Fear and Loathing on the MIDTERM ELECTIONS
Prologue
OMG SHADY TROL SARKASM I NO READ THIS ALSO TL;DR ADMEN PLZ BANN IS BAD FOR KOMUNITY)))))))) DOMOY NAHUY PLZ :!: I OFEND
Chapter Xd plz
As the title clearly suggests, this is about the mid-term elections that are happening today in the USA. Some of my co-workers have relatives on the other side of the great body of water that protects us from such great freedoms as The Second Amendment, Affirmative Action, Obesity, Red Lobster Restaurant Chains, Fox News and the G.O.P. (typing this from my flat located in South East London's commuter belt, I am of course talking about the Atlantic) and my boss even spent part of his youth growing up in Brooklyn NYC, all making this a potentially interesting intra-office debate.
It of course wasn't as any debate where no-one seems to hold any strong mindsets. My boss, despite spending part of his time in the US, is of Grenadian descent, while me as a Russian-BritChav dual national one day hope to go to New York to walk around 5th street to shop for sneakers and get wasted in Manhattan and pretend i'm a 23 year old version of Gordon Gekko (or shed a tear in New Jersey outside Princeton thinking "if things were different, i could have gone to OXFORD and spent 6 months here during my master's on an exchange program c:"), but whether the Democrats or the Republicans win, neither one of us is affected in any major way or form.
US Politics were climaxing 2 years ago, when everyone seemed to be cheering CHANGE! CHANGE CHANGE! only to not see any change or progress (yet being oblivious to the fact that should the outcome of the presidential election have been any different, we would have seen a potential change for the worse).
Getting a flashback to 2 years ago, if I recall correctly, this was a contest of a young charismatic presidential hopeful (and a potential first black president) very narrowly defeating the Senator (of arguably the most powerful state in the US (and a potential first woman president) while the <3Bill embers were still burning hot) in the Democratic primaries, then choosing a (also very charismatic and on top of that, a very experienced senator with pretty much his name emboided on the Delaware seat) running mate, to go ahead a 73 year old senile womanizer allegedly unable to use e-mail without assistance, a promise of continuing dubya-style template of policies, and on top of all choosing the ex-prom queen (Xd plz) Governor (Xd plz x2 COMBO) of Alaska (zlq bX) that additionally made a public spectacle of both herself and Mr McCain in the heavily analysed series of debates and media events (Xp dlz), and taking all of this into consideration, the election results were 52.9% to Obama, 45.7% to McCain.
Which brings me to this point: objective US elections aren't very be objective. One could get endorsed by the trio of Joseph Stalin, RIchard Nixon and Ayatollah Khamenei and still get ahead after a quick airbrush TV session, make some bold sounding yet vague statements involving midway opinions on mildly contraversial topics and recover, as Media Appearence is what matters more than experience in (well, any country not just the USA). (at the fear of summoning Richard Nixon from hell by using him twice in one sentence, I will only briefly mention the 1960 presidential debate of smiling and suntanned Jack Kennedy versus a drowsy and sick from flu Dick Nxn (perhaps while the first spent 2 weeks in Hawaii, the second spent it at a boot camp with Satan, learning the valuable skills which made him such a lovely and popular personality) and for those of us too young to remember the outcome of 1960 elections, JFK won C: )
I will attempt to quickly wrap this up by using the final word: MEDIA! even though the 06 and 08 house of commons, senator, etc elections were somewhat damaged by 8 years of DUBBYA-WISION))) and the democratic party STILL had visible problems overcoming some states and in the presidentials, after those 2 years of butthurt republican media comletely disintegrading (somehow unfairly imo c:) both Obama, and the entire democratic party with some nice claims of being a Socialist (THEM COMMIES HAD FREE HEALTHCARE TOO, OBAMA IS EVIL), Radical Muslim (LOL BIRTH CERTIFICATE, ALSO HUSSAIN MIDDLE NAME!! WE TOOK DOWN A HUSSAIN IN 2003 NOW U BRING ANOTHER), ass-slave of oil companies and BP in particular (footage not found due to allegedly Senator Prescott Bush (G.W.'s father, W's gradnfather) being wery rich through a lot of Texan and Middle Eastern Oil (and a touch of Nazi Gold c: )) as well as Obama the Pirate (LOL HIS FATHER IS KENYAN, THAT HAS TO BE SOMEWHAT CLOSE TO SOMALIA, THEY BOTH IN AFRICA AMIRITE) will be somewhat damaging to the Democrats (to put lightly). At least California's Proposition 19 will be a humourous edge.
Epilogue
This will not be as interesting or as touching as the UK elections for me at least, and even in the US, no real opinions and large amounts #care will be shown by everyone apart from the people directly involved (and let's not forget their trustfund kiddies who actually do get to go to Ivy League Establishment unlike me who just has to go to the park and sit near an Ivy as a substitute (being on the commuter green belt of london, this is fairly easy to do), as this is just another flipside of a long history of any 2-party system in the World, where a lot is exchanged between parties and parties promising a lot to the public during pre-election followed by fluctation of government with no potential changes offered. I will go to work in a blue tie tomorrow. But only cos I feel like it, nothing to do with Democrats or Rednecks and their consequent results in the polls.
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While it's certainly true that this thread would appeal mostly to Americans, my statements were still (largely) directed at "everyman", the "citizen of the world", because no matter where you go it seems as if most people are disinterested in or uneducated regarding politics in general; this is just as true in the streets of Monaco as it is in Los Angeles.
I think the populace's disconnect from politics is something pre-programmed by public school, reinforced by modern media/TV/magazines/newspapers, and driven home by fine-print laws such as income tax refunds...
Indeed. It is a sad state of affairs, really. Lack of understanding and self-education on the topic usually leads to the general populous picking the ones, who can appeal to something basic through the mass-media, to them. It's open season for demagogy and well-versed propaganda, but honestly, it's been like that for many years, not only in the USA.
Not sure if you follow what happens in Poland, but we've had the whole Katyn debacle followed by some nutters camping below a cross outside the Presidential Palace for a few weeks. Their vehement resistance, while valiant, was cruelly exploited by the brother of our former President for his own political ends. They ate his bullshit like it was candy, while the whole affair generated a ton of attention for his party. Fortunately, his ineptness at all matters political, practically nulled any and all advantage he might gain for his guys in the elections, but still, it goes to show how easy people are to manipulate.
Certainly - I follow these things as closely as time and resources permit but as you know, the U.S. is behind a sort of Iron Curtain. It's not always possible to get the whole story without being fluent in three or more languages, which is of course difficult.
But Neil Postman said it best when he said something to the effect that politicians are elected now based on how they look on TV rather than what their policies are and what they plan to do for the duration of their term in office: Nixon "looked truthful on TV" and George McGovern's running mate forgot to mention during the course of their campaign that he received electro-shock therapy at one point in his past... so the entire ticket was botched and more than half the people in the U.S. supposedly voted for Nixon a second time.
Most people didn't even understand the full breadth and depth of Nixon & Co.'s crimes while watching the trial unfold on TV, they just thought that he "looked guilty" and so began the biggest public outcry against a public official since republican shit-slinging against JFK for his indiscretions with Marilyn Monroe.
Look good on TV and be a shitty politician, you'll still get elected