October 7, 2020
Oct. 7th, 2020 06:04 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
falcongrrl(CW: p word used as a slur)
Hi, all.
jakebe mentioned that he was using DW as a place to record his thoughts, and it got me started thinking about doing the same thing. I miss writing, and maybe journal entries will springboard into other sorts of writing. If not, that's okay too. I just want to try.
Tonight we'll be watching the vice-presidential debate. I'm not sure if I would choose to on my own - it just feels likely to trigger a lot of self-righteous outrage on my part - but Dave and Ellie definitely want to, and we'll probably rope Daniel into it too. It's a family thing that we've done at least as long as the kids have been teenagers: watching debates and throwing comments into the mix in real time. It's fun. Sometimes.
The last presidential debate was...not fun. I felt so disheartened. I don't want to set up any false equivalencies here: what Trump did was rapid-fire hateful yelling and bullying, and much worse than anything Biden did in response. But for me, the net result felt like two old white guys trading insults. I ended up drinking too much wine and drunk texting a friend that "I think Biden wants to appeal to all those guys who call other dudes p-----s, but they're probably still calling him a p---y anyway."
After the debate, I got a (mass email) message from the campaign, with Biden saying, "I hope I made you proud." I winced and died a little inside.
Like Biden wants to be both empathetic and also badass...and I'm not sure that he comes across as either, really? I would say that he's a lot more empathetic than Trump, but that's definitely a low bar. He can be tone-deaf, by saying things like "turn on the phonograph record" and "you ain't black" and also by not (if you believe some of the reports) knowing which kinds of touches are appropriate. My reaction to emails saying that if I donate I'll get a call from Joe brings up mixed feelings. I don't really want Uncle Joe to call me, even if I do decide to give the campaign money.
That said, I'm in Florida, and I'm definitely voting Biden. Even if I weren't in a swing state, I'd probably vote Biden. Honestly, I get pissed off when people mention not voting for Biden. For a while, I wondered if I was becoming more moderate. It didn't help that Daniel decided that he was a leftist for a while and would make these grand pronouncements about the state of the world. I was talking with another friend and realized that, when it comes to the issues, I am actually left - far left of Biden and even Daniel. "You're not a moderate," my friend said. "You're a pragmatist."
That really hit home for me. I felt like it gave me the freedom to embrace who I am politically - both the leftist side and the "what will get us in a better place for right now" side. I know those can both coexist because they do, deep inside me.
Knowing that, feeling that, caused me to join the Democratic Socialists of America. I'm probably on a government list now, for real, and I know I don't agree with all of the people under that umbrella. But it feels like an interesting place to explore ideas of what our future could be like and how we could try to get there. I feel like a Biden presidency is a stepping stone to something greater, to who we could be. It's getting us out of authoritarianism and nightmarish, staggering levels of selfishness and narcissism. It's getting us away from state-sanctioned white supremacy and terrorism. It's getting us out of the muck.
After that happens, after we rinse and dry ourselves off, then the real work begins. Then we have to fight to bring Biden into the 21st century, and after that elect someone who represents the real interests of the people and not the status quo.
For now, there's a vice-presidential debate to get through first.
Hi, all.
jakebe mentioned that he was using DW as a place to record his thoughts, and it got me started thinking about doing the same thing. I miss writing, and maybe journal entries will springboard into other sorts of writing. If not, that's okay too. I just want to try.Tonight we'll be watching the vice-presidential debate. I'm not sure if I would choose to on my own - it just feels likely to trigger a lot of self-righteous outrage on my part - but Dave and Ellie definitely want to, and we'll probably rope Daniel into it too. It's a family thing that we've done at least as long as the kids have been teenagers: watching debates and throwing comments into the mix in real time. It's fun. Sometimes.
The last presidential debate was...not fun. I felt so disheartened. I don't want to set up any false equivalencies here: what Trump did was rapid-fire hateful yelling and bullying, and much worse than anything Biden did in response. But for me, the net result felt like two old white guys trading insults. I ended up drinking too much wine and drunk texting a friend that "I think Biden wants to appeal to all those guys who call other dudes p-----s, but they're probably still calling him a p---y anyway."
After the debate, I got a (mass email) message from the campaign, with Biden saying, "I hope I made you proud." I winced and died a little inside.
Like Biden wants to be both empathetic and also badass...and I'm not sure that he comes across as either, really? I would say that he's a lot more empathetic than Trump, but that's definitely a low bar. He can be tone-deaf, by saying things like "turn on the phonograph record" and "you ain't black" and also by not (if you believe some of the reports) knowing which kinds of touches are appropriate. My reaction to emails saying that if I donate I'll get a call from Joe brings up mixed feelings. I don't really want Uncle Joe to call me, even if I do decide to give the campaign money.
That said, I'm in Florida, and I'm definitely voting Biden. Even if I weren't in a swing state, I'd probably vote Biden. Honestly, I get pissed off when people mention not voting for Biden. For a while, I wondered if I was becoming more moderate. It didn't help that Daniel decided that he was a leftist for a while and would make these grand pronouncements about the state of the world. I was talking with another friend and realized that, when it comes to the issues, I am actually left - far left of Biden and even Daniel. "You're not a moderate," my friend said. "You're a pragmatist."
That really hit home for me. I felt like it gave me the freedom to embrace who I am politically - both the leftist side and the "what will get us in a better place for right now" side. I know those can both coexist because they do, deep inside me.
Knowing that, feeling that, caused me to join the Democratic Socialists of America. I'm probably on a government list now, for real, and I know I don't agree with all of the people under that umbrella. But it feels like an interesting place to explore ideas of what our future could be like and how we could try to get there. I feel like a Biden presidency is a stepping stone to something greater, to who we could be. It's getting us out of authoritarianism and nightmarish, staggering levels of selfishness and narcissism. It's getting us away from state-sanctioned white supremacy and terrorism. It's getting us out of the muck.
After that happens, after we rinse and dry ourselves off, then the real work begins. Then we have to fight to bring Biden into the 21st century, and after that elect someone who represents the real interests of the people and not the status quo.
For now, there's a vice-presidential debate to get through first.