Tricksy Voters

I so pilfered the image from Google. Couldn't help myself. Fit the post I'm about to write.

This isn't about who I'm voting for, or who I think is going to win, or how very tired I am of this election (good God, are we there yet? srsly).

This is about those assholes that think if you don't agree with them, you shouldn't be voting.

Those of you that read the news yesterday (or even over the weekend) probably saw this, and I read it yesterday too. Thing is, I was so pissed off I couldn't even blog about it. I thought hey, we're in the twenty-first century, there's still some pretty fucked up shit out there but we're getting better. There are debates, there is some progress on the emotional / political / everything front. We're not perfect but we're working on it.

I really, really, hate being wrong.

This article caused me to lose a little faith (a lot, actually) in my fellow countrymen.

In Philly:
-- fliers stating if you have unpaid parking tickets or criminal convictions you'll be arrested at the polls

In Virginia:
-- fliers stating that there are so many voters turning out for the election that there will, in fact, be two elections: Repubs vote on Tuesday, Dems vote on Wednesday

In New Mexico:
-- a P.I. hired by a Repub lawyer harrassed a couple of hispanic women wanting to see proof of citizenship to show that their voter registration was legit

In Pennsylvania:
-- emails targeting Jewish-Americans circulated linking Obama to the holocost, telling them that they "cannot afford to make the wrong decision on Tuesday, Nov. 4"
-- leaflets saying people with prior criminal offenses will be arrested if they show up to vote
-- fliers stating Obama is more sympathetic to Palestinians than to Israel

In Nevada:
-- phone calls from bogus Obama supporters urging Latino citizens to vote over the phone


Really? Really? Sigh.

What is it with this fear of "the other guy winning"? Why do people get so afraid about what will happen if their chosen candidate loses? What goes on in their head that they start justifying mistreatment of their fellow citizens in order to validate themselves and their choice for president / senator / governer / whatever? Are we that insecure? It's like someone draws a line in the sand and says if you're not on the right side you are devilspawn and I must kill you now. Literally, I think this goes through people's heads.

But it doesn't make sense.

What kind of conditioning have we grown up with to fear our fellow man that much? Don't get me wrong, I don't want to sit around in a circle holding hands and singing Kumbaya. But for fuck's sake, could we maybe not be so defensive and instead try to, I don't know, restrain ourselves from beating the crap out of each other both mentally and physically every time there's some sort of disagreement? Can we not maybe say, hey, I disagree with you, but this is America and I respect the fact that you have an opinion even if it isn't the same as mine? Apparently this is too hard of a concept for a lot of people to grasp.

Honestly, this sort of thing should be a big clue for the fanatics out there. If you have to resort to trickery, if you have to stoop that low in order to influence the polls, then maybe -- just maybe -- it wasn't meant to be. Sorry. That's how life goes. You can't win all the time, you shouldn't expect to win all the time, and you shouldn't go apeshit if you think you're going to lose. Losing is not a bad thing. It is not the end of the world. The universe will not implode on itself if we find out the other guy won. If I find out my choice for president didn't win, I'm not going to run out into the streets swinging an Uzi around and take out everyone in the immediate vicinity. You know what I'm going to do? I'll be pissed for a couple of days, and then I'll get over it. Despite what either party is saying right now, one person does not have that much influence over our country. Guess what? That's why we have a senate, a congress, all these local levels of government, etc etc. We have those checks and balances for a reason.

Last I checked, we all live in the same country. United States of America. See that? UNITED. It's right there in the name of our country. We are not the OMGPANIC States of America. We are not the GTFO States of America. We are not the Secular States of America.

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.

Grow up, people. Seriously.


Quote of the Day:

(Team America)
Gary Johnston: We're dicks! We're reckless, arrogant, stupid dicks. And the Film Actors Guild are pussies. And Kim Jong Il is an asshole. Pussies don't like dicks, because pussies get fucked by dicks. But dicks also fuck assholes: assholes that just want to shit on everything. Pussies may think they can deal with assholes their way. But the only thing that can fuck an asshole is a dick, with some balls. The problem with dicks is: they fuck too much or fuck when it isn't appropriate - and it takes a pussy to show them that. But sometimes, pussies can be so full of shit that they become assholes themselves... because pussies are an inch and half away from ass holes. I don't know much about this crazy, crazy world, but I do know this: If you don't let us fuck this asshole, we're going to have our dicks and pussies all covered in shit!


~Sass~