# I'm officially disowning my hometown. **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [October 14, 2008, 1:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-officially-disowning-my-hometown/467860 "2008-10-14T13:03:59Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![eleanorigby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ee7513/32.png) [@eleanorigby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eleanorigby)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2008, 11:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-officially-disowning-my-hometown/467860/61 "2008-10-14T23:41:31Z")
> [@Starving\_Artist](#): > > It means just what I said. That the few righties behaving badly re McCain almost certainly do not go about acting like that as they go about their daily lives. IOW, they are misbehaving for effect. They also represent a very small segment of conservatives as a whole. > > On the other hand, I’ve seen liberals behaving exactly the way the liberals in that video behave for decades now, and they are the ones who’ve gained enough clout and sufficient numbers to impact the direction society takes. > > I’ve seenthis in the country at large since the late sixties, I see it here, and I see it in the New York video. It’s how a great many of you guys go about your daily lives. “Agree with me or be deemed detestable scum unworthy of either respect or consideration” would seem to be their motto, and they then behave accordingly. > > Part of what has fucked up civility in this country is the propensity of the left to think trailer-park style behavior is not only justifiable but necessary whenever someone either disagrees with it or fails to agree with it quickly enough. I am sorry for you. I hope you find your way. Truly. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2008, 11:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-officially-disowning-my-hometown/467860/62 "2008-10-14T23:43:31Z")
> [@Starving\_Artist](#): > > Part of what has fucked up civility in this country is the propensity of the left to think trailer-park style behavior is not only justifiable but necessary whenever someone either disagrees with it or fails to agree with it quickly enough. I’m willing to bet my $10 to your cruddy copper penny that trailer park inhabitants skew disproportionately Republican. ---
**Author:** ![woodstockbirdybird](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/woodstockbirdybird/32/7905_2.png) [@woodstockbirdybird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/woodstockbirdybird)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2008, 12:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-officially-disowning-my-hometown/467860/63 "2008-10-15T00:27:13Z")
> [@Starving\_Artist](#): > > It means just what I said. That the few righties behaving badly re McCain almost certainly do not go about acting like that as they go about their daily lives. IOW, they are misbehaving for effect. They also represent a very small segment of conservatives as a whole. > > On the other hand, I’ve seen liberals behaving exactly the way the liberals in that video behave for decades now, and they are the ones who’ve gained enough clout and sufficient numbers to impact the direction society takes. On the _other_ other hand, I’ve seen conservatives behaving exactly the way the conservatives in that video behave for decades now, and they are the ones who’ve gained enough clout and sufficient numbers to impact the direction society takes. My impression vs. yours. Guess we’re at an impasse, eh? > [@Starving\_Artist](#): > > I believe that an alien landing here and reading the Straight Dope would quite clearly get the impression that people around here are of the impression that the racist fucksticks represent a significant proportion of conservatives in this country. Certainly not true, of course. But then, the conservatives _do_ represent a significant portion of the racist fucksticks in this country. ---
**Author:** ![Starving\_Artist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/aeb1de/32.png) [@Starving\_Artist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Starving_Artist)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2008, 1:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-officially-disowning-my-hometown/467860/64 "2008-10-15T01:45:31Z")
> [@eleanorigby](#): > > I am sorry for you. I hope you find your way. Truly. ☹ Thank you. Seriously. I’ve seen enough of your posts around here to know that you have a kind heart, and while I don’t agree with the sentiments that lead you to feel that way, I do respect and admire the kindness and humanity that leads you to say it. I said earlier in some thread or another that I liked you, and this kind of thing is one of the reasons why. You may now go slash your chest and rub camel shit in your hair (thanks, **Sampiro** ;)) to atone for the fact that you have made **Starving Artist** like you, and to regain favor with your compatriots on the left. 😃 > [@Really Not All That Bright](#): > > I’m willing to bet my $10 to your cruddy copper penny that trailer park inhabitants skew disproportionately Republican. Believe it or not, I’ve had occasion to spend some time around trailer parks in the medwest and southern California, and most of the trailer park inhabitants I’ve had the pleasure to encounter were low-paid wage slaves barely squeaking by and struggling to pay their bills and therefore pro-nannystate government. Many but not all of the inhabitants were also meth addicts, drug dealers, alcoholics, strippers and so forth. I don’t know how these people vote - if they even do - but they certainly aren’t the law-and-order types usually associated with conservatism. Take a look sometime around nice neighborhoods where people keep up their lawns, pay their bills on time, and work hard for the nice lives they have. You’ll notice a preponderance of McCain/Palin lawn signs. Then take a look around the shabbier neighborhoods going to seed where the population tends to be people who squeak by with low-paid, relatively undemanding jobs and spend their evenings drinking beer and watching television. These are frequently the people who want the government to take money away from the prosperous, hard-working people in the nicer neighborhoods in order to provide them with what they’re not willing to work as hard for themselves. In these neighborhoods you’ll find a preponderance of Obama/Biden lawn signs. I don’t know about you (well, actually I do) but I’d much rather have people who are disciplined, hard working, and have their shit together making decisions about how to run this country than the other kind. ---
**Author:** ![eleanorigby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ee7513/32.png) [@eleanorigby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eleanorigby)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2008, 2:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-officially-disowning-my-hometown/467860/65 "2008-10-15T02:07:19Z")
I think I’ve become a token liberal pal of **SA.** :eek: ---
**Author:** ![sinjin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ebca7d/32.png) [@sinjin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sinjin)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2008, 2:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-officially-disowning-my-hometown/467860/66 "2008-10-15T02:32:56Z")
> [@](#): > > Then take a look around the shabbier neighborhoods going to seed where the population tends to be people who squeak by with low-paid, relatively undemanding jobs and spend their evenings drinking beer and watching television. These are frequently the people who want the government to take money away from the prosperous, hard-working people in the nicer neighborhoods in order to provide them with what they’re not willing to work as hard for themselves. In these neighborhoods you’ll find a preponderance of Obama/Biden lawn signs. I think you’re channelling Rand here boy. I have no idea how you can even compare the McCain videos with the New York evil liberal video. One side says “wake up, wake up” “no war” and flips you the bird. The other cries “terrorist” “kill him” “off with his head” shows a monkey as a representative of the presidential candidate. One of these things is not like the other. sinjin; who does not now live in one of the shabbier parts of town but who did in a previous life. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2008, 3:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-officially-disowning-my-hometown/467860/67 "2008-10-15T03:09:43Z")
> [@Starving\_Artist](#): > > I believe that an alien landing here and reading the Straight Dope would quite clearly get the impression that people around here are of the impression that the racist fucksticks represent a significant proportion of conservatives in this country. That just proves my point! Then MAYBE, instead of making EXCUSES, you should denounce these assholes! ---
**Author:** ![Starving\_Artist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/aeb1de/32.png) [@Starving\_Artist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Starving_Artist)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2008, 3:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-officially-disowning-my-hometown/467860/68 "2008-10-15T03:17:25Z")
> [@sinjin](#): > > I think you’re channelling Rand here boy. I have no idea how you can even compare the McCain videos with the New York evil liberal video. One side says “wake up, wake up” “no war” and flips you the bird. The other cries “terrorist” “kill him” “off with his head” shows a monkey as a representative of the presidential candidate. One of these things is not like the other. You’re right. They’re apples and oranges. That’s why I didn’t compare them. The one is a tiny group, percentagewise, acting like assholes. They have no clout and no one pays any attention to them. They have no impact on the election nor on society. They other is a bunch of assholes acting like they normally do and who have a huge influence on the election and on society. It also serves as a perfect illustration of my contention regarding obnoxious liberal behavior over the last forty years. Liberalism in this country has become a very intolerant and repressive thing, and, unlike the behavior of the people in the McCain video, it has a widespread following. ---
**Author:** ![Starving\_Artist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/aeb1de/32.png) [@Starving\_Artist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Starving_Artist)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2008, 3:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-officially-disowning-my-hometown/467860/69 "2008-10-15T03:18:29Z")
> [@Guinastasia](#): > > That just proves my point! Then MAYBE, instead of making EXCUSES, you should denounce these assholes! I made no excuses for them, **Guin**. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2008, 3:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-officially-disowning-my-hometown/467860/70 "2008-10-15T03:24:47Z")
Saying, “but…the liberals are doing it too!” IS an excuse in my book. I’m sorry, shouting, “KILL HIM!” and making death threats against the guy, spreading rumors that he’s a goddamn terrorist is far worse than some of the crap slung at McCain. ---
**Author:** ![SteveG1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bb73d2/32.png) [@SteveG1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SteveG1)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2008, 3:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-officially-disowning-my-hometown/467860/71 "2008-10-15T03:27:34Z")
> [@NinjaChick](#): > > Yeah. You can argue, quite rightly, that the campaign can’t control what their supporters say/do/think. That conveniently ignores the fact that if they had a tiny bit of sense, they would be screaming for people to shut the hell up, because they’re really not helping. > > I was really happier in my ignorance before I realized how bigoted some people can be. You’re just starting to realize? You’d be amazed at some of the people (using the term loosely) running loose out there. ---
**Author:** ![SteveG1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bb73d2/32.png) [@SteveG1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SteveG1)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2008, 3:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-officially-disowning-my-hometown/467860/72 "2008-10-15T03:31:17Z")
> [@Starving\_Artist](#): > > It means just what I said. That the few righties behaving badly re McCain almost certainly do not go about acting like that as they go about their daily lives. IOW, they are misbehaving for effect. They also represent a very small segment of conservatives as a whole. > > On the other hand, I’ve seen liberals behaving exactly the way the liberals in that video behave for decades now, and they are the ones who’ve gained enough clout and sufficient numbers to impact the direction society takes. > > I’ve seenthis in the country at large since the late sixties, I see it here, and I see it in the New York video. It’s how a great many of you guys go about your daily lives. “Agree with me or be deemed detestable scum unworthy of either respect or consideration” would seem to be their motto, and they then behave accordingly. > > Part of what has fucked up civility in this country is the propensity of the left to think trailer-park style behavior is not only justifiable but necessary whenever someone either disagrees with it or fails to agree with it quickly enough. There is an old saying, and the general gist of it is, You are entitled to have any opinion you want to have, no matter how ridiculous. However, I am not required to feel any respect for it. ---
**Author:** ![SteveG1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bb73d2/32.png) [@SteveG1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SteveG1)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2008, 3:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-officially-disowning-my-hometown/467860/73 "2008-10-15T03:53:43Z")
> [@RyJae](#): > > Thanks for this you bunch of fucking racist bastards. This is an embarrassment for Johnstown. I was born in Wyoming but spent most of my childhood around Johnstown. But from now on I think I will say Wyoming when someone asks. ☹ > > [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gHrExRHZnm0](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gHrExRHZnm0) > I will say this, hopefully this is not a view commonly held but contained to the redneck areas around south central PA. Because if not Obama is in trouble, even if I don’t care for some of his positions nothing he has done or says deserves this kind of treatment. I finally watched the linked video. I’m still not surprised. But damn! That was a lot of ignorant assholes right there. And those stupid bastards vote :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![sinjin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ebca7d/32.png) [@sinjin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sinjin)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2008, 4:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-officially-disowning-my-hometown/467860/74 "2008-10-15T04:12:04Z")
> [@Starving\_Artist](#): > > You’re right. They’re apples and oranges. That’s why I didn’t compare them. The one is a tiny group, percentagewise, acting like assholes. They have no clout and no one pays any attention to them. They have no impact on the election nor on society. > > They other is a bunch of assholes acting like they normally do and who have a huge influence on the election and on society. It also serves as a perfect illustration of my contention regarding obnoxious liberal behavior over the last forty years. Liberalism in this country has become a very intolerant and repressive thing, and, unlike the behavior of the people in the McCain video, it has a widespread following. Huh? It’s intolerant and repressive to say “wake up, wake up” “no war” but ok to accuse a presidential candidate of being a terrorist and shouting that we should “kill him?” Not to mention calling him an Arab or a muslim as an invective. I did not know that in the USA the muslim religion was proscribed. Live and learn. ---
**Author:** ![Rand\_Rover](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/db5fbb/32.png) [@Rand\_Rover](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rand_Rover)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2008, 4:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-officially-disowning-my-hometown/467860/75 "2008-10-15T04:16:26Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > I’m willing to bet my $10 to your cruddy copper penny that trailer park inhabitants skew disproportionately Republican. So what? A lot of that effect is probably just geography. No high rise housing projects for poor rural Alabamans (Alabamians?) after all. ---
**Author:** ![Rand\_Rover](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/db5fbb/32.png) [@Rand\_Rover](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rand_Rover)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2008, 4:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-officially-disowning-my-hometown/467860/76 "2008-10-15T04:18:45Z")
> [@C3](#): > > This is the third or fourth video I’ve seen of McCain supporters spouting vile crap. That’s one nice thing about Obama. You don’t have to go to his supporters to hear someone spout vile crap, Obama and Biden take care of that themselves. ---
**Author:** ![Starving\_Artist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/aeb1de/32.png) [@Starving\_Artist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Starving_Artist)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2008, 4:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-officially-disowning-my-hometown/467860/77 "2008-10-15T04:22:31Z")
> [@sinjin](#): > > Huh? It’s intolerant and repressive to say “wake up, wake up” “no war” but ok to accuse a presidential candidate of being a terrorist and shouting that we should “kill him?” Not to mention calling him an Arab or a muslim as an invective. I did not know that in the USA the muslim religion was proscribed. Live and learn. No, it’s intolerant and repressive for an entire section of a city to yell, scream, twist their faces into masks of hatred and anger and shoot people the finger simply because they belong to the opposition party. The McCain dipshits are inconsequential. They have no numbers and they have no impact. Nor do they represent typical conservative behavior in the main. The liberals’ in New York City, on the other hand, do have numbers and they do have impact, and their behavior is perfectly consistent with typical liberal intolerance and repressiveness over the last few decades. IOW, the New Yorkers typify liberal behavior; the McCain assholes do not typify conservative behavior. ---
**Author:** ![El\_Kabong](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/el_kabong/32/496_2.png) [@El\_Kabong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/El_Kabong)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2008, 4:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-officially-disowning-my-hometown/467860/78 "2008-10-15T04:30:59Z")
I lived the first 25 years or so of my life in Johnstown, and until my mother’s death in May spent a week or two at here place every year. The location for the rally shown in the video, BTW, was the War Memorial Arena, where most of the hockey scenes in _Slap Shot_ were filmed. While **Starving Artist** can say all he wants about how the assholes in that video are a tiny minority, in my experience (hey, personal experience is perfectly valid in S\_A’s view, right?) they are dead representative of the general mindset there. I spent eight years working for the railroad that served the huge (and now closed) Bethlehem Steel plant there (1972-1980), and the sort of racist, xenophobic sentiments expressed in the video were an everyday occurrence. At a time when the town’s racial makeup was about 25% black, there were exactly two (out of 500 employees) working for the railroad. I recall attending a union meeting where everyone snickered and sneered when a request for a donation to the NAACP came up. Guys would talk about how we needed a good war to get the local economy moving again, and I recall the one night one of the conductors went into a half-hour diatribe on how he would never, ever ALLOW his daughter to go to college. Since the mill shut down, the population has halved, the median income is about that of a clerk at a dollar store (or so it seems at least) and the biggest business in town is the local hospital complex, taking care of all the old folks who are rapidly dying off. There are a fair proportion there of folks looking at dead-end lives of the sort that Obama had in mind when he spoke of people retreating into (paraphrased) ‘fear, guns and religion’. It can be one fucking depressing place, even though I will contend that there’s nowhere better on earth than the surrounding countryside during the summer, and seeing that video reminds me just how disheartening it can be to go back there. Oh, and here’s one to ponder: Jack Murtha lives in town, has been re-elected to the US House by huge margins since seemingly forever, and he’s a Democrat. ---
**Author:** ![sinjin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ebca7d/32.png) [@sinjin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sinjin)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2008, 4:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-officially-disowning-my-hometown/467860/79 "2008-10-15T04:34:54Z")
Ah, so your argument boils down to “I don’t like liberal New Yorkers. McCain dipshits can do whatever they want including inciting violence towards a presidential candidate and it’s ok.” Got it. I am so glad you are not my neighbor. ---
**Author:** ![Terrifel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c68b51/32.png) [@Terrifel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terrifel)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2008, 4:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-officially-disowning-my-hometown/467860/80 "2008-10-15T04:38:45Z")
> [@sinjin](#): > > Huh? It’s intolerant and repressive to say “wake up, wake up” “no war” but ok to accuse a presidential candidate of being a terrorist and shouting that we should “kill him?” I strongly suspect that **Starving Artist** is beginning to sorely regret having posted that particular clip by now, and is wishing that you would all stop bringing the subject up. Just stop thinking about it too much and accept that, viewed in a certain light, it illustrates the terrible social oppression that conservatives struggle against every day of their lives. It helps if you don’t pay too much attention to the superimposed text. Now try to imagine how you’d feel if you believed that you’d spent your whole life fighting to preserve culture, civility and decency against the inexorable pull of entropy and societal decay, and then some stranger came up to you on the street and shouted “No war!” at you. Can you think of a worse injustice? If you can, then you’re not paying attention. Remember, I told you not to think about it. Regardless, I’m sure we can all agree that a political march of liberals or coloreds through a solidly conservative neighborhood would invariably receive no more unwelcome displays of emotion than a curt nod and a “Morning, stranger;” just as conservatives have responded in America for hundreds of years. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-officially-disowning-my-hometown/467860.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-officially-disowning-my-hometown/467860.md?page=5)