Wednesday, August 17, 2011

The Shame of Madison

Althouse' friend, a Christian minister from Kansas, was saddened by the LeftOWacky treatment.

....I was shocked at the treatment I received by the people of Madison gathered there at the Capital on Friday. To be harangued for an hour by someone constantly getting in my face with what I now think I realize was the tacit approval of the crowd and the explicit permission of the leadership was a stain on your beautiful city and your reputation as a center of progressive tolerance. Yes, I am told that some on Twitter have said that I was aggressive and bullying but they are lying. I suspect it’s because they know how badly I was treated and the good will with which I bore the abuse. Better to get out in front and create a narrative to your liking. Have at it. I actually kind of get a kick out being referred to as the nefarious Kansas Preacher. I have ministered in Africa, South and Central America and Mexico. I have held evangelistic services in towns where there was little welcome. I have been glared at in Brazil, stared down in Guatemala and gangster slang of cartel country in Mexico. I have walked the streets of Los Angeles Skid Row with impunity and worked for a government agency in the worst neighborhoods in Philadelphia (where I was a member of the social services union and walked the picket line, thank you) and the worst I have ever been treated in a public place was in Madison, Wisconsin. I say that to your shame.

I've said it often:  if you don't live there, you don't understand what Madison is really like.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Yeah, let's make the generalization that ALL Madisonites lack manners and morals. I'm sure that those Tea Partiers who took Obama to task a couple of days ago in Iowa were "politely and properly speaking their minds", right?

What is sad about our society is that people love to paint the opposing side as being uncouth without accounting for when how they behave themselves when in a crowd.

People on both sides are angry, and some, unfortunately, go to extreme measures. That conduct, however, is representative of our society, regardless of their ideological bent.

Dad29 said...

I have posted that the recalls were justified b/c there was a LOT at stake here.

But the behavior? Not justified in any way, shape, or form.

Further, you confuse rhetoric with reality. There's a lot more of the sentiment in Madison, if not the rude behavior.

Anonymous said...

Tea Party pastor from Kansas poke around union rallies in Madistan and gets his feelings hurt? Puh baby. One would think his skin would be a bit thicker based on his globetrotting to third world armpits.

Dad29 said...

Well, now he's been in a first world armpit.

Tim Morrissey said...

I volunteered to pick up my wife at the Dane County airport from a weather-delayed flight from NYC that didn't land until 1 AM Tuesday. Driving through town and across the isthmus at that hour of the morning, I was again stunned by the number of people "sleeping" on the sidewalks downtown, and along East Washington Avenue. Madison is not the workers' paradise some would believe.

Dad29 said...

For the low- and semi-skilled, or socially inept, Madison has nothing to offer. No manufacturing to speak of, a limited number of restaurants...

Not that Milwaukee is popping with Golden Opportunities for the same classes, but...

Madison is a very class- and degree-conscious employment market. Ironic, eh?