fuck.

[voiceofyoureyes]

well, that's that. after canvassing and staying up until 3 and waking up to no more answers and finding out by constantly refreshing news pages about the concession, after getting depressed and then angry and then angrier until I kicked the wall in the english department and burst into tears, and came back and watched the concession speech... I don

Comments

Re: What words hast thou for such pain?

[voiceofyoureyes]

I was going to lj-cut this but I don't think that works in comments. my dad sent it to me. sorry it's so long, but it seemed like the right thing for this conversation. it has a little bit of that aforementioned elitism in it, but not enough to stop me from sharing it. besides, my roommate really believes that on some things (ie gay marriage, the right to choose) We are objectively right and They are just plain wrong. so even if can't say it and really believe it, I'm going to pretend that I'm her for a second and just post away.

Today a friend emailed me and named our hurt "Mourning in America".

Out there, a vast number of people who have nothing in their lives but their
"marriages and their country" and don't want you or me to mess with either
were convinced we were mocking them, that we felt "better" than them. We
face their wrath this morning. And we will pay.

And perhaps they are right. Our lives in our blessed enclaves are filled
with the riches of world culture, art, film, theater, poetry, music... lives
of diversity, tolerance, the pursuit of social justice, free inquiry and
expression. The desperation driving this voting majority is not part of our
emotional terrain. Although it is clear we knew how important this election
was, we could not match the fire on the right.

Another friend was reminded of this quote: Yeats, "The best lack all conviction,
while the worst are full of passionate intensity."

Still, we are lucky to be who we are. Our internal body politic remains
intact. We did not and will not disappear. We will continue to do all in our
individual control to make life better even if our collective influence has
fallen short.

Everything about the backward looking politics that just barely received
validation suggests impermanence. We see the future. We care about it and
will continue to work for it's implementation.

Our job just got harder. And the impediments that will arise will be
daunting. But the clock cannot be turned back. After we mourn we will resume
our mandate to create beauty and goodness.

Because that's who we are.

how do reedies feel about the gay marriage ban?

Re: What words hast thou for such pain?

[eccohomo]

Yeah, from the leftist perspective, this election was a disaster...

Most Reedies seem rather broken up about the whole mess. But this is what representative government is supposed to be about, one supposes. My history professor said: 'You win some, you lose some.' It'll happen again. But I still maintain faith that from a moral standpoint this country will progress in the direction of contemporary liberalism or will eventually (and very soon) fall by the wayside as a world power.

But I think we've discussed this. We should be wary, however, of our self-righteousness, as it is the very same thing that we condemn the Right for. I only know that the moral standards I support are what I feel are right. But aside from that, I cannot be certain. I only see the Neo-Con movement as an attempt to maintain an older world order of paternalism and trustee government laden with sentiments of overt (and archaic) moralism, wholly unconducisive to working in a world-wide democratic system.

We will muddle through and I have faith that eventually we will see issues like gay marriage resolved for what I think is the better. America may be strong but unless it moves along with the rest of the world, we will find ourselves taking a back seat to world politics. The trends have begun, I feel, to show a decline. It is inevitable. Or maybe I'm just being optimisstic.