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Angry white guy unloads on new city councilor in voice mail
By adamg on Thu, 01/23/2020 - 9:04am
Newly elected at-large City Councilor Julia Mejia posted a voice mail she got from somebody who is upset with her proposal to strengthen Boston's sanctuary-city regulations. He vows to call the president's office.
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Comments
Angry white guy clearly isn't
Angry white guy clearly isn't stable. More like angry crazy white guy. It's those types who end up bombing, mass shooting, serial killing, etc. Unfortunately, we have to take them seriously.
Taking bets where this caller
Taking bets where this caller is from:
-1200 = Southie
-900 = Charlestown
-400 = Eastie
-100 = Westie
+100 = “Readville”
Forgot one
More likely: Doesn't even live in Boston anymore. Revere would be my guess.
Edit: Leominster or Pelham, NH is a distinct possibility too.
Hey!
The Leominster native in me took offense to this comment.
...you're not wrong though.
other contenders
West Roxbury or Dedham
other possibilities
Middleborough
Or any rt 2 town west of, but inclusive of, Leominster.
the hill folk of northern MA are really their own breed of meth/smack stupid
And my former hometown...
Billerica. Which voted for Trump in the last election.
Saugus!
That's the town closest to Boston which voted for Trump.
Something in the water up there.
I did find that interesting.....
It seemed like a lot of MA towns and cities with high rates of opiate abuse seemed to favor Trump, almost as if the voters blamed democrats for the drug problems there or something?
More like: Towns with high
More like: Towns with high rates of opiate abuse are probably working-class towns with a lot of unemployment. Working class white people who felt like they didn't benefit from the economic gains of the Obama years were among Trump's strongest supporters.
Yea that too..
agreed.
It's a nice theory, except
It's a nice theory, except Saugus and Billerica are both state average for income per-capita, and above average per-household. They aren't working-class towns, and the typical Trump supporter isn't a working-class either; they're middle class, with income above the national average. It's not the standard narrative, but it is the truth.
More likely is the presence of larger, more traditional technology and manufacturing companies as major employers: Raytheon, GE, L3, FLIR, etc. all have large facilities in the area, and the engineers who work there tend to make good money and lean conservative.
I stand corrected re; the
I stand corrected re; the median income of Saugus. I guess I shouldn't be surprised.
And yes, you're correct about the median income of Trump supporters being higher than the US median income (I don't know if that's still true; it was true after the election and it's probably still true but I haven't seen any actual figures based on recent levels of support).
That said, "median income" is not the same as "Typical Trump voter". He drew a lot of support from non-college-educated whites, which is borne out both by polls and anecdotal evidence.
No Scratchie you were onto something...
Billerica is much different than neighboring towns like Andover, Lexington, Carlisile and even Lowell. I've been up there for sporting events on numerous occasions over the past 10 years and that town has some of the worst school/athletic facilities I've ever seen.
Definitely not the wealthy engineers at these companies either. And if you to rank white working class towns? Billerica has to be in the top 10. I don't know much about Saugus except for the jokes, but it is another very white town that I've always thought of as working class.
Ok, sorry to stereotype everyone. Have a good day.
There's an interesting split
I read an article that stated that the average Trump voter was relatively well-off for their local area. That's an important distinction, vs. the national average.
It makes more sense if you
It makes more sense if you note they're relatively well off town near poorer ones. You're talking relatively well off guys, often still fairly blue collar like contractors upset at seeing "layabouts" near them.
Not making a moral judgement one way or the other here, but that matches the Massachusetts trump voters i usually see.
i was confused by this. he
i was confused by this. he seems to be confused she is from san francisco ?
he mentions we from the midwest fight like ww2 or something. if so why is he calling her ?
he also mentions Vietnam,
he also mentions Vietnam, which is a war that the US lost. so, obviously this guy is a genius.
OTB
Florida
Have you been to Southie
Have you been to Southie lately?
There aren't that many old white guys living there anymore. They sold their homes and moved to Milton or Scituate
Eastie too high on the list
East Boston is abut 90% Latino. Not too many angry white guys there. They all left in the "white flight" of the 1970s-1980s.
I know where he is calling from
It is a place called "impotent rage".
It isn't on the map. In fact, its pretty far from reality.
Wow, we can now tell people’s
Wow, we can now tell people’s skin color by the sound and tone of their voice. This racist assumption is just as biased as the voicemail.
Now lets hear some racist responses that make assumptions of my skin color as well.
It's not the "sound and tone" that give it away
It's the actual content of what he's saying.
I strongly support sanctuary
I strongly support sanctuary cities.
But I also don't think it's honest to assume someone's race from the content of what they say.
Do you also believe...
...that "Blacks for Trump" is a thing?
Nice distraction
"hmm maybe if I complain about the presentation I can ignore the fact that this guy is saying the same things I've been saying for years, just not in a fake-polite way!"
Just like a Swiss watch
Thanks for not keeping us waiting.
As soon as I saw this on UHub
As soon as I saw this on UHub, I knew some knuckle dragger would make this exact comment. You folks are nothing if not predictable.
You seem upset.
Is that you on the call?
Here's a race-blind response to your
hilariously hare-brained notion. Imagine Logan Roy telling you, "Fuck off."
Self identification
Listen to the call before commenting - the guy self-identifies
Just like you just self-identified as an enabler and an idiot.
How about your explanation, Merkin?
What's your explanation for how this individual is likely to be Latino, or black, or Asian, or anything other than a plain ol' dull-normal white dude? What in his word choice, issue focus, speech patterns or anything else points in any other direction?
By the way, I notice a whole lot of white guys on here who aren't aggrieved by this. Why are you, merkin?
oh my fucking god
this may be the most Aggrieved White Guy bad faith comment i've ever read on the internet.
making assumptions about racial heritage based on physical characteristics isn't racist on its own.
ex: it's not racist if you thought "what you won't do for love" was sung by a black guy.
Pardon me boy
But where's Sheriff Branford?
I AM Sheriff Branford.
Funny. For some reason, you sounded a lot taller on the radio.
From Smokey and The Bandit
Ooh ooh I'll play!
You've been raised entirely as white and you pass as white. You don't identify in your daily life as anything but.
But if race is discussed, you'll point out that well ackshually you're 1/16th something.
(Using "skin color" as a means of pretending race isn't a thing in 2020 USA is a dead giveaway that you're a racist white person. It wasn't hard.)
You left out...
...points out how the Irish/Italian we’re discriminated against when they came over here.
I have a dream
That one day we will live on a UHub where troll comment authors will not be judged by the color of their skin but the content of their character (or at least the content of their comment).
Say it isn't so!
He's going to pull his tens of dollars from the Trump campaign if Donald doesn't do something?! OH NO!
Shut up bigot.
#WorldClassCity
Based on the accent of the
Based on the accent of the caller (and not the chickenshit content of the message) I am going to guess that he is one of Tom Menino's least successful relative.
That was a good response by Julia; Boston's newest and sassiest councilor! Fun to think that I voted for her (along with 22,492 other) and that she won by one vote.
Disenfranchised
Thanks to their crappy mobile site, my wife and I didn't vote and were disenfranchised. we are talking to attorneys about nullifying the election.
Wait, is this a joke?
I assume your deep commitment to municipal fiscal responsibility would trump any ill feelings about your vote being missed considering the cost of running a special election for city council of all things.
Mobile site for voting?
Say more please?
(But since Alejandra St. Guillen doesn't want to contest the election, I don't think any court will listen to you.)
You keep using that word...
Lack of a mobile site does not prevent you from voting. Fail to vote for long enough and you will be removed from the voter rolls.
Don't blame others for your failings.
Wasn't lack of a site
It was poorly designed.
It led two educated people to believe that an absentee ballot could only be obtained and processed by mail.
In fact, you can vote in person which is clear on the website.
The real concern was later when I went to the election department to point out the problem with the site and some bureaucrat told me it wasn't the election department's problem.
It damned well is their problem.
And I believe we've voted in EVERY election for the past 20 years. We always vote, but didn't think we'd need an absentee ballot until a few days before the election.
why are you perpetually aggrieved?
And it's pretty easy to attend class and get a diploma, what you do with that education is what matters.
In case you haven't noticed
this is a pretty good cross section of society and everyone is perpetually aggrieved about something. My pet peeves happen to be wasting money, incompetence/sloth and people thinking that rich people should be their sugar daddies.
do I
not hear the treacling milk-fed lilt of one of our Self-Appointed (exempting-Trump from) Law and Order Czars: capecodpiece? Or is it the venal and venereal -ex-truncheon lobbing visigoth himself: Oafish-lol?
Too bad the message got cut off
...before he could get into the Centre St. road diet.
This guy is wicked smart
Like most Trump supporters, this guy is a genius. He knows that she's both a "fascist" and a "communist".
What *is* the explanation for the
average Trumpie's grasp of basic civics and political history?
Dropped on their head repeatedly as an infant? Spent their elementary school years huffing turpentine? Caught a street-hockey slapshot on the forehead? Pushed a "who can hold their breath underwater longer" bet too far?
Just curious.
Poor guys
They OD on Fox News and talk radio.
It's like meth, only you aren't as functional.
Eating lead paint chips
It's a real thing.
Sort of
High lead levels in school age kids, likely from breathing in lots of leaded gasoline fumes and heavy metals in coal smoke, have been shown to lower the IQ of working class kids in metro Boston. Not only that, the follow up evaluations correlated lead exposure with serious deficits in behavioral self control throughout life!
As you note, some researchers even believe that it was a big part of the violent spasm of crime that hit at mid century.
Yes, coal smoke
That's totally a winner
Yup
I was being facetious when I spoke of eating lead paint chips, but obviously the airborne toxins would have been a much bigger impact. Although in individual cases...
Serious answer
Shitty schools.
No teaching of recent history.
Too much Fox News/Alex Jones/Rush Limbaugh/et al.
GOP has basically abandoned any semblance of reasonable debate in favor of calling their opponents traitors for the last 25 years or so.
Strong correlations between
Strong correlations between lack of critical thinking skills (heightened amygdala responsiveness leads to fight-or-flight, black and white and in/outgroup thinking) and conservatism. Strong correlations between high levels of group-identity and deferral to leadership and conservatism as well. People who are less likely to have a nuanced view of the world and cannot handle ambiguity or complex issues are more likely to become republicans. There's some research showing explicitly teaching critical thinking skills can balance this (people give more leftist answers after partaking in exercises teaching critical thinking) but obviously republicans have spent the last 30 years dismantling that
the Joe Rogan Demographic
They're too young to blame it on senility (like most of the Red Hats). These folks are different, they may know better but they don't care. It's all a troll, a game, an extension of grade school antics that a lot of these people never grew out of.
It's ignorance. Proud, flag waving ignorance.
i wonder if governor charlie
i wonder if governor charlie baker would prefer to follow this rant.
One guess
This guy complaining about "leaches" has already received vastly more $$$ from public coffers from medicare and social security than he ever contributed.
Neither of which would be solvent were it not for young adult immigrants entering the workforce.
Sons of WWII Fighters
In other words, a militia of 75 year olds?
He's expecting an army of 75 year old men to just pick up guns and throw a collective tantrum?
Okay.
Angry whites
Adam, how do you know he is white (like you)? If you thought it was a Hispanic man would you have captioned “Angry Hispanic man”?
Dumb *and* repetitive
Next time before commenting, try scrolling up to see if everyone's already derided the dumb point you're about to make.
You are Late!
Piotr and Vlad will be docking your pay on this one!
Siri...
What is 'white fragility'?
He has a tiny amount of self-control
He keeps edging towards actually threatening her, but then seems to realize that that would be bad and pulls back (and talks about the war etc.) His rant would be so much more meaningful if he actually knew who Julia is.
He really did.
Kept creeping up to it, desperately wanting to say that he would kill her, but then would stop himself and talk about the military.
At a guess...
...he's gone over that line in the past, and has received a visit to discuss his views with those in authority.
His final call?
Before heading to Florida for spring training?
Huh, Curt Schilling's back?
Yeah, because...
...he failed to get into the Hall of Fame again.
(although I did wonder if he'd stroke out on seeing Jeter cruise in on the first ballot)
Schil is a bubble HoF candidate, but as
Shaughnessey noted, he’s likely to get in amid a thin 2021 class. I’m okay with that: weaker pitchers are in the Hall.
But I can’t forgive him for tainting my 2004 memories, my most joyous moments ever as a Boston sports fan, by later revealing himself to be such a loud, profoundly stupid, evilly hateful bigot. (Nazi memorabilia? Really?!) I’ll leave aside how he reamed Rhode Island for millions; plenty of dumb, self-owning cupidity to spread around there.
Thanks for the Bloody Sock game, Curt, but for the love of God, please please please just STFU and go away. Stop reminding us that, for all your gifts as a supremely clutch athlete, and despite how you helped end 86 years of local hardball misery, you are a truly terrible human being.
Eh, he was a shithead at the time
I talked to a reliever who got brought up by the Red Sox for that series and said that his first interaction with Schilling was Schilling walking by him in the dugout and spitting his nasty chewing-tobacco spit into the guy's coffee cup. A punch-down asshole from the get-go.
Background Music
The only complaint I have about Counselor Mejia's handling of this is that I could have lived without the melodramatic background music she added to this nut's call. I couldn't listen to the unhinged rant all the way through. Not because of the rant but because of the grating music. It reminds me of those commercials on TV that are trying to be extremely somber like the abused animal commercials.
In fairness, the costs of licensing
an actual Sarah MacLachlan song are punishing.
I didn’t notice the music. I was too busy thinking, “This rightie nutter is dangerous, but he has a *great* accent”. A little South Coast, maybe, some Jerry Remy sibilants in there?
Totally agree
Honestly, I thought the whole thing was overdone. Mejia spent some time and money making this video. Anyone in public office gets abusive, threatening phone calls. Unpleasant, in person encounters. Online it is awful, mobs of haters, usually anonymous. Mejia is a member of the Boston City Council, she should focus on what she can do for her constituents. I have a sense she sees her office a stage to get attention.
Give me a break
This probably took a staffer 20 minutes to put together. And getting ugly hateful phone calls shouldn't be an expectation for anyone, regardless of their role. Good for Mejia to use this to make a public point about not bowing to hatred instead of just trying to act like this is normal and reasonable.
I think she accomplishes a few useful things
with this video:
1) Call attention to the fact that there are hateful, disturbed right-wingers out there who are willing to not-so-subtly threaten physical violence against public officials (and that they're dumber than dogshit);
2) Demonstrate that she isn't in any way frightened by this quasi-criminal act;
3) Show this simpering coward that genuine patriotism, citizenship and love of democracy is characterized by the kind of open dialog she has invited him to.
She neatly highlighted what a craven, ignorant piece of shit he is. That's good, quick work.
A happy ending?
Boston Globe: City councilor’s angry caller has a change of heart