(no subject)
I used to believe, ultimately, in the idea of America. I was annoyed by Reagan. embarrassed and angered by Bush 43. But I still believed in the IDEA of America. I defended it, constantly. The idea that while some of us were in fact every negative stereotype that we have found ways to perpetuate, that ultimately, we were capable of being the people we hold ourselves out to the world as. The election fo Obama supported this idea, even though the subsequent behavior of far far too many people also subverted it. But the image still remained in my head, that more than half of us were still capable of being good people.
I don't believe that anymore. Hate won. There is no other way to put it. Analysts will dress it up in pretty terms about voter turnout and waves and disapproval of the status quo and other bull shit, but the fact is the incumbency rate didn't measurably drop. A few swaps here and there, but generally if you've been in the house or senate for more than 1 term, you're there as long as you want the job provided you don't get primaried. This was the triumph of a person who peddled hatred against groups of people. Not discontent, not economic rage, but hate. He encouraged it. gave it tacit and occasionally explicit approval. If you aren't worried, for yourself, or someone you know, congratulations, because you now know what privilege truly is. I worry for my sister, a black bi woman in a just-short-of-militarized Chicago. I worry for my Native friends currently protesting for the survival of lands sacred to them, people who have already been attacked and are likely now to be dealt with even more ruthlessly. I worry for every LGBTQ person I know who can expect to have right after right stripped from them at the federal level. I worry for the generation of people who are going to be decimated by the next 20 years of 5-4 and 6-3 Supreme Court decisions. I am fucking terrified that if my son ever visits America I will never see him again because a cop shoots him, and walks away from the situation unscathed. I worry about every Latino I know being harassed. I worry about every Muslim I know being harassed. I worry that the scant measures already taken to try to prevent the impending ecological disasters will be completely stripped, and that the EPA might as well close. I'm trying not to even think about the horrors in store for women's rights.
I have been fighting tears since 3pm yesterday because i have to keep it together, and i worry that i really can't keep it up much longer. My heart literally hurts. My BP is through the roof. I haven't felt this bad about anything in a very, very, very long time, and I don't know how to stop.
I don't believe that anymore. Hate won. There is no other way to put it. Analysts will dress it up in pretty terms about voter turnout and waves and disapproval of the status quo and other bull shit, but the fact is the incumbency rate didn't measurably drop. A few swaps here and there, but generally if you've been in the house or senate for more than 1 term, you're there as long as you want the job provided you don't get primaried. This was the triumph of a person who peddled hatred against groups of people. Not discontent, not economic rage, but hate. He encouraged it. gave it tacit and occasionally explicit approval. If you aren't worried, for yourself, or someone you know, congratulations, because you now know what privilege truly is. I worry for my sister, a black bi woman in a just-short-of-militarized Chicago. I worry for my Native friends currently protesting for the survival of lands sacred to them, people who have already been attacked and are likely now to be dealt with even more ruthlessly. I worry for every LGBTQ person I know who can expect to have right after right stripped from them at the federal level. I worry for the generation of people who are going to be decimated by the next 20 years of 5-4 and 6-3 Supreme Court decisions. I am fucking terrified that if my son ever visits America I will never see him again because a cop shoots him, and walks away from the situation unscathed. I worry about every Latino I know being harassed. I worry about every Muslim I know being harassed. I worry that the scant measures already taken to try to prevent the impending ecological disasters will be completely stripped, and that the EPA might as well close. I'm trying not to even think about the horrors in store for women's rights.
I have been fighting tears since 3pm yesterday because i have to keep it together, and i worry that i really can't keep it up much longer. My heart literally hurts. My BP is through the roof. I haven't felt this bad about anything in a very, very, very long time, and I don't know how to stop.