Obnoxious leftists
Why are there so many personally obnoxious people on the Left? I tell myself it's simply a function of the cities in which I've lived. Obnoxious people are evenly distributed, I happen to spend most of my time in cities which tilt Left such as New York and San Francisco, so the obnoxious people I meet are statistically more likely to be left-wing. I'd feel differently if I moved to Midland, Texas.
Prompting this tirade, I spent part of the evening at a show by culture jammers, among them the Reverend Billy, who campaigns against global consumer culture. I asked, needling, but politely, why the particular animus toward companies such as Walmart, those stores largely frequented by Americans who are just trying to make their salary checks stretch a little further. There's a snobbishness about anti-consumerist campaigners: they reserve their real contempt for lower-middle-class spending habits.
The conversation?
RB: Walmart reduces prices only for as long as it takes to put small shops out of business.
ND: Actually, there's plenty of evidence that Walmart has...
RB: You're an asshole.
ND: Can I finish my sentence?
RB, moving in close and yelling: No, you can't. There's no point talking to people like you. [RB storms out of the apartment, slamming the door.]
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