Me: 1, Freeper Relative: 0. W00t!

[MorningGlow]

So this afternoon my Bush-lovin', Beck-, Limbaugh-, an' Hannity-listenin' aunt came into my mom's house, all fired up over the latest nooz story she heard on the radio (Faux, of course--it's the only station she listens to).

"Did you hear that at Occupy D.C. they have RATS? And--get this--they won't let the officials KILL the rats! They're making them FIND their mates AND their babies and RELOCATE THEM to Virginia!!!!!"

I said nothing. But of course I, er, smelled a rat. (Sorry.)

Grabbed my iPhone and poked around. Took me about five minutes to find out the truth. It would have taken less time but I still can't navigate that virtual keypad very well, plus all the stories reporting the rat thing as the gospel truth were all freeper sites, so I had to wade through those.

I said, "Got it. Rats story isn't true."

My aunt (gods as my witness) waved a dismissive hand and said, "Oh, you're going to believe THAT?"

Uhhh...I hadn't even quoted a source yet.

But of course, when I said I was reading an article from the Los Angeles Times, she interrupted me (don't they always interrupt?) and said, "Oh! The Los Angeles Times! They're just as bad as the New York Times!"



So much for reliable news sources.

When I had scraped my jaw off the floor, I started reading the pertinent part of the story to her. I started with this bit (http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/nationnow/2012/01/virginias-message-to-washington-dc-rats-to-you-.html):

Cuccinelli told CNSNews.com that Washington’s Wildlife Protection Act of 2010 requires pest control companies to capture rats "and capture them in families -- you figure out how you’re going to do that with rats -- and then you’ve got to relocate them." He's worried they’ll end up in Virginia.

And she said, "See?!"

Then I read the next part:

"Not true," said Mary Cheh, the Washington councilwoman who sponsored the law, which she said seeks to require that other forms of wildlife, not rats, be treated as humanely as possible.

The law expressly exempts rats, she said in a statement. "I would have hoped that people would have been inclined to read the bill before raging against it."

She tried to talk over me and drown me out, but because it was just the two of us (my mom hid in the kitchen till it was over, bless her), she was forced to listen.

And then she shut up.

Yeah, baby.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

1. Ah, isn't vindication wonderful???

Good for you!

Maybe she'll be more careful next time...

[MorningGlow]

10. It felt good, Peggy

I've gotta be honest.

I was respectful at all times, BTW.

[NYC_SKP]

2. Oh, my! I hope the rats and their families are taken to a very nice part of Virginia!

It's beautiful there!

[pinto]

3. She shut up, so you won. 1 - 0. End of game.

Kind of sad, I think. I know family stuff can be contentious and convoluted, and one's own personal business, but I don't see getting a relative to shut up as a "win". See it as a loss, actually, for you both.

[2ndAmForComputers]

4. Nope. Truth wins. Wingnuts can go pound sand. Relatives or not.

By the way, if the aunt ends up avoiding her sister's house, I count that as an even bigger win.

In my book, idiots don't get a pass because they're relatives.

[MorningGlow]

11. That's because you don't know my aunt

I love her, but I don't like her, if you know what I mean. She's mean, petty, vindictive, hateful, and small minded. She shoves her politics in everyone's face; she shoves her religion in everyone's face. She's always right and anyone who (even respectfully) disagrees with her is always wrong.

On top of all that, she does the Faux Nooz thing of shouting over you if she doesn't like what you have to say. She refuses to listen to reason, debate, or any opinion that deviates from her own (or, rather, what has been dictated to her by Faux).

I have put up with her altered behavior (she wasn't always like this) for the past 20 years, and it's been uglier by the minute. Most of the time, when she starts in, I keep my mouth shut and seethe. If I can't handle it, I leave the room, or the house, before I start arguing with her.

So if you'll excuse me, I will enjoy this small victory and remain pleased with the fact that I might have made her realize that not everything she hears on Faux is the gospel truth.

Addendum: As I just mentioned above, I was respectful at all times. Because she is still my elder relative.

[pinto]

15. Ah, got it.

[xfundy]

5. Illustrative of the whole "librul media" meme's sick genius.

When I was in school (again) some years ago I picked up on what was happening as I kind of obsessed over the activities of the "religious" right in the late 90s. I wrote an article for J-school pointing out what was happening, which basically boiled down to "don't listen to them! Listen to US! Everybody knows that us "christians" are the good guys!"

Turns out, IMHO, that I was right, and we're in the "fair & balanced" media mess we're in now, where those who rely on their reptilian brain functions will automatically dismiss sources of actual NEWS as bias because they didn't hear it from Fox Noise or another source, such as CNS and other "News" sources that they've been conditioned to accept and trust through repetitive messaging.

"CNS" was originally "Conservative News Service." They changed the name to try to better fool those who were on the fence.

[Guy Montag]

6. Freepers are totally without muchness,

a trait talked about in Tim Burton''s Alice in Wonderland as the citizens of Wonderland muse about what an older Alice seems to be missing until she finds it at the movie's end.

They are without shame and certainly have little mercy or empathy for anything but their own fascist way of looking at things and doing business.

kudos for counting coup on this relative.

Just remember the most important element in any fight online with the Freeper mindset; one will seldom if ever get them to see the light.

When doing battle with them in a forum or elsewhere, the eye on the prize should always be on the education of the lurkers and others in audience to the battle.

[juajen]

7. You catch ignorance from watching fox. Sad, really!

[Nye Bevan]

8. So, why does the law require all animals except rats to be treated humanely?

Why the discrimination against rats? Is it because of their appearance?

[jeff47]

12. It's because of their quantity

And how that quantity creates a public health issue.

[MorningGlow]

13. I was wondering that too

Poor things, pegged as vermin carriers. We never recovered from the Black Plague years, it seems (and even then it was the fleas on the rats--and humans not bathing or keeping their houses and towns/cities clean--that was to blame, not the rodentia). Such intelligent creatures, too.

[hootinholler]

9. Rats? In DC?

Shocked I am! Shocked!

Damned dirty hippies brought rats to DC!

[MorningGlow]

14. That was the implication, yes

Damned dirty hippies indeed.

[99Forever]

16. Good on you ..

.. for not backing down from a one of those clearly in the spell of the carnival barkers of the right.

Facts, the Anti-Tea Party.

[Dirty Socialist]

17. I Hate It When...

I hate it when I try to make a point to cons and they try to shout over me or drown me out.

[Motown_Johnny]

18. Did you point out how unreliable Her "News source" was?

Because everything else they tell her is wrong too.