gun store in Rochester, and a couple of the patrons were joking in a hopeful way about Obama getting shot. I think the attitude is pretty widespread.
(Let me tell you, if you don't get to hang out in Bachmannville very often, you probably would not believe the degree of fervor among the conservative faithful out there. I have listened to people talk about the sinfulness of, among other things, voting Democratic and about how God sent us GWB to fight the holy war against Islam and the atheistic world, etc., etc. These are basically good people, but they scare the shat out of me when they start talking like that. This stuff is more than just hearsay; I can attest.)
At any rate, what am I trying to say? If anything, just pray for the prez elect. If this attitude is indeed widespread, it won't take much for some unstable person to try and pull it off.
My wife teaches at a Catholic school up in Bachmann country (northwest suburbs). One day, the week before last, one of her fourth grade students came up to her and asked what "assassinate" means. When she explained it to him, he replied that that's what he hopes will happen to Barack Obama. My wife, of course, calmly told him that what he said was very sinful and he should take care of that when he goes to confession next time.
Regardless of what this means about what this kid is hearing at home, it's definitely an indicator of where a certain sector of society is right now. You don't have to look very far on the Internet for more of the same. There was the story of the corner store in Maine that had posted a pool on its bulletin board regarding when Obama would buy it, along with the note, "Let's hope we have a winner." My brother in law was shopping in a gun store in Rochester, and a couple of the patrons were joking in a hopeful way about Obama getting shot. I think the attitude is pretty widespread.
(Let me tell you, if you don't get to hang out in Bachmannville very often, you probably would not believe the degree of fervor among the conservative faithful out there. I have listened to people talk about the sinfulness of, among other things, voting Democratic and about how God sent us GWB to fight the holy war against Islam and the atheistic world, etc., etc. These are basically good people, but they scare the shat out of me when they start talking like that. This stuff is more than just hearsay; I can attest.)
At any rate, what am I trying to say? If anything, just pray for the prez elect. If this attitude is indeed widespread, it won't take much for some unstable person to try and pull it off.