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The debate is on! Thoughts on being politically open-minded
Okay you guys, I have a theory. You know how Stephen Colbert doesn't see race?
I think John McCain doesn't see people of different races.
He can't see black people. That's why he didn't look at Barack Obama or Michelle Obama all night last night, not like once, even when Obama was directly talking to him, or watching him steadily. That's why he kept blinking rapidly and distractingly, like some sort of lizard -- because he knew he was talking to someone, and just couldn't figure out where he was! He was trying to unfog his ancient eyes.
Or maybe he just can't see, period. I don't know. Were his eyes among the things that were falling apart in his medical report?
All joking aside, I really, deeply admire people who can say, "I don't vote blindly. I judge the candidates based on their policies and their stances on the issues. I listen to the debates and then I make an informed decision." I do this with my fandoms and my pairings every day. I wish I could do it with politics.
But at the same time, I kind of think these people are strange for needing time to say "The Democrats are the way to go." The moment you talk about issues that I think are very important -- gay rights, abortion, sex ed -- I am completely pigeonholed into the Democratic corner.
Susan Eisenhower left the Republican party, because they no longer stand for what they stood for in her grandfather's time. The Grand Old Party isn't about its grand old ideals anymore. Now, the GOP is about religious appeasement. The Republican candidates will never be on my side because they won't nominate candidates who won't get religious endorsements. They're going to nominate people who are anti-gay marriage and anti-choice and pro-chastity and anti-sex and deeply ashamed of anything new and interesting, because that's all that matters, getting those swing groups out to vote, right?
And these shouldn't even be the politics of the party. These are deeply personal issues that the government shouldn't mess with. I don't need fucking Bush to tell my pharmacist that he doesn't have to give me pills if he doesn't want to. Who the hell do you think you are? The Republicans are the ones who are supposed to not want the government to get in my business, but here they are, in my local pharmacy, hinting at my pharmacist that if he has a moral objection to giving me birth control (and nudgenudge you do have moral objections, right, Mr. Pharmacist? because it's wrong, you know. she should just join an abstinence program! by the way, those totally work, and we won't give your schools money if they don't feel the same way) then he doesn't have to.
I would love to be able to listen to a debate on the economy and think, "Both of these candidates have equally interesting viewpoints, but I like Obama's plan better," instead of thinking, "I like Obama's plan better, and it's a damn good thing, because I am never voting for that shithead McCain." I don't want to think that.
If the Republican party was about politics the way it used to be, and not about political religious persecution the way it is now, maybe I would actually be as open-minded as I want to be. Maybe I wouldn't come away wondering how people I admire can even look at the playing field and not see immediately that there's a "right" choice. I'd like to think that if choice and sexuality suddenly stopped being political opinions, I would be able to look at both parties and pick a candidate based on worth and my beliefs, and not based on personal issues.
In a way, writing this was all because I felt guilty that I deeply admire people who say, "I think about things neutrally and make informed decisions" but I always find myself thinking the Democrats are the only way to vote. I try and take that policy to my whole life. That's how I decide what ships I like: I pay attention, I analyze, and I decide. I always have reasons about why I chose certain ships, and why I dislike other certain ships; it's never just "Allen/Lenalee gets in the way of Lavi/Allen, my OTP!" or "Of course I vote Ichigo/Orihime for canon, Ichigo/Rukia can't possibly have any good points!" I can read Ichigo/Rukia and think it was done right, and I can adore the Allen/Lenalee relationship and think they'd be adorable in canon without feeling like I'm betraying my principles.
I'd love to take the open-mindedness I bring to fandom to politics. But I just can't do that yet. And it's probably wishful thinking to hope I ever can.
I think John McCain doesn't see people of different races.
He can't see black people. That's why he didn't look at Barack Obama or Michelle Obama all night last night, not like once, even when Obama was directly talking to him, or watching him steadily. That's why he kept blinking rapidly and distractingly, like some sort of lizard -- because he knew he was talking to someone, and just couldn't figure out where he was! He was trying to unfog his ancient eyes.
Or maybe he just can't see, period. I don't know. Were his eyes among the things that were falling apart in his medical report?
All joking aside, I really, deeply admire people who can say, "I don't vote blindly. I judge the candidates based on their policies and their stances on the issues. I listen to the debates and then I make an informed decision." I do this with my fandoms and my pairings every day. I wish I could do it with politics.
But at the same time, I kind of think these people are strange for needing time to say "The Democrats are the way to go." The moment you talk about issues that I think are very important -- gay rights, abortion, sex ed -- I am completely pigeonholed into the Democratic corner.
Susan Eisenhower left the Republican party, because they no longer stand for what they stood for in her grandfather's time. The Grand Old Party isn't about its grand old ideals anymore. Now, the GOP is about religious appeasement. The Republican candidates will never be on my side because they won't nominate candidates who won't get religious endorsements. They're going to nominate people who are anti-gay marriage and anti-choice and pro-chastity and anti-sex and deeply ashamed of anything new and interesting, because that's all that matters, getting those swing groups out to vote, right?
And these shouldn't even be the politics of the party. These are deeply personal issues that the government shouldn't mess with. I don't need fucking Bush to tell my pharmacist that he doesn't have to give me pills if he doesn't want to. Who the hell do you think you are? The Republicans are the ones who are supposed to not want the government to get in my business, but here they are, in my local pharmacy, hinting at my pharmacist that if he has a moral objection to giving me birth control (and nudgenudge you do have moral objections, right, Mr. Pharmacist? because it's wrong, you know. she should just join an abstinence program! by the way, those totally work, and we won't give your schools money if they don't feel the same way) then he doesn't have to.
I would love to be able to listen to a debate on the economy and think, "Both of these candidates have equally interesting viewpoints, but I like Obama's plan better," instead of thinking, "I like Obama's plan better, and it's a damn good thing, because I am never voting for that shithead McCain." I don't want to think that.
If the Republican party was about politics the way it used to be, and not about political religious persecution the way it is now, maybe I would actually be as open-minded as I want to be. Maybe I wouldn't come away wondering how people I admire can even look at the playing field and not see immediately that there's a "right" choice. I'd like to think that if choice and sexuality suddenly stopped being political opinions, I would be able to look at both parties and pick a candidate based on worth and my beliefs, and not based on personal issues.
In a way, writing this was all because I felt guilty that I deeply admire people who say, "I think about things neutrally and make informed decisions" but I always find myself thinking the Democrats are the only way to vote. I try and take that policy to my whole life. That's how I decide what ships I like: I pay attention, I analyze, and I decide. I always have reasons about why I chose certain ships, and why I dislike other certain ships; it's never just "Allen/Lenalee gets in the way of Lavi/Allen, my OTP!" or "Of course I vote Ichigo/Orihime for canon, Ichigo/Rukia can't possibly have any good points!" I can read Ichigo/Rukia and think it was done right, and I can adore the Allen/Lenalee relationship and think they'd be adorable in canon without feeling like I'm betraying my principles.
I'd love to take the open-mindedness I bring to fandom to politics. But I just can't do that yet. And it's probably wishful thinking to hope I ever can.
no subject
The fact that politics and the issues at stake here are so much more than just who will end up canon in a series makes it really difficult for me, as well, and I've stopped pretending to be nonbiased ages ago 8) I just can't agree with the Republicans on issues from abortion to the war in Iraq, and I'm not going to try to bend over backwards to compromise what's important to me to hold up the pretense of being objective.
Anyway, totally agreed with this entire post.
no subject
The Iraq war I don't feel bad about. It's legitimate politics. I hate the way they're handling it and talking about it and I want what Obama gives me in this situation: the promise of a timetable, assurance that he's aware that it's a financial and a moral sinkhole, and no more goddamn assurances that "We're winning the war! Honest! Just eight more years and we can maybe bring some guys home WHOOPS WAS THAT A TIMELINE I JUST EMBOLDENED THE TERRORISTS NEVER MIND."
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Tangent'd. Anyway. I don't feel bad making decisions about the war because they're fucking it up and it's real politics. But abortions aren't politics. My body, my decision, the end. :\ Now I am forever doomed to vote Democratic. Oh... no?