Need everyone's advice on a reaction!

Jeana - posted on 11/08/2008

I'm in a similar situation myself in a very conservitive part of California. (Yes, they exist!) =o) Living in Utah, are you and your critical friends/family practicing LDS by chance? If so, I'd suggest doing what I'm undertaking with other hard core conservitive Christians in my "circle". Tell them they should be praying for their president instead of bashing him! Also, do they know you're an Obama supporter? I'm plasterig as much Obama stuff on anything I have so people KNOW they are CHOOSING to offend me if they make such remarks. ...leaving them open to my rebuttles. Also, FACTS are POWERFUL!!! He's already having a MAJOR possitive impact on other country's views on the US, and he's not even officially in office yet! ...there's my 2 cents.

Anita - posted on 11/08/2008

Honestly, you really have to let it roll off your back. Like you said, we have to respect their opinions, right.

Jacquelyn - posted on 11/08/2008

I will continue on living your life how you want it to be. No one can make you change your mind on who you voted for but just keep their opinions to themselves. Sometime people feel like their world and beliefs are crumbing down around them and not seeing the change. Yes I voted for President Obama and I think I made the right decision to pick my choice of president. Yes conversations come up on the topic but it doesn't bother me to speak my mind. It how you handled the situation can it be a better outcome of this topic. Yes I believe and agree with the president- elect Obama that change is needed and very soon everybody can and will see the change. So don't let this be an unease conversation or those dis graded videos keep you from celebrated the choice you made on election night. I agree with you 100% .

Shannon - posted on 11/08/2008

I know what you all mean, I got an e-mail from my own father that had a bunch of bad stuff about Obama (all bullshit lies of course) and one of the pictures was at a church and on their outdoor billboard it said "any child that supports Obama is no child of mine -God" Talk about WTF? How can a CHURCH write something like that! I hate it when people "speak" for God. What is this world coming to?

Sara - posted on 11/08/2008

It seems like the hardest part of this is going to be that the things about Bush were just funny; quoting stupid things he said, etc. The emails and messages about Obama have a racist and/or ignorant slant; talking about him having allegiance with terrorists and questioning when he'll be assassinated...it's all over the line. However, in the end, will your response do anything to change their minds? In my experience, people who blindly forward stuff like that are probably not doing a whole lot of research and are not worth getting into a debate with anyway.

Shawn - posted on 11/08/2008

Delete. Tell them (politely) that you don't want e-mails of that nature, and then let's get down to the real problems; Obama has all ready stated that we have to work hard to bring about economic and social change for our country. These things are distractions from our goals!

Andrea - posted on 11/08/2008

Not knowing everyone's religious thoughts and feelings, there is a passage in the bible that I think really should be ingested by everyone in our country now that the election is over. It's Romans 13:1-7. I am obviously a huge supporter of Obama, totally thrilled that he is our next President and live in a very Republican city/state in Georgia. That passage truly helped me to have some very productive conversations with some that are at least willing to give him a chance.

Emily - posted on 11/08/2008

Take it all with a grain of salt...and pity the poor souls...but don't throw any mud back...that is stooping to their level of intelligence...

User - posted on 11/07/2008

A statistic I noticed, when looking at the maps of election results, is that the LEAST percentage of votes President-elect Obama got, in the few reddest states, was never below 33%. That means that 1 out of every 3 voters IN THOSE RED STATES voted for him!! And a much higher percentage, of course, voted for him in much of the rest of the country. So no matter who you are surrounded by, the reality is that there ARE many more supporters around you. It's nice to know, isn't it?

Isabel - posted on 11/07/2008

Unfortunately, that's to be expected. Something I've done in the past is find links to the right information, replied with nothing but the link and it seems to get the point across. Other than that, ignore it.

Michele - posted on 11/07/2008

I had one person that forwarded repeated emails and I had to say something to stand up for myself and to show my support for Obama. I did some research and found a few of them were "hoaxes" according to factcheck.org and snopes.com. Like the one from "Bill Brown" who works for Billy Graham was not really written by Bill Brown. And as for the one about his birth certificate being fake and how some guys was suing him claiming Obama wasn't eligible to run for president. The birth certificate is not fake and the case was dismissed. I let her know that a lot of the things she viewed as "failures" are actually considered to be accomplishments by many. At least, the ones that were factual, which a few weren't or were, at best, misleading. I started replying to her with truth and facts and, unlike her emails, I included links to my sources. The emails were not mean spirited, I just presented her with facts backed up by reliable sources and challenged her to take the steps to find the truth next time. I think that the problem is that some people don't want do the work to find the truth as long as it supports their opinion. But if you present it to them without bias, they learn something. If you don't counter, they'll continue to believe the lies. She stopped sending them. I guess she either got as annoyed with my replies as I did with her emails, or she started feeling silly for sending false or misleading information to me. ; )

Jill - posted on 11/06/2008

That is so true. I don't believe Obama supports would react in the same way if McCain lost because we are more interested in pulling together as a country to make it a better place. It's clear that somce McCain supports don't feel that way. Look at the speeches on election night. McCain's croud was booing every time he mentioned Obama. That did not happen at Obama's rally when he mentioned McCain.

Sarah - posted on 11/06/2008

Thank you for the advice. It's true that no one is going to win by fighting about it. It's just hard to not say anything, but I guess it does take a bigger person to brush it off. I can't believe people were betting on when he would be assassinated!! That is so sad and hateful! Even if McCain got put in, I don't think I would hate him that bad.

Sally - posted on 11/06/2008

First off, writing comments about Bush was too easy. :) What would Barack do? I believe he will always take the high road and brush off ill comments. Perhaps it's only suiting to follow his lead.

Annamaria - posted on 11/06/2008

i would say just ignore it. im on a mommy board that just keeps bashing and telling lies about Obama, they're even going as far as betting on how long it will be before his assasination!!! WTF!?!?! pure ignorance. i never liked bush, and have said some things about him, but not anything near what these ladies are saying about Obama. ITS SIMPLY HATEFUL. it really made me angry, but i just hit the ignore button and moved on. THEY OBVIOUSLY HAVE MAJOR ISSUES

Jill - posted on 11/06/2008

I simply hit delete and respecfully request that the sender no longer send those types of things to me. Unfortunately there is no point in fighting back because most of thos people are to narrow-minded to listen anyway.

Diane - posted on 11/06/2008

Our whole household supported Obama and we live in Mississippi a red, and unfortunately, racist state. I have family members in Texas that also supported Obama and a handful of close friends, and several friends online that are supporters. Other than that small group of people NOBODY else I know supported Obama. I have three kids. Two of them are still in school and before they went to school on Wednesday morning I was quick to tell them if anyone says anything negative to you do not sink to their level. Take the high road just like he did. That is a big part of his message and the change he wants to facilitate.

As far as myself, I delete the emails and if I have an opportunity, I tell the person who sent it to me that I would rather not receive any more. I don't go into any detail as to why, just short and sweet, "Thanks but no thanks". I have found that it does no good to argue my point at all. My own mother and I CANNOT even speak of politics. Hope this helps. It is a frustrating position to be in.

Tracy - posted on 11/06/2008

I think ignoring is best, although you might want to let people know you find the forwarded information offensive. You can do that tactfully. I know what you mean about Bush, I used to talk a lot of bad about him (never forwarded stuff and always made sure who I was talking to also disliked him). Anyway, now that I have my guy in office, I see how offensive that can be. Live and learn.