My friend emailed me an article written by a liberal telling us to buck up, everything will be okay, America needs us now more than ever, please don't flee the country.
I RESPOND:
He's wrong. It's over. Unless we get rid of those voting machines, it's over.
SHE RESPONDS:
OK, how do we get rid of them? Or Diebold's mainframe? With a super-hacker tween,perhaps?
I RESPOND:
What's sad is we all suspected machines would take over...we just didn't think they'd do it one vote at a time.
SHE RESPONDS:
The marquee of the movie theater in my neighborhood has a side for political commentary by the owner. He has been warning us all year, many times, about the machines (like the attached). I'm so sorry he was right. (Because of his messages, I myself signed up for the absentee ballot, not that it mattered a goddamn bit.)
Sunday my sister and I are going to visit our grandmother (to whom we've been close to our whole lives) who now lives in a care home because her memory is basically fried. I for one, am not going to tell her about what happenend Wednesday. She'd be upset, always thought it's not good for a president to be so beady-eyed. "He's got something to hide," she said once.
***
OV WRITES:
Below is the rant I sent out on the day I found out he won. I feel it
more acurately and sophisticatedly captures the mood of that day... [as opposed to what she wrote follwing this rant]
I can't FUCKING BELIEVE we're in for...not ONLY another four years of that self serving asshole, BUT the American people in their sanctimonious, self-satisfied, cringing, whining, fundamentalist glory ALSO voted in a completely Republican Congress which means a Supreme Court of Nazis who will take away abortion rights and all kindsa civil liberties and who probably would have made gay marriage unconstitutional even if EVERY STATE that had it on the agenda hadn't outlawed it and saved them the trouble. I don't want to live here anymore. It's not even like Bush is an anomaly, the country is CLEARLY waaaaay f***ing conservative and likes it that way.
Maybe liberal, humanist ways of thought AREN'T normal, maybe conservatism is normal and WE are the extreme.
--OV
***
I'm really f***ing depressed, I feel unloved and horrible and like a freak in MY OWN COUNTRY, where two days ago, I was pretty sure my reasonable, humanist, equality-driven, arts-loving, war-hating, choice-appreciative, gay-rights self was in the mainstream of human thought. But now I'm coming to realize that it's not true, that in fact I am in the MINORTIY, not the mainstream, that people are mostly stupid assholes full of the shit of fear and that I really shouldn't live here anymore, but there's nowhere to go. And I can't talk about it anymore. And I can't do anything about it.
--OV
***
A LITTLE CHAT ABOUT ALL THIS:
jvaeni: Martilyn, in all seriousness I am THIS (picture visual) close to leaving the country. Tuesday was the worst and last night in our history
martilyn: lol. Where are u going to go, Canada?
jvaeni: yes. I'm done with this place. Or rather, it's done with me.
martilyn: why do u say that?
jvaeni: if it were a matter of "fighting the system" I wouldn't be saying this. It's not. It's that even though Bush stole the election AGAIN, the margin of votes makes it clear that STILL, almost half the country voted for him and voted for him not because of policy but because of "morality." This place is going to turn into a theocracy in the next 4 years. There are no elections anymore. The people who own the voting machines are military contractors who believe in "Dominion." Have you heard of dominion? Well that's who runs the country now. Fighting the good fight means the system is corrupt and the people do something about it. But Tuesday it was clear to me. The people spoke. And they don't want help. They don't want facts. They want HILTER in the form of Christ. America, it would seem ;is the anti-christ.
martilyn: wow.
jvaeni: I think america gave the world some great ideals in democracy and freedom but like any empire failed to live up to them and at least half of us do not even care about seeing the issue at all because we're caught in a virtual reality where an unjust war is patriotism and faggots are the real issue
jvaeni: I'm through
jvaeni: f*** you, america, and goodnight
jvaeni: How do they have the people on their side????
jvaeni: why are we EVIL
jvaeni: I don't get this at all
jvaeni: I've seen the bad guy and the bad guy is we. That is just sobering.
martilyn: wow
martilyn: are u ok?
martilyn: shaking still from all that anger?
jvaeni: no I'm not okay or shaking with anger. It's that weird feeling of wanting to cry but feelings so depleted and in shock and stumped, really. I'm stumped. They have the house, senate, executive, judicial, and supreme court. They will continue to steal elections with these bogus voting machines. And half of us aren't even on the same page to even discuss this let alone feel outraged. It's disgusting. Willful ignorance is disgusting
martilyn: Ya and the worst part is that is nothing you can do about it.
jvaeni: Gay marriage? Really? REALLY??? What a red herring issue--the most important issue? This tells me that we can't put down niggers and spics and bitches anymore but at least we've still got faggots. Praise Jesus, we can tear apart the faggots.
jvaeni: and you're right, there is nothing
jvaeni: it's done
jvaeni: so let the inmates run the asylum
martilyn: or vice versa
jvaeni: the asylum run the inmates?
martilyn: Ya lol I think Bush is friggin wacko lol
jvaeni: Yeah...the whacko monkey puppet of Carl Rove and Dick Cheney...I'd like to say they're geniuses but they're just sociopaths with power.
***
Why do you suppose no one's contesting it this time?
--J.E.
I REPLY:
That is an amazing little question there because I was originally one of those folks who believed Kerry was placed as the nominee to lose against Bush. After all, he was in, what? Last place? Second to last, in the primaries? And then he came out of nowhere to defeat Howard Dean and Dick Gephardt. Then he just let the Bush team run him over with Vietnam BS.
But then I watched the debates and that actually made me feel as if we had a decent middle-of-the-road candidate who just might pull it off. He was in it to win it, I told myself...but given his Al Gore "Let's all come together and forget this ever happened" concession speech, I'm back to wondering if we've all been duped yet again by whatever Vince McMahon Great Oz character is hiding behind the curtain of alleged opposition.
SHE RESPONDS:
oh god, you've got a point there. I'd forgotten that angle. I can hear the Horsemen saddling up now . . .
***
ROB FINALLY REPLIES TO MY ORIGINAL LETTER:
We're f***ed, no matter where you go. The world is doomed.
***
While not in response to my letter, this just in from Allawi, the CIA dupe we placed in power in Iraq:
"The United States freed us from a dictator, from a very long period of wars and agony," said Allawi. "Still, many Iraqis say they see, in a Bush presidency, four more years of wars...and agony."
***
Okay so this isn't a response to my letter but please read Eric Alterman's excellent opinion piece on the election. To do that, go here:
***
yep this pretty much sums up what I'm feeling. I have already looked into moving to Canada legally, and it is not easy. I suppose one could try to immigrate illegally, but then it becomes a question of putting food on the table. If you had any serious interest in visiting canada for a vacation, I would definately be interested in joining you! maybe we can find some poor suckers... i mean, nice people... to marry us.
--EL
***
subject heading: Got that bunk bed ready?
Hi, Matt:
There's a new American Revolution coming and it's called "Exodus."
That's right, anyone with a brain and compassion is moving to Canada.
And I am absolutely serious. How far are you from Toronto? (Because I
have friends in Toronto, too.) And how hard is it to work for MTV there
if I've worked for 'em here?
I cannot believe I'm leaving this place but ya know what? If the
inmates want to run the asylum, godspeed I say.
--jer
MATT REPLIES:
Jeremy,
Holy holy HOLY shit!! But come on, are you surprised? Even if Kerry won
they'd still be on the same team, right?
I'm quite far from Toronto, seeing as I'm on the west coast and they're
on the east... I like the sound of "exodus", I was worried people
wouldn't fight when push came to shove...
I work on a show that is "Independently Produced"; I am actually not
really working for MTV... Just try applying for a job!!
But yeah, so sorry to be a slacker on your segment... I'll output the
segment to DVD, and I'll have an intern make you a copy of the whole
show on VHS.
Let me know how things are going...
Talk to you soon. dude.
-Matt
***
I'm beat. Barely slept. I heard screaming outside at 5 am and ran to the TV, in the dark, cat fast on my trail. I thought a miracle happened. Maybe it was a dream after all, the screaming.
I hope you don't move, but if you do I completely understand. Personally, this year continues to suck hard right to the end. How to deal with myself when event after event, that I was so opposed to (personally, and in the "world"), that I felt I fought against, but still they happened. I don't want to feel like a big VICTIM. How to be at peace with any of this?
I think it's safe to say my novel will take a dark turn when I enter my next 1800 words. Holy f***. Monkey Boy lives.
xoxo
j
***
Dude, it's so true. I don't think I will ever recover from this one. The revolution is on.
--K
***
Look, I get it. I get the anger.
But let's think objectively for a minute. How does moving to Canada, or Iceland, or anywhere else really help you?
If anyhting,it hurts you, because though you might feel a little cleaner, it makes you a NON-American- meaning that you'll be on the other side of the fence when Big Bush wields his Big Gun at people.
Let's imagine we get nuked- do you think being in Toronto is going to be noticeably different than NYC? Think the fallout won't affect Montreal as bad or worst?
Stay in America, and at least take advantage of the fact that you are white and not dirt poor.
~T
I REPLY:
Look, if America wants to play the roll of mall cop, fine. Just count me out. I'm not worried about this country getting nuked. As you know I think all that terrorist stuff is horseshit to begin with. Now that Bush is in for 4 more years there's even less chance of being "attacked" because they've got the power already and, apparently, the will of the people.
No, I'm more frightened of the mentality of a willfully ignorant people who will let...um...EVERYTHING slide until we're back to slavery. You can't have a one-world corporate dictatorship AND democracy, right? So guess whose winning that battle? And guess who is letting them?--US.
I've fought the good fight and it doesn't matter. It doesn't matter if there's not enough good in the people around you to fight it too. The liberal mantra of "if we just educate the public, they'll vote these people out" is a lie. The people spoke--and about half are more concerned with gays (a nonissue) than the everything else I don't need to explain to you cuz you know.
So maybe it's time to move to where the good people are and build an enlightened society. Or join one. Or just be able to not feel anger every time I turn on the TV or open a paper.
I'm not a tuck-yer-tail-and-run guy politically. You know this. But I don't consider this running. I consider this a new revolution. Let the inmates run the asylum. Watch the empire crumble as it must. The empire is dying. Maybe it's this simple: America did her job birthing free and democratic ideals into the world, but took the same wrong turn all empires do and is now on the decline.
I would stay and repair it if I saw any sign that the country wanted to be repaired. But, like an addict, you can't force the country into health--it's got to want to get better. I've been part of the intervention and it didn't help.
I'm certainly not going to be an enabler.
HE REPLIES:
subject heading: Maybe you're right
Here's what a buddy of mine (Kerry supporter) who has family and friends in florida posted today:
"Bush won this election DECISIVELY. If theres one thing that I've realized, its that the country is not divided down the middle, rather, its more liberal around the edges, but conservative to the core.
And the fact of the matter is that the war on terror didn't affect this country as much as people think. I don't think Bush got core votes from his core states because of the war on terror. I think he got core votes from his base because of conservative values.
I was scared from around 11:00 yesterday, because in FLA, the folks who were coming out to vote weren't the youth vote. They were republicans who were too lazy to vote last time that realized they HAD TO VOTE if they wanted to keep their tax cuts and have a say in the next supreme court appointee.
Take away california and new york and this country is ultra conservative. It's a fact. And yesterday, they proved that they are just as, if not MORE passionate than we are about how they feel about where this country is headed." |
