BY EDWIN E. VINEYARD

Some of the material encountered in cyberspace, either floated or directed by messaging, is quite airy, amusing, or really funny. Other material is quite inspirational. Still other gleanings prove to be informative and educational.

But some circulated material is drawn from the cesspool of coarseness and vulgarity. Some is like the seepage from an untended sore, full of smelly yellow pus. Some of it emanates from delusional minds. Still some comes as a vile seepage from within the human heart. Some starts with the distasteful condition of absent truth, and then acquires satanic qualities when applied for evil purposes.

The person who is the offending passer often poses a puzzle. They just don’t fit with the material. That misfit poses a conundrum.

Just recently this writer received a pass-along e-mail detailing at great length how President Obama under another name and passport had traveled to various Muslim countries for nefarious purposes. It told how he was born by that name in Indonesia; how he had kept all his personal records secret and unavailable; how his education was financed by mysterious funds from Muslims; and more such “revealing” pseudo information. This came through the auspices of a dear 80-year old retired lady teacher, who has been a trusted friend for 20 years and known generally to have good sense.

A seemingly bright young 50-year-old professional, a distant relative, sent three of the wildest messages of political attack on the president. These were wild to the point of weird, maybe a little crazy. Those did not fit with this man, but then he has gone emotionally “Tea Party” over politics.

Earlier the following came through on a message board:

“I hate it when I wake up in the morning and Barack Obama is still president. Only 999 days until this socialist imposter is out of OUR White House.” [9,209 people had been recorded as “liking” that message.]

That message was sent along by an ardent Republican friend of long standing, considered wealthy by most standards, who has always been nice.

There is a 90-year-old retired school counselor and former grad student of the writer who forwards various “patriotic” and “religious” mailers. These are usually radical rightwing Republican or religious rightwing in nature. Most contain conspiracy theories alleging facts which have been debunked on snopes.com as false and spurious attacks. Because of his age and because he thinks he is being patriotic and religious, this friend deserves courtesy. But he is passing perfidious material that should be stopped.

Most of these friends and acquaintances would obviously be considered “Tea Party” in their orientation. Statistics say that 18% of us are that, but some of us do not normally think of those people as our friends. In actuality it appears that probably two-thirds of Republicans lean toward the Tea Party extreme, or more like 25% to 30% of our population. Further, this “Tea Party” rightist element has always been there. It is not new. Should we then be surprised that some of our friends are found there?

Looking under the dictionary.com site for a definition of “tea bagger,” some interesting statements came forth. One definition of “tea bagger” is:

“A whining fool shouting loudly for liberty but not willing to pay the bill.”

An accompanying sentence, illustrating use of the term, went as follows:

“After most American workers saw more money in their paycheck due to the lower tax rate, the tea-baggers at Fox News railed again and again about high taxes, but did not discuss how much Jesus hated hypocrisy.”

This source has spoken the truth quite eloquently. Previous writings of the Militant Moderate have sought to set forth the missing truth, lack of logic, and absence of reasoning in so many Tea Party talking points. Further, the outrageous and inflammatory rhetoric of that group is dangerous to the peace and tranquility of our country. Such talk leads to tragic actions, even if rightwing columnists and cartoonists try to make fun of that assertion.

But still we are ill-prepared mentally to classify our friends into that despicable category where their political sympathies appear to lie.

– Dr. Edwin E. Vineyard, AKA The Militant Moderate, lives in Enid, OK and is a regular contributor to The Oklahoma Observer