19 Comments
Feb 27, 2023Liked by Susan Campbell

The more things change , the more they stay the same

Although it is a more recent phenomenon to hear elected officials calling for violence against their opponents , it really isn’t that new when it comes from the goofballs that I know

Usually the calls for violence are aimed at foreign countries or people

Usually

Just nuke em was uttered by goofballs that I know during the Vietnamese war , the gulf war , in Somalia and more recently some of the goofballs actually call for nuclear war against Mexico and Canada

There is an immaturity problem that definitely exists in this country , although it is becoming more clear that it is also a problem elsewhere

Many of the goofballs that I know that have a bloodlust for anyone and everyone that they perceive to be a threat are the same goofballs that scream Yankees suck Red Sox suck

Was the goofball that wrote the poem aware that John Wilkes Booth assassinated a Republican president???

The party of Lincoln has some bizarre issues that they refuse to deal with

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I think when the gatekeepers are asleep at the switch, this is what we get. It’s always been here. We are just witnessing it more.

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founding
Feb 27, 2023Liked by Susan Campbell

There is a big difference between “goofballs”making jocular comments versus gQp leaders inciting violence, cozying up to racists, white supremacists and despots! George Will’s column today rightly calls out one, Josh Hawley (one of Susan’s favorites - wink, wink).

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Running Josh is a stain on the political landscape and I am hoping my fellow Missourians send him back to Virginia, from whence he comes. Sorry, Virginia.

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Feb 27, 2023Liked by Susan Campbell

It’s not as new as you might think , even in Connecticut

There were 2 KKK rallies in East Windsor in the 1980s and after Donnie one term became president a video of goofballs riding dirt bikes wearing klan hoods carrying trump pence signs surfaced

The same goofballs that downplayed the KKK rallies also downplayed the video

The person that hosted the KKK rallies was looked upon as a folk hero by many in town

He played the sovereign citizen game that many goofballs love and he had many armed standoffs with police in town and even in other towns

At this point it seems like the goofballs are electing goofballs and anyone that is perceived as moderate is shown to the door

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Feb 27, 2023Liked by Susan Campbell

This is deeply disturbing and a stain on the human condition. We see it with racist rants captured on video, we see it in those perpetuating conspiracy theories over mass murders in our schools (think Sandy Hook), society continues to devolve into the abyss.

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I’m with Tom. I don’t think this is a new problem, but the combination of social media (unregulated) and the demise of the American press gives the rest of us more of a glimpse at our ugly underbelly than we want.

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Feb 27, 2023Liked by Susan Campbell

I don’t for a second believe that apology is sincere. Running that poem was intentional, it was only the backlash that gave them second thoughts. No editor is that tone deaf. I guess it’s a good thing that they are now exposed for who they truly are.

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And asking for another chance? Evidently this is only one in a long line of crappy takes in that section of this newspaper.

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Feb 27, 2023Liked by Susan Campbell

Sadly, I truly doubt this is new; we're seeing more of the dark underbelly (thanks to social media, especially) and realizing it's all around us. Here in Connecticut, I find it seductively easy to relegate the vitriol to some other state (usually south, or west, of here... which just about everything else is). But no; I need to look in my own back yard.

"Acceptance" and "tolerance" can be two-edged swords. In my "faith" tradition, we accept and celebrate the inherent value of each person, and grant them the liberty to explore and exercise their own beliefs, and this is generally a good thing. There is an expectation (maybe "hope" is a better word) of reciprocity... that we live our lives without impinging on others' ability to do likewise.

The rub is, that some of those others view one happily living their life, minding their own business, as a threat if that person happens to differ in thought, body, or any aspect other than mirroring their stunted vision. We, all of us, would do well to get outside our limited vision of the world "as it should be". I know I can do better, and I think I'm "one of the good guys" ("guys" being a globally inclusive term).

Of course, the way Putin and Xi seem to be going, we may not live long enough to worry about all this. (Cheery thought for a Monday morning, no?)

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author

It's always a wake up call when we see this kind of thing in our own backyard. It's not a pleasant one, but it IS a wakeup call.

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Feb 27, 2023Liked by Susan Campbell

The editor of the Rivereast Bulletin should be suspended or fired. Only someone with blinders on would have allowed that letter to be printed. As others have said, this is a disturbing and continuing trend by the GQP to normalize their tantrums. It needs to be brought to a stop.

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I don't know how an editor walks back from this, but I hope that editor can.

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Feb 27, 2023Liked by Susan Campbell

I don't think it's just Connecticut. I think it's the United States, and especially an endemic illness among white cis-male USians. I think we need to be less indulgent to perps. No more uncomfortable chuckles and hoping it will pass. More contacting law enforcement, and that's not something I say at all lightly, because local warlords are local warlords.

Do you know if anyone's sicced law enforcement on Mr. Nowsch?

Tangentially, and because it's not being remarked on in what you showed: Surely it's not usual for letters to the editor in doggerel to be published nowadays? Maybe not even received? It's so 1920s-or-earlier.

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Evidently, that particular letters to the editor section has been a sewer of late, and the editor has apologized and acknowledged that. Now let's see if they clean it up.

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Feb 27, 2023Liked by Susan Campbell

There is a widespread tacit school of thought in which an apology is supposed (literally the past tense of "suppose") to be a payment for misdeeds after which all claims are quit and the same thing can happen over and over and over....

Are you seeing many doggerel letters to the editor in CT these days?

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author

I don't read enough letters to the editor sections to answer that. Maybe someone else can answer it.

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Sadly the publishing of that letter does not surprise me. The editor/owner has been slanted in the wrong direction for years. I believe in free speech but not in publishing “fire” platitudes.

As for the elected person, when you have nothing intelligent to say, you resort to vitriol and violence.

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I think they could be very happy together.

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