It’s better if I don’t speak of it.
Y’all know I hardly ever talk about politics on this site, anyway, so I won’t go on and on about how abjectly depressing it is to me that half the people in the country whose votes have been counted so far, voted for Bush. Because me being upset about it has no effect, does it? But I did want to make a couple of observations.
This morning (before Kerry totally punked out by conceding) two conservative radio pundits were whining that if Kerry were to win, he would “take credit” for the complete turnarounds in Iraq and in our economy that they were convinced George W. Bush would effect between now and January. It was then that I reflected on the fact that most people – even and especially people on the radio – are not only stupid, but unabashedly employ stupidity in the promotion of their stupid, self-centered beliefs and desires.
And that was depressing.
So then I’m at work and, in talking to a sympathetic Kerry voter, make a flippant remark about preparing my 12-year-old son to be drafted into a war on Iran. And one of our Republican semi-bosses overhears this and tells me that neither a draft nor a war on Iran are going to happen. He backs this up with an explanation of the “reason” we attacked Iraq – a reason having to do with a long-term military strategy for peace in the Middle East that came straight out of a geek-boys’ Risk tournament.
“That’s fine,” I said. “But if all that is true, then why did Bush feel the need to mislead the stupider Americans into thinking that Saddam was responsible for 9/11? Because it was just easier than trying to explain the real reasons to them?”
My coworker denied that Bush had ever misled the stupider members of public in that fashion. I ended up telling him that I didn’t want to discuss politics at work anymore. Because I was getting upset. Because I’m the one who lost in this election, because I’m the one who was stupid enough to be born a woman and then to go on to have three sons without becoming rich beforehand. My bosses will never understand what I’m complaining about. As long as Halliburton’s profits paint their rosy futures, why would they care about people who won’t be able to afford college or draft evasions? (Or even gasoline or milk, eventually?) Why would they care about the errosion of women’s rights? Why can’t I just take my $100 Christmas bonus made of Halliburton money and my $300 tax credit made of my grandchildren’s taxes and be happy, like they are?
If I’m unhappy, why don’t I just get some implants and liposuction and then marry a man who’s smart enough to make money off the war? That’s what all the other young secretaries do. Right? Jesus. How hard can life be if all you have to do is suck an old man’s dick every night for security and happiness?
Okay… That veered off a little into personal issues about my immediate culture. But still. The metaphor is there, people.
That’s really why I never talk about politics on this site, actually. It tends to turn me viciously insane.
