Posted on 05/30/2004 7:57:50 PM PDT by sionnsar
Thirty years ago. Seattle was still a family-oriented town dominated by blue-collar industries and single-family homes. There was a bohemian presence there, but it was mostly limited to the University District and Capitol Hill.
Today the entire city prides itself on its open-mindnesses. Seattle not only tolerates non-conformity, it celebrates it. It is Seattle where a proposed group home for homeless alcoholics would allow them to drink in their rooms. It is Seattle where police were ordered to pull back during WTO, which allowed the streets to be taken over and occupied by tens of thousand of demonstrators. It is Seattle where a man running for mayor got up during a candidate forum wearing a housedress and combat boots and started dancing on a table. It is Seattle where not one politician, progressive pastor or academic has complained about a sign hanging in a storefront on Rainer Avenue urging "Victory to the Iraqi Resistance!" It is Seattle where a militant black Muslim, James Ujaama, who eventually pleaded guilty to aiding the Taliban, was initially defended by some journalists and civil rights leaders because of his previous community activism.
And feelings matter too. It was in Seattle where County Executive Ron Sims sent out a memo during the holidays asking his employees not to wish each other a "Merry Christmas" because it might inadvertently offend some people.
It doesn't matter how far out your politics, religion or beliefs are, Seattle is committed to fostering respect for all points of view.
Except one.
If you are a supporter of George W. Bush, or a Republican, or even just an old-fashioned, flag-waving patriot, you are not welcome in The Emerald City.
Ken Potts, a veteran of three tours of duty in Vietnam, lives in Seattle's Shoreline area, where his property and truck have been repeatedly vandalized. The reason? He supports George Bush.
His house has been bombarded with eggs, both front and back, his truck scarred with a one-foot scratch. Mail containing left-wing and anti-American literature was sent anonymously to "The Patriot." "I assume," he says, it is because I have a large 'Bush-Cheney' sign on my house. I also have the 101st Airborne Flag on a 25-foot pole during the day, My mail box was also blown up three times last year until I mounted a 20-pound one on a solid steel post cemented into the ground."
When Mr. Potts went to the store to buy something to clean the mess off his house, the cashier, a woman in her 50s, asked about the Bush bumper sticker on his truck, and told him she was a Kerry supporter. She asked why he didn't like Kerry.
"I told her that, since she asked, I did not appreciate him coming back from Vietnam and turning on his brothers still there. She asked what I meant and I told her that I did not appreciate being called a 'war criminal' and a "murderer,' that I was never involved any atrocity, not did I witness such a thing. She then told me that I was in fact a war criminal and murderer and we (troops) were all guilty of atrocities."
When the store manager came over and apologized to him, the cashier yelled at the manager, telling him not to apologize to a murderer for her.
Now if Mr. Potts had been a Muslim cleric or a gay activist and was hounded like this, the city of Seattle, its politicians, pastors and pundits would be all over it. But if the vandalism, property destruction and harassment happens because he supports George Bush, well, that's just mischief.
Interestingly, while this kind of thing goes on in Seattle, there are plenty of Kerry and even some Nader bumper stickers in the supposedly uptight suburbs.
There are two ways to deal with it. The first is to give up and not post a Republican yard sign or a pro-Bush bumper sticker or flag in Seattle. The second is to emulate Mr. Potts. "I was a patriot before it was cool and will remain one until I die. Nobody can intimidate me into taking down my sign or my flag. I earned the right to my opinion and free speech."
Mr. Potts bought a pair of spotlights. One is trained on the Bush-Cheney sign, the other on the Starts and Stripes.
Three words. Good for him.
John Carlson is founder of Washington Policy Center and can be heard daily from 3-6 p.m. [sic] on radio stations KVI-570 [AM]. His column appears every other Sunday. Readers can contact him via e-mail at jcarlsom@fisher[-?]radio.com.
(I know John. Good guy!)
I think what you see in this list is generally the worst. Heck, we parked very close to the Folklife Festival (a folk music festival attended by many tens of thousands of liberals and worse, and two conservatives with eclectic international musical tastes) today with a large "Dino Rossi for Gov" sign prominently displayed in the window of our car -- and nobody touched it.
Come visit Oak Harbor on Whidbey Island. Flags fly, troops are appreciated with signs and smiles, and we have clear lakes, mountain views and a little corner of heaven!
We live about 20 minutes away from Seattle, on the east side of lake Washington. Any time we are going into Seattle to see a play, go to dinner or whatever, we drive my wife's mini-van (no Bush sticker) instead of my car with a Bush sticker. She who must be obeyed insist...
I have a CW/Permit, and the only time I carry is, 1) hiking in cougar country, and 2) when we visit leftist Seattle.
Oh, yes, that's Vladimir Ilyich, himself.
My first experience with Seattle tolerance was when my tires were flattened and my car keyed because I had Bush/Cheney bumper stickers on it.
Is it all the coffee there, or what?
Don't think so, as I think many of us here, could hang with any of the Lefties there, on coffee consumption. Of course, we probably tend more towards straight-up consumption, maybe a little cream, rather than flavored lattes.
Depends where you live...seen plenty of "Crazy Train" and "Johnny Frenchman Kerry" stickers around town...although most of those were on WSU faculty or Alumni memebers cars...
I've yet to see a Kerry bumper sticker in the Tri-Cities.
Wouldn't surprise me to see a Nader one first...
Which always seems to happen to me, whether it's Seattle or Vancouver... --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I guess with enough rain you can eventually expect to see your civic pride running in the gutter. Word is out on the Northwest though. These punks give hippies a bad name. Real hippies wanted libertarian ideals accepted by their country rather than imposing third world theocractic dictatorships.
Real hippies believe in the system and are willing to work within the framework to change things rather than imposing a cultural makeover that would never be accepted according to the constitution.
On the other hand, the loser hippie of the Northwest may be counted on to put an ugly face upon what was once an honest attempt to change society while working within the system.
Yesterday's hippies smelled a rat, today's hippies are rats. Big difference.
Just now getting around to my pings......yeah, we were marching in downtown Seattle for Bush to support his struggle to stop Gore from stealing the election when the kind, gentle, understanding pacifist Seattleites cursed, threatened, spit, and yelled at us as we walked by.
Move to Lewis County (south of Pierce and Thurston) if you feel you must get away from all the lefties and yet want to reside near the I-5 corridor.
Imagine my shock way back when I graduated from HS and came up here to UW. It was a different kind of "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington"!
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