Thread by @dianabutlerbass

This sign was up today at my local farmers market.

I decided to go and talk to the people at the booth and ask them to take it down. The conversation didn't go well.

"I'm sorry to interrupt, but you might not know that this neighborhood is about 75% Democratic. This sign is really pretty insulting to us. We're not a mob."

(The other woman, whom I had interrupted said, "I was just telling them the same thing.")

"We're good people," I went on. "As a matter of fact, I'm a nice Christian lady who gives money to charity, works on behalf of the poor, supports the homeless shelter, goes to church. Do I look like a mob?"

The lady in the white coat answered, "We're not calling you a mob."

"What?" I said.

"Can't you read??" she said indignantly. "Well, we know Democrats can't read."

I said, "I can read. I have a PhD. Believe me, I can read. You're calling us a mob."

"Oh no," she insisted. "It says that if you vote for Democrats, you are voting for a mob."

"But there's really no difference between what you are saying and calling your neighbors a mob."

"CAN'T YOU READ?" she started screaming at me, pointing out each letter. "M-O-B...."

"Yes, I can read. And stuff like this is divisive. You're hear at our neighborhood farmers market insulting us and dividing us."

She looked right at me, "Well, your leader Hillary Clinton . . . ."

I stopped her mid-sentence:

"Hillary Clinton is NOT my leader. Jesus Christ is my leader."

"What?" more shouting from her.

"Jesus Christ is my leader," I said staring steadily at her.

She didn't know what to say.

Then this, "Well, he's mine, too."

"So we must agree then," I suggested. "That God loves the poor, that immigrants and strangers should be welcomed in our midst, that we are to love our neighbors as ourselves. Is that sign loving?"

"Well," she recovered, "If Jesus is your leader and you vote for Democrats, then you can't be a good Christian. Do you vote for Democrats?"

"Yes. I said I am a Democrat," I replied. "And your sign isn't loving. I've voted for Democrats for thirty years. Because, well, Jesus."

I pointed again at the sign. "Would Jesus approve of that sign?"

She said, "CAN'T YOU READ?"

I said, "I can read. I have a PhD from Duke University. Believe me, I can read."

She then leaned toward me and did the "whoopee/big deal" sign with her finger twirling. "Who cares?" she said. And then starting insulting me personally.

"Where are you manners? Would your parents approve of how you are treating me? I told you that you were insulting and dividing us. And here you stand insulting me. I've not insulted you. I haven't called you a white supremacist or a Nazi."

"You know that Nazis were liberals. Hitler was a progressive."

Big tears in my eyes. "You're dividing us. You're insulting my neighbors, all the people in this beautiful inclusive neighborhood."

"CAN'T YOU READ?" she yelled.

I turned, walked away.

And of her hearing, I used a swear word I'm pretty certain that Jesus would approve of.

(Please forgive any typos in the above thread. Thank you.)

And the "Nazis were liberals" was really it. How can you reason with this?

should read "out of her hearing, I used . . . "

BTW, stay away from the woman in the white coat. She's mean. And she looks exactly like Aunt Lydia in Handmaids Tale. I'm going to have nightmares of her shouting in my face "CAN'T YOU READ?"