Thursday, October 15, 2009

A Liberal Looses it @ Starbucks...

I was asked one day what I did in the Navy....

This question was posed by a young (and as I was to find out, very liberal) fellow in the Starbucks that I frequented for my morning caffeine fix. He saw my old, beat-up squadron ballcap that I have worn off and on for over 20+ years and pegged me for a former serviceman. We had a companionable chat about my service while we waited for our turn to order. He said that he hadn’t served and then made his displeasure known about the activities in Iraq and Afghanistan. I just stood in line next to him, half listening and trying to decide if a Large or Grande sized morning cup would be enough. He, at some point in his anti-war soliloquy, as we meandered to the tables with our respective drug of choice, saw my “required reading” stack, which usually consists of a copies of the local paper, the Navy Times, and copy of some book that I am reading at the time. In this case it was a well-worn copy of radio talk show host Michael Savage’s book “Liberalism is a Mental Disorder”.

Upon seeing this in my stack of reading materials, he became nearly apoplectic. I, on the other hand, sat there quietly, with what some described later, a rather sardonic smile on my face, letting him rant on about how George Bush was the root of all evil and how he got us into all the troubles we are in now and how Republicans are the ones to blame for everything from global warming to the trains not running on time to the root cause of the common cold...

After about a 2-3 minute tirade, he finally ran out of steam. He stood there, red-faced, and without seemingly anything more to say, staring down at me as I calmly sipped my large Carmel Macchiato. He seemed to have run into a wall as his rant ran out. The place was dead silent as about 20 customers and assorted staff stood there staring at him and I. With total serenity, and in a seeming state of grace, I sat my coffee down and placed my hands on the table, fingers intertwined and steepled, and very quietly asked if he was finished. He stood there with a look of befuddlement on his face for a moment. Then in an attempt to begin anew his tantrum, he loudly demanded that I deny the substance of his indictment of the previous 8 years of Bush. The place was so quiet, you could hear a flea pass gas, and said the one thing I am sure he did not expect to hear. I told him that I agreed with some of what he said...

He seemed at the moment to be at a total loss as to what to say next. I think he was counting on a fight that wasn’t going to happen. He then seemed even more befuddled and asked why I wanted to read that crappy book by that fascist, hate monger Michael Savage. The morning crowd seemed to be half listening to us as they were consuming their beverages and pastry, attempting to listen to us and half paying attention to their own morning routines. I asked him as calmly and reasonably as I could, a series of questions:

1. Had he ever listened to the talk show host Michael Savage?

2. Had he read the book written by Michael Savage? If so:

3. What precisely did he object to?

From these questions we determined that he had not heard the radio show nor had he spent any appreciable time listening to talk radio of any type (all radio hosts were “wingnut” fascist and racists after all...). No, he had not read the book (wouldn’t waste his money on that crap...), and finally he could only admit to not being able to precisely tell me what he objected to in the book, but since it was written by a fascist “wingnut” wacko nut-job like Savage, it had to be full of hatemongering and other vitriol.

The sum total of the exchange was that he was utterly ignorant of what he was railing against and that all he had were insults and rash words, not fact or reason. In other words, he was a prototypical modern liberal.

I sat there looking up at him and didn’t really have to say much at all. He began looking around at the other customers and staff people and realized that they were looking at him like he was the fascist wacko nut-job lunatic. A couple of people were even giggling at him sotto voce, and that finally seemed to bring him around. He looked back at me and I sat, tranquil as a statue of Buddha, waiting. I didn’t say a word; I just sat there, looking at him. He instantly realized as he looked around that he was the sole focus of two-dozen souls that were looking at him with various expressions ranging from bemusement, to annoyance and some, with outright contempt. I then held up the book with the cover facing to him and pointed to the title of the book, with emphasis on the “Mental Disorder” portion of the title, then pointed at him with a smile on my face. He looked at me directly, seemingly embarrassed by what had just transpired, and sheepishly muttered a quick and shallow apology, while beating a hasty retreat. With a smile and a chuckle, I and my fellow caffeine mainliners resumed our respective morning routines.

The manager came up to me some time later after the morning rush had died down and apologized for the incident. I assured him that I was fine and that I wasn’t put-off. He told me the fellow that had accosted me was a regular and that if I needed or wanted anything to let him know. I told him that all was well and that I had actually somewhat enjoyed the diatribe as it reaffirmed what I had always believed about most people on the Unreasoning Left. They are an angry and self-absorbed lot with no idea what they really believe. Most of the charges that we spewed were right out of the Democrat talking points that we all hear in the media. Not a single original idea or salient point in the whole rant. Liberals don’t exercise reason but seem to live on platitudes and emotional drivel. They claim a love of freedom, but shout down those who speak freely and persecute those who attempt to live their lives in liberty. They don’t understand the price of freedom or liberty nor do they appreciate the sacrifices that must be made to maintain those hallowed states of being. My morning coffee companion certainly didn’t. It is becoming plain to me that the Washington establishment has lost sight of it as well.


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