posted on Jul, 26 2010 @ 10:38 AM
What I'm about to describe is a seemingly innocuous incident that nonetheless left me highly disturbed about the state of mind of our country. I'm
not quite sure what to make of it or think about it or maybe even do about it, if anything.
One day last week, a friend and I were in the waiting room of a vascular specialist and surgeon's office. The friend was there for an ultrasound as
a followup to a motorcycle accident that damaged a vein in his left thigh. As is typical in many doctors' offices, and with a flat-screen TV on the
wall giving us a clue as to how long we might be there, we settled in for a long wait. MSNBC was on, and there was a sign that said "Do Not Touch
TV."
As I looked around the room, I noticed there were 11 people waiting, not including us, and that every one of them was significantly older that we
were, by at least 20-40 years. There were 5 women and six men. Two people, one man and one woman, were snoozing in their chairs, and the rest had eyes
glued to the TV. I settled down to read my book, and my friend was filling out some forms. All of a sudden one of the men says, "Why are we watching
this station? Can't we change it?"
A woman replied, "The sign says not to touch, but maybe we can ask them to change the channel." Another five or six voices chime in and they have a
quick discussion about what channel to change it to (my nose was buried in my book, so I wasn't paying much attention at this point). Finally, one of
the men wobbles over to the reception window on his walker. A slow and painful process, and as there is an IV shunt in his arm and a hospital bracelet
on his wrist, it seems to me he's recovering from some sort of surgery or incident. Anyway, he has a discussion with a woman at the desk, and the
channel gets changed. To FoxNews.
I watch for a second to see what Fox is talking about, and say something to my friend about how predictable it is that they're dissing Obama when
he's not even running things. The man two seats down from me overhears what I said and starts ttrying to engage me in conversation in response, says
the Bilderbergs really run things, says he's a native American and they stole this nation from the natives, says they're evil. I'm nodding and
smiling and empathizing but don't really want to get into this particular discussion at that moment and keep trying to read my book. My friend is
smirking as if to say I got myself into this with my big mouth. In a few minutes, this man is focused back on the TV.
Everything's quiet until a clip of Obama speaking about something or another comes on. I don't even notice until this same man points his finger at
the screen and says quite loudly to everyone in the room, "If I could get me and my gun to DC, I'd shoot that son of a bitch dead."
Well that startled me big time. I'm sure my jaw dropped open, and I think I squeaked out a, "Oh my god. noooo...you don't really want to say or do
that...do you?"
Well, at this point the little ole lady (literally blue haired) who had been snoozing pipes up without even opening her eyes and says, "I wish you
would shoot that worthless such and such. He's destroying this country."
Another man breaks in about this time and says, "Believe me, I'd drive you there myself if I could," and then another man says, "Me too. I'd
shoot that criminal and anyone who did would be a hero."
A hero.
And I look around and all these old folks, every single one to a person, are all nodding their heads in agreement, and getting more agitated. I
couldn't even keep up with all the comments but did hear another of the little old ladies, I think she may have been Korean, say, "Someone will
shoot him soon," and then nod her head up and down.
This kept up for a minute or so, and then they all tapered off their nodding and simmered down. The room got back to a now more eeried (to me)
silence other than the sound of the TV, where Fox had moved on to some story or another about the economy.
I swear it was surreal. I sat there just stunned during the whole outburst and think I might have said, "Shhhh...." or maybe "Eeeek...." a few
times, but mostly to myself as I watched it all unfold...this angry frenzy.
Eventually we got called back for the ultrasound, and then left. We discussed it in the car going home, and all I can say is that this whole
minimicrocosm of an experience left me rather shaken and disturbed to this day.
I understand frustration. Things are not good. I understand why this might have happened. Mob mentality and getting caught up in a moment. But this
seemed like such an extreme outburst of hatred to have happened in what is really a public place.
I also could assume, that based on the ages and infirmities or these people, they're not really going to drive to Washington, DC, to shoot the
president. But damn...if this kind of sentiment is being expressed so openly and vocally in public, I cringe to think what's going on in private. I
fear for our president and our country. I really do.
Please reassure me and tell me this was just some old people venting off steam. That this isn't representative of a good chunk of our population here
in America. And that it won't happen. Also, should things like this be reported? What would even happen if they were.
Scary times.
[edit on 7/26/2010 by ~Lucidity]