O Canada

[mikoy]

I was going to beging this with "Hello, Ohioans," but I realized that wouldnt have been fair. After all, there are obviously some sane people living in Ohio, and it wouldn't have come down to one state if the rest of the country hadn't let it

Comments

[dreagoddess]

Wow. Thank you SO much. I now see the light and realize that all of my beliefs are wrong. Why didn't I just ask you ahead of time how I should vote so I should do it right? Oh, woe is me! Fortunately our country still has people like you, whose true spirit of unity is exactly what we need to heal after a divisive election.

[fiannaharpar]

Good to see that the spirit of unity and reasonable discourse is alive with you as well.

[dreagoddess]

I have been called stupid, idiotic, various other unprintable things, and outright evil for voting the same way as 51% of the country. (Incidentally, no Democratic President has won an actual majority since LBJ. Even the vaunted Bill Clinton never got over 50%. Gore got 48% in 2000 and everyone said he was the voice of the people, yet W's 51% has liberals reminding him that he doesn't have a mandate.) Since the election results became obvious, liberals have wasted no time in painting LJ with vitriol, hysteria, and outright tantrums. They've not only insulted the President and his policies, which is completely understandable when it's what you've just been campaigning and voting against, but painted with a broad brush every person who voted for him. This post was a stunning example of that. Meanwhile, I haven't seen any of the conservatives on my list gloating over the victory (most barely mentioning it for fear of reprisal) or insulting the other side

[fiannaharpar]

I appreciate your frustration, however, I don't see in what you are saying here being expressed in anything resembling a "spirit of unity" or doing anything to heal, which is what you were admonishing mikoy for not doing. Greeting overgeneralizations and vitriol with the same doesn't help.

I would love to hear your positions and to actually have an intelligent discourse. The healing really does start with people talking and listening like reasonable people.

Are you willing to start the healing? I am.

[mikoy]

General rule of thumb -- if you're saying something that you're going to have to apologize for later because you were overgeneralizing and attacking people you don't mean to attack, DON'T SAY IT!

But I do mean to attack you. I mean to attack you, personally, if you voted for Bush. If you don't care for that, well, you can bloody well lump it. I don't give a good goddamn if you're offended, because I meant to offend you.

Look: if Ann Coulter can publish books in which she accuses me of treason because I am a liberal, I can tell you that, in my considered opionion, you are at best willfully stupid for having voted for George W. Bush. And there's a really easy way for you to stick your fingers in your ears and say la-la-la: don't read my LiveJournal. I expect that's exactly what you'll do, as anything else would involve, I don't know, actual thought. So you have a nice life, and when something (else) bad happens that our President caused, don't say you weren't warned.

[dreagoddess]

...All right, that pretty well confirms what I thought upon first reading this entry. Finny had me wondering, but that's fine. If you don't want to agree that people can have different priorities and values without being evil, or that reasonable minds may differ, that's up to you. I'm just glad to see I wasn't overreacting to what you said.

[mikoy]

Um? People can have different priorities; reasonable minds can differ. For example, I am not a Christian, but that doesn't mean I think Christianity is stupid. Similarly, it does not bother me that some people think fanfiction is pointless, or that science fiction isn't 'real' literature. These are matters on which there is room for dissent. Or, something more germane; I happen to think that Bill Clinton was the best thing to happen to the White House in about 40 years. You may feel free to disagree with me, especially if you offer facts.

But in the case of Bush, anyone who cares to use the sense God gave them should be able to figure out that his administration has been a huge, if not quite unmitigated, disaster. If you don't care to exercise your brain, that's your right, but you don't get an exemption just because I happen to sort of know you: you did something dumb. Sorry. Live with it. And since I have seen evidence that you are capable of thought, I am forced to the unpleasant conclusion that you are being

[dreagoddess]

I've gotten that question so many times that I wrote a separate post on the subject. You may want to refer to it before accusing me of not answering questions. Beyond that, it doesn't appear that we can have a rational discussion, so I'll bow out now. *bows and leaves*