Fallout from Tea Party Video

I’ve received many comments from the Youtube video I posted regarding the Madison Tea Party. Most of them, as you can imagine, are from angry conservatives who felt I depicted the event too negatively. I did receive one positive review from Chris Liebenthal over at Cognitive Dissidence, so thank you Chris.

I would like to take some time to respond to the negative comments, however...

"...if obama is a citizen why has he spent millions to keep his birth records sealed. Seems a little to damn suspicious to me."

Barack Obama’s birth certificate (and the story behind it being false) can be found at snopes.com. In other words, the idea that Obama is not a citizen is so blatantly false that a simple Google search could have shown that to you. Or are you convinced there’s a massive conspiracy?

"The 9-11 was an inside job, and Bush is a nazi signs were ok with you [in the past]?"

Signs at anti-Bush rallies (like 9/11 conspiracy theories) were not something I supported, and I spent many hours online debunking those people as well. I also disliked comparing Bush to Hitler or Nazism, mainly because it made our side’s arguments look illegitimate.

"I was there, and I was offended by many of the signs you showed. I think name-calling is childish, and while I don't like President Obama's policies, I think it's wrong to ridicule or satirize him. I also saw many signs that were positive - we are taxed to death, and this was our chance to publicly state this!"

The reason I posted the “fringe” signs in this video was to make a point: some of the people at this protest were extreme right-wing, who believed Obama to be a terrorist, and believed him to be a non-American. I could have shown a few “good” signs (that is, signs with legitimate concern), and in fact, I did! The first 45 seconds were filled with non-extremist signs, in my mind. Even the lady with the tax sign, which I debunked, had a sign that I wouldn’t consider “bad” -- only misinformed. Some of the protests (the piggy bank example comes to mind) I thought were very creative, and included them in my video without commentary.

Many comments accused me of being an ACORN infiltrator, and that the signs shown in my video were from ACORN associates of mine. As far as ACORN goes, for sure there were infiltrators at these tea parties -- I was one of them. However, I was an observer, and am unaffiliated with the organization. Additionally, the people who were holding these signs were likely NOT members of ACORN, and there’s some proof to this. For example, the sign that stated Obama was the antichrist was held by a local business owner who told the Wisconsin State Journal that “[Obama] needs to go. This is the first and last warning he’ll get." (Source: http://www.madison.com/wsj/topstories/447226)

That’s all I have to talk about for now. I’m starting to get a headache from trying to explain these things rationally...check back for more later, perhaps. I’m sure the fallout from these tea parties is just beginning to resonate...