Dear Friend and Reader,
I’ve been hearing some pretty interesting stuff lately about the presidential campaigns from the other side of the pond. I have a good friend in Norway who summed up the sentiment of cynicism I think most Europeans feel at America’s political antics. He said to me, “It’s so hard being a Norwegian watching you [not very smart people] figure out who’s going to be your next president. In Norway, political commercials are illegal.”
Added to that, I listened to some radio commentary about Britain viewing Palin as though she were from the TV show Northern Exposure and Barack Obama as though he were from the show The West Wing.
Immediately, Europeans have identified the fact that both candidates, from both parties, are projecting on the stage like a group of actors vying for popularity. And I see examples of people every day who are still willing to be fooled by it all.
How weird that the Palin supporters I’ve talked to find nothing odd about her history in competitive sports and beauty pangeants leading up to a run in politics. How terrifying that in my local natural food store, I overheard the owner saying that according to Nostradamus, if Obama didn’t get elected, the world was going to end. And she was serious.
I realized that for many, politics is a sort of blank canvas by which world-view and personal power trips can be colored. The candidates are doing it by characterizing what it is they imagine to be our greatest desires for this country. We are doing it by watching the candidates like vultures for any gaff, bad joke or bad hair day.
Once I realized that I was looking forward to the VP debate with the same enthusiasm as I was during Wrestlemania 15 when Kane fought the Undertaker, I got the chills. Sometimes it seems like the very fate of the country we live in is on the back burner. Ever since the first televised debate between Kennedy and Nixon, the politics of politics flew out the window and entertainment took center stage.
Case in point, in the local Woodstock newspaper a page was set aside for citizen commentary regarding the politicians at large. One citizen remarked that they were not going to vote for Obama because he didn’t have enough experience. When asked about Palin’s experience, this same citizen said that they felt confident in Palin’s abilities because “she has spunk”.
In the same vein, I remember a few weeks ago, McCain supporters were whipped up to a froth at Obama’s remark that in times of pressure, blue collar workers turned to their religion. (Now, they’ve whipped themselves into a frightening mob.) However, I have not heard a single remark made by ANYONE about Palin’s insinuation at the simple American citizen as “Joe six-pack”. She’s not talking about a washboard stomach, either.
There have been so many double standards committed not just by us in what we get outraged about but also by what they say, that it makes my skin crawl thinking about it. I just want to walk away and go find my friend in Norway, start a family and establish a homestead there, because honestly, six months of midnight is a lot less depressing to me than what’s happening on the stage of our American fate.
There are many out there who would rather stay sleeping through all of the changes that are touching down on our Earth today. We have been taught form day one that it much better to be stupid and popular, than intelligent and alone. Many an outcast, myself included, have scorned the choices those who prefer to be perceptive must make and the sacrifices we must give for who we are. But I am happy to say that there are many of us who prefer to keep vigil over that which is sacred to human nature. By exercising our rights we are making sure they never go dormant, for to feign apathy is to give up.
Many more are joining our ranks every day. Our communities are growing stronger in the wake of these often times dubious realities.
We must continue to stand firm and educate one another and support one another on our quest for growth. Everything in the nature just wants to grow. To all you out there who have cracked the shell of your seed casing: welcome!
I wonder what kind of shenanigans we’re going to observe in the upcoming debate. At a rally yesterday, McCain vowed “to ‘whip’ Democratic rival Barack Obama’s ‘you-know-what’ when the two presidential candidates meet Wednesday in their final televised debate.”В Got your blinders ready?
Merry Met,
Genevieve
That guy from Norway can keep his 48 percent income tax rate, thank you very much. The Norwegians do not collect money during church either, did you know that? The state supports the church. How do they learn giving and charity? I don’t think they do. And forget about eating – their diet is 365 days of boiled fish and potatoes and your guy probably wears the same wool sweater all winter. Now there’s a lesson in frugality for you.
As for the election, both parties look down on the mainstream electorate. Joe Six Pack? Blue collar workers turning to religion in times of stress? Well and what do THEY turn to? The house page? The local madam? Every time I’ve ever visited or worked in DC, it has always been all about DC. I read an editorial once where the writer (in DC) told the vacationers and visitors to go home, because we are too naive to understand politics and sort of inferred that we shouldn’t really have a say in the national election – like we were a foreign country surrounding the real USA.
Don’t try to say it is just the McCain campaign that does this. Obama is just a much smoother operator who accidentally got caught speaking the truth in San Francisco.
Genevieve,
I think perhaps the American People are not so stupid as marketed (almost) to death. (The “must work/notsleep as much as it takes to acquire what it is that I’m told I need to meet the basic requirements of being an “american” symdrome.)
Whether we shuck this quickly (as in ripping off a bandage) or slowly (as in de-toxing from cigarettes or coffee or heroin) is yet to be seen. So far it feels as though the former is at work. Personal I hope so. Let’er’rip.
The “Joe-Six-Pack” comment did not go unseen. That line in one form or another seems to be the um, er, “Grassroots” of the McPalin campaign. That is the , Bigotry coupled with a “hey, we smart guys can take care of things for you” campaign.
My children “get it” without blinking. Too bad my daughter is only months away from being able to add in her vote this Nov.
Hey Marymack thanks for your response!
I’m happy to see there is a grassroots revival going on as well. I talk to a lot of people with a similar mind and they are all thinking the same thing: it’s time to start from the ground up.
To answer your question, Merry Met is part of an old fashioned salutation that has been adopted by the pagan community. The full saying is: Merry Met, and Merry Part, and Merry Meet Again!
– genevieve
about thinking (or not):
“… we’re surrounded in a reality where you have to have permission to think, that’s called chain of command, see, so if you really really think about it, the guerilla warrior of the future is going to be the one that thinks, because, in their legions, you know, they don’t have permission to think, see only a few get to think, see this starts to equalize out the numbers, see, alright, because when we’re overwhelmed all of a sudden maybe we become at least numerically close to equal because whatever their system is, only x amount of them are allowed to think and that’s the reality of it, see we have to think, we have to look at what it is and seriously see it, you know, and if we see things you know that other people don’t see, that doesn’t make us paranoid, or even if it does, maybe it should , there’s a reason for paranoia, I’m telling you ”
– John Trudell
from the album D.N.A. – Descendant Now Ancestor, track 22
about thinking (or not):
“… we’re surrounded in a reality where you have to have permission to think, that’s called chain of command, see, so if you really really think about it, the guerilla warrior of the future is going to be the one that thinks, because, in their legions, you know, they don’t have permission to think, see only a few get to think, see this starts to equalize out the numbers, see, alright, because when we’re overwhelmed all of a sudden maybe we become at least numerically close to equal because whatever their system is, only x amount of them are allowed to think and that’s the reality of it, see we have to think, we have to look at what it is and seriously see it, you know, and if we see things you know that other people don’t see, that doesn’t make us paranoid, or even if it does, maybe it should , there’s a reason for paranoia, I’m telling you ”
– John Trudell
from the album D.N.A. – Descendent Now Ancestor, track 22
PS: I had intended to ask about “Merry Met” but got sidetracked w/ my own self. I have never heard that phrase … a shout out to norwegians? a reference to the opera?
I keep hearing this “who is Barack Obama” and wonder what cave these people have been living in … though I’m now understanding that this is but a ploy to stir up racial bigotry. Sickening the tactics that are used on us all and it’s no wonder many choose sleep. Feeling manipulated and used is a tough to overcome and many opt out.
I’ve appreciated the Obama campaign’s emphasis on local, grassroots. I realize this sounds cliche but I’ve watched all of us in our little community getting together and defining how we do things here in PA. This is the change he talks about and it helps me not get too cynical at the national circus. It does appear absurb and silly from far away but we must try to remember that these people are human beings after all and there are serious choices to be made.