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The New Dread
Nov. 6th, 2024 11:39 amMichelle is stuck in depression and nothing I can say will help. Not like I really know what to say. At least she's taking time off. I'm stuck in the office
The results are a lot of what I expected. Actually, no, that's dumb of me. I was hopeful: I assumed that I was being too cynical and people were willing to remember the last time Trump held the reins enough to accept the loss. I figured people liked the Biden shit and it was just me that felt uncomfortable and bore with it. I voted Dem. A lot of people I know did, even the most critical.
I hang out online with a lot of trans people. Smart, funny, creatives... outliers align with outliers. They've always been skeptical because they know they're the easiest scapegoats next to furries (whom I think are even less of a monolith). When some of the nicest people brought up their qualms asking why dems thought the messaging about Palestine, about sideways being okay with not acknowledging the trans community beyond a half-joke, why the economy that had a decent number of them living off GFMs: why it felt like an okay thing for political messaging. And for that question posed as sincerely as possible, what did they receive? Accusations.
They must be voting third party. They must be spoiling the vote, who are you to question the judgment of people who were in the party for years? What makes you think you understand the grand plan of the Democrats and the wisdom of two previous presidents? I saw one person try to be reasonable and even emphasize they were voting *with* the party, showing a ballot with Harris filled in (she was in CA so it was okay) and she *still* got grief for it because she didn't vote enthusiastically enough. You might as well say you were asking for it given what you wore.
This kind of blind faith? It works for religion. But the church and state are separate for a reason. We shouldn't reenact false prophets like I've seen evangelicals have done with Trump. We need people to actually appreciate people for being people and respect that, especially when they already are part of the team and signed up to do the work.
Even now, I'm seeing people look for others to blame for this. The third party is the usual whipping boy (hard to quantify when their numbers would barely budge a needle), some are blaming latines, others Muslims. I'm sure a few are going to find a way to blame lefties that were willing to work within the party.
The Dem committee is already blaming this on choosing Walz who is too grassroots for their liking and not emphasizing harder how much they could have appealed to the right. It's easy to see why people feel like this is sports ball when I'm around people who constantly were talked down to for reminding people that there are actual lives that were killed and dismissed, that maybe people do pay attention to inflation concerns from corporations given the OK to do it, that you can't bring back Liz fucking Cheney and do a Never Trumper 2.0 and think it'll work this time.
Anyway, I posted this to say: be strong. Progress doesn't simply happen through voting. Support your communities and the homies within it. The incompetence of bad leadership does not invalidate the good people around you. Believe in mutual aid and try to thrive in spite of the dumb. If you're mad, then be mad, just don't let it stew so you're bringing up 2016 for the 60th time instead of helping the people you know need the care.
I'm going to keep doing what I can to support the people I respect. I'm aware that I can't do much and I don't expect it'll register much of anything, but I sure as hell am going to try.
The results are a lot of what I expected. Actually, no, that's dumb of me. I was hopeful: I assumed that I was being too cynical and people were willing to remember the last time Trump held the reins enough to accept the loss. I figured people liked the Biden shit and it was just me that felt uncomfortable and bore with it. I voted Dem. A lot of people I know did, even the most critical.
I hang out online with a lot of trans people. Smart, funny, creatives... outliers align with outliers. They've always been skeptical because they know they're the easiest scapegoats next to furries (whom I think are even less of a monolith). When some of the nicest people brought up their qualms asking why dems thought the messaging about Palestine, about sideways being okay with not acknowledging the trans community beyond a half-joke, why the economy that had a decent number of them living off GFMs: why it felt like an okay thing for political messaging. And for that question posed as sincerely as possible, what did they receive? Accusations.
They must be voting third party. They must be spoiling the vote, who are you to question the judgment of people who were in the party for years? What makes you think you understand the grand plan of the Democrats and the wisdom of two previous presidents? I saw one person try to be reasonable and even emphasize they were voting *with* the party, showing a ballot with Harris filled in (she was in CA so it was okay) and she *still* got grief for it because she didn't vote enthusiastically enough. You might as well say you were asking for it given what you wore.
This kind of blind faith? It works for religion. But the church and state are separate for a reason. We shouldn't reenact false prophets like I've seen evangelicals have done with Trump. We need people to actually appreciate people for being people and respect that, especially when they already are part of the team and signed up to do the work.
Even now, I'm seeing people look for others to blame for this. The third party is the usual whipping boy (hard to quantify when their numbers would barely budge a needle), some are blaming latines, others Muslims. I'm sure a few are going to find a way to blame lefties that were willing to work within the party.
The Dem committee is already blaming this on choosing Walz who is too grassroots for their liking and not emphasizing harder how much they could have appealed to the right. It's easy to see why people feel like this is sports ball when I'm around people who constantly were talked down to for reminding people that there are actual lives that were killed and dismissed, that maybe people do pay attention to inflation concerns from corporations given the OK to do it, that you can't bring back Liz fucking Cheney and do a Never Trumper 2.0 and think it'll work this time.
Anyway, I posted this to say: be strong. Progress doesn't simply happen through voting. Support your communities and the homies within it. The incompetence of bad leadership does not invalidate the good people around you. Believe in mutual aid and try to thrive in spite of the dumb. If you're mad, then be mad, just don't let it stew so you're bringing up 2016 for the 60th time instead of helping the people you know need the care.
I'm going to keep doing what I can to support the people I respect. I'm aware that I can't do much and I don't expect it'll register much of anything, but I sure as hell am going to try.
