(no subject)
Reasons to be happy about being Bina right now
- 1) Obama won!
In one of my favourite episodes of South Park, the children have to vote between a Giant Douche and a Turd Sandwich for their school mascot. Stan abstains and is reprimanded for being anti-democracy. The closing lesson? "I've learned something today...I've learned that in a democracy, it's always going to be a choice between a Giant Douche and a Turd Sandwich, because only Giant Douches and Turd Sandwiches get high enough within the ranks of their parties in order to run for office." (or words to such effect.) That pretty much sums up my view on democracy pretty well. It's always going to be the same dynasties, the same voices, the same big picture with just a few variations of detail.
With the victory of Obama, I'm no sudden convert to democracy, but I think the symbolism alone is definitely worth celebrating. My white friends seem to think they're terribly sophisticated for pointing out that Not A Whole Lot will change, and that it's not THAT symbolic, to which I answer 'suck a fuck.' No one but me will notice when a woman finally wins an Oscar for Best Director, but it will sure matter to me because I've seen myself excluded from that scene so categorically. This Isn't a Big Deal to white folk who are *used* to seeing themselves represented, but it sure meant a lot to my Baba who was arrested in the early 70s as one of the first non-whites living in Australia for his anti-apartheid work here. Cops back then weren't used to seeing Indians and assumed Baba was Aboriginal. When they found out he was actually from India the copper said: "Go back to your own country. We don't want your kind here. You're a troublemaker" to which my Dad innocously replied "I was invited to come to this country. Were you?" And made himself my hero forever...Anyway, Baba was in India at the time and sent me this truly touching email saying he never thought he'd see a black President in his lifetime. And Eugene Robinson, one of the most prolific black journalists from The Washington Post, wrote so movingly about seeing Jesse Jackson with tears pouring down his face, truly humbled by the Obama victory.
The best bits for me? Being able to shove it in the face of my truly bigoted co-worker ("We have to pray for McCain!" Silence. When it looked as though Obama would win I told her she mustn't have been praying hard enough...nasty I know, but she makes work so fucking painful for me sometimes that there's only so many times I can bite my tongue while she projectile vomits her ignorance onto the rest of us...)
Going to the Official Democrat party at Slide Bar. So many crying and hugging and ecstatic expatriate Americans! The vibe was sensational and we all drank expensive champagne. It was like a New Years Eve party for a new world order...
Watching Ms Palin go home. I must say, by the end I was uncomfortable watching a lot of the criticism directed at her. There were plenty of legitimate reasons to attack her and so I was always disappointed when the commentary delved into sexism, not dissimilar to the sort of venom unleashed upon Natasha Stott Despoja here. What comes to mind were the French-Canadian comedians who, after running out of their planned material for a prank phone-call to Palin where they pretended to be Nicholas Sarkozy's office, made a reference to "Nailin' Paylin." Not cool. Granted, they were ad libbing but it still made me uneasy. I think one of the best analyses I read was in The Guardian, where someone remarked that Sarah Palin epitmised precisely what Republicans claim to hate about affirmative action - an unqualified candidate getting a post for purely tokenistic reasons. Which of course is precisely what Palin was - a most cynical attempt by the GOP to capture disgruntled Hillary supporters. What they seemed to miss was that Hillary supporters liked Hillary not because she was a woman but because she was highly competant, intelligent and experienced (ok I'll admit, I started liking her a whole lot more after her concession speech during the Primaries...I'm just glad that after a Bush, a Clinton, and another Bush, we didn't get another Clinton).
I can't tell whether I'm happier now or when we got rid of Howard. I think now - it's bigger, it's a huge day for the whole world. That said, because of the two-term limit we were always going to get rid of Bush, it was just a matter of who replaced him. With Howard he was ousted after it felt as though he would be in forever...and the icing on the cake was that he lost his own seat...sweet Shadenfreude!
Anyway, that's a huge part of why I'm so happy. Obama's victory was like the best week of my life. But there are other reasons:
--This morning, after my routine morning Skype date with Alexander, I deleted it from my computer. Why? Because tomorrow I fly out to Buenos Aires, meaning the next time I see my darling boy will be in the flesh and there will be no need for this stupid, time-laggy, pixelated and non-pubbelly software that can only offer me some facsimile of my boyfriend. We’ve done it!
- Anna got her placement at RPA! I'm thrilled - and it couldn't have happened to a more deserving person.
- Beau has moved to Marrickville, within walking distance of my place. Yay!
-There's talk from a Quaker friend of mine about starting an Inter-faith choir. Sounds awesome!
-I’m almost finished work, which means one month of not having to come to this shithole.
-My Leonard Cohen tickets arrived in the mail.
- I'm on the home-stretch for a very difficult year, and I cound't be more content and excited for what the future holds for me.
I'm gonna make it after all!
Reasons why life is shit?
- I wrote a post very similar to this on Sunday night, but LJ ATE it seconds before I posted! Oh well. Can’t win ‘em all.
- 1) Obama won!
In one of my favourite episodes of South Park, the children have to vote between a Giant Douche and a Turd Sandwich for their school mascot. Stan abstains and is reprimanded for being anti-democracy. The closing lesson? "I've learned something today...I've learned that in a democracy, it's always going to be a choice between a Giant Douche and a Turd Sandwich, because only Giant Douches and Turd Sandwiches get high enough within the ranks of their parties in order to run for office." (or words to such effect.) That pretty much sums up my view on democracy pretty well. It's always going to be the same dynasties, the same voices, the same big picture with just a few variations of detail.
With the victory of Obama, I'm no sudden convert to democracy, but I think the symbolism alone is definitely worth celebrating. My white friends seem to think they're terribly sophisticated for pointing out that Not A Whole Lot will change, and that it's not THAT symbolic, to which I answer 'suck a fuck.' No one but me will notice when a woman finally wins an Oscar for Best Director, but it will sure matter to me because I've seen myself excluded from that scene so categorically. This Isn't a Big Deal to white folk who are *used* to seeing themselves represented, but it sure meant a lot to my Baba who was arrested in the early 70s as one of the first non-whites living in Australia for his anti-apartheid work here. Cops back then weren't used to seeing Indians and assumed Baba was Aboriginal. When they found out he was actually from India the copper said: "Go back to your own country. We don't want your kind here. You're a troublemaker" to which my Dad innocously replied "I was invited to come to this country. Were you?" And made himself my hero forever...Anyway, Baba was in India at the time and sent me this truly touching email saying he never thought he'd see a black President in his lifetime. And Eugene Robinson, one of the most prolific black journalists from The Washington Post, wrote so movingly about seeing Jesse Jackson with tears pouring down his face, truly humbled by the Obama victory.
The best bits for me? Being able to shove it in the face of my truly bigoted co-worker ("We have to pray for McCain!" Silence. When it looked as though Obama would win I told her she mustn't have been praying hard enough...nasty I know, but she makes work so fucking painful for me sometimes that there's only so many times I can bite my tongue while she projectile vomits her ignorance onto the rest of us...)
Going to the Official Democrat party at Slide Bar. So many crying and hugging and ecstatic expatriate Americans! The vibe was sensational and we all drank expensive champagne. It was like a New Years Eve party for a new world order...
Watching Ms Palin go home. I must say, by the end I was uncomfortable watching a lot of the criticism directed at her. There were plenty of legitimate reasons to attack her and so I was always disappointed when the commentary delved into sexism, not dissimilar to the sort of venom unleashed upon Natasha Stott Despoja here. What comes to mind were the French-Canadian comedians who, after running out of their planned material for a prank phone-call to Palin where they pretended to be Nicholas Sarkozy's office, made a reference to "Nailin' Paylin." Not cool. Granted, they were ad libbing but it still made me uneasy. I think one of the best analyses I read was in The Guardian, where someone remarked that Sarah Palin epitmised precisely what Republicans claim to hate about affirmative action - an unqualified candidate getting a post for purely tokenistic reasons. Which of course is precisely what Palin was - a most cynical attempt by the GOP to capture disgruntled Hillary supporters. What they seemed to miss was that Hillary supporters liked Hillary not because she was a woman but because she was highly competant, intelligent and experienced (ok I'll admit, I started liking her a whole lot more after her concession speech during the Primaries...I'm just glad that after a Bush, a Clinton, and another Bush, we didn't get another Clinton).
I can't tell whether I'm happier now or when we got rid of Howard. I think now - it's bigger, it's a huge day for the whole world. That said, because of the two-term limit we were always going to get rid of Bush, it was just a matter of who replaced him. With Howard he was ousted after it felt as though he would be in forever...and the icing on the cake was that he lost his own seat...sweet Shadenfreude!
Anyway, that's a huge part of why I'm so happy. Obama's victory was like the best week of my life. But there are other reasons:
--This morning, after my routine morning Skype date with Alexander, I deleted it from my computer. Why? Because tomorrow I fly out to Buenos Aires, meaning the next time I see my darling boy will be in the flesh and there will be no need for this stupid, time-laggy, pixelated and non-pubbelly software that can only offer me some facsimile of my boyfriend. We’ve done it!
- Anna got her placement at RPA! I'm thrilled - and it couldn't have happened to a more deserving person.
- Beau has moved to Marrickville, within walking distance of my place. Yay!
-There's talk from a Quaker friend of mine about starting an Inter-faith choir. Sounds awesome!
-I’m almost finished work, which means one month of not having to come to this shithole.
-My Leonard Cohen tickets arrived in the mail.
- I'm on the home-stretch for a very difficult year, and I cound't be more content and excited for what the future holds for me.
I'm gonna make it after all!
Reasons why life is shit?
- I wrote a post very similar to this on Sunday night, but LJ ATE it seconds before I posted! Oh well. Can’t win ‘em all.