I Voted, I can Bitch!
as everyone in the world pretty well knows by now, last night Barak Obama was elected the 44th President of the USA, making history and breaking steriotypes. He gave a good speech after John McCain gave a very personable and gracious withdrawl speech of his own. But as happy as I am in the afterglow shared by everyone who voted for this man, I refuse to be satisfied.
Yes, I am proud that I voted, and thankful that the candidate I supported won by consitterable margin. Still, not all is well here in California, let alone in the rest of our ailing country. The highly controversial Prop 8 was passed, making marriage for same-sex couples illegal again. It isn't right or fair or even logical or reasonable. It helps absolutely no one and does not "protect the institution of marriage"; it simply takes rights of consenting, loving adults away. As outraged as I am at this, I know it is far from over and that the day will come when gays in my state and the world as a whole will be seen and treated as equals. No, what bothers me most is how all of this is being treated in the media. I live right by Oakland and San francisco and Berkley. This is my local news.
The break-down is basically as follows: because more people voted overall than in any previous elections, the minority vote was the deciding factor in many close races. The news is racist and people do not act like they have any fucking sence. According to all I have seen, black people voted for Barack because of the color of his skin and the tenor of his voice, not because he was and is genuinely the better man. And because black people are often more homophobic than other voting groups, Prop 8 went through.
I made a lot of jokes about Obama's running promices and "Now that I am president, everbody will get a free hoocker, a new puppy and a 3-liter of GrapeDrink!", but that's not because I'm racist-- it's because people are. Anyone who's ever enjoyed the cartoon "the Boondocks" or certain recent episodes of "South Park" might get what I mean.
I am kind of pissed off. I am already sick of hearing about our "African-American President" and all that he represents. I do not mean to besmirch anyone anything. My point is, this man is real, is flawed, is alive and thinking. He is not a paragon, an effigy, or a Savior. Why can't he just be the person instead of the symbol? Because everytime some ass-hat brings up "How far we have come", it goes to prove just the opposite. He looks different and has a funny name. Get over it. I never liked the idea of Hillary or (gods forbid) Palin running just because they were chicks, because they are politicians and I didn't agree with their politics.
And he's only half black. Barack was not raised by Black Panthers and he doesn't come "from the streets". He was raised by his white mother and grandmother and by a Hawiian step-father. He is a good man with a good head on his shoulders who has a good plan on how to get us out of Iraq. Why is that not enough?
I believe we need to stop being so immature and self-congradulating and start working to fix the actual problems we still have! We are not a new America, not yet. But I hope that we can be, the sooner the better.
Yes, I am proud that I voted, and thankful that the candidate I supported won by consitterable margin. Still, not all is well here in California, let alone in the rest of our ailing country. The highly controversial Prop 8 was passed, making marriage for same-sex couples illegal again. It isn't right or fair or even logical or reasonable. It helps absolutely no one and does not "protect the institution of marriage"; it simply takes rights of consenting, loving adults away. As outraged as I am at this, I know it is far from over and that the day will come when gays in my state and the world as a whole will be seen and treated as equals. No, what bothers me most is how all of this is being treated in the media. I live right by Oakland and San francisco and Berkley. This is my local news.
The break-down is basically as follows: because more people voted overall than in any previous elections, the minority vote was the deciding factor in many close races. The news is racist and people do not act like they have any fucking sence. According to all I have seen, black people voted for Barack because of the color of his skin and the tenor of his voice, not because he was and is genuinely the better man. And because black people are often more homophobic than other voting groups, Prop 8 went through.
I made a lot of jokes about Obama's running promices and "Now that I am president, everbody will get a free hoocker, a new puppy and a 3-liter of GrapeDrink!", but that's not because I'm racist-- it's because people are. Anyone who's ever enjoyed the cartoon "the Boondocks" or certain recent episodes of "South Park" might get what I mean.
I am kind of pissed off. I am already sick of hearing about our "African-American President" and all that he represents. I do not mean to besmirch anyone anything. My point is, this man is real, is flawed, is alive and thinking. He is not a paragon, an effigy, or a Savior. Why can't he just be the person instead of the symbol? Because everytime some ass-hat brings up "How far we have come", it goes to prove just the opposite. He looks different and has a funny name. Get over it. I never liked the idea of Hillary or (gods forbid) Palin running just because they were chicks, because they are politicians and I didn't agree with their politics.
And he's only half black. Barack was not raised by Black Panthers and he doesn't come "from the streets". He was raised by his white mother and grandmother and by a Hawiian step-father. He is a good man with a good head on his shoulders who has a good plan on how to get us out of Iraq. Why is that not enough?
I believe we need to stop being so immature and self-congradulating and start working to fix the actual problems we still have! We are not a new America, not yet. But I hope that we can be, the sooner the better.