Obama to sell Great Lakes

In her gym this morning my friend Marian overheard two guys talking.  The one said “Did you know that Obama is selling the Great Lakes to China?”

At this point any normal rational person would have said, “Ok, what’s the punchline?”  Instead, the other guy said, “He must really hate America.”

Last night I listened to a presentation of Erin and Dave from the “Hear Yourself Think” project.  They put on a workshop of how to counter the constant fear and hatred that is spewed 24 hours a day on talk radio and the Fox network.  You are supposed to treat these people with respect and ask questions to move them into a zone where they start to question their beliefs and actually think.

For example, Marian might have asked, “Are the Chinese running a pipeline under the Pacific?  Won’t that be difficult?”  Or, “Are they going to take the water by tanker?”  Or, “Why would China buy the water?  Don’t they already have a surplus?”  

On the other hand, you could just ask, “Just how far up your butt is your head?”  This might not lead to the two guys questioning their belief, but it might be more satisfying.