I had never really heard the term “political civility” until last January, following the shooting of Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords. One of the loudest proponents of “political civility” was Sen. John Kerry, who spoke about his desire for civility and bipartisanship. Civility is a good thing. Everyone likes being civil.
That being said, sometimes I’m both amused and horrified by the immature, un-civil acts of the Left. For example, I stumbled upon this gem the other day:
This is a screenshot of a fake Facebook page for the governor of Maine, Paul LePage. The page portrays LePage as an uneducated dolt, and includes an album full of unflattering pictures. The page has him listed as attending “The School of Hard Knocks, the University of Life” and Catherine McAuley High School, the all-female Catholic high school in Portland, Maine.
(Side note: when the left is harping about a supposed “war on women,” it’s not wise to deride a conservative male by saying he attended an all-female school.)
Never mind that posing online as someone else is a crime, as is impersonating a public servant, and that fake Facebook pages are a violation of Facebook’s terms of use. Creating a fake Facebook page to mock someone is behavior I’d expect from middle schoolers. This is a fake Facebook page for the governor — a powerful, elected official. The majority/all of the fake governor’s “friends” are college-age or above, and most of them are involved in some form of left-wing activism. This behavior is incredibly juvenile and not what I’d expect from mature adults.
The fake LePage Facebook page isn’t just a one-post-and-done page created by a bored leftist. The page is active, and has activity as recent as noon on Friday, April 13. “Paul LePage” posted on the event page for the “May 1st General Strike! USM Rally and March to Congress Square” (an “Occupy”-esque student protest at several universities, mine included. Bring your instruments!), saying, “Sorry-too busy striking against General Assistance up here in Disgusta. Hope you get maced, commies!”
Classy.
What a class act by a class group of individuals. Portraying LePage in this way and posting things under his name and picture is libel, which is another crime. That’s at least three crimes on just one Facebook page! Way to go, leftists of southern Maine! Your parents must be so proud!
You know what I don’t remember? I don’t remember a fake John Baldacci Facebook page run by conservatives to mock him while he was governor of the state. I even searched for one. There isn’t one. I guess conservatives have more things to do with their lives than waste time on Facebook with petty attacks against those who they disagree with.
I also don’t remember a deluge of “62%” stickers on conservative cars when Baldacci was re-elected with a mere 38% of the vote. Also I don’t remember “65%” stickers when Angus King was initially elected with 35% of the vote in 1994. However, approximately 20 minutes after the election was called in 2010, it seemed as though every center-left car in the state was sporting a shiny new “61%” sticker. It’s fine if you don’t agree with everything LePage does; no politician is going to please everyone 100% of the time. A sticker campaign though? Come on. Grow up. Maine’s got a rich history of three-party elections; this isn’t a new concept. It’s very strange how the Left only has issues with the current electoral system when they’re on the losing end of it.
If the Left wants political civility so badly, I suggest they start with themselves.
All screenshots were captured on April 13, 2012.
Christine Rousselle | Providence College | Providence, Rhode Island | @CRousselle
Reading articles that say that people actually do things like makes me really disappointed in my generation.
I’m twenty, by the way.
PS:
I forgot to mention this. I love my 62% sticker and am soooo looking forward to taking it off in 2015.
Morons? Really? True, the LePage satire F/B page could be considered somewhat immature, but it is relatively harmless. There’s nothing violent or hateful involved. This is politics. LePage is a public figure and, as such, he is fair game for satire.
Maybe you don’t get out that much or are exposed to other news or web sites?
Let’s talk about civility while we’re at it:
1. Judge Richard Cebuil sending crude, racist emails to a circleof “friends”
inplying that President Obama (a respected public figure) was fathered by
something other than human. Is that an example of civil discourse?
2. Ted Nugent’s rant at a recent NRA convention, saying that if President Obama
gets re-elected in 2012 he would either “Be in jail or would be dead?” And
let’s not forget the chopping heads off part of his rant. Really? Is that
an example of civil discourse?
3. Although not directly involving President Obama (but his health plan), what
about Rush Limbaugh’s vile and disgusting attack of Ms. Fluke when she
testified about birth control before a Senate sub-committee? Only someone
who has been living under a rock for the last month would not be aware about
that extremely crude and vulgar attack. Civil Discourse? I think not.
Civil discourse takes both work and mutual respect. Stating that someone is
a moron simply because you do not agree with them is not a good start.
Kudo’s
“Civility is a good thing. Everyone likes being civil.” So did you come up with the mother of hypocritical titles for your article before or after you wrote the preceding line?
Thank you for exposing these liberal punks. I bet they would have time to get a job if they stopped impersonating me.
I realize some will say it’s below a man of your qualities, but, I am asking for you to follow this wherever it may lead. Not to punish children, they after all are still very naive and inexperienced with life and what it takes to make a living. NO, what I want to know, is who put them up to this. What organization, institution, what have you. Then I ask that the powers within the state of Maine follow the money to it’s root. Lot of work, yea. Monies wasted, nope.For what it is worth, this is just my opinion.
Yes. I will follow the money trail. Who is paying the communists to engage in this activity? I can’t imagine that these children are acting of their own volition uncompensated. Running a facebook page, as we all know, is an expensive venture. I have a feeling it’s another one of George Soros’ Obama campaigns, disguised as satire. Occupy a job or get out of my state! Can’t believe they criticized my ALEC tax-day party. I think you’ll agree, Mark that in such a shaky economy, business interests should be able to make decisions for the people. It’s like anti-leninism. Corporations know what’s best for all of us, so we need to let them write the laws. It’s not rocket science!
Also, learn to crop images! And why is there a glamour shot of you thrown in randomly?
If you’re inclination is to put a dictionary definition at the beginning of an article, quit. Just stop. You’re a terrible writer and an even worse thinker. Your ability to analyze your own ideas critically is clearly lacking.Also, learn to crop images! And why is there a glamour shot of you thrown in randomly?
1) If you are going to be critical of the writing of others, you should first look at your own (notice the bold).
2) You obviously have never been to this site before. This site always posts photos of the writers. But does that really matter since you only posted to attack Christine personally?
Go troll someone else, somewhere else.
Matt, criticizing 6th-grade essay writing techniques and criticizing accidental grammatical errors are awfully dissimilar. I understand that you feel the need to use Ad Hominem arguments to defend Christine, because maybe she’ll notice you one of these days, but at least use them when they’re appropriate!
Right now, for instance.
And you didn’t notice Mike’s ad hominem? Stop being retarded and use the brain you allegedly have for a change.
“Don’t use Ad Hominem”
“and stop being retarded”
This comment being in support of an article claiming liberals are uncivil
The cognitive dissonance actually hurts
ps I’m not Matthew mason I’m the Matt from a previous comment
If you’re inclination is to put a dictionary definition at the beginning of an article, quit. Just stop. You’re a terrible writer and an even worse thinker. Your ability to analyze your own ideas critically is clearly lacking.
I’m glad that random people that label themselves as left-leaning represent all of left-leaning people and all of Democrats.
It would be weird if we judged an entire political party by immature actions of its leaders. Like, who cares if the RNC launched a fake Obama facebook in the middle of the election (http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/politics/2008/07/barack-obamas-f/)
I wish we could all be that mature.
In all seriousness, it is just plain ignorant to take one action and claim all people of a certain viewpoint are immature. Anyone can do that for any side, ever. It brings no validity to anything.
“Leftist “Civility” Empowers Morons” ….I’m not sure if I really understand the title, especially after reading the article. I could understand you calling someone hypocritical if they were calling for a more civil political discourse while engaging in this type of immature behavior, but I have a feeling that John Kerry didn’t create the facebook page you’re talking about.
Yes, this type of behavior is immature and counter-productive. However, it seems REALLY naive of you not to acknowledge that it’s coming equally from both directions.
“This is a fake Facebook page for the governor – a powerful, elected official.” I wonder if you have gotten this up in arms every time Barack Obama has been depicted offensively on social media (monkey cartoons, shoe shining, etc.)? Whether you like him or not, I think it’s safe to say that he is also a “powerful, elected official.” I have heard Obama referred to as a half-breed more times than I can count. I wouldn’t exactly call this civility. Then again, I don’t go around treating all conservatives as though they are somehow each responsible for these comments, and I certainly don’t live in such a tiny little bubble that I don’t realize that liberals are equally guilty of this type of behavior towards politicians on the right.
Don’t you understand? When John Kerry said that, he wasn’t talking about people who shot others for their beliefs or people who have national platforms like Rush Limbaugh – he was clearly talking about high school and college students!
When Liberals aren’t doing as they say, while driving their low MPG, image provoking Subarus (always covered in protest stickers), shopping at Amazon instead of local, supporting the Unions, but not buying American… they get especially nasty when things don’t go their way. Without having opened my mouth I am called closed minded for just being a Conservative, yet I have found in conversations that Liberals are the most closed minded individuals I have ever met. If you do not agree with them, you are just wrong (and racist to boot). No arguments can persuade them.
“…while driving their low MPG, image provoking Subarus (always covered in protest stickers), shopping at Amazon instead of local, supporting the Unions, but not buying American…” If you don’t like being placed in the “closed minded” “racist” caricature often used for conservatives, perhaps you should extend the same courtesy to liberals??? It works both ways.
But still, it may be true.