Mowits

Kris at Random Mentality links to this Press Citizen piece. I commented over at Kris', a short one act play involving future divorce proceedings between the author and his wife, but I've been thinking about this a lot. Thinking about it and getting madder.

See, I'm willing to bet that my politics are a lot closer to Mr. Rediger's politics than they are different from Mr. Rediger's politics. And that's what makes me so mad. Cause it's shit like this that gives politics like mine a bad name. Shit like this gives right-wing fuckwits a chance to say things like

I suppose I need look no farther than the tag "School of Social Work" to see this guy coming for a mile. (NOTE: Actual blog comment from an actual right-wing fuckwit.)

Yeah, because anyone in the "School of Social Work" is automatically suspect as a slack-brained commie pinko weanie sympathizer who can never say anything or contribute anything of value to society. Typecast much? Here's hoping Mr. Fuckwit and his never need the services of anyone who ever graduated from a "School of Social Work" someplace.

Oh, and what's with the quotation marks around School of Social Work? Does Mr. Fuckwit not believe in the existence of Schools of Social Work and thus has to show his nonbelief with quotation marks? Or, as is more likely, is it just another dig at Schools of Social Work? Fuckwit.

Speaking of fuckwits, I think the thing that pisses me off the most here, the thing that most plays into right-wing stereotypes of liberal behavior, is the mealy-mouthed passive-aggressive behavior Mr. Rediger exhibits throughout the entire incident. He can't just out and out ask "Can we stand here and watch for free?" No, he has to come up with various lame excuses. You know, I've worked the gate at various artistic events. If someone came up, loitered around like they were trying to watch for free without paying all the while trying to act like they weren't trying to watch the show for free, I would probably skip the acting contemptuous towards them part and jump straight to the openly mocking part. "Concessions? Yeah, right. Concessions." Geez. Spongebob showed more cajones when he was trying to get into the Salty Spittoon.

But this embarassment isn't enough. To top the passive aggression off, after leaving Mr. Rediger considers coming back, driving his car through the park, and honking his horn to punish the patrons who actually did pay, as if paying to see a Riverside show isn't already punishment enough. But of course he doesn't, because that would cross the line from passive-aggression to aggression, and we certainly can't have that. Instead, he sits at home, stewing over the "economic segregation". (WTF? Charging people for something is a form of segregation? News to everyone who ever went to law school, or, for that matter, lives in the real world.) No, he doesn't go back, because he doesn't want to shame his wife. Instead he writes, and submits, an op-ed piece so he can be openly mocked not only in Iowa City, but throughout the world. This, presumably, won't shame his wife.

Moron. Fuckwit. Fuckron. Mowit.