Hyperaware

It all started so simply, as most drama does. My dad posted a video of an interview with Chris Matthews and Bill Maher. As usual, one of my dad’s friends, Norman, had to respond. Also, as usual, pretty soon Norman began to spout off some rather disturbing stuff. I knew what to expect, as Norman is one of those people who has, at times made comments about how the world was a better place before desegregation. *

I understand that, in his opinion, what he is saying isn’t that big of a deal.  I’m not sure that he understands just how big of a deal his comments actually are.

Bill Maher and truth have no place in the same sentence.  He is a part of a limo liberal Hollywood philosophy that bears no resemblence [sic] to the world where the rest of us buy gasoline ($3.66/gallon) and groceries (for what we buy up over 10% in the last year) and don’t have tax breaks for being bee farmers or investors in solar energy.

With his first comment, though, he seemed to be fairly rational, though the sardonic tone was very, very apparent.  So, I responded with my own sardonic comment.

Norman, if you’re so upset that you don’t get a tax break for being a bee farmer, then I’m sure you could buy some bees.  Or if you want the solar tax break, then put some panels on your own home.  It isn’t like you can’t benefit from those same breaks, so don’t complain about them, k?

Bill Maher is no more out of touch with reality than anyone representing the GOP. Actually, given his stance on quite a few issues, I would say he’s a lot more in touch with what “real people” go through than you are.

And that was where the drama began.

I know that Bill Maher is an easy target for people on the right.  After all, Bill Maher is very open with his liberal tendencies.  That makes right-wing people uncomfortable.  I understand this, and I’m used to seeing crap thrown at Maher for his politics.  What is ridiculous about Norman’s anti-Maher stance is that he’s giving Maher a hard time for being out of touch with the real world’s economic situation.  This coming from a man who is a semi-retired radiologist who spends his free time filling in for other doctors and travelling around the world (he openly touts that he’s been to all fifty states and 33 foreign countries); and, from what I’ve been told, has not really had that hard of a time paying his bills in a long time, if ever.  But that doesn’t stop him from taking on the “overtaxed” and “overburdened” position that many libertarians seem to be fond of.

And that is where we begin, with my knowledge of where Norman is willing to take things, my personal tendency to respond with sarcasm, and the tendency of both of us to challenge people of differing political persuasions to a verbal duel on Facebook.

 First response from him is that he doesn’t own any property. I guess given his travelling tendencies that that is a reasonable way to live.  His response, though, that Alabama Power doesn’t buy back electricity from consumers who generate their own solar power is wrong.  A simple and quick Google search by him (or anyone) would find that Alabama Power does buy back electricity.  I know that that search took less than two minutes for me.

His second response was that Bill Maher is on his list to go to Guantanamo when “real Americans get the government back into control.”  This is one of those statements where a person’s jaw drops to the floor, if they can tell what the implications of the statement are.  He wants to imprison people who are on the opposite side of the political spectrum from him.  That’s one of those comments that I just was not really expecting, even from him.

In that one sentence, Norman advocated for something supported by such “forward thinkers” as Fidel Castro, the Khmer Rouge, Benito Mussolini, and Adolf Hitler.  And in that one sentence, he turned some simple Facebook drama into something more sinister.

I was hoping that he wasn’t being serious, but, from past encounters, I was pretty sure that he meant every word.  That inspired me to point out how similar his idea was to something that would have been endorsed by Hitler or Mussolini.  I thought that maybe if I pointed out that he was advocating something bad that he might back off.  That was what I was hoping, at least.

Meanwhile, another “friend” of my father’s was going off on the potential donations to Obama’s campaign from foreigners, which would be illegal, and forgetting that the money that Obama receives might come from Americans who support his campaign.  I guess that some folks don’t realize that there are actually Americans who plan on re-electing Obama this year.

As I waited for Norman to respond, I had to wonder how someone could become so intolerant of dissent.  Yeah, I’ll argue with anyone, but the only people who I ever want thrown in jail are people who have actually committed a crime and did not do so under duress, as a result of mental or physical disabilities, or have any other legitimate reason for which they wouldn’t be responsible for their crime.  To me, it is shocking that there are still people who would advocate something so horrible.  Promoting dictatorship tactics seems like something that everyone in the world should have learned was a bad thing after the last 100 years.

Again, I waited for a response from Norman, knowing that he is not going to be one who just gives up a fight.  And the response comes. Again, it is jaw-drop worthy.

Not real Americans Janet. I only keep two facebook friends as a barometer of the leeches who suck on disability and the truly insane who voted for this regime.  We’ll reserve you a comfortable tropical suite with your fellow travelers.  This is a matter of life and death for our country and I choose death for traitors and their followers.

This political discussion with Norman is making me more and more uncomfortable with every comment he makes.  I want to believe that he is just some ignorant hick that doesn’t realize what he’s saying, but I know better.  I know that he is a very informed person.  I know that he is supposed to be incredibly intelligent, but by this point in the conversation, I feel like his intelligence is being overshadowed by some real darkness.

It surprises me that someone who is so judgmental could be a doctor.  It seems like people who go into medicine should be compassionate, life-affirming people.  Even though I’ve met my fair share of crackpot doctors, I don’t want to think that they’re the norm.  I don’t want to believe that there are really people in that field who would advocate the death of people who they deem unfit for living in their society.  That is a new level of creepy.

I think that at this point, even my father is about ready to fall out of his chair over Norman’s comments.  My dad is used to Norman being on the furthest right end of the spectrum, but today’s comments are just a bit too surprising, even for him.  Any respect that my father might have had for this man has obviously disappeared.  Of course, I think that Facebook may have taught my dad that a lot of the people that he respected in his youth are clearly not worthy of that respect.

Probably the most unusual comment from Norman was the one where he said that my father and I (and one other person) think that he is mainstream or even liberal.  Honestly, it seems like either those people must be humoring him or are completely oblivious of his real opinions on issues.  I wish I could tell these people that his advocating of legalizing marijuana does not make him a liberal.  Hell, he could be pro-choice and anti-death penalty, and his Facebook comments would still paint him as a racist and a fascist.

I almost wanted to slap him when he suggested that at the “trials” he wants for liberals that he would somehow have some kind of say over what happened.  It was in that moment that I realized that he seemed to be even more of a narcissist than I had ever imagined.   I don’t know how he came to view himself as being so untouchable, so worthy of adoration, etc.  Maybe people gave him so much attention in his youth for his brains that it fried any part of his mind that could comprehend how to be compassionate or humane toward another person.  I wish there was some way to go back and change him into a person who might be capable of being more than a self-serving ass.

Mark decides to jump back in at this point, and starts whining over how I’ve called Norman a racist and a fascist.  I don’t throw these terms around lightly, so I have a very good reason for using those terms to describe Norman.  I tell him this and, shortly after that, Norman manages to throw another zinger my way.  That the people he hangs out with are doctors and that the “most rabid racists” are Nigerians.  He also manages to throw in an insinuation about how he thinks that my father and I are lazy.  (He makes this comment quite a lot, so it isn’t me jumping to some conclusion.) I know that I haven’t met a lot of Nigerians, but I do know one and I know that she is one of the most amazingly kind, tolerant, and loving people that I have ever met.  If Nigerians have such horrible feelings towards the “lazy” and those who make excuses, then I have to wonder why my friend would go into Social Work, which unlike medicine, is not a field where people can easily make money off their degree.  Of course, it didn’t surprise me that the one race that he could come up with as being  super-racist was one of color.

The conversation with Norman made me feel like someone who was interviewing someone who was an active participant in some kind of atrocity.  It wasn’t really enlightening, but it did teach me one thing: even people who are supposed to be smart can advocate for some really dumb things.

* – Two of the comments referenced in that paragraph can be found here and here.