considering the angry mind of your typical right-winger

An incident occurred this afternoon that I find so quintessentially representative of what I see to be one of the main problems with your typical rightwing/Republican/Libertarian/TeaParty/Christian types (and yea, OK, extreme left wingers fall into this category also) that I've decided to record the incident.  

At a hardware box store I was having to return a couple items from a big purchase.  Admittedly after the long slow drive into town hitting every one of the three interminable red lights and being a bit short on time anyways, I wasn't on my best behavior either.  

In any event, ahead of me was a couple with their pre-teen and a shopping cart full of electrical supplies.  OK, I'm not pleased with my luck, but so be it, I settle in to wait my turn.  

Oh boy, just like the lights that kept turning red just as I was getting close, turns out that now ahead of me at the only "returns register" open I'm stuck having to watch this scene out of some comedy movie (and I hate stupid slapstick mentality comedy movies!).  

Long and short of it, seems that after their project was completed, or abandoned, said family had items purchased from three different stores, by various people, and they were trying to sort it out at this returns-register.  Register Kid doing his best to run items, but having to reject many as non-instore purchases… these rejects invariably resulted in back and forths - Mrs. being "sure" such and such was purchased here, though perhaps X purchased it at the other place.

Now there's a line forming behind me and what I thought was going it be an extended checkout had morphed into a theater of the absurd as Mrs. tells Register Kid, he must be wrong.  Though they obviously don't have a clue who got what where or what was what.  

In other words your classic case of "folks not having their shit together."  Yes or No?  As it happens I uttered said words to the folks behind me and am overheard by the Mr.

Here it gets interesting.  Instead of some shirk or smirk, or 'sorry dudes' - he's outraged.  
Next thing I know he's in my face, all red faced, inviting a fight and simply totally bent out of shape because someone had the effrontery of defining his chaotic counter transaction (where they wound up taking easily half their stuff back out of the store with them) as not having their collective shit together.  

The thing I find fascinating is that coming into a store wanting to return products that were purchased from three totally different stores with no receipts and no clue what came from where is by definition "Not having your shit together" (although my mother would probably rather I had used her old German saying: "gathering up your seven turnips."). 

It's not even like I can't sympathize with that confused couple, been there myself.  But when someone points it out - my instinct, after the first rush of indignation, is to realize it's on me ~ eat the (deserved) insults and learn from the experience.  After all, if I were being a bumbling fool, I ought to be made aware of it in order to have a chance at improving with the help of such lessons learned.

Instead, here in this little incident, not only was Mr. in my face for a few moments a couple different times, but his wife wanted to have it out with me, also inviting me outside, and at one point the kid joined in with his own threatening whale that filled that huge store and even surprised his Dad.  Good son that one. (kids watch and listen way more than we think)

I responded that "no, I'm not interested in taking it outside and that I certainly know that I will have to wait my turn and in fact I had been waiting my turn as patiently as possible... and excuse me for sharing my observation/frustration at the circus he had created." (that's where the wife and kid joined in)  After that I did my best not to add any more kindling to their outrage, instead meditating on imaging their family dynamics at home.  By and by, their transaction was finally finished and with a few parting shots of indignation and "come on, meet you outside" the day continued on it's pleasant path.

So is that what we have come to?
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To me this incident crystalized an aspect of what has made this entire manmade global warming awareness campaign such a failure over the decades.  Too many people really resent being shown to be wrong. 

Unless what you say conforms to their narrow slit of a world view most Republican/Libertarian and their Christian pals react with outrage and shutting down their brains - instead attacking the messengers of information.  All in order to reject incoming new information.  It seems an idiotic approach to me, but than learning has always been more important than amassing riches for me.

Where do we go from here?
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{I do cast a large net making this one incident involving one couple a scapegoat for such a large group, but that's because I have been watching this typical behavior and have been thinking about many other incidents over the years and am only now starting to feel competent recording and sharing them. }