[kj] OT: Post-Election Blues

[Jiri]

Shellshock, indeed. I work at a university, and we're
all in a stupor. My department met up at a bar
Wenesday to drown our sorrows, and all kinds of others
from around the university were trickling in, too,
coming in from the cold for a drink and some solace.
Everyone's just stunned, the thinking being: if we
can't remove this man after what he's done in the last
4 years, then how bad must it get before people wake
up? Right now it's more fear of what's to come rather
than rage. 
It's as if common ground and foundations on which to
debate have simply disappeared. All of us in the bar
felt like we were living in one of two bizarre,
alternate universes.

But we're in Missouri, a "swing state" in Middle
America that doesn't swing anymore. It's basically two
liberal (relatively) cities on either side bookending
endless miles of pasture and zealous bigots, who have
apparently reproduced now at a fast enough rate to
completely drown out the cities' electorate, as we now
have a massively Republican state legislature and
governor. (Did I mention that Missouri was the first
state to constitutionally ban gay marriage? Yup,
pioneers.)

My sister voted for Bush--despite my attempts at
persuasion--but no, she doesn't have a brain. And she
refuses to discuss it. She thinks she's a Horatio
Alger story. A loose friend of mine may have voted for
Bush--I had him at least on the fence last week--but
he grew up in rural Missouri and only recently
discovered that there's a world beyond the edge of his
family's farm.

--- Alexander Smith <vassifer at earthlink.net> wrote:
> I can't speak for the rest of the nation, but NYC is
> bizarrely, sadly 
> muted. I think everyone just had the wind knocked
> out of them. Maybe 
> there'll be anger and outrage down the line, but I
> think at the moment, 
> everyone's just shellshocked. Self included.
> 
> Alex in NYC
> 
> 
> 
> On Friday, November 5, 2004, at 09:53 AM, death wish
> wrote:
> 
> > Your Canadian cousins feel it too, Alex...
> >
> > Tell me, is anyone down there making a big deal of
> those 
> > no-paper-trail electronic voting machines that 30%
> of the votes were 
> > "registered" on?
> >
> > T.
> >
> > “It’s not the voting that’s democracy, it’s the
> counting.” — Tom 
> > Stoppard, 1972
> >
> > Further reading: 
> >
>
http://www.xenmagazine.com/article.php?story=20041023165906980
> >
> >
> >> From: Alexander Smith <vassifer at earthlink.net>
> >> Reply-To: "A list about all things Killing Joke
> (the band!)" 
> >> <gathering at misera.net>
> >> To: "A list about all things Killing Joke (the
> band!)" 
> >> <gathering at misera.net>
> >> Subject: Re: [kj] OT: Post-Election Blues
> >> Date: Fri, 5 Nov 2004 09:15:31 -0500
> >>
> >>
> >> I have lost my sense of humor entirely. Without
> trying to sound 
> >> needlessly histrionic, I don't think I've felt
> this depressed since 
> >> September 11th, 2001.
> >>
> >>
> >> Alex in NYC
> >>
> >> _______________________________________________
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> >>
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> >
> >
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