Tuesday, November 2, 2010

Make Your Move, America.

I didn't go to the Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear.

I wanted to, but we couldn't swing it financially in any way.  I did watch the last hour or so on my computer with the girl.  We loved it, and I have to admit, as hard-hearted and cynical as I am, I got teary looking at all those people gathered in DC.

People who are looking to make a difference in the world, looking to show that this is a country that believes in rationality and humanity and doing good.

I tend not to watch tv news, particularly cable news shows, simply because it is so upsetting to me.  So frustrating and unrelentingly negative.

I want to believe that people are inherently good.  I really do.  I think that's why I'm constantly amazed at the casual racists and mindlessly bigoted people I run into.  I have a hard time believing that someone like that actually exists outside of a movie or a novel.

But I do honestly believe that for every willfully ignorant person I've run across, I've met at least 4 or 5 people who are at least smart enough and decent enough to want to do what's right for their neighbors.  I really do.  We disagree on politics, but we agree that people need to do the right thing.

I hope those people go out and vote today.  I hope they show the world that we are not ruled by fear mongers and demagogues and ratings chasers.  That we are a country who puts our belief in what's best for us as a nation to the fore and works together to solve our many problems.

I hate to think of the contrary.

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And on a completely different note:  More List-y fun at Secret Society of List Addicts!  It's like I can't get enough of bullet points.  And your attention.

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And on another, completely different note [it's like I'm creating a symphony!], I'm guest posting over at Jo and the Novelist.  I wrote about writing, which is almost masturbatory, but not in that special, tingly way.  Go read. It's fun. Also, I have a mad crush on Jo.

7 comments:

  1. Living in the South, I'm amazed at people's mindsets and how they still teach their kids that crap today. I'm not from the South, so that's why I feel like I can exclude myself from the group. :)

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  2. It never ceases to amaze me the amount of people who just spit out a casually racist comment. They just blithely lob it into a conversation, and there I am, jaw to the floor in shock. I need to work on my reaction - and actually say something.

    In another note - huzzah for your guest post. It's awesome-o!

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  3. I totally voted so I can bitch bitch bitch about the next 2 years. I am so so scared!
    I too wanted to go to the Sanity/Fear Rally but watched it on tv instead. I was very moved and I really hope it made a difference. I mean, if Jon Stewart can't get folks motivated we are simply screwed as a nation.

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  4. I went and it was AHMAZING! I was so in awe of how many people showed up (and not just people like me who lucked out to live so close!). And it might have been best to watch online - I got a good spot on 4th, but my friends who were at 7th and back (and anyone anywhere near the Washington monument) couldn't hear and could rarely see, so you had a better experience!

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  5. I have a mad crush on Jo, too. I mean, she has blond hair and she's British. She's at least 50 percent Julie Andrews!

    I would have loved to go to the Stewart/Colbert hoedown in D.C., too. But I voted. That counts for something, right? Even in Massachusetts, where hundreds of thousands of people will vote the right way. And by "right" I mean "left."

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  6. I was at the Rally to Restore Sanity! It was crazy crowded so I ducked into some museums, but I was IN THE VICINITY! I heard Ozzy Osbourne and Jon Stewart, and I watched it when I got home. Then I came home, all pumped up, voted and discovered that Americans love to shoot themselves in the foot by voting for fear-mongering, self-important douchebags.

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Every time you comment, I get a lady boner.