The First Step // VOID-STAR.NET

The First Step

(But watch out, citizens, because in 2012…)

3 Comments

1. 

   667 days ago
   199 comments

   chelle

   Oh my god, we did something right. Can you believe it?

   And thank yooooouuuu.

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   • 

     666 days ago
     1,606 comments

     Dee

     You know, I actually kind of can. Reading Obama’s speeches, he was putting forth a platform of conservative unity; that is, “conservative” in the traditional sense of, “Let’s not be too hasty and change things all at once.” rather than the radical neo-conservatism that’s been floating around a lot.

     And I think there’s a lot of backlash against the government’s attitude for the last eight years, especially from your sort of demographic who is educated and — most importantly — connected with the outside world. I also think this election there have been quite a few longtime Republican voters who’ve essentially said, “Woah. We can’t keep doing this. The world loathes us, we’re spending all our cash mired in unwinnable ‘wars’ overseas, government intervention in private lives has gone nuts and our economy has flatlined.” It’s sort of like, yeah Obama is a risk… but how much worse could it be?

     The interesting thing is, in the last couple of years, the media has been portraying competent, strong Presidents who are young, black or even female (West Wing, Commander in Chief, Battestar Galactica). That sort of thing rubs off, people don’t necessarily consciously realise it, but the more they see it the more they internalise that as being “normal”, and the more likely they are to accept the same thing in the Really Real World. It’s and interesting phenomenon…

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     • 

       666 days ago
       199 comments

       chelle

       Man. I think it’s sad then that I had less faith in my own country than someone outside it had. Then again, it’s a big world — there’s bound to be at least one person out there with high hopes.

       I’m not really sure why my patriotic faith out there was lacking so much. Perhaps it’s because I spend much of my work day with Furcadia in my systray as I casually exchange barbs between tax return assemblies with a very political friend from the south who was very, very sided with Obama even before I made my decision. (It was Palin which finally, definitely pushed me over the edge. I can’t say all my views are liberal, but… change is change. We need it in all forms.) He’s had everything between heated debates to signs stolen from his yard to sticky candy stuck against his van overnight, and fully expected egg raids and other immature bullshit since the campaigns became especially heated here.

       Obviously in the north bay things are a lot less… disgusting. But at the same time, my retarded state passed Prop 8, and I haven’t stopped raging at anyone who’ll listen about it. All I can say is, even though it was by landslides that Chris and I cannot alone take credit for, our county reflected both Obama and no on 8 and that makes us feel… accomplished, in our own way. We can only hope taking it to supreme court will actually do something about it.

       It’s pathetic how sensitive I have been to the feedback. Or at least to the feedback of the feedback. On voting day I read a news article in which some zealot was proclaiming that “God sent Palin here to help our country” and I hear that people all over the country are claiming Obama is some kind of terrorist and that our whole country is screwed. Hey, it’s a risk we and every other country risks to some degree when choosing a new high politician, but claims that he’s going to make all of the caucasians slaves? Come the fuck on, who would let that pass. That’s just white guilt talking. I wouldn’t put it past our healthy supply of rednecks to assassinate the man just for trying to make a goddamn difference in this broken country and that alone terrifies me.

       After eight years of Bush and all the advocates who scream and wail that “he did nothing wrong!”, when a long period passed in the evening that Obama’s electoral votes stayed at 207 and McCain’s jumped from 50-something to 135 I seriously began to doubt that America could really pull itself out of the rut it had dug. I sat and shivered unknowingly at my computer last night, too scared to even have a damn beer for fear of missing the crucial moment, afraid that our own ignorance had condemned us to yet another term of regression. I have been so utterly happy since that it didn’t happen so.

       tl;dr, but I couldn’t let your thoughtful reply go without something of my own.

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