What I just encountered

[Rider3]

It's a really rainy, raw, windy day in Boston. I'm walking up into Downtown Crossing to have lunch. There, I see a table with an "Impeach Obama" sign on it. Keeping the table were 5 young men. Not that it mattered, but two were Caucasian, the other three were African Americans. It really pissed me off to see this table, but I continued onto lunch. While having lunch, I thought, "Don't be so judgmental. At least stop and hear their argument." So, I finished eating and walked directly to their table. I first see a sign that says something about "Benghazi Gate." I think, OK, well what about the thousands of others killed by Bush's illegal wars. But, then, that's beside the point. I wanted to know what these young men had to say to back up their want of impeachment. So, I asked. I was directed to a big sign under the umbrella with about 9 different statements. The first statement was that Obama supports and defends Al Qaeda. I stopped right there and asked how/where did they find this "fact" and in what way(s) does the president support Al Qaeda. One of the young men asked me, "You don't know?" I said, "No! Please tell me. How is he supporting Al Queda?" None of them could answer my question. They kept throwing the "you don't know?" back at me. Then, one of them came up to me kind of laughing and said, "We don't have to talk about this to you." Nice, huh? So, I told them that they needed to do some research (and research is NOT opinion pieces in the news) and that they were idiots if they couldn't back up what they're asking people to support.

The stupidity of the whole thing just floored me. My blood pressure is too high at the moment. Need to work on that....

Thanks for letting me vent.

[upaloopa]

1. Maybe some time there could be a counter protest.

Where are the flash mobs when you need them.

[Bluzmann57]

2. The stupid. It hurts.

You handled it well. But if you see these clowns again, maybe when they ask, "Don't you know?" You should answer, "If I knew, I wouldn't ask dumbass." Ok, maybe leave out the dumbass remark. And then bust out laughing and say, "Boy are you stupid." Then simply walk away.
Maybe this isn't the best way to handle jackasses like this, but what are you going to do? There is no real way to fight stupid except on their own terms. And sometimes, not even that works.

[Jackpine Radical]

27. Actually, it never works.

"There is no real way to fight stupid except on their own terms. And sometimes, not even that works."

The reason it doesn't work is that there is no way to out-stupid stupid.

[BlancheSplanchnik]

43. definitely worthless to try and discuss their supposed point.

Better to critique their methods.

OP handled it well.

If they did that Oh dont you know? crap with me and If I weren't so chapped at them that I couldn't think straight, I'd say, " 'if you don't know we're not telling'? Oh really? Gee, everyone I know stopped pulling that crap in third grade."

[Bluzmann57]

44. Point well taken

You are correct saying that one cannot out stupid stupid. But laughing in their faces makes 'em mad, and it's fun. Maybe mean, but still fun.

[frazzled]

3. I doubt they're making a lot of converts at Downtown Crossing

If that makes you feel any better.

Perhaps you just should have said to them, "You're making yourselves look crazy and marginalizing your cause, whatever it is." Because you can't suggest more research or logic to people who have already shown themselves to be without the capacity for the first or the mental acuity for the second.

[pinboy3niner]

4. What organization do they represent? nt

[HangOnKids]

6. AssClowns United?

[Heather MC]

20. ooooh the ACU didn't know they where allowed to unite lol

[Mopar151]

31. So, what sort of crime are they living on now?

Used to be credit card fraud...... And they always were aggressive panhandlers.

[Rider3]

8. Larouche Pac

Here's their website: http://larouchepac.com/

[pinboy3niner]

12. Thanks, that's what I figured

They've been tabling at my local P.O., too (and, like you, my brother confronted them and found they couldn't even explain their own positions).

So HangOnKids WAS right.

[HangOnKids]

17. Thanks!

[Spitfire of ATJ]

24. Those guys don't think things through at ALL...

Obviously this guy got an earful in his last relationship.

[KurtNYC]

5. sounds like LaRouche people

You did better than some....



http://www.capitolhillseattle.com/2009/10/29/blotter-woman-scuffles-with-larouche-table-workers-over-obama-as-hitler-poster

[Rider3]

9. Wow!

I guess I did handle it better than that - thanks!

[randome]

7. The best way to get under their skin is to mock them with passive-aggressive dismissal.

"Oh. I thought you would know. Thanks." Then walk away.

[HiPointDem]

10. +1

but since they're larouchites, it won't much matter...because they're more of an intelligence operation than a political group.

i wouldn't ever sign a larouche petition even if i agreed with it.

[KurtNYC]

13. I used to sing to them: "LaRouche, La Rouche, LaRouche is on fire...

we don't got no water
let the MF burn...

They didn't get it.

[Cleita]

11. The power of propaganda. It's when one side gets all the media exposure and the other side

struggles to get their message out and are limited to low powered radio stations if that much and obscure cable news channels. I assume that you have lost most of your leftie media outlets in Boston, but have plenty of Fox, Rush, O'Reilly, etc..

[geckosfeet]

14. Ahhhh. The old "if you don't know you are an idiot" method.

What a bunch of dolts. You have more patience than I.

[pinboy3niner]

15. "How LaRouche tabling brought down a President"

--Said no one EVER

[leftynyc]

16. You should have laughed in their faces

Scorn is the only thing they understand and it pisses them off like nothing else. Getting into a screaming match or even trying to make a coherent argument is a waste of time.

[iandhr]

18. I choose not to engage people like that.

[nadinbrzezinski]

19. Ah, Lyndon LaRouche

Started in the 1950s...guess who gave Lyndon his start? Koch family money.

[Rider3]

21. Koch...

figures.

[drm604]

22. Lyndon LaRouche

I had an encounter with one of his followers a number of years ago and posted about it in my journal on the old DU2.

http://journals.democraticunderground.com/drm604/7

[Starry Messenger]

23. I always say "Gold isn't coming back" in a loud voice.

That usually gets them.

[freshwest]

34. Hehehe! I've run into them and they're quite hostile when confronted by non-cultists. They tried to

take over at a precinct meeting where Kucinich was talking to my local Democrats.

They'd littered the literature tables with material. The regulars were speechless. Dennis skillfully, but firmly, shut them down when they started their 'Impeach Obama' spiel during the Q&A.

I know some who have had problems with these cult members in their community, because that's how they behave. They are an international group and are on community access stations with their weekly broadcasts. I don't know how they are supported financially to go out and do these things, but they remind me of the WBC group in vitriol if provoked - which is not hard to do.

My last encounter was at the local post office. They'd gathered near the door with their signs. My views were not in evidence, no button, bumper sticker or anything like that. They survey to see if you're going to take their literature or high five.

Just the act of walking past as I did at my Post Office a few days before the presidential election, got a hostile response. They glared at me the whole time for not stopping to talk, though I was trying to avoid eye contact and get about my business.

They have a rather successful history:

The LaRouche movement has been accused of violence, harassment, and heckling since the 1970s.[27][28][29][30]
[edit] 1960s and Operation Mop-Up

In the 1960s and 1970s, LaRouche was accused of fomenting violence at anti-war rallies with a small band of followers.[31][32] According to LaRouche's autobiography, it was in 1969 that violent altercations began between his members and New Left groups. He wrote that a faction of Students for a Democratic Society which later became the Weathermen began assaulting LaRouche's faction at Columbia University, and there were later attacks by the Communist Party, and the SWP.[33] These conflicts culminated in "Operation Mop-Up", a series of physical attacks by LaRouche's National Caucus of Labor Committees (NCLC) on rival left-wing groups.[34] LaRouche's New Solidarity reported NCLC confrontations with members of the Communist Party and Socialist Workers Party, including an April 23, 1973 incident at a debate featuring Labor Committee mayoral candidate Tony Chaitkin that erupted in a brawl, with chairs flying.[35] Six people were treated for injuries at a local hospital.

In the mid-1973 the movement formed a "Revolutionary Youth Movement" to recruit and politicize members of street gangs in New York City and other eastern cities.[36][37][38] The NCLC allegedly trained some members in terrorist and guerilla warfare.[36][39][40] Topics included weapons handling, explosives and demolition, close order drills, small unit tactics, and military history.[40]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LaRouche_movement#1960s_and_Operation_Mop-Up

Even the narrative posted in a reply on this thread is mentioned on that page. Uh, I don't like them.

[Starry Messenger]

38. I don't doubt it, they are freaks.

I've only encountered them in person outside the post office, but their websites are completely dodgy and insane. They seem to occupy the same slice of violent and weird that Scientologists do.

[pinboy3niner]

35. Heresy!1!!

[kimbutgar]

25. These clowns set up their table sometimes in downtown San Francisco wit the Obama Hitler mustache

I once got into with this young jerk who did the same thing when I questioned him. He kept making these wild accusations and saying to me "it's the truth, it"s the truth". I told him he was uniformed and being lied to. My blood pressure was starting to spike. A guy stepped in next to me and said, "don't argue with the idiots in my ear, it's not good for your health". I thanked him and walked away leaving him standing there looking at the young guy with a menacing look.

La Rouche is like a cult with these people. Once you start reading their literature it evident it's propaganda. They also did this with bush. I think they are more anarchists than anything else.

[reflection]

26. Sounds as if you harnessed all the brain power at that table

you could have toasted a piece of bread lightly on one side.

Good for you for challenging them.

[notadmblnd]

28. It would have been more beneficial if you had just slammed your head on a brick wall

until gray matter flowed from your frontal lobe.

[southernyankeebelle]

29. You can't reason with stupid. Even if you show them in black and white on paper they won't

believe you. They live in the bubble of right wing radio. The best thing you could have said was you need to get out of that right wing bubble and get into the real world. Also you could mention the right wing has been wrong on all the issues they have reported in their bubble starting with the reelection. Then just walk away.

[sakabatou]

30. Public Fox "News"

[patrice]

32. Lots of ambitious career-minded corporate-personhood types around right now, because of

BIG decisions in the air; we're all waiting to find out where all of that broken crockery will land.

[stillcool]

33. i saw a couple of guys

Outside of a post office. I too asked them what their deal was, and it was the Muslim thing. Not too up on present day reality. I think their paid to play, LaRouche or not.

[JaneyVee]

36. Were they standing outside of a post office? Thos Govt haters seem to love the post office.

[busterbrown]

37. When their young and dumb, just push the Larouche button!

[Capt. Obvious]

39. Check in if you knew these were Larouchies by the second sentence

[rabid_byter]

40. i've been meditating 30 years and it still gets my BP up way too high

[DrewFlorida]

41. Good job for confronting these idiots, sounds like a scene from the movie "Idiocracy"

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0387808/?ref_=sr_1

[rabid_byter]

42. the GOP an the Tea Party is a Hive of Psychopath Nazis

everyone needs to read the book Political Ponerology: the study of evil as applied to politics. cheap on amazon.

the GOP leadership has been taken over by Psychopaths, The NeoCons. you will notice that all the NeoCons were students, if not Disciples of Leo Straus.
http://doggo.tripod.com/doggchrisdomin.html

everybody needs to study up on Psychopaths, psychopaths are a sub species of Humans, an they are also Apex Predators.

Dr Hare is the authority on them he created the test it identify them. average people can not identify a psychopath until they destroy your life, but psychopaths can identify each other and live in Hives. a 2 year old psychopath can

identify other psychopaths.. Bu$h43 is a psychopath.. he destroyed the economy of the entire world, simply to make his fellow psychopaths richer. the back 1/3 of '911 the ultimate truth has a break down of what who and how they work. these creatures are so weird and strange a lot of people think that they are the Archons, inter dimentional parasites, described in the NaG Hammadi Gnostic Scriptures from 450 AD. once you learn more about them you wont think that idea is far out anymore.

http://www.amazon.com/Without-Conscience-Disturbing-World-Psychopaths/dp/1572304510/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1362015260&sr=1-2&keywords=psychopath+test