The Pledge

Off Topic Politics & World Issues
63

[quote]pushharder wrote:
Inner Hulk wrote:
My god, just look at some of the responses on the Obama page…

“I pledge to volunteer more this year, consider the impact of my actions on those around me, and continue believing in the impossible”

“I pledge to not judge others by how they look or what they wear, and to be a better positive role model to my children. I want my children to grow up knowing that all men and women are created equal.”

"I Pledge…

To be a happier person

To be there for my friends, family, and country"

Yeah, you guys are right. People wanting to dedicate themselves to bettering themselves, donating time, volunteering, helping those around them, and all around positive actions is a terrible, terrible thing.

Since when did positivity and bettering oneself become a bad thing?

I seriously question the sanity of some of you.

C’mon, friend, you know good and well that those of us who found issue with the video were referring to the pledge of servanthood not the pledges you mentioned above. You can’t be so naive as to think otherwise.[/quote]

Well Push, my point is that everyone skipped over everything positive about the video which is 99% of what it is, and instead focused on one small quote out of the entire thing. And then magnified that one quote as if that’s what Obama supporters are all about. The majority of posts in this thread didn’t seclude that servanthood comment to the person who said it, but instead seemed to imply that it applied to most Obama supporters.

The video alone should show that the majority of people jumped on the Obama wagon because of hope, change, and renewed positivity. Not because of some sort of misdirected belief that he’s some sort of messiah and the answer to all the prayers of man.

65

“This is scary stuff. If you can’t stomach the whole thing…”

“If you can’t stomach the whole thing” Pledging to donate time and try to cure children’s diseases is something people here can’t stomach? lol. The OP sets the tone on the entire video right from the beginning, not just that one quote.

I won’t dispute the fact that many people are desperately clinging to the hope that Obama is ‘different’ from the rest of the political pack. But does it really matter? How long is the public going to stay attached to what’s going on in Washington? Most people have no attention span for politics and the Obama frenzy will soon die.

It’s not as if Obama has gone in with liberal missiles blazing and severing any kind of Republican input or participation. Obama’s already engaging Republican leaders for their ideas and input on the economy when he met with them today. I don’t think the fear of some kind of unchecked Obamacism being implemented due to popular support is realistic or warranted.

I guess I just see it as a lot of people actually excited about the democratic process and excited about a positive direction, and for the life of me I can’t see the negative in either of those.

67

[quote]Varqanir wrote:
pushharder wrote:

That’s why when some folks on this thread say, “Who cares? It’s just some dumb celebrities”, you’ve got to shake your head and remind them that it was not just the German celebrities in the 1930s who were orgasming over the Fuhrer. It was the masses. And when the masses start twitchin’ and shakin’ and squirtin’ like porn stars over a socialist who happens to be the most powerful man on earth and who guarantees “change”, some smart folks are going to be concerned and rightfully so.

This is what I meant when I said I was concerned about Islamism being A Nazism, but not THE Nazism.

The idea of Hope and Change forcefully imposed worries me a hell of a lot more than the idea of Mahmoud and Abdul lugging a backpack nuke through the frozen Manitoba woods on their way to Minneapolis.[/quote]

Not me. I love the idea of hope. It has been at least 6 years since I have had any.

69

[quote]pushharder wrote:
Christine wrote:
Varqanir wrote:
pushharder wrote:

That’s why when some folks on this thread say, “Who cares? It’s just some dumb celebrities”, you’ve got to shake your head and remind them that it was not just the German celebrities in the 1930s who were orgasming over the Fuhrer. It was the masses. And when the masses start twitchin’ and shakin’ and squirtin’ like porn stars over a socialist who happens to be the most powerful man on earth and who guarantees “change”, some smart folks are going to be concerned and rightfully so.

This is what I meant when I said I was concerned about Islamism being A Nazism, but not THE Nazism.

The idea of Hope and Change forcefully imposed worries me a hell of a lot more than the idea of Mahmoud and Abdul lugging a backpack nuke through the frozen Manitoba woods on their way to Minneapolis.

Not me. I love the idea of hope. It has been at least 6 years since I have had any.

Good point. You could probably use some Change too.

I must say the last six years must have contained some really intense misery for you and therefore I offer you a few drops from my vast pool of empathy that I philanthropically maintain for my foundation, Love For Liberals - one man’s selfless dedication for dunces who dilly dally in the dump of the real world while awaiting Utopia.

Of course, you’ll have to fill out the necessary paperwork but after that I think we’ll be good to go. You’re welcome.[/quote]

I have no doubt that you don’t have more than a few drops of empathy.

Please don’t waste them on me as I hate paperwork, darling.

70

After watching the video, Inner Hulk is the only person making any kind of sense on this thread, the rest of you just seem like a bunch of butt-hurt right wingers.

71

[quote]1000rippedbuff wrote:
After watching the video, Inner Hulk is the only person making any kind of sense on this thread, the rest of you just seem like a bunch of butt-hurt right wingers.[/quote]

Agreed. I honestly can’t even take these people seriously anymore at all. They are acting worse than any “crazy liberals” over the last 8 years with this shit.

72

I’m pretty apolitical. I don’t have any party affiliation and as far as any politics I participate in, I just vote for the best person for the job based on the person and their policies, not party. I paid more attention to politics over the last 2-4 years with the presidential election and the absolute terrible situation the republicans have put us in.

I spent a year and a half in Iraq working counter terror and had to witness the situation over there. Then I come back here and open my gym after leaving the military and I have to listen to the neo-cons talk about things they think they know something about from listening to too much Fox News and Rush Limbaugh.

The republicans have been wrong with every prediction they make about everything, I have no reason to believe that any of the rest of it will be true. I voted for Obama for no other reason than after looking at the candidate and their policies, he was by far the better candidate. He’s only been in a week and has already done a lot to fix the massive Bush fuck ups. You have to hear the right wingers bitch about how much he is doing, but if he did nothing they would bitch that he was voted in to do so much but is doing nothing, so it is a no win situation with them, he’ll only do wrong. If things get 100% better in a couple of years, with global terror at an all time low, the economy at an all time high, and record low levels of unemployment, they would still say he is fucking up.

Now I look at a video of celebrities making a pledge to do things like help the poor, be happier, etc and these people call it ‘scary’? So a couple of them say they pledge to be a servant to the president. That could mean anything, which in the context of the video, seems to mean to do their part to make the world a better place, probably volunteer work or something. These assholes make out like they are planning to become the SS or something. This is the exact thing that really turns me off to the right wing. There is so much venom, partisan hatred, lying, and plain ignorance that it becomes something that I don’t want any part of and is probably part of the reason why Obama won by a fucking landslide. I don’t understand why the right has to be so divisive and take this ‘us vs. them’ attitude within our own fucking country instead of just trying make things the best they can be. I’m not saying the left is perfect or doesn’t have it’s own problems (particularly the extreme left), but as a centrist, the right is totally fucked up.

75

[quote]pushharder wrote:
1000rippedbuff wrote:
I’m pretty apolitical.

Yeah, that’s pretty obvious from your post below.

I don’t have any party affiliation and as far as any politics I participate in, I just vote for the best person for the job based on the person and their policies, not party. I paid more attention to politics over the last 2-4 years with the presidential election and the absolute terrible situation the republicans have put us in.

I spent a year and a half in Iraq working counter terror and had to witness the situation over there. Then I come back here and open my gym after leaving the military and I have to listen to the neo-cons talk about things they think they know something about from listening to too much Fox News and Rush Limbaugh.

The republicans have been wrong with every prediction they make about everything,

I see what you mean about being apolitical. Go on.

I have no reason to believe that any of the rest of it will be true. I voted for Obama for no other reason than after looking at the candidate and their policies,

Yup, voting for the most liberal US senator, a champion of socialist “policies” again makes you…what was the word? Oh yeah, “apolitical”.

he was by far the better candidate.

I’m sure many people who are not apolitical agree with you.

He’s only been in a week and has already done a lot to fix the massive Bush fuck ups…

Wow. He’s “done a lot”? Hmmmmm…yes, again, you do sound apolitical.

…Now I look at a video of celebrities making a pledge to do things like help the poor, be happier, etc and these people call it ‘scary’? So a couple of them say they pledge to be a servant to the president. That could mean anything…

Got that part right.

…which in the context of the video, seems to mean to do their part to make the world a better place, probably volunteer work or something…

You probably are right about this. Why don’t YOU take upon yourself to give these celebs a couple of years or so and see if they follow through on their pledges and then get back to us? Call it a homework assignment.

These assholes make out like they are planning to become the SS or something. This is the exact thing that really turns me off to the right wing. There is so much venom, partisan hatred, lying, and plain ignorance that it becomes something that I don’t want any part of and is probably part of the reason why Obama won by a fucking landslide. I don’t understand why the right has to be so divisive and take this ‘us vs. them’ attitude within our own fucking country instead of just trying make things the best they can be. I’m not saying the left is perfect or doesn’t have it’s own problems (particularly the extreme left), but as a centrist, the right is totally fucked up.

Glad to see you think centrism is so venerable. Sounds like you’re intolerant of those who see things differently than you. Reminds me of somebody I know who claims to be apolitical but in fact is anything but.

Or are you like a lot of liberals, sometimes known as centrists, who preach tolerance from the pulpit but practice quite the opposite on in their daily lives?

Carry on. You have given us some good material to work with here.[/quote]

So basically if I say anything bad about the republicans, I cannot be apolitical and I am automatically a leftist/liberal or whatever? I’m pretty much just calling a spade a spade here. I never said that I agreed with everything Obama or liberal/leftist side does or wants to do. If you look at Obama’s actual record and not the rhetoric, he’s been fairly centrist. I scrubbed the stuff pretty well making my choice and especially tried to stay away from those trying to get my vote and look outside of the hype on both sides. I’m a centrist and I found Obama to be the much better candidate. Considering the amount of enthusiasm people have for him, most centrists found the same as I did or most of the country is an extremist liberal, its one of those two, I guess.

Its not that I’m intolernant, I just get tired of hearing rhetoric, lies, covert racism, Coulter/Hannity/Limbaugh style that dominants the right. Just watching the video and seeing what people are writing on the thread is enough for any rational person to see. The right wingers would probably be jumping for joy if instead of being an Obama video it was a George W. Bush video with the exact same content.

As far as the celebrities go, I don’t care if they do anything or everything they talk about in the video. It’s not about that at all. Think about what they say in the video, not whether or not they do any of it, and then look at what most of the posters on here say. That is the problem.

76

[quote]1000rippedbuff wrote:
After watching the video, Inner Hulk is the only person making any kind of sense on this thread, the rest of you just seem like a bunch of butt-hurt right wingers.[/quote]

My issue with the video is the attachment to the President. Did these people really need a new President to be a better mother and father? What, did they beat their kids while Bush was POTUS?

Most of their “pledges” were innocent, some I agree with, and some I thought were stupid. But I guess I just don’t get what kind of asshole these people must have been in the past to need to pledge to smile more and not flip people off.

77

[quote]malonetd wrote:
1000rippedbuff wrote:
After watching the video, Inner Hulk is the only person making any kind of sense on this thread, the rest of you just seem like a bunch of butt-hurt right wingers.

My issue with the video is the attachment to the President. Did these people really need a new President to be a better mother and father? What, did they beat their kids while Bush was POTUS?

Most of their “pledges” were innocent, some I agree with, and some I thought were stupid. But I guess I just don’t get what kind of asshole these people must have been in the past to need to pledge to smile more and not flip people off.[/quote]

People make pledges every January. They just call them resolutions.

My thoughts are that someone can almost always improve at something… even if they are good at it. A good parent can become a great parent with work.

Just because someone wants to become a better person, doesn’t mean that they were assholes to begin with. (Some of them may have been… and probably will continue to be… but I don’t think Rainjack was a part of that video.)

But they shouldn’t need a new POTUS to realize this.

Anyway, getting wound up about it and comparing those in the video to those who followed Hitler is just silly. But it is entertaining.

78

[quote]malonetd wrote:
But I guess I just don’t get what kind of asshole these people must have been in the past to need to pledge to smile more and not flip people off.[/quote]

I’ve NEVER pledged to stop flipping people off while driving on the freeway. It’s the most effective way to communicate to other people while driving, plus it’s great fun! Especially when you do it to old people and they look shocked.

Sometimes I flip people off just for the hell of it! “Hey you, in the big red pickup truck, MIDDLE FINGER!” Then he does it to me, and we both have a laugh! FUN!

Oh, this reminds me, I was at the Meijer yesterday and they already have Obama t-shirts for sale. Most of them are capitalzing on this “what will YOU do?” bullshit, and I saw one t-shirt that read, “I promise to smile more”.

No shit. I’m serious. It was frightening because it reminded me of this “I pledge to serve the messiah” crap. It was creepy.

79

You know what makes someone an asshole…?

When someone use a public forum to wax fanatic in an attempt at back-door braggery to prove how awesomely moral they are.

80

[quote]malonetd wrote:
1000rippedbuff wrote:
After watching the video, Inner Hulk is the only person making any kind of sense on this thread, the rest of you just seem like a bunch of butt-hurt right wingers.

My issue with the video is the attachment to the President. Did these people really need a new President to be a better mother and father? What, did they beat their kids while Bush was POTUS?

Most of their “pledges” were innocent, some I agree with, and some I thought were stupid. But I guess I just don’t get what kind of asshole these people must have been in the past to need to pledge to smile more and not flip people off.[/quote]

You’ve never had a point in your life where you recognized some of your own flaws or shortcomings and decided to implement changes in your life to develop further as a human being???

Who gives a shit WHY they’re trying to be better people, isn’t the important part that they’re going to TRY to be better people???

The whole thing is based on renewed hope and trying to get Americans to come together and take action to improve our country. Why is there so much fucking opposition to this? Obama’s entire platform was based on change and a new direction, why on earth is it any surprise that his supporters are taking a similar approach to their own lives?