Re: Various election posts
I've not been doing very well most of today, but my mood improved during my library time this evening & I had great bestie time playing video games.
For now, I'm obsessing about election shit, and I really want to see what Bearbloggers are feeling and thinking and saying.
So I'm going to do something I often do - go way overboard and read a bunch of posts and probably reply to several here.
Elections | achyut
I'm so glad you got your citizenship and that you got to vote!
I wasn’t prepared. Apart from the presidential race, I had no idea what else was on the ballot. I encountered six amendments, plus choices for Congress and judges, and I picked candidates and issues almost at random. I’m not proud of this.
This takes time - you'll get better at it. And you gotta start prep work early. And often, it's almost impossible to find good information about these races, especially judges.
Three out of five issues where I align with Republican policies.
those issues were immigration/strong borders, economy/free-market, and
Foreign policy: I lean Republican, as I question heavy U.S. involvement abroad.
Republicans are no better than Democrats on foreign policy. Republicans are more excited than Dems to send bombs to israel for the gaza genocide, but don't want to provide arms to Ukraine for self-defense. Bush ® took us to Iraq (we'd been fucking around in the middle east for a long time already though). Both parties prop up our military and bully the globe, maybe in slightly different ways. We're a menace and its bipartisan.
And good call not voting Trump, he's vile.
Life Update: New Job, New Life, Same Old America | Dave's Place
I've grown so much as person and I'll be damned if a little election will dissuade me from taking care of the people closest to me. I did what I can, and you, yes you, did the best you could do and I'm proud of you for that.
♥
Going Low | Continuation Sickness
on we go low, they go high
["When they go low, we go high"] says, "they are low and we are high; they are lesser and we are greater." We need better ways to think about our political conflict.
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Reactionaries, for years now, often describe displays of strong emotional reactions to political events (such as the opening of this post) as someone being "triggered," a term originally describing the activation of symptoms of PTSD. War and military service is "high," but what it does to you is "low."
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Power resides even within the self, and it is the body, the "lowest" of all things, that is most oppressed. "'I' oppress myself inasmuch as that 'I' is the product of a system of oppression that extends to all aspects of living." Fascism glorifies that "I" at the expense of the body, raises it above everything. When they go high, we go low, to the "body-that-desires."
Their 'ike,' like an upside-down horseshoe, spills something out. Our 'pona' must capture it, that which they surrender through their victory. That 'pona' will always look, to them, like weakness and derangement. They won't even notice what they're giving up in their denial of it. But we're going to need it.
I've not much to say. I like your post. "We need better ways to think about our political conflict [than they-go-low/we-go-high]" is something I'll need to reflect on. I'm also interested in the connection between the egocentric "I" and the "I" in fascism or other systems of power.
Another Whine About the US Election, Sorry | some words
But to be honest I was just foolish.
I don't agree. Idk. I was in denial too. And I'm devastated. But nobody knew for certain.
I feel like this is going to make a lot of people into worse people, and I'm afraid I might be one of them.
The part most getting to me is that I have neighbors and friends who voted for that vile man, and ... I don't respect their choice. They either shirked their duty to be informed, or they believe in his vision and they're pieces of shit. The first one is better, but not by a lot, because the result is the same.
I want to show up with kindness and love and understanding and patience. But also, people need to be held accountable for their horrible choices that hurt people and will kill people. I'm struggling with this, but the brooding and the anger and the hate will pass, and I will return to my spirit, to the light within, to my values. I can be a little shitty for a few days. It's okay. I'll forgive the people who voted for Trump, and I'll also forgive myself.
Shock | Atila's Student Blog
I'm not even american, but the results of today's election greatly troubled me.
They should. We're already a global bully under Dems and traditional republicans, and our (mostly consumerist) culture (mostly fueled by massive corporations) is powerful. I'm sorry my country let you down. Harris was still gonna support the genocide of palestinians, and keep 800 or so military bases abroad, but Trump might withdraw support from Ukraine, and he'll be worse on Israel.
Is it that hard to do more research on a person, who you'll be voting for. Maybe considering I haven't done that much but still.
Yes, yes it is. If you're starting at square one. If you're apolitical and don't keep up, then you're just doing "research" before an election, there's a lot of shit to comb through.
Accumulated knowledge is crucial for understanding politics and complex issues. It takes a few years of paying some attention to really get a good sense of things.
Though, this is not an excuse, and I am incredibly disappointed that anybody could vote for Trump. He is vile and his policies are bad and he's a fucking liar and he doesn't have a real platform.
Also, Dems and liberal media focused way too much on Project 2025. It is bad. But so is the official GOP agenda, and nobody attacked that or addressed it at all except disgraced chris cuomo who's kind of a fucking idiot. Dems pointing to the boogeymen (project 2025 and nazi shit) is a bad strategy IMO. I think some of it was accurate, but it takes a lot more convincing than just addressing the shit that Trump and the GOP are owning. Attack the GOP agenda and you don't have to convince anybody that that IS TRUMP'S AGENDA.
Also, our mainstream outlets fail to meaningfully inform people about the LAWS IN OUR COUNTRY, including supreme court cases and pivotal cases like Trump hoarding classified documents and being bailed out by a trump-appointed judge with an unprecedented unfounded bullshit fucking ruling. Our media is absolute trash and instead played to party lines and focused on drama. When the Presidential Immunity ruling was big talk, I saw so many things about what dissenting Justice Sotomayor and NOTHING ABOUT WHAT THE CHIEF JUSTICE WROTE.
Legal Eagle covered it. That guy's not on CNN or ABC or CBS or MSNBC or FOX. I wrote up a 10 page document on it and presented to my Republican majority county board. I literally, as a regular fucking politically active person, did a better job at educating on that case than any of our mainstream media, as far as I'm aware.
US election aftermath - taking a break from social media | One Man's Opinion
There is a lot of dumb shit happening on social media in the aftermath of the Trump win yesterday. I get that people are upset, as a Harris voter I am as well, but some of the things I'm reading online today from that camp are disgusting and I've had enough of disgusting. Going to take a break from social media for a couple weeks as well as any political news and let things settle for a bit.
I don't know what you're seeing, but... Is what people are posting actually worse than casting a vote for Trump? He's not literally Hitler, but what if he were literally Hitler? When does it become okay for us to be outraged and ugly and disgusting and aggressive? I'm not for violence, but mainly because I'm scared what the backlash would be. I'm more afraid of the backlash to a Trump assassination than I am afraid of Trump himself. But he's gonna kill people. Foreigners. His policies will cause suicides. He'll embolden violent white nationalists. His abortion policies already literally have killed people. When do we get to be outraged and nasty? When? When?
Taking a break is good. I'm obsessing for the time being, and it's cathartic. I'm trying to get every little thought out of my head. Or something. I don't know. I'm just so fucking sad. The worst thing I've posted is to shame people for voting for trump and to say "DO SOME GODDAMN READING".
If I saw what you're seeing, I might agree with you though. It was a short blog, but you sound principled & I respect that, even though I might disagree with you.
The Corpse of American Empire | §kuthus
(I have no quotes to gather here. You gotta read their post, but basically they're saying america is done for)
I just don't agree. Our country is so fucked in so many ways and it has been for a long time. We got through slavery (with a fucking civil war), we got through segregation, we got through 2 world wars, we got through the savings and loan scandal, the 2008 housing market crash. Our senate has 2 black women for the first time in history. Bush took us to iraq (though we'd already been meddling in the middle east for a long time). We survived the first Trump presidency, though ... well ... a lot of people fucking died because of him. The idea that we're just oh so divided now is ... hyperbolic, I think. Are we really more divided now than when Brown v Board of education ended segregation in schools and the national guard was deployed to make integration happen? I don't think so.
If our nation falls its because of the same old shit we've been doing forever - letting corporations get more powerful and take over all our resources and abuse our bodies. That and all the enemies we make bullying the global south and bombing the middle east. But we survived 9/11.
on getting off easy | The Other Other Side
I'm white, able-bodied, cis, and yeah, maybe a little fruity, but I'm on the straight side of bi.
lol cute. And I'm glad your conservative is chill. My conservative-leaning family is too. First time I walked in wearing women's clothes, my dad's face turned beat red, then he invited me to join them for dinner at Mexican in public. So. He had his feelings, and he put them aside to love me. That's good.
Hell, my college used to have a ton of international students from India, before the first Trump administration ruined immigration law.
I'm super curious about this. I don't know what he did that would have gotten rid of Indian immigrants to universities. Like I know he's bad on immigration (not just mean but like really stupid? lol), but I wanna learn specifics here. I doubt I will. Idunno. I'd ask you if we were in conversation.
My so-called "privilege" -- and I resent the term, because again, what I get because of my status is what everyone should get, not some special treat -- doesn't protect the people I care about from the consequences of oppression, neither does it protect me from the consequences of seeing my loved ones being oppressed. The only way to benefit from this system is to shut yourself off from anyone who doesn't look, think, and act like you. To be an island, surrounded by other islands, plugging your ears to the suffering of the masses. And that sounds like a miserable existence, in and of itself.
♥ ... And I'm also not too fond of petty "check your privilege" remarks. Idk, discourse is tough, especially online, especially with people you don't know. Shit gets nasty when we're upset. I appreciate that you have this awareness.
But if I may remind you - laws that censor teachers and history books and don't allow us to talk about queer issues ... being able to "pass" as straight doesn't make you an outsider to the queer community. Also, i welcome the straights too, we need some good straights lol.
What’s Ahead for America Now? | ldstephens
The big question is will we be better off or worse off after another four years of Trump?
I think in some ways we'll be better. I mean, we've been reeling from COVID for years. Lots of economic problems caused by covid, caused by corporations, idk. Despite Trump being dumb as hell on climate, technology and industry barrels forward. I think in a lot of ways we'll be worse, but I care not to belabor that now.
Ultimately, yeah. We just gotta wait and see.
Remember thy human | Cropp Blog
I don't know who needs to hear this right now, but here it is.
Not everyone who voted for Trump is a bad person.
and
I know a few people who voted for Trump, and none of them are bad people, and all of them thought they did what was right.
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two personal stories about people's struggles and why they voted for Trump
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An old friend, who owns one of the oldest businesses in town, voted for Trump because he doesn't believe the USA should get involved in other countries problems - he sees too many problems at home, and wants to see ours solved before we help others.
You can disagree all you want, but what I can't justify is hating these people because they didn't vote the way _you_wanted them to.
and
Remember the human, and change what they think is right - do not tell them they chose wrong and deserve to be guilty for it.
Everyone is just people. You're people. I'm people. We're all people. And right now, I see more hate than ever before, and I dislike that. I resent the part of America who thinks hate is okay. Especially those who preached love and acceptance - until you lost the election.
and
Let's fix it and let's do it properly, without sinking to their level.
Firstly, on "You can disagree all you want," this is really important to remember. We need to listen and hear each others' stories and understand where people are coming from. Disagreeing is not the place to start. I have a bone to pick about someone thinking Republicans are better on foreign policy and butting into other countries' business. But if I need to start with listening and understanding and only argue/debate, I guess, if they're open to it.
Secondly, on the hate. Please give us some grace. Be patient. Let the anger settle. Let the grief process. But also listen to us like you're listening to you're republican friends. Don't hold us to a higher standard because we're supposed to be "better", and don't hold them to a lower standard because they're misinformed or hurt or dumb.
But, yeah, you're right. The hate doesn't help. It's not a useful way to channel this energy. This hurt. This disappointment. This disgust. This deep fucking disgust I feel knowing people voted for that vile man and his policies and his rhetoric.
They didn't do their duty. They didn't read. They didn't listen. They didn't take their jobs as voters seriously, and that is a bad thing to do and people need to be held accountable for that.
That accountability ... it doesn't need to be hate or cutting of friendships or demonizing people or calling everybody nazis or whatever. But we need to be frank.
71 million people either A) didn't do their homework or B) believe in his disgusting vision. I think 90% of those people didn't do their homework. Shame on them for that. Sometimes people deserve shame. When you do a bad thing, you deserve shame.
But we (people who want to shame those who voted for trump) also need to move past that and work on forgiveness. And yes, I do need to be reminded that we are human, and we do need to extend compassion.
But shaming someone for voting for Trump is far less harmful than voting for Trump. People will die because of Trump. They already did, and more will now.
It's not some "I don't like your guy" thing. It's not "I don't really like how he wants to structure our government." It's "He's gonna take away people's rights and pass policies that literally kill people. He's gonna be a stronger supporter of the genocide in Gaza than Harris was.
Regardless why somebody voted for Trump, the result is the same, and they're responsible for it. They're grown ups, and we should treat them as such. To baby them and make excuses for them is to belittle them. They're grown ups with grown up brains who can do grown research and grown up thinking. They're responsible for Trump being in office - not the media, not the "left" for being too mean, not Trump for lying and misleading people - the voters. The people who voted for Trump are responsible, and they should be held accountable.
Despite having some strong disagreements with your post, I highly respect your position & I like your post. I don't hate you. I don't hate my Republican neighbors. I don't hate my friends who voted for Trump. But I'm pretty disgusted with them right now, and it's gonna take some work for me to forgive them. They, too, can work on forgiving me for being angry and petty and mean.
And I'll have to work on forgiving myself once I've settled down, because being an asshole isn't really inline with my values, even when it's called for.
How on God's Green Earth did Trump win again? | $/home/emma/random
Grown ass adults didn't do their homework, or they believed in his vision and they're pieces of shit. I think mostly they didn't do their homework, which shameful.
Many people would have voted for Trump for roughly the same reason Britain ended up with Boris Johnson as the Prime Minister: What passes for the political 'left' is as equally committed to neoliberalism, and has little to offer beyond a few incrementalist policies here and there.
I agree with your framing of the 'left', but no. People voted for Trump because they made bad decisions because they shirked their duty to be informed voters.
Trump himself stated his intention to get rid of 'The Deep State' and 'Marxists', in a witch hunt against civil servants in government, education and the justice system who disagree with him. That's potentially just the beginning. Trump also stated his intention to abolish legal gender recognition, effectively outlaw the existence of transgender people and undermine their rights in the workplace. God only knows how other minorities will get treated, if he gets away with that.
Yeah. I'm scared, for myself because I'm nonbinary male and wear dresses and skirts and stuff. That shit's CCUUUUuuuuteeeee but sometimes its scary. Thankfully I'm in a blue state that's very likely to protect me legally. We'll see.
America Has Fallen | Alexandra's Notebook
Or, more to the point, "what were you thinking America?" I mean, really, Him? The man that elicits nothing but scorn and ridicule wherever he goes?
Just 71 million of us. 71 fucking million people voted for that man. It's a shame.
Everyone else on the planet is grieving the loss of Harris and the Democrats. Except maybe all the Bad Actors ...
Putin's probably happy. Chinese leadership might be too. North Korea's leadership probably is. And people in the Middle East were fucked under either president because America fucks the middle east and the global south. its just what we do, and it's why I voted socialist. But Trump will be worse, I am quite sure.
And who knows, American instability could cause a decline of the US Dollar as a global currency (especially with the growth of BRICS), and that could be good for the euro. And it seems like the EU has a lot of right-wing momentum too, just like we do here, I bet there's a lot of people there who are excited by this. I don't know though.
And a thumbs up to years of lies and corruption as the Republicans, the Good 'Ol Boys, rig the judicial system, strip bear regulations to protect people, the environment, and funding to sciences, the CDC, vaccines, and anything else they cannot make money on for themselves and their cronies.
God there's so many things that are horrible about his policies that I keep forgetting about HEALTHCARE and SCIENCE. Uggggghhhh.
It's so sad to see that most of America would far rather elected a: Convinced felon; Convicted rapist; Failed business man (six bankruptcies plus); Racists, bigot, liar, and fascist
Rather than elect a woman, a woman far more capable than he will ever be.
I would like to point you to Remember thy human | Cropp Blog. I think it is important to understand where people are coming from when they make such disgusting terrible decisions. I don't think most of them see it the way you describe it.
Shame on people who voted for Trump anyway, and they should do better. It is their job as voters to be informed and make better decisions than they did. And the way you describe is, to a large extent, the reality. People chose that vile man over a much more qualified woman.
For more of my thoughts on this, see my reply to Remember thy human above.
America, the country I once knew | Notes by JCProbably
I remember living in a different country as a child, hearing everyone talk about a faraway place called America.
Everyone wanted to go to America. The adults always spoke about the diversity of people there, the opportunities we could have, and the freedom we’d experience.
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Now, after living in America for over 26 years as an adult, I see less and less of what those adults once spoke about. It’s no longer the country people dream of coming to.
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America is now a place where climate change, reproductive rights, and the rights of minorities are dismissed and disregarded—a country increasingly hostile toward those who are not just like them.
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I am utterly and devastatingly heartbroken (and terrified).
I went to sleep knowing he would win, but I still held on to a sliver of hope. I woke up at 5 AM and saw Associated Press officially call his win.
A lot will change over these next 4 years. So many rights that some took for granted will be taken away. Hatred will continue to grow and find fertile ground under him. So many lives will be deeply affected.
Be kind to your loved ones today. Give them a hug.
Many of us need it.
I texted my four closest friends as soon as I woke up. I texted my brother and my sister in law later in the day. I texted another friend too.
My brother was the first person to ask "How are you?" And goddamnit that was all I needed all day. My friends are great. I love them so much, and they listen to me and they support me. But I was feeling really really alone. And I just needed someone to just ask me how I was doing. And he did. And then my bestie changed her availability so we could play games together, cuz i needed company. And my mood improved, and I didn't feel alone any more.
That's all
I've read enough blog posts for now. I'm exhausted. I'm so goddamn tired. I'm weening off weed and it blows dude. Addiction is real. I'm glad my obsession was able to make the night pass. I was definitely in a better mood before starting this post. But I needed to read posts and write my thoughts. I don't know if that's the compulsive side of the obsession, or if that's just me being me. I'm not so sure there's a difference. I don't know.