First Lady pushing ObamaCare: ‘Young people are knuckleheads’

If you consider yourself a true progressive, then, yes, you should be bothered by negative stereotypes, whether they are racist, sexist, homophobic, or, in this case, ageist. Either it's acceptable to perpetuate such stereotypes or it is not.

 

Sounds like you're describing the Democratic Party and its base perfectly. I'm simply holding them to their own standards of politically correct thinking. They have told us millions of times that it's not okay to lump people into groups or to negatively stereotype them on the basis of their race, sex, orientation, etc. If that is the case, then the same logic should apply to someone's age, and it's worth nothing that president Obama made a campaign promise to strengthen age-related discrimination laws, a promise which he broke. If holding my political opponents to their own standards makes me high strung and sensitive, then I plead guilty as charged...

 

Of course they were. Messer school was getting about twice the results at about half the costs

 

republicans call them thugs, democrats call them knuckle heads....

as for what the "people" voted for, we wanted what Obama wanted.. a Public Option, but instead we got the conservatives individual mandate


.

 

Look at all of the young people taking to the streets, outraged at being called things that they're called every day.

With fake scandals and calls for blood, it seems that the GOP has an image problem. The CRNC's "autopsy" pointed out that "President Barack Obama won 5 million more votes than Gov. Mitt Romney among voters under the age of 30 in the 2012 election."

The GOP's image among voters is that it's older, outdated and unwilling to compromise. In the same study, young respondents said that words that least described the GOP were "open-minded” (35%), “tolerant” (25%), “caring” (22%), and “cooperative” (21%).

 

I don't consider myself any such thing. I am not interested in American party political labels, which are meaningless in the international English sense anyway. I am used to people generalising about me because I am in a certain age bracket, and I am neither so egotistic nor sensitive to criticism, that I am about to storm the Winter Palace over being called a 'knucklehead' (which simply means a person of relatively low intelligence).

I consider the lady to have been ill-advised in using terms such as that, but I also suspect the only reason anyone is getting out of their tree about the incident, is for purely political effect.

 

You are just dodging at this point. If a similar thing had been said about black people or gays by a conservative or a libertarian, the progressive PC police would be out in force demanding an apology, LIKE THEY ALWAYS DO. I already gave an example of how her negative stereotyping could be applied in an equivalent manner to black people and not a one of you have challenged it. To me, this is a tacit admission that I am right. So keep dodging, but the truth is obvious. You are all inconsistent in your enforcement of PC standards. You don't really believe in the principle of treating people on an individual basis. You are perfectly fine lumping people into groups and engaging in negative stereotypes as long as it's one of your own doing it.

 

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This is the progressive idea of equality. Lol

 

Am I about to storm the palace? I don't think so. Why are you so intent on avoiding the central issue, which is the appropriateness of negative stereotyping? Are black men being egotistical and sensitive when they object to being stereotyped? I doubt very much that you would be as nonchalant about their complaints as mine.

I'm "getting out of my tree" because Michelle Obama insulted my intelligence on national television in an attempt to push her political agenda, and because she belongs to a movement that has been pushing PC dogma about negative stereotyping for years. She and her husband are the first people to decry negative stereotypes based on race, gender, sexual orientation, etc., so I expect them to be consistent in their enforcement of such standards. Your attempts to diminish my argument are what smack of politics, my British cousin.

 

Then tell me what you believe about the appropriateness of negative stereotypes based upon someone's race, gender, sexual orientation, age, etc. I'm all ears.

 

Calling anyone knucklehead is not very "First Lady-like".

 

The OP needs to realize that not all of us voted for Obama.

 

YES, we already knew they are KNUCKLEHEADS. After all.....they put YOUR husband in office!!!

 

Oh look, stop being so precious about it. I am one of the few people on this board who is in the middle of the demographic to which she refers, and I am not bothered by so non-specific a comment.

Moreover, if you have read my initial post in this thread, you will see that I countered her generalised allegations with a point of view which said young people are just like older people - some good, and some not so good - and pointed to examples of young people who saved a nation by means of their selfless actions.

I know what my values, and those of my similarly aged friends are, and I am not unduly bothered by the expressed opinion of the wife of a functionary in a foreign society on the other side of the world.

I don't know why you are bringing 'black' men into this discussion - they were not mentioned, and I have no particular brief for people of any specific hue or nationality. Human beings are human beings, and if any demographic is seriously maligned, of course I will be offended and possibly take up the cudgels on its behalf - but a comment of this nature is hardly something to get upset about. Have you forgotten already the general attitude of society towards teenagers? My mates and I live with much nastier comments every day.

A reasonable argument against the attitude she voiced, as she obviously means something to you. However, we on this side of the pond do not subscribe to all that 'first lady' nonsense - she is simply the wife of the Head of State, and enjoys neither official function nor status. I don't even know the names of the wives of the British, Australian, or Canadian Prime Ministers - they are not persons of any consequence under our systems. If you want to create an ersatz Monarchy every four years or so, you have to put up with these people regarding themselves as latter day Marie Antoinettes.

In the final analysis, although I am not intending to 'diminish your argument', I do not see her comments as particularly horrible slander of young people as a group. It is of course - slander, as it is as untrue as any clumsy generalisation, but not particularly egregious or wounding in nature.

 

Why not?

This is not a "got ya game". I'm genuinely offended by her comments, and I would be just as offended if a conservative or a libertarian had made the comment. I resent people diminishing the agency and capacity of young people. I do not considered myself or my friends to be "knuckleheads". In fact, most of the "knuckleheads" are quite a bit older than us and they work in Washington DC. They're the ones who are starting stupid wars, spending money we don't have, throwing thousands of innocent people in prison for non-violent drug offenses, and just behaving in a generally stupid and inept manner, and I would include Michelle and Barack Obama in that category, not because they are Democrats, but because I more or less despise every politician and bureaucrat in DC. It's not young people who are destroying this country. They're the ones fighting our wars, fighting for justice, and subsidizing the healthcare and retirement of older people. They should show us more respect and consideration than to dismissively refer to us a knuckleheads who cut their fingers on kitchen knives and dance atop bars. Honestly, I think that cutting your finger and dancing on top of a bar is much less stupid and inept than a President who starts wars without congressional approval and kills dozens of innocent kids in drone strikes across the globe. So who are the real knuckleheads here?

 

I'm a young person myself, some older than you, but still young, so please do not presume to speak for me or for other young people. You speak only for yourself, mate.

Indeed, which is why her comments were so offensive. They serve to diminish the agency and capacity of young people who have done a great deal to serve their country honorably, among other things.

I realize she did not mention black people. My point is that if someone had said something similar about black people, there would be widespread outrage, and I daresay you would be among the outraged. As an example, I provided the following commentary, which I feel to be roughly equivalent to what she said about young people, except it is directed towards black people:

Thanks to charter school programs, black people will be able to obtain a quality education in this country.

But a lot of black people don't value education. They think they can become rappers and pro athletes.

But the truth is, black people are knuckleheads. You know?

Suppose for one second that a Republican had said this. Are you honestly going to tell me that the reaction would be as subdued and nonchalant as yours is concerning young people?

As a libertarian anarchist, it certainly saddens me that I must care about what she says, but the fact remains, she influences people in this country and elsewhere, for better or worse, and I feel obligated to challenge her comments because I am a self-respecting young person who does not wish to be stereotyped as a knucklehead, least of all for purely political purposes. Of course, I agree that knucklehead is not the worst thing someone can be called, but that is not the point. It's about consistency and principles, and if negatively stereotyping people on the basis of their race, gender, or sexual orientation is wrong, and from what I can gather, it most certainly is, then the same should apply to negative stereotypes based upon age.

 

Does that look like a knucklehead to you? Try showing some respect.

 

Take two aspirin....get a good night sleep....turn off Fox News for a month...read a few mainstream political magazines and you will be free from the right wing propaganda you've been stuffing in your brain for who knows how long.

 

Convoluted puzzle paster....you know damn right that the First Lady was not casting aspirations against our fight men and women...THIS IS LYING BY CUT AND PASTE.

 

So there are no young people in the armed forces? That's news to me.

 

If I called you a knucklehead right now, and you reported my post as an insult to the PF moderators, I would receive an infraction. Think about it.