You know, Al Franken is my senator. I voted for him (and far more happily than I did voting for Obama), and I’ve said a few good words about him here. But does he invited me to dinner? Does he ask me to join him out on the shootin’ range? Does he call? Does one of his assistants ever call? No. No politician ever comes a-courtin’.
He does have a very nice beard.
I wasn’t feeling snubbed until I heard about Robbie Cooper. Who? He’s a small-time blogger in Austin, and recently Texas Republicans Greg Abbott, Rick Perry, David Dewhurst, and Ken Paxton have invited him in for conversations. See? The Republicans know how to treat their people!
Now, you might be saying to yourself, “But, Myers, you’re a crappy blogger who alienates everyone, it’s no wonder you have no friends in high places.” And, well, that’s true, but that doesn’t stop the Republicans from befriending Robbie Cooper, who is a racist jerk.
Robbie Cooper is very concerned about “The Blacks”, or as he prefers to call them, “The Niggers”.
Really? I checked out his awful blog, and you get the flavor pretty quickly. He’s obsessed with roving gangs of urban black teenagers running around beating up innocent white people — it seems to be his major theme, that The Blacks are out of control, and Good White People need to get a concealed handgun license so they can shoot them when they get too close. He favorably cites John Derbyshire’s racist advice and condemns places like Philadelphia as “shitholes” because they’re full of urban thugs running rampant and hunting white people. I lived in Philadelphia for many years; I worked in North Philadelphia and walked in black neighborhoods there; the only times I’ve ever been shot at were by a white prostitute in Seattle (I was an innocent bystander in the line of fire when when she opened fire on someone else), and by a good ol’ boy in the farm country east of the Cascades who decided it would be hilarious to open fire with a hunting rifle on some hikers. I’d feel safer in North Philly than I would in rural Texas…and admittedly, part of that is bias, from reading blustering, quick-on-the-trigger bully boys like Cooper.
His other topics seem to be how much he despises liberals, gays, liberals, illegal immigrants, liberals, public schools, liberals, feminists, liberals, and anyone who isn’t white. And that was from just scanning the front page, no need to dig into his archives.
And he’s still called in for chummy little gatherings with Texas Republicans.
So that’s the formula for becoming a politically influential blogger? Write more racist screeds, brag about my guns, become a Republican, and live in Texas? Dang. I can’t do any of those things.
And somehow, I don’t think Al Franken would want to be my friend if I were to do them.
Christ, Philadelphia’s the only place in the US where I feel at home.
Maybe you should court Amy Klobuchar instead and make Al jealous. :)
Not invited to confer with the politicians? Consider yourself lucky; whatever they have might be catching. You are a prophet without honor in your own country, PZ.
As someone who’s not a racist arsehole but with a similar beard/hair ratio, he can get fucked. I’ll admit, though, that I’m more likely to be mistaken for a Muslim as opposed to a white supremacist as am a Londoner.
What is it with religious and/or ideological beards generally being a signal that an idiot is present?
“the only times I’ve ever been shot at were by a white prostitute in Seattle”
Wait, what?
voidhawk @5
Beat me to it.
How racist white people could remain convinced of their supremacy when they’ve met Rick Perry in person only cthulu knows.
PZ, you should have put a trigger warning on those links. I almost lost my dinner. Truly unimaginably stomach-turning.
I thought the quoted bit was sufficient trigger warning. To make me click on that, they would have to pry the mouse into my cold dead hands.
Every Texan I talk to thinks that Rick Perry is an idiot, but he’s their idiot, and they seem addicted to the comedy.
The article surrounding the links wasn’t sufficient warning?
Meanwhile, some people insist in denying that the Republican party is full of racism…
@Vaiyt
Not they just gag at the sight of black people
I hope that the Wendy Davis campaign has been made aware of this little tidbit.
Neeeeeeiiiiiiiiiiiiigggh!
I just hope you’re willing to pitch in to help Al Franken get re-elected, PZ. Doesn’t have to be money, but putting in a good word never hurts. We definitely don’t want to see the U.S. Senate flip to the Republicans in 2014, given the increasing likelihood of a Supreme Court vacancy while Obama is still President.
How does it go? “Not racist, but with racists.”
Would you want to be courted by Governor Good Hair?
The thing I found most surprising is that PZ has been shot at twice. I’ve never been shot at and I don’t think I even know anyone who has. Is it really that common in the US?
@Hairy Chris #4 I also have a similar hair/beard ratio, and I have to say this guy is a disgrace to his beard!
I have relatives in west Texas and have visited there quite a lot. And I currently live in Philly. Between the two, there’s no question that west Texas feels more dangerous. Rural Pennsylvania, OTOH, is just scary: at least in Texas you can see the good old boys a couple of miles away. Cacti aren’t good cover. PA is full of trees for the gun nuts to hide behind…
Dang, borked the blockquote in #21. But it is obvious due to the lack of closing pointy where the quoted material and my reply are separated. Sorry for not previewing.
You want political friends PZ? Then get your checkbook out. The more zeroes you put (in front of the decimal point ;p) then the more friends in politics you’ll have.
*floosh*
Evidence
That goes both ways. I’d be scared shitless on an open desert. A dense, dark forest is the safe place for me.
@4 Hairy Chris, blah blah blah etc
It seems to me you answered your own question.
@19 spinbot
I had a similar reaction. Though, one sample is many too few to make estimations of prevalence.
@21 Nerd of Redhead, Dances OM Trolls
That can’t possibly be correct. Perhaps it showed the perp. was more likely to hit a bystander than the intended target?
Spinbot> I’ve talked to quite a few scientists (mostly biologists and geologists) who have gotten shot at while doing field research in rural areas. Also, in some places, you just don’t go outside during hunting season.
erik333> most of the recent shootings I’ve heard about involved more injuries/deaths resulting from cops with bad aim/discretion.
two off the top of my head (and these are a bit old) were all of the injured in the NY empire state building “mass shooter” (he only shoot like, 2 people or so, the cops got the other 7-9 or so), and the homeless guy involved in that “naked cannibal” bit – the doctors found a couple wounds that “appeared to be similar to the types of wounds caused by gun shots”
But, then, that’s the sort of thing that happens with an excessively militarized police force…
The first incident was when I was alone and out way too late in downtown Seattle; I wasn’t the target, I was maybe half a block away, when this angry woman opened fire on a car. She was a terrible shot. Missed the car, and I saw sparks as bullets hit the sidewalk at my feet, and heard a ‘pok’ noise as she punched holes in the plate glass window behind me. I hid behind a lamppost.
She was white. No word on a trend of white women going on shooting sprees in urban America.
The other incident was right out of Deliverance. Seriously developmentally disabled young man in a shack in the sagebrush country who was yipping and hollering and dancing on his porch as he blasted away at us until he was out of bullets. I hid again, this time in an irrigation ditch, and heard the bullets cutting through the grass.
Oh, yeah, he was also white.
Both occurred 35-40 years ago, and I haven’t been shot at since, at least not yet. I don’t think getting shot at is all that common — it probably helps being a young man pushing the boundaries and hanging out in places it wasn’t so safe to enter.
What happned to thsoe whoshot at you PZ Myers do you know?
Were they caught and arrested or something do you know? Especially the latter one -sounds like a real menace to everyone’s safety and baffled that he thought he could do that!
(Is that type ofbehaviour really that common? Scary!)
I think my guts are rotating clockwise.
30+ years ago as a young man living at home the neighbour family’s husband committed suicide with a rifle in his back shed. I was less than 20 feet away, conversing with a friend. I didn’t know what to make of the loud bang, never having heard a gunshot. A few minutes later an ambulance pulled up in front of the neighbours, then only did I connect the noise with his demise. I sometimes wonder how much I contributed to the suicide, I was a typical teenage lad into loud cars and late night fixit sessions on my side of the dividing fence. We referred to him as “Whingey”. Luckily I’ve never developed a love of guns.
Republicans, behold thy son.
“probably helps being a young man pushing the boundaries and hanging out in places it wasn’t so safe to enter.”
Well that’s just victim blaming!
Reading that blog is like watching Bigfoot Hunters: while there’s a certain trashy entertainment to be had there, the absolute earnestness they show toward their obviously crazy goals make you feel almost sorry for them. Almost.