#HMB 218: Facebook is a Shithole & Hello Darlin' with Arielle Stevenson
I screwed up. I was under the impression that things were cooling down a bit and the hysteria of the political climate had started to settle. I thought I could make a joke...OK, not a joke, but a criticism without stirring the pot. Boy, was I mistaken after nearly 300 comments logged on my personal Facebook page. Our president made a comment regarding letting in immigrants from "Shithole Countries". I watched from the Social Media Mountain while some of my friends and acquaintances became apoplectic with rage over the comment and voice the displeasure on their accounts lambasting the sentiment. I would certainly agree- it's not a very nice thing to say and we should expect more from our Commander in Chief. However, we all know what he is and are you really surprised?
I made a comment poking fun at my fellow white compadres mocking the fact that how dare he say that about a country even though before today they never thought about these places before today. They may have donated $10 to the Red Cross during the disaster relief telethon a few years ago but that's the only finger they've ever lifted for these places. They don't really care and their rage over a word was silly because the only way they visit these places is if it were on a 5-Star, All-Inclusive Resort that was protected by armed guards (most of them hate guns too). Most responded with a "thumbs up", others turned it into a personal debate about Trump vs Obama (for whatever reason) and then some just got plain mad at me about it.
I'm just sick of the phoniness. The holier than thou fake outrage. The pearl-clutching lambasting from these people who have little to no reason to complain about anything. A friend of mine called the comment "tasteless" and went on to infer that I condone the statement (nope, I don't) and another, Crocodile Deathspin from SunGhosts, a rock-band based in Miami went on to call me just about every name in the book (safely from behind his brand new Macbook, I'm sure). I liked the kid when I met him when the whole band came in for a podcast the beginning of last year but I haven't talked to any of those guys since but we were all Facebook buds.
He went ahead and decided I needed a good scolding and digitally wagged his finger in my face while hurling expletives at me, totally misunderstanding what my critique was. I didn't bite, I'm not gonna fight with this dude over a misunderstanding. He continued his tirade from many comments even after other jumped in to defend me and at one point concluded that he understood what I was saying but that it just wasn't funny. Well, it wasn't really a joke. I replied that he clearly didn't understand what I was trying to say because I wrote it, and I understand what I was trying to say. No one knows better what you actually meant more than other people. By this point he has removed me as a friend and since my post is set to friends only, he was unable to respond or see any future comments (consider yourself lucky Croc, this crap went on for days). So adios, buddy, I'll miss our online interactions that we never had and if you're ever in town and want to do a podcast: holla, holla, holla!
Anyhoo, podcast this week welcomes back local Renaissance Woman, Arielle Stevenson. She has a new venture called Hello Darlin' Records, a mobile record shop based out of a restored VW Bus. Local idiot/comedian Zac Townsend was visiting so he sat in on this one too. Always good having Zacky Boy around. Check out the podcast below:
The #HMB airs Sunday's on Radio St. Pete @ 6:15PM & Monday's at 10:15PM or on demand via Stitcher (http://bit.ly/2wuLR7a) or iTunes (https://goo.gl/xKN5OY) Leave a voice or text message for the show @: (813) 693-2124 or hit me up on our Facebook page or on twitter. Don't forget to tune into Stay Woke with Anna Hummel & myself weeknights after the Johnny B Show at midnight on 102.5 The Bone.