Blind Loyalty vs. Friendship

I gotta give BigDaddy credit. When I yank his chain, he spazzes at least twice as much as his masters did. At least Kempite and Mduminiak would wait until the following day before they post. The last article wasn't up but maybe two hours, and BigDaddy was already falling all over himself to get in on the action.

I resigned two weeks ago, and I am still the single most powerful candidate at U4Prez, and this blog is still the single biggest story. Thank you for jumping when I tell you to jump, Daddy.

I know Daddy has his heart set on jumping again. Easy, Sally La La, I'll pull your string again in good time. Don't be so selfish in demanding my attention. There's plenty of other candidates for me to blab about.

Like Iron Lady.

I always tried to get close to Iron Lady--you see her typically opine on this blog with WAAAAAAAA--because that's what I do. Especially when I was first trying to put together a women's league for U4Prez. I've found that most of the female candidates are moderate to liberal, no radicals, no ultra-anything. There are a few conservatives, but they could easily be lumped in as moderate, not so far to the right that you find them quoting Republican talking points and watching Fox News. By and large, they are centrists that lean slightly to the left.

That makes Iron Lady sort of an oddity at U4Prez, an outspoken female conservative.

Wanting diversity within what became the League of Female Candidates, I approached Iron Lady on this. Now, as every female I've ever approached in this knows, by definition, merely for showing up at U4Prez everyday with a vagina, every female is in the League, and later, the Women's Society. Participation is always voluntary. I did try recruiting Iron Lady to this end, in wanting diversity within the League, in wanting to gain support for the League itself, I wanted her to feel she could contribute.

She politely turned me down. Which is fine, I don't twist arms to try to pump up active membership. Whatever's clever.

But in the grand and never-ending war between the forces of good and evil, I was alarmed to see her choosing to fight for evil. Politics made little issue on this, I have no problem with differences in political opinion. What I've always had a problem, though, is the kind of bullshit games that are played on virtually every message board in Cyberia. There were a handful of nutbars who were already starting the very kind of partisan hackery Jon Stewart begged Paul Begala and Tucker Carlson to stop on that infamous night in 2004 on Crossfire.

See, the real battle at U4Prez is not drawn along party or ideological lines. Republicans and Democrats generally get along there, and Independents would have a fighting chance if they didn't have to worry about moderator negligence as well. Mature conservatives and liberals find they can conduct themselves in an adult manner. THIS is what attracts people to U4Prez, being about to present their platforms in the marketplace of ideas, and having others talk about them and vote for them. That is the U4Prez I always fought for, one where it didn't matter where on the political spectrum you fell, if you had a million-dollar idea and could sell it, you would be thrust into the limelight. A true meritocracy.

Others have a different view. They want to take the same filth in American politics, all the backstabbing, the lewd comments, the immaturity we've seen get worse and worse every election cycle, and bring it in here. They've made no bones about it, they have no problem with dirty politics. By any means necessary, they are determined to bring U4Prez down to the level of Freeper Hell.

I've long made the argument, U4Prez is a microcosm of American politics. We can choose to either REFLECT the real world--take the good and bad we see in the current bipolar system and play the same kind of games we hear on talk radio--or we can PERFECT it, by ditching the known world and starting from scratch, a fresh start, free from corruption and cynicism.

In my travels, most choose to perfect rather than reflect. Most try to find new ways to improve their campaigns and promote them, and aside from occasional personal squabbles, they succeed. Some came in here, though, wanting to bring the worldly flotsam here, ruin this virgin territory, and let the same dirty politics and freeper gameplaying in.

Iron Lady not only chose to be on the dark side in this battle, she has become arguably the biggest asskisser the Hard Right can rely on. There is no one who will defend the Hard Right chumps as loyally, or as blindly, as she. No candidate is more willing to throw away her own personal beliefs, common sense, even fact, in the defense of her "friends".

I often refer to the Hard Right as a gang, a wolfpack, a roving tribe of thugs, looking to pick on the more innocent elements at U4Prez. Someone dares to speak up against one of them, you can be assured that four or five will gather around. Strength in numbers. What was that rule Mduminiak had--create your own goon squad. That was the Hard Right, willing to twist the logic and browbeat the candidate into quitting. Thugs like Mike call that just playing the game, and they rejoice when they get someone to quit. Tis a pity, how anyone could revel in a game where apparently the biggest asshole who can get away with it rises to the top?

Iron Lady is one of the most ardent members of the Liberty Crips. The only candidates she ever assisted were in that Hard Right cabal I refer to.

There was one night, the night when everything really went down between Kempite and myself. Iron Lady jumped right in the middle of everything, per usual. BigDaddy had just made a comment on my big mouth, and he unashamedly said that, if a man were married to me, he could see why a husband would beat his wife. I went ballistic on BigDaddy, as I think anyone should. I don't know how anyone could condone a statement supporting wifebeating.

Iron Lady chimed in, wanting me to shut up. She played stupid when I tried to explain to her what I was upset about. I begged her to look through the comment board, Daddy's statement was there for all to see. She refused, choosing to maintain her ignorance. Had she seen the evidence herself, I don't know if she could defend the goon who said it so ruthlessly. By refusing to educate herself on the situation, she maintained her self-imposed ignorance.

It's not like she had to look through some 14th-century Italian library to seek the forgotten evidence. All she had to do was scroll the comment board back a few pages. Couldn't even do that. What she COULD do is play stupid, and go after me instead of Daddy. Had anyone said to Lady what Daddy said to me, I would like to think she would have reacted with the same obnoxious zeal I sported that night.

I think what really cheeses me off about that night is, a couple of Friday nights ago, on Kempite's talk show, in that first hour completely devoted to how beautiful they think I am, Daddy repeats, with the same degree of pride, what he said to me that night to set me off, the wifebeating comment. Lady admitted that even she would find that offensive and gave him a verbal slap on the wrist. That fucking bitch! If she had done that on the night in question, perhaps I wouldn't have blurted out about Kempite's use of Tony4Prez's death for political advantage, thus launching the most explosive personal grudgematch U4Prez has ever seen.
But no! In the heat of battle, she chose blind loyalty over fact. She chose to conveniently keep her ignorance on the subject, because had she known, she would have had to actually criticize her fellow Hard Right hooligan. Heaven forbid that!

There is not a woman in the world, I don't care her political leanings, who would have not reacted exactly as I did when Daddy made his wifebeating statement. It wasn't a left-right comment, it was just a vicious thing to say to a woman. Daddy is so proud that it upset me, I have no doubt he would say it again. Had it been said to kt2020 or Think08 or Demopublic or even Iron Lady, I fail to see how they wouldn't react adversely.

Iron Lady chose ignorance over doing the right thing. She chose defending a wifebeating thug like Daddy instead of just coming up and saying, Olivia, what's your problem tonight?
But she's like that. I don't know how many times she put blind loyalty for her lovenest with the Hard Right ahead of common sense. When just a little work on her part might make her look a little less petty, she will refuse every time to do so.

When I ended up shouting out the moderators on the Fifth of July and putting myself on the line to ensure MejicoJohn got his rightful spot in the run-offs, who was one of the biggest shills trying to shut me up? I shit you not, even with me going off for over an hour, with her trying to insult me into shutting up, after the fact, she had the gall to say, well I didn't know, don't get mad at me! She would rather MejicoJohn be screwed out of the run-offs than stand up for him in a moment of real need. Pretty pathetic, if you ask me. When the moment of truth arrives, Iron Lady chooses to bag on Olivia than do the right thing.

When I realized that several of us were going after Hedrick for selling his soul to BigDaddy and giving up a PM for the VRWC to play with, I begged everyone to back off him. Copulate continued, and after trying to get him to lighten up, I finally had to shout out SHUT THE FUCK UP, COP! THAT'S when I finally did right by Iron Lady. Heaven forbid she should ever tell Mduminiak, Kempite, BigDaddy, or any other Hard Right criminal to shut up when they relentlessly attack a candidate.

She knows integrity when she sees it, which makes her lack of it even more horrific. Everything that comes out of her mouth is completely insincere. Even when she pats me on the back for having the nerve to tell one of my closest allies to shut up, I know it has more to do that it was done to her perceived enemy than any virtue I might have displayed. I did what she refused to do, tell someone, even if he is one of my best friends here, to knock it off. She didn't salute me because I did the right thing. She saluted me because it was Copulate I told off, sworn enemy of the Hard Right
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And that turns a pat on the back into catty gameplaying.

There is a distinct difference between blind loyalty and friendship, and Iron Lady has not clue number one as to what that means. To the Hard Right, friendship constitutes asskissing, nothing else. They have absolutely no use for anyone who cannot tow their line. Whoever enters their circle, unless they are kneeling and puckered, they have no value. To hell with right and wrong, loyalty trumps fact. Any vicious attack is okay if THEY do it, heaven forbid you should try to stand up for yourself against such an onslaught.

Friends tell the other when they've gone too far. They don't cheer you on, no matter how stupid you're acting. They tell you when you're acting like an asshole and pull you back to your senses.

Consider it's last call at your neighborhood pub, and your bestest buddy has had way too much. Blind loyalty, never questioning your friend, dictates that you let him drive himself home if he demands the keys, defending the action, who the hell are you to tell him he is wrong, you must be the enemy and need to be eradicated. When you see BigDaddy, or Hawk, or RogueJew being challenged for some disgusting thing they grunt, who among the Hard Right is there to pull him back, look him in the eye, and tell him they're acting like idiots, grow up already. You don't see it from them, because they value blind loyalty over real friendship. Disgusting grunts is what they live for! Of course THEY won't tell their buddies to shut up, they encourage it and want more. Instead of pulling them back for their own good, they join in and attack!

A real friend snatches the keys from her drunk friend and tells him to shut up, the booze is talking for him. And before he says something to get him in real trouble, she snatches him out of there, drives him home, and lets him pass out on her couch. A super friend will make sure he is sleeping on his side, so he doesn't choke on his vomit, but you've done enough in getting him home without him getting in a fight or saying something he can't take back, letting him puke on himself is no real crime at this point, so long as it's done safely in sanctuary.

Those I have some sort of close relationship with at U4Prez know they can call me out anytime. They have no problem telling me I need to pull back, I need to lighten up, I need to make a small change here and there. I appreciate that. I've had fun with several candidates I consider friends, or at least friends in this realm. But they don't owe me anything. They don't defend me, although at times some will try to put them in such a position. They don't kiss up to me, I wouldn't respect them if they did. When I say something I shouldn't have said, they tell me. They don't defend the practice. And I do the same fo them. Real friendship can withstand such criticism, such minor crises. A so-called friendship that relies on you turning a blind eye to their bullshit isn't a friendship at all. It crumbles with the slightest pressure. Instead of strengthening, it remains superficial if all you do is kiss ass.

Iron Lady doesn't get it and doesn't care to. I hope YOU know the difference.