Crazy Conservative Uncle

Everyone has a crazy conservative uncle. Sometimes more than one. Could be an aunt too. As a kid I remember having some crazy conservative uncles around but things were different back then because you really only had to hear their crazy rants or have to put up with their obnoxious pontificating at occasional family gatherings. Things are different now because they have our email addresses.

I'm talking about the constant flow of forwarded right wing rants, racists blather, and general hatred for fellow Americans that regularly appear in my mailbox from relatives that are trying to educate (brainwash?) the younger generation in conservative values. These things really took off during the 2008 presidential campaign in my family. All throughout that time period anyone with an email address was subjected to the newly discovered Internet by some of our elderly relatives who were on a mission to avoid what they thought would be the end of their world if Barack Obama was elected president. There has been a steady flow of forwarded emails on a large variety of topics usually describing urban myths, computer viruses and political conspiracy theories along with the usual outright lies about President Obama. Occasionally I would respond with the documented description of the falsehood from Scopes or another fact checking website. Sometimes one of my cousins' children would respond with a spirited denouncement of the obvious lie or misinterpretation of fact. However, the thing that bothered me the most about these emails was the mailing list of young people. People in my extended family that should be looking to their elders for wisdom but finding their email boxes filled with lies and hate.

Did I say Tea Party yet? The picture here is a typical tea party folks gathering to attack the government and complain about government spending. The crazy conservative uncle is a tea party person collecting Social Security and Medicare.

I've decided to devote a part of my blog to responding to these emails. Yes, every time I get one of those obnoxious emails I will post it here and comment on it. I was already going to be commenting on politics as part of my 60@60 blog but now there will be a section specifically called "Crazy Conservative Uncle" and I will invite all those who receive the emails to come here and read my response.

I just got another email about Soros funding Snopes. I'm going to have fun with this one but that will be for later.