Donkeys and elephants and pigs.... OH MY
I'm not political. Just thought I'd get that out of the way. When a National Guardsman grilled me last night for a legitimate reason I wouldn't join, I told him that I'm disaffected, and that is the truth (interestingly, he was taken aback but told me that was the most straight-forward answer he'd ever received and gave me a pen).
I am pro-choice. I support gay marriage and proper sex education in public schools (none of this abstinence-only bullshit). I am an atheist who respects differing beliefs, but is BIG on the separation of church and state. I think we have been in Iraq for far too long, and although I admit I don't know enough of the facts to take too serious an opinion on the war, from what I know I think I'm right in saying we've screwed the pooch. Relatedly, I enjoy Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert, despise Ann Coulter and Bill O'Reilly, and whole-heartedly agree that Bush is at the very least one of the worst presidents in history. And hey, I enjoy sex, booze, and swearing. For all these reasons, I consider myself a liberal for sure and a Democrat until proven otherwise.
With that out of the way, I've made some observations as of late that I would like to share.
The main part of my job is set-up and maintenance of displays in the bookstore. Obviously, many of these displays (tables, bays, fixtures, etc.) have been political lately. About a month ago, corporate instructed us lowly peons to put The Obama Nation: Leftist Politics and the Cult of Personality along with The Case Against Barack Obama on the very front table of the store, with McCain's Faith of My Fathers on the fixture right beside it. Needless to say, some people weren't happy, and since then it has been IMPLICIT that we be fair in our displays (no shit, luckily I bend the instructions corporate gives us anyway). But even now it's no better, because the Republicans are just so much more quick to smear than the Democrats. Not that this is a good thing, but in this imperfect world in which we live, smearing is unfortunately necessary, and the Democrats should jump on the bandwagon once in awhile. Sometimes you have to fight fire with fire.
I recently put up a whole politics table. The problem that I kept running into was that the Republican books grossly outweighed the Democrat books. Basically, you can walk the Politics and Government section and stumble across 20 books titled in some variation of "Republicans Rule and Democrats are Pussy Bitches" and maybe 5 books of "Hey, That's Not Very Nice: Why Democrats are Nice Guys". The only books I could find with persuasive, Leftist titles were obviously anti-Bush, but plenty of Republicans and Democrats alike can agree on that deal. Obama Nation and Case Against Barack Obama have both been firmly on display as bestsellers for weeks, while books like The Audacity of Hope and Dreams from My Father have jumped on and off the bestseller display (plus, it's worth pointing out that the anti-Obama bestsellers are both hardcovers and aesthetically seem more legit, while the Obama books are both paperbacks and are barely an afterthought for most shoppers). What finally made me snap and feel the need to say something was stumbling across a new book while unpacking boxes, titled simply The Audacity of Deceit. It infuriated me. It's obvious that the Right is comprised of more outspoken, unfair, smearing members than the Left, and while it's very quaint to say "Take the high road, Obama!", it's becoming clear that this is what the public eats up. And I mean, they eat it right out of the GOP's fucking hand, like a horse to delicious, tendentious oats.
Palin's daughter could've been a golden ticket for Obama's campaign. But he did the decent thing and said that the candidate's private lives are just that. Good for him, decent Americans will see that and give credit. I don't want to be misinterpreted - I think that is the way politics should be and part of the reason I can't get behind the mass media melodrama feeding frenzy that it actually is. I respect Obama for his civility and am likewise disgusted by the McCain campaign's quickness to smear Obama for a known phrase such as "you can put liptsick on pig, it's still a pig" by saying that he's a sexist, he's obviously talking about Sarah Palin, I tell you! I was disgusted to read about that. But the fact that McCain's campaign can say things like this and STILL have supporters just goes to show that sometimes you have to fight dirty. It seems Obama's wising up, and more importantly, speaking up. Let's hope so.
Oh, and for the record, I do in fact have a vagina, but I also think I have a brain. While Palin might have both, too, it's obvious that the former was the biggest factor in her vice-presidential nomination and I've yet to see much evidence of the latter. So no, her presence in the election has not convinced me OR my vagina to support McCain. Sorry, guys, but nice try.
Feel free to comment -- but although I welcome corrections and opinions, keep it civil. I just calls it like I sees it and even if I'm not a very politically-minded person, I do have that right.
I am pro-choice. I support gay marriage and proper sex education in public schools (none of this abstinence-only bullshit). I am an atheist who respects differing beliefs, but is BIG on the separation of church and state. I think we have been in Iraq for far too long, and although I admit I don't know enough of the facts to take too serious an opinion on the war, from what I know I think I'm right in saying we've screwed the pooch. Relatedly, I enjoy Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert, despise Ann Coulter and Bill O'Reilly, and whole-heartedly agree that Bush is at the very least one of the worst presidents in history. And hey, I enjoy sex, booze, and swearing. For all these reasons, I consider myself a liberal for sure and a Democrat until proven otherwise.
With that out of the way, I've made some observations as of late that I would like to share.
The main part of my job is set-up and maintenance of displays in the bookstore. Obviously, many of these displays (tables, bays, fixtures, etc.) have been political lately. About a month ago, corporate instructed us lowly peons to put The Obama Nation: Leftist Politics and the Cult of Personality along with The Case Against Barack Obama on the very front table of the store, with McCain's Faith of My Fathers on the fixture right beside it. Needless to say, some people weren't happy, and since then it has been IMPLICIT that we be fair in our displays (no shit, luckily I bend the instructions corporate gives us anyway). But even now it's no better, because the Republicans are just so much more quick to smear than the Democrats. Not that this is a good thing, but in this imperfect world in which we live, smearing is unfortunately necessary, and the Democrats should jump on the bandwagon once in awhile. Sometimes you have to fight fire with fire.
I recently put up a whole politics table. The problem that I kept running into was that the Republican books grossly outweighed the Democrat books. Basically, you can walk the Politics and Government section and stumble across 20 books titled in some variation of "Republicans Rule and Democrats are Pussy Bitches" and maybe 5 books of "Hey, That's Not Very Nice: Why Democrats are Nice Guys". The only books I could find with persuasive, Leftist titles were obviously anti-Bush, but plenty of Republicans and Democrats alike can agree on that deal. Obama Nation and Case Against Barack Obama have both been firmly on display as bestsellers for weeks, while books like The Audacity of Hope and Dreams from My Father have jumped on and off the bestseller display (plus, it's worth pointing out that the anti-Obama bestsellers are both hardcovers and aesthetically seem more legit, while the Obama books are both paperbacks and are barely an afterthought for most shoppers). What finally made me snap and feel the need to say something was stumbling across a new book while unpacking boxes, titled simply The Audacity of Deceit. It infuriated me. It's obvious that the Right is comprised of more outspoken, unfair, smearing members than the Left, and while it's very quaint to say "Take the high road, Obama!", it's becoming clear that this is what the public eats up. And I mean, they eat it right out of the GOP's fucking hand, like a horse to delicious, tendentious oats.
Palin's daughter could've been a golden ticket for Obama's campaign. But he did the decent thing and said that the candidate's private lives are just that. Good for him, decent Americans will see that and give credit. I don't want to be misinterpreted - I think that is the way politics should be and part of the reason I can't get behind the mass media melodrama feeding frenzy that it actually is. I respect Obama for his civility and am likewise disgusted by the McCain campaign's quickness to smear Obama for a known phrase such as "you can put liptsick on pig, it's still a pig" by saying that he's a sexist, he's obviously talking about Sarah Palin, I tell you! I was disgusted to read about that. But the fact that McCain's campaign can say things like this and STILL have supporters just goes to show that sometimes you have to fight dirty. It seems Obama's wising up, and more importantly, speaking up. Let's hope so.
Oh, and for the record, I do in fact have a vagina, but I also think I have a brain. While Palin might have both, too, it's obvious that the former was the biggest factor in her vice-presidential nomination and I've yet to see much evidence of the latter. So no, her presence in the election has not convinced me OR my vagina to support McCain. Sorry, guys, but nice try.
Feel free to comment -- but although I welcome corrections and opinions, keep it civil. I just calls it like I sees it and even if I'm not a very politically-minded person, I do have that right.