I got into it online with the guy from the bear dinner today, and basically unloaded on him. It just really pissed me off the stuff that he was spreading last night. So I sent him the link to a page that debunked all that stuff yet again. Of course this person being how he is, he then got all defensive, and tried to tell me that he had formed all these opinions by independently researching them, which is of course not true. I had seen the forwarded email that supplied him with his "opinions". So I got pissed and called him a lazy twit, and told him to make sure his brain was loaded before he shot his mouth off. In short, I turned in to my dad (albeit endorsing a different political agenda). Basically, he was acting like a twit, but of course calling that out is hardly the way to win friends and influence people. I think he was basically trying to be funny and show off his "knowledge" in front of the other guys, and was pissed that I debunked his "facts", as most people are when they are showed up. So now he's threatening to start drama in the bear group. He said he would write to the guys that run the group to tell them that he and his lover won't attend any function where I am present. Yes, this guy does love drama. He has started it at other events. But I feel shitty for being the cause of another episode. He and his lover had really only recently started coming to events again, and although I have (lots of) mixed feelings about their coming (this guy has a very thin skin, and is very easy to offend, for many reasons that I won't go into here, although I admit again that I was not in the least gentle with him today), but I hate that I am the reason that they are once again threatening not to do so. Right or wrong, I was a true Democratic ass today.
Then I talked to my mom, and she starts asking me about this same crap. At least mom knows that I am the kind of person who will know what is actually going on to fuel these stories. She has gotten to the point that she vets her internet rumors with me. So I sent her some links to do some reading on her own about these Barak 'issues'. And I'm thinking LORDAMERCY. First of all, is this high school, that this trivial shit is how people are choosing the next leader of the free world? And if these 'issues' ARE so important to them, why are they not finding the truth of them before making said decision!?
I'll say it once again, I don't care if the man has his finger up his butt while he says the national anthem. What is his record and stance on the REAL ISSUES? This is what is important. The online gossip mongers are playing up the jingoistic fear that he is some kind of extremist who is going to use public office to forward some secret radical agenda. That his not putting his hand over the heart during the national anthem (once) and his refusal to take the Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag (untrue) are clues to his "true nature". Who is he supposed to be, Snidely Whiplash? And let me just ask this: If he were some kind of closet extremist, trying to hoodwink the entire public so as not to reveal his "true nature", would he be acting out in these little ways, or would he be taking care to appear as blindly patriotic and flag loving as he possibly could? I think the answer is obvious. If it were me, I would be posing kissing babies dressed up like Uncle Sam. So what do these little petty kerfuffles mean then? They mean that he's a guy under intense media focus running a marathon of public events, and sometimes he screws up. Which of course means NOTHING. For once and for all - nothing.
I guess I can understand it though, after thinking about it further. Usually, by this point, we have an Anointed Front Runner, and are just going through the motions of the primaries. The party has made up our minds for us, and have (metaphorically) basically patted us on the head and said "You have your little primaries now, but we all know who the nominee is already." That isn't happening this year. On either side. And we have to use our brains. And Americans just don't like doing that. They are used to their candidates being chosen without any bothersome research. They just watch some ads and the work is done for them. This year its complicated. Also, conversely, we don't trust what they tell us. There are accepted protocols for election time, and one of them is that all the candidates will lie to you. We're so used to it, we look for tiny things that appear to be true, and that is the basis for our decisions. That is why the polls wildly fluctuate after some stupid thing happens. People are trying to seine out "truths" from the wash of bullshit that is a political campaign. I can understand the desire to have this be simple again. The fact is that it isn't this year. I'm lazy too. Trying to wade through a candidate's voting record is complicated and slow reading. But some things aren't simple; and this election is too important to be decided simply.
Additionally, I have now read that there is a huge sea change and surge of support for Obama in the black community. I am hoping this is more than the (I'm sorry, it must be said) ignorant support that Clarence Thomas got in his Supreme Court nomination. If Bill Clinton is indeed "the first black president", then Clarence Thomas is "the first white Supreme Court justice with a year round suntan". That man had done absolutely nothing for the black community (and still hasn't), yet he had overwhelming black support in the polls during his confirmation hearings. I would have blamed it on the social conservatism in the black community had it not been for the Anita Hill accusations. Those accusations had to be true, I thought at the time. What possible motivation did she have to make them otherwise? And history has proven that to be the case. So this man had nothing to offer the black community other than the color of his skin (although I believe polls at the time did indicate that that black people did not believe Anita Hill).
The cynical side of me finds it very ironic that in these primaries the unreasonable panic due to rumors in the white community may be offset by (what I arrogantly presume to be) uninformed support in the black community to effect something like fairness. Although Lord knows I wouldn't be able to run for dog catcher now without being lambasted in the media and possibly assassinated for expressing that thought. Good thing I'm a nobody.
OK even I'm sick of the sound of my own brain now. And I have a very busy day tomorrow (I SURE hope it doesn't snow). So goodnight America.
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