Sahib's Great Toilet Paper Conundrum

The Anatomy of an Attempted Discussion with a Liberal

Recently, something my high school American History once said has really been sticking with me.  He said that he never read conservative opinion columnists because he agreed with them.  He read the liberal columnists because he wanted to know what the enemy was thinking.  Hence, I have been spending some time reading the Huffington Post.  After a few months of this, I can tell Mr. Englund what the liberals are thinking... NOTHING!  The following is a typical interaction with a liberal commenter on the Huffington Post:

I was reading a story about a study that was reporting that 10% of US watersheds were "under stress".  They had a nifty map and everything.  Green was good. (of course it was)  Red was bad.  Here it is.

Notice anything about where most of the problems areas are?  We have such smart readers.  You guessed it!  The desert areas.  Like in all other things, California has the biggest problem which prompted the following comment from yours truly, Sahib.

Sahib 

“Wow, this is a real puzzler. The population of California has nearly quadrupled since 1950 and the water supply is stressed. What a shocking development! I had a similar mysterious problem where I live. When I was single I only went through a roll of toilet paper a week. Now that I have a wife and two boys, I need a lot more than that. Maybe there's a climatologist out there with computer model that can explain it for me.”

Which prompted the following exchange with OldJazzyGirl:

OldJazzyGirl

“Better yet............You could explain WHY righties SCREAM about CONTRACEPTION?”

Sahib 

“Huh? Use it whenever my wife and I have relations.  Two boys are enough for me.  There are occasionally loud noises, but I wouldn't exactly call it screaming.”

At this point, the conversation takes a swift detour from the original topic...

OldJazzyGirl

“Perhaps you could connect population explosion and why we need easily accessed contraception for ALL?”

Not sure that anyone really believes in a "population explosion" in the US anymore, but I figure I'll play along...

Sahib 

“Since when has it been hard to come by?  I've been able to access it without problem since I was 16.  And believe me, I wasn't about to ask anyone else to pay for it when I was 16.”

OldJazzyGirl

“Apparently, you are SPECIAL. Take your head out of the sand.”

Sahib 

“Again, since when have contraceptives been hard to come by?  Condoms are about $1 a piece.  Generic birth control pills range from $10 to about $35 a month without insurance.  Doesn't seem that daunting to me.”

OldJazzyGirl

“It is for some people. And you need a doctor's prescription for birth control pills. The uninsured? 
And guess what....The world is bigger than you. To suggest that because something is easy for you so, therefore, it should be an identical experience for everyone else suggests that your head is somewhere other than in the sand.”

Sahib 

“The world is bigger than me?  Wow, didn't know that.  How about instead of spouting hyperbolic rhetoric you provide some concrete examples of how excruciatingly hard it is for people not living in my apparent Mecca of contraceptives to acquire them? ”

OldJazzyGirl

“I shouldn't have to educate you on the problems of people who have less than you have. If you haven't noticed by now, you never will.”

Sahib 

“You won't because you can't.  When the facts don't match your perception of the world you hide behind tired platitudes and rhetoric.  Show me where in the US in a concentrated population area a person can't walk to the nearest convenience store and buy a pack of condoms.

You don't want access.  You want EASY access.  The problem isn't availability.  It's laziness. It's people behaving irresponsibly.  It's people making bad choices.
It would be nice if the condom fairy would wave her magic wand right before the moment of penetration.  Or in the case of "my man won't wear a condom", the birth control unicorn would come stab you in the arm once a month, but that isn't going to happen.

I understand that some people's lives are harder than others, but I defy you to find a major metropolitan area in this country where any person can't find affordable contraceptive options.  It might just take a little effort to find them.  But apparently for you, this is too much to ask.”

Sahib Sep 25, 2013 at 14:14:43 in Green

“"of people who have less than you" Honey, even when I was making $5 an hour and trying to decide which utility I needed the least, I paid for my own contraceptives. You know why? Because I thought it was the responsible thing to do. I was in no way prepared to have children so I took steps to make sure it didn't happen. I took personal responsibility. I understand that concept is an anathema to many of you on the left, but there it is.”

OldJazzyGirl on Sep 25, 2013 at 14:23:44

“Blah, blah, blah, blah, me, me, me, me, me. You have to be one lousy mother.”

Sahib Sep 25, 2013 at 14:39:39 in Green

“AHHHHH! Another favorite tactic of the left... "I have no facts to back up my assertions so I will resort to ad hominem attacks!" But yes, if teaching my boys that choices have consequences and teaching them to take responsibility for those choices constitutes a "lousy mother", I am happily a lousy mother. Psst.... Just don't tell my wife that I mentioned earlier, she thinks SHE is their lousy mother...”

And that devoted readers, is where OldJazzyGirl bailed... I have checked right up to the publication of this post, and to my great sorrow, OldJazzyGirl has abandoned me. But I am far from discouraged.  Because I know there are 100s just like her ready to spew their drivel.  This exchange was not the exception.  It is the norm.