I had gone with a friend from work and she was carrying her usual protest sign that says "Blame Wall Street." We're walking back, chatting, minding our own business (except for the sign, of course). When this lady in a blue Lexus SUV, probably early 2000s model, license plate 801SFK rolls up next to us.
This lady taunts from her rolled down car window, "I'm a Scott Walker fan, la, la la!" I turn around to look at the lady and she's got this wild-eyed look of anticipation on her face. She was wanting something for me and my work friend. You can always tell someone who wants a little piece of your ass and she was spoiling for a fight. One of the classic motorist versus pedestrian fights that are always high on rhetoric. Clearly she wanted to engage in a valuable debate on the merits of her ignorance and my righteousness.
Anyway, I freeze up. The only quick retort I supplied myself with was, "There's no accounting for taste," which doesn't make sense. So, being that I couldn't be clever enough, nor did I want to scream "Cunt!" at her (that wouldn't have been decent; however, a true statement, verily), I turned, rubbed my chin and shook my head. I'm kind of embarrassed to by the since of nerves I felt when she said that from the window and that I couldn't cook up of something better to say.
So, I keep going on my way. Then I hear from the blue Lexus SUV, "Hey, don't flip me off, asshole!"
Now, I'm a little surprised, being that I did not flip her off. Neither did my co-worker. Upon further review, my rubbing of my face must have been construed as flipping her off. Apparently, rubbing the side of one's face while thinking, "Man, I really should have shaved today" is the equivalent in some cultures or exurbs of Madison as flipping someone off. I don't flip people off sincerely. It's a pretty ridiculous gesture, don't you think? Look, it's my finger! Come on? That's offensive? It's a finger. I see fingers all the time. I've never been shocked at the sight a finger, particularly when still attached to a hand and in the appropriate slot for the finger length.
So I turn around, and there she is, the Lexus driver who just called me an asshole, flipping me off from her now rolled up window. Again she had that kind of froggy look in her eye where you know she just wanted me to do something. Give her a little shout, something. All I could do was just shake my head, laugh at her. And also write her license plate down. I won't do anything with it, though. But I did write it in my notebook in case she blew through a red light or sped or something illegal. Being a cunt in public isn't much of an offense in my book, so I needn't call the cops on her.
Anyway, she was so spoiling for someone to confront her for being a bitch she had to invent a reason to yell asshole at someone, anyone, that was a protester. I bet she rode a couple laps around the capitol to yell insults at the Solidarity Singalong people because...because...I don't know. To vent? To feel superior? Probably that last one. Bitches, man. Damn.
I've stewed on this for a day. It's pretty funny still, I think, but today I see that Wisconsin Supreme Court Justice Prosser (yes, the one that was just barely re-elected despite his asshole credentials) choked a fellow Supreme Court Justice during a heated argument. There is a conflicting story that says the choked Justice may have lunged at Prosser, which to me sounds a bit like the "she was asking for it" or the "she fell down the stairs" or "she ran right into the knife, 14 times, I swear" kind of defense...and the "lunging" story is attributable to one, unnamed source, who also said that no pressure was exerted during the choke hold. Now, I wonder which unnamed source would have the knowledge on the amount of pressure exerted in the choke hold AND have a reason to blame his actions on someone else...which I'm sure this "source" did before when he tried to blame the Chief Justice for when this source had to call her a "total bitch" and promised "to destroy" her.
And then there's the bit about how one of the Singalong people got battered by a Tea Party zealot.
I know what's going on here. People want to fight out their frustrations. Neither side wants to listen, so let's just fucking have it out. What a perfect time to allow concealed and carry legislation, right? Punching singers. Choking judges. My insignificant event. It's not enough that we're a divided state, and country, and will be for some time, I'm afraid, unless the revolution comes. This whole mess seems strangely orchestrated. The state gets catastrophically divided where you can't even buy beer or bratwurst without it being a political statement. So everyone is pissed and rather than maybe do something to stem the tide, be a little less of a prick, they ratchet things up more, to piss and divide everyone further. Then they pass a law making it cool to carry concealed guns pretty much wherever the hell we want. So we're an angry, armed populace, wanting so bad to get into a fight that we'll just make up reasons to do it, so long as we can feel justified in our contempt of this person. Doesn't it kind of feel that somebody, somewhere, for some reason sees this kind of division, hatred and potential violence as awesome, a great opportunity for something, so the pressure and divisiveness stays pedal down, just waiting for the first batch of firebombs to be tossed. I know, I know, put down the tinfoil hat. I'm in no way suggesting some grand conspiracy truly exists (that's insane), but it does feel strange to me, like there's some other game being played here that we're all not fully aware of or understand...which is a feeling I hate because it doesn't make sense and it's not a rational response. But how can anyone see all this, live through all this, and not have a response to want to change it, or compromise or something...unless all this vitriol is the desired response.
I don't know, man. After all, I don't have a Lexus SUV and I am, apparently, an asshole. Just please don't punch, choke or shoot me.
viva wisco
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