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Anybody else noticing any weird stuff happening on the ordinary ground level that might be related to the political climate? I swear I'm not making this up, but I just got harassed on two straight nights at karaoke bars, one of my only reasons I ever go to bars, by guys younger than me that were clearly redneck types and probably also Trumpers, tho only one of them identified as one. These were at two different bars, and the first guy was someone I knew from the karaoke scene, never liked, and just did my best to avoid, ignore, and not speak to him, even tho he would regularly try to force me into talking to him whenever he ran into me. He has been aware for some time, I think, that I don't like him, but, like another bully I've run into at karaoke, he tries some weird sort of alpha male act on me of trying to force me into "submitting" to him by acting friendly with him and talking to him.

I just walk away from him and ignore him and it drove him up the wall on Sat. night so I and the friend I was there with reported him to the bartender before we left, since the friend was sitting with me while we were talking before he interrupted us and started harassing me. He saw that we had done that (reporting him) and tried to intimidate us on the way out, told me that if he followed me outside he would kick my ass, etc. The bartender was sympathetic, said she would tell her boss about it, and I hope they bar him for harassing me and threatening me after that, in front of the bartender. This guy identified as a Trumper. The guy last night, heard me talking to my friend at her karaoke show in another town, right before she started the show. I gave her a quick rundown of the previous night's incident, ending with saying the guy was a redneck asshole. Bad choice of words, it seems, because it so happened that another redneck asshole happened to be sitting at the end of the bar within earshot of where I was talking to her.

But instead of minding his own business, I noticed that as soon as I said the word redneck, his head suddenly turned and he glared at me. I then went down to the other end of the bar to sit and talk with a fellow older guy I had chatted with on previous visits there. Mr. Redneck follows me all the way over there and then interrupts the conversation with the other guy for a full five minutes to call me an asshole and tell me off on every single thing he hates about me and "all you other karaoke people that come here and don't spend any money" etc., He was standing over me while I was sitting down in my bar chair, clearly trying to bully me, etc. This time, fortunately for me, another bartender who works there was in the crowd and she came up and intervened fairly soon, since the bartender on duty was staying out of it, even tho I turned to her and asked her if she was just going to allow this guy to bully and harass me. She said she agreed with him, and that everybody else there felt the same way as him about how I was always being negative about things, etc. Wow, thanks for the support and how gutless, considering that she even sings once in a while at that karaoke show while working.

To wind it up, I'm glad the other bartender stepped in, and sent the guy home, tho I don't think she was that sympathetic or supportive of me, she just didn't want him to beat me up for the trouble it would cause the bar and the fact that I would be able to sue both him and the bar, because the bar as a special duty under civil law to protect their customers from attack, and she knew that. The point of me posting this here is that it seems to me that lately, with the Trumpers and Repubs winning these big victories on the political front, it has the rednecks and conservative asshole bullies really feeling their oats and that they can get away with anything as far as bullying and harassing the libs, or at least those they feel are "the libs", so watch your back if you are out around them and alcohol. Fortunately for me, at this last incident, I also had a friend that had my back, the woman hosting the karaoke show, and she was up there right behind the bartender that intervened, with her cell phone out and ready to record it if he started hitting me and to call 911 if a fight started. Because it was clear to me that if he started hitting me, I might be on my own as far as the bar calling the cops for me. My state now allows open carry of guns, but at least bars don't allow weapons inside, otherwise the bartenders would need police grade guns to keep the peace.

Both incidents occurred in small suburbs, around 60K each, of the Des Moines area, the kind of places that still have lots of rednecks and country music is king, another reason I hate country music, the way the two go together so often. This kind of shit is why for some years now, liberals and lefties in Iowa, have been referring to the state, more seriously than jokingly, as North Mississippi. Because it's become a lot like that state culturally and politically, just that Iowa is actually more all-white than Mississippi.

Update: I just found out from my friend Carol, the karaoke host at the show on Sun. where I got bullied and the guy was sent home. They are NOT going to bar him from there, even tho the bar person who intervened said that he started it and it was all his fault. Good ole bar injustice, all about money and numbers, nothing to do with fairness or justice. They only intervened and stopped him from hitting me because they didn't want the cops coming or called and didn't want to get sued by me for not protecting me. Typical shithead bar owner and manager... I will probably not go back there, since he is allowed to be there on karaoke night and with no consequences for his bullying, I am not going to assume he will behave himself if we run into each other again there. So the bully wins in the end and the bar indirectly forces me out of there. Ain't that America?, as Mellencamp sang.....

TomMcGiverin 8 June 27
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Bullies just like to intimidate people, and they want to be seen by the group as intimidating. It's how they keep their shallow egos inflated.

True, I just wish that bars wouldn't keep siding with them, no matter what their behavior. The classy ones don't, but those are usually not the ones having karaoke around here. The bars only try to police or punish the bullies after violence has occurred or in the moment to prevent violence in their bar. Because it is bad for their rep, it is a hassle for them if the police are called, and because they don't want to get sued by a customer who is attacked. Otherwise, they don't care at all if a customer is verbally bullied and harassed, as long as the customer is not a woman, a big spender, someone with friends who are regular customers,, etc. I fit the profile of the disposable customer: only show up one or two nights a week, don't spend more than about ten bucks, usually by myself, not friends with any regulars. The don't want women bullied or harassed, esp. by men, because that really hurts a bar's rep if it becomes common knowledge that women are not safe there, because then the men quit coming, since many men at bars are just there to chase sex. Something I learned from a bar owner when I was a young man. Bars sell booze and the prospect of sex, at least the successful ones seem to.

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I had more or less taken for granted that they will become more hostile and feel justified. As I say, I've started carrying my gun, this week. America doesn't get better. We just go downhill at different speeds and this roll is accelerating.

I'm not afraid yet of them coming after me outside a bar after I leave, where they might have a gun in their car or truck, and they will never be able to carry inside a bar. But if I start getting stalked by any of them looking for me away from karaoke bars, yes, I may get a gun, learn to shoot and start carrying it in my car. That is only if one of them stalks me and seems to have a gun of their own. I may also consider changing my stance on having a smartphone so I could record someone stalking me and get a dashboard camera for my car if I think someone might come after my car to vandalize it at a karaoke bar, so I would have evidence if they trashed it. So far none of them know what my car looks like.

@TomMcGiverin Well, good luck.

@rainmanjr I hear you. I hope that these two guys leave me alone and that it ends with them, at least. But at the same time, I think you're right, their type will still be around and they will continue to feel more emboldened, thus, it will probably be an ongoing problem, with new bullies popping up from time to time to bully me, as long as they think most people agree with them and that they will not suffer any consequences for bullying people like me. You might say that even as a privileged white male, I am getting a regular taste of what queer people have been dealing with for decades, even tho I was already aware of it, just hadn't been experiencing it. Of course for them, it has usually been worse and more violent.

What kind of places are you allowed to carry your gun in LV?

@TomMcGiverin No govt property or businesses which prohibit it.

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Growing up in a really white suburb in NJ I was aware of hypocrisy, racism, wealthy folks have the control/power and the mafia.
America's very fucked up, all attempts to un-fucked things have met with resistance from the hypocrites, ignorant redneck types, the wealthy, big corporate and the mafia.
I do not like country western, never have and that may be one influence I got from my Dad. He listened to opera, classical, loved the Beatles, rock and some jazz but not country western.

Yup, not all country music fans are assholes or conservatives, but just about every asshole or conservative bully I've ever encountered was a country fan who preferred it to rock. So that's a big part of why I hate the genre, because it is such a hostile culture to me. Hearing it gives me the same discomfort and creepy feelings as someone hearing banjo music after watching the movie Deliverance...

It's becoming like the movie Cabaret, and our American brownshirts are becoming really emboldened, so they are feeling more open about picking on guys like me who sing lefty songs at karaoke and appear to obvious to them as their political and cultural enemies. More and more of our public places will be come political battlegrounds in some aspects.

At the beginning of Cabaret, the brownshirts only beat up people outside the club, because they were still not popular, later in the movie, they beat up one of the main characters inside the club, because they are by then mainstream politically...

@TomMcGiverin WOW! A Cabaret reference! Great anology. Yes, I really saw it coming when Obama was elected. The crazy whites really lost their collective minds. Sadly he was not black enough for some blacks and too black for many whites. With trump they became embolden. 😢🤬😫

@silverotter11 Thanks for the props, sad but true. I wish I were wrong about what is happening these days.. The fascist, bully type whites do seem to be emboldened, as do the racist haters. It won't be long before racist white cops go back to beating and executing black people and other hate crimes will continue to get more frequent as well. And yes, I do remember the way the racists and rednecks lost their shit when Obama was elected and the whole time he was in power..

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That's fucked up.
It's a good thing I don't go out.
I'd either end up dead, or in jail.

I hear you. It's part of why I would never host a karaoke show, much as I like karaoke, because I have no tolerance for bullshit, don't drink, don't want to deal with drunk assholes, or even any assholes, etc.. So if I hosted karaoke, I wouldn't last even one night and would probably end up in jail for trying to strangle the living shit out of someone who deserved it! I only go to bars for karaoke or to hear live music. So for me it's all for music. And the bands I go hear at bars do not attract rednecks in the audience, so I am always safe there.

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