THE WORST PERSON IN THE WORLD
(apologies to Keith Olbermann)
Deborah O’Connor
A senior lecturer in the College of Business at Florida State University resigned over the weekend after she posted a torrent of racist, homophobic comments on a Facebook photograph of outgoing Attorney General Eric Holder, the Tallahassee Democrat reports. Deborah O’Connor was responding to a post by Colin Lively, a New Yorker, about Holder’s decision to investigate the shooting death of a 12-year-old boy carrying a toy gun. “YOU elected POTUS, Holder et al. And they are supposed to represent all Americans, not just blacks. Why don’t these ass clowns insert themselves into their stories?” O’Connor began by asking. After Lively and others answered, she said, “[t]ake your Northern fagoot [sic] elitism and shove it up your ass. You are an intellectual fraud, just like your Messiah. Obama has single-handedly turned our once great society into a Ghetto Culture, rivaling that of Europe. France is almost at war because of his filthy rodent Muslims who are attacking Native Frenchmen and women.”
I get that there are some strong feelings on both sides of the ideological chasm divide when it comes to Barack Obama. Some love him, some hate him, some just can’t stomach the idea of eight years of The Black Man in the White House ©. What I truly fail to understand is the depth and breadth of an astonishingly visceral and personal hatred some on the Far Right carry for this President. I’ve yet to hear a rational, cogent explanation of how Barack Obama is destroying America, subverting the Constitution, perverting Christianity, promoting the Homosexual Agenda, etc. The truth is that there’s no rational explanation to be offered, but those who traffic in irrational don’t play by the rules rational people do. Hate and calumny exist and flourish because they run on fear, rage, mistrust, hatred, and just about any other unproductive, rage-generating emotion. Throw in some Fox News Channel disinformation and propaganda and what you have is a fire-breathing, shoot-first-ask-questions later Conservative rageaholic.
With that in mind, say hello to Deborah O’Connor, who really should take a good, long look in the mirror before she breaks out the term, “ass clown.” You’d think someone with a Ph.D. in English Literature could construct a reasonable, coherent argument without resulting to cheap personal insults and misspelling…but it seems someone’s been overdosing on Fox News Channel disinformation and sees no need to treat others with respect and dignity.
It seems to be a Conservative thing; if you’re operating from a place of fear and lack of empathy and understanding, lashing out at those you disagree with might seem perfectly reasonable and appropriate. The problem with that is engaging your perceived ideological adversaries with cheap personal insults is to walk on the razor’s edge of self-parody. Not only will you not win the argument, you run the risk of becoming something of a laughing stock on the Internet. Evidently, Ms. O’Connor didn’t get the memo…or bother to use her spell check option.
Decent, rational Americans- regardless of where they may fall on the ideological spectrum- are within their rights to expect that public debate be conducted with respect and kindness (you really DO catch more flies with honey than vinegar). That Ms. O’Connor was- until her incoherent meltdown and subsequent resignation, at least- a lecturer at an institution of higher learning (albeit one that’s a wholly-owned subsidiary of Koch Industries) should give all Americans pause. If even those who teach at the university level can be brain-dead, propaganda-addled Fox News addicts, then what hope do we have that our children can maintain open minds and hearts?
The good news is that Ms. O’Connor did the decent thing and resigned…though not before playing the martyr card:
Until her resignation this weekend, O’Connor — who earned a doctorate in English Literature from Florida State University — was a senior lecturer in communication at the Florida State College of Business.
In her resignation letter, she claimed that the incident was “the only black mark” on her employment record. “I sense that the path of least resistance is for me to resign to forestall a litigation, although I must emphasize that I do not believe the punishment fits the ‘crime,’” she wrote.
Yep; nothing like going down in flames in a conflagration of your own creation. ‘Course, when you can blame evil, scurrilous, Godd—n Liberals for your downfall, why would you ever need to worry about accepting personal responsibility for your poor and disrespectful behavior? That’s for losers and Liberals?
Lesson learned, eh? Or not.
