Dad Argues with Callous Barber

My dad braved a scissors-wielding barber. I'll let him tell the story (as communicated via email):

I haven't been able to work on anything all week. One minute I'm so angry I want to explode; the next minute my eyes tear up. I can't remember when I've been this distraught. Maybe JFK's assasination, after which the world changed for the worst.

I got into it with ... my barber, today. He's a typical working-class Republican. Also, I think, although I was unsure until today, a racist. We were watching the coverage.

I said, "it's a shame our government cut funds on a levee system that might have saved New Orleans."

He grunted.

I ploughed on, "Well, I have to say, this is the worst performance by the federal government I've ever seen." "

"You can't be everywhere," he said, "anyway, where were the local and state people?"

I exploded: "The local and state people?!! You've got to be kidding. They don't have the money, the manpower, the troops, the ability to do anything. it's a federal responsibility, and they ducked it. And This president, this idiot, is the worst fucking president in the history of the nation. It's a disgrace that we're fighting a ridiculous optional war and can't find the means to deal with disaster right here at home."

"Well," he said a propos of nothing (which sealed my feeling about his racism), "nobody has to live in New Orleans."

"Yeah," I said, "and nobody has to live in Biloxi (where he goes to play golf every winter with his buddies), but they do, don't they? People live in all sorts of dangerous places. Does that mean we abandon them? The next time Chicago floods or gets snowed under, maybe we say, 'Oh, well, they choose to live there.'"

I concluded, "the people get what they vote for, and this time the people got a fucking, Jesus-freak dimwit for a president. Maybe he'll pray us out of this mess."

Do you think I was too subtle? If he hadn't been wielding the scissors, I might have been more direct.

More direct? I think you did good, Dad. God knows what might have happened if you had run into Condi Rice while she was shopping for shoes yesterday.