# The President Does Not Want To Hear It. **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [July 19, 2003, 3:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-president-does-not-want-to-hear-it/189538 "2003-07-19T03:49:33Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 18\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![KSO](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/f07891/32.png) [@KSO](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KSO)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2003, 2:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-president-does-not-want-to-hear-it/189538/81 "2003-07-20T14:46:51Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Mama Tiger \* > \*\*I guess this administration is just making me so paranoid with its constant nibbling at our freedoms of expression that it becomes increasingly easy to see plots beyind every action. > > This whole email thing is symptomatic of a far deeper problem, IMO. And one that makes me increasingly nervous for the safety of some of our most treasured freedoms. > > \*\* If you truly believe what you wrote in this post, then you have taken drooling idiocy to a new level. Your freedom of expression is not infringed in any way, shape, or form by the White House e-mail policy. Christ, even if they stopped accepting ALL e-mail, that wouldn’t infringe your freedom of expression. Your “treasured freedoms” are not affected because you’re asked to complete a form that will make it easier for the staffers to sort through the 15k e-mails they get each day. Get a goddamned clue. You could start by reading Johnathan Chance’s posts in this thread. ---
**Author:** ![iampunha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/74df32/32.png) [@iampunha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iampunha)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2003, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-president-does-not-want-to-hear-it/189538/82 "2003-07-20T17:04:10Z")
My Falknerian sentence basically means “just because you have to label your email, if you go through the white house web page, as pro- or anti-administration, doesn’t mean you have to label it _accurately_.” There’s a joke or two thrown in there, but if nobody’s laughing it was only funny to me (still pretty funny). As such, I am laughing at you. HA HA! [sub]I think I left my sense of humor at the other house.[/sub] ---
**Author:** ![Mama\_Tiger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/6de8d8/32.png) [@Mama\_Tiger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mama_Tiger)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2003, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-president-does-not-want-to-hear-it/189538/83 "2003-07-20T18:19:25Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Jonathan Chance \* > \*\*I keep pitching 'em…they keep missing them. I’ll take advice from the peanut gallery on my apparent lack of communications skills. > > See that post up there? With my name on it? The one you didn’t read? > > Why do I know you didn’t read it, you ask yourself? > > BECAUSE I CLEARLY POINTED OUT THAT YOUR ABILITY TO EMAIL THE PRESIDENT HAS NOT BEEN HAMPERED! > > You may still email [president@whitehouse.gov](mailto:president@whitehouse.gov) directly. There is now, however, an ability to use a web form to communicate if you choose. But **you don’t have to**. > \*\* See the link in the OP? To the article that spawned this whole discussion? The one you didn’t read? Why do I know you didn’t read it, you ask yourself? BECAUSE IN THE ARTICLE HE CLEARLY POINTED OUT THAT IF YOU EMAIL DIRECTLY TO [president@white.gov](mailto:president@white.gov) NOW, YOU GET BACK A FORM LETTER TELLING YOU YOU HAVE TO GO THROUGH THE WEBSITE LINK. Duh. ---
**Author:** ![Mama\_Tiger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/6de8d8/32.png) [@Mama\_Tiger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mama_Tiger)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2003, 6:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-president-does-not-want-to-hear-it/189538/84 "2003-07-20T18:28:22Z")
Now having read the rest of the thread (I should read all the way through before responding, but I don’t appreciate being talked down to in tones of such snotty condescension), it appears that what **Gr8Kat** received in reply to an email varies from what the reporter who’d written the article cited in the OP received. Hmm. Maybe they thought nobody would notice their little change, and decided to change it back only after they got publicly called on it? I might also mention that interesting little phrase, “petition the government for a redress of our grievances.” Which is the foundation of my concern. I still stay that the constant and chronic attempts by the Bush administration, embodied in their attempt to limit email communication to subjects only of THEIR choosing, to stifle our ability to communicate with our government in any critical fashion is a genuine threat to our basic liberties. Maybe I’ve become too much of a cynic in my old age, but the current adminstration’s attempts to limit our criticism of it – and the sheer jingoism level surrounding the current war-for-four-more-years-in-the-White-House in Iraq – truly concerns me. I don’t appreciate being treated by my government as a mindless idiot who, if I disagree with what they’re doing, am not even worthy of their contempt. YMMV. ---
**Author:** ![Doc\_Nickel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/5fc32e/32.png) [@Doc\_Nickel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doc_Nickel)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2003, 6:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-president-does-not-want-to-hear-it/189538/85 "2003-07-20T18:55:43Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Mama Tiger \* > \*\*See the link in the OP? To the article that spawned this whole discussion? The one you didn’t read? > > Why do I know you didn’t read it, you ask yourself? > > BECAUSE IN THE ARTICLE HE CLEARLY POINTED OUT THAT IF YOU EMAIL DIRECTLY TO [president@white.gov](mailto:president@white.gov) NOW, YOU GET BACK A FORM LETTER TELLING YOU YOU HAVE TO GO THROUGH THE WEBSITE LINK. > > Duh. \*\* -What part of _ **In Addition To** _ don’t you understand? ---
**Author:** ![Blackeyes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/f6c823/32.png) [@Blackeyes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blackeyes)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2003, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-president-does-not-want-to-hear-it/189538/86 "2003-07-20T19:53:37Z")
It’s symbolic, man. That’s what it is. ---
**Author:** ![Blackeyes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/f6c823/32.png) [@Blackeyes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blackeyes)\ **Post date:** [July 20, 2003, 7:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-president-does-not-want-to-hear-it/189538/87 "2003-07-20T19:54:04Z")
It’s symbolic, man. That’s what it is. It’s about symbolism, man. ---
**Author:** ![Liberal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/848f3c/32.png) [@Liberal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Liberal)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2003, 10:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-president-does-not-want-to-hear-it/189538/88 "2003-07-21T10:07:12Z")
Good lord. I agree with Dewey. Practically every word. This might be a good time to go to Hell and do some skiing. ---
**Author:** ![E-Sabbath](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e19adc/32.png) [@E-Sabbath](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E-Sabbath)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2003, 10:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-president-does-not-want-to-hear-it/189538/89 "2003-07-21T10:51:26Z")
Not for nothing, but I seem to recall that [president@whitehouse.gov](mailto:president@whitehouse.gov) was bouncing mails _when_ this new system went up. It was probably a little quirk they had to work out, but some people may have taken it as an actual policy change. … What happens if you walk up and ask to petition the president, anyhow, at his front door? It’s inna Constitution. ---
**Author:** ![Jonathan\_Chance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jonathan_chance/32/701_2.png) [@Jonathan\_Chance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jonathan_Chance)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2003, 12:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-president-does-not-want-to-hear-it/189538/90 "2003-07-21T12:11:23Z")
I’m certain your petition would be taken by the guard at the gate and handed off to the secret service. Then they would start a file on you (just in case) and pass your petition off to someone many rungs down from the President. ---
**Author:** ![Una\_Persson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/una_persson/32/346_2.png) [@Una\_Persson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Una_Persson)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2003, 12:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-president-does-not-want-to-hear-it/189538/91 "2003-07-21T12:45:03Z")
I don’t believe I have ever seen such rampaging stupidity and lunacy in a thread here for nigh on a year. The fact that most likely all the people in here are voters scares me quite a bit - people with that much rage, fear, paranoia, conspiracy-persecution complex, inability to comprehend or read, and total disconnect from reality over a complete non-issue, especially when the ability to send the direct mail was never removed in the first place (of course, now we have the snide implication with no proof whatsoever that it was removed, just secretly changed back). You know, I’ve slogged through more than 200 pages of the “proofs” presented at hundreds of witch trials from 1200 to 1750 this last week, and most all of them had far more logical cause and effect than the assertions in this thread. Sure puts into perspective how people can delude themselves into thinking they are persecuted and tormented by demons. If anyone here starts vomiting up bent pins and having mysterious burning scratches on their genitals from Lord Satan, please _do_ start a new thread to tell us all about it… What’s even more ironic is that even the OP apparently was too lazy to even _attempt_ to use this “cherished freedom” somehow guaranteed by the “Constitution”, by actually clicking Mr. Mouse on e-mail to send mail to the “[president@whitehouse.gov](mailto:president@whitehouse.gov)”. Else they would have had a similar experience to **Gr8Kat**. Seriously, isn’t there some sort of award that can be given for such a shit-all stupid thread as this? Mods? ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2003, 2:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-president-does-not-want-to-hear-it/189538/92 "2003-07-21T14:04:51Z")
**Anthracite** - Just wait. When the jack-booted thugs break down your door and drag you off to the re-education camps, _you’ll be singing a different tune._ When they changed the White House e-mail system, I didn’t say anything, because I wasn’t a Web designer. When they added a drop-down menu, I didn’t say anything, because I wasn’t a complete idiot. Then, when the federal government was taken over by giant, mutated sloths from the Eighth Dimension, there was no one left to speak for me. Mark my words… Regards, Shodan ---
**Author:** ![Spiff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spiff/32/9852_2.png) [@Spiff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spiff)\ **Post date:** [July 21, 2003, 7:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-president-does-not-want-to-hear-it/189538/93 "2003-07-21T19:57:21Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Mama Tiger \* > **The only way you’re going to get an actual human to look at them is if you (a) represent an interest group, (b) can get an appointment with a staffer, and © the staffer actually is willing to give you his/her email address.** You forgot (d): Filling your e-mail with sensitive key words that will trigger the [Echelon](http://www.context.co.nz:8080/stories/storyReader%241201) spy software. You know, stuff like k_ll B_sh, black helicopters, bomb NORAD, World Domination, and Bubba the Love Sponge … ---
**Author:** ![Blackeyes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/f6c823/32.png) [@Blackeyes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blackeyes)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2003, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-president-does-not-want-to-hear-it/189538/94 "2003-07-22T19:22:24Z")
“sluzhba”? Sunnabitch! They’re on to swears in _different languages_ now! When will the freedom-crushing end?! Among other words on the list: freedom, Roswell, credit card, fraud, package, snuffle, Golf, Maple, Mexico, football, Rand Corporation, Starr, Becker, Nerd, fangs, nowhere, Pretoria, evil, tax (hah!), bootleg, Speakeasy, speedbump, quarter, Cornflower, Daisy, eavesdropping, government, terrorist, terrorism (how the fark are you supposed to write a letter to the President without metioning “president”, “government”?) Fax, finks, Stephanie, Sphinx, honor, Reflection, Standford, William Gates, Playboy, Sex, warez, Porno, Bubba the Love Sponge (oh yes, it’s in there), ninja. Ninja. ---
**Author:** ![mhendo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mhendo/32/3159_2.png) [@mhendo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mhendo)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2003, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-president-does-not-want-to-hear-it/189538/95 "2003-07-22T19:29:25Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Blackeyes \* > \*\*“sluzhba”? > > Sunnabitch! They’re on to swears in _different languages_ now! When will the freedom-crushing end?! > > Among other words on the list: freedom, Roswell, credit card, fraud, package, snuffle, Golf, Maple, Mexico, football, Rand Corporation, Starr, Becker, Nerd, fangs, nowhere, Pretoria, evil, tax (hah!), bootleg, Speakeasy, speedbump, quarter, Cornflower, Daisy, eavesdropping, government, terrorist, terrorism (how the fark are you supposed to write a letter to the President without metioning “president”, “government”?) Fax, finks, Stephanie, Sphinx, honor, Reflection, Standford, William Gates, Playboy, Sex, warez, Porno, Bubba the Love Sponge (oh yes, it’s in there), ninja. > > Ninja. \*\* I thought about cutting-and-pasting the whole list into an email, and sending it to the White House. 😃 But i’m an international student here on an F1 visa, and fucking around with stuff like this could get me deported in the current paranoid atmosphere. ---
**Author:** ![bayonet1976](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/77aa72/32.png) [@bayonet1976](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bayonet1976)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2003, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-president-does-not-want-to-hear-it/189538/96 "2003-07-22T19:53:25Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Dewey Cheatem Undhow \* > \*\*A better routing system means the “lumpenproletariat” will get responses to their inquiries faster. \*\* Completely unrelated story here. The first time I heard “lumpenproletariat” was at Marxist discussion meeting in school, don’t panic this was in Cuba. It was used to refer to a group of people who had demonstrated publicly in Havana against the government, and promptly sent to jail for life. Anyway, the discussion leader called them “lumpenproletariat”, and later as “lumpen”, I dug out my marxist rhetoric book and looked up the term only to find that it was supposed to be something like social scum. But it also said that Marx considered them to be an integral part of the worker’s revolution, and a sure sign that a society was in decay. I raised my hand and asked the discussion leader if he should be using a different term. By way of explanation he told me to shut up. Back to your regularly scheduled discussion. ---
**Author:** ![NurseCarmen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/5daacb/32.png) [@NurseCarmen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NurseCarmen)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2003, 8:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-president-does-not-want-to-hear-it/189538/97 "2003-07-22T20:11:46Z")
Heck, I don’t really see a problem here. And I wouldn’t really qualify as an ardent supporter of Bush. I’ve written past presidents and received the generic-to-topic response letter. Both times it was clear that my letters meaning was mis-interpreted and pigeonholed into a slightly related topic or overly broad topic. They probably just have you jump through the additional hoops so they can cut down on the porn spam. I _do_ find it a bit creepy that you have to select wether you are for or against the WH policy. It makes me think that if you select “against” your email is filed into the electronic equivelant of the circular file. ---
**Author:** ![seal\_cleaner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e274bd/32.png) [@seal\_cleaner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/seal_cleaner)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2003, 9:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-president-does-not-want-to-hear-it/189538/98 "2003-07-22T21:02:48Z")
I called the white house after the SOTU and told them just what I thought. My son’s in Iraq and I am PISSED. Told 'em that. I HATE the fact that veterans benefits are being cut. Told 'em that too. They hung up on me. ☹ But, seeing as I gave my name and address, I just might get a visit from a few of Ashcroft’s playmates… [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-president-does-not-want-to-hear-it/189538.md?page=4)