In Which it is Proved that I'm Way Too Idealistic for my Own Good.

In an article written by Op-Ed Columnist Charles Blow, he discusses indirectly how my approaches and critiques of the black community voting overwhelmingly for Proposition 8, are misguided and do not appeal to the black voters themselves (many whom, blow argues, are single black women who frequent church and are apparently potentially jealous of men marrying each other because they might have been spurned in the past). He plugs it as a health issue.

This is a solid argument that is absolutely logical and probably hits closer to home (Blow argues that if sexual politics were slightly less taboo, black teenagers--who are most likely to have unprotected premarital sex--would be educated and make better sexual health decisions, lowering the prevalence in HIV amongst the black community). Solid.

I wonder, though. Doesn't pandering to a community's fear of death and disease based on it's apparently misguided notions of sexual health and acceptance marginalize the group even more than they are currently? In my Article "Dr. King's Dystopia..." (see below), I thought it was logical to appeal to the black community's sense of history, to their collective humanity and empathy in hopes that they could recognize the similarity in the Civil Rights Movement and the Gay Rights Movement. Appealing to a fear of death and disease is just another form of PR for politics in that we ignore the root of the issue in order to get to a quick goal (hint, this doesn't work. For evidence, see the scapegoating of non-Aryans in post-WWI Germany, and most recently playing on the sensitive fears of the US citizens to send troops into Iraq--a couple significant events that stuck out in my mind that fit the bill; there are doubtlessly multitudes more).

As a minority, I feel a little put off about Mr. Blow (a black man) essentially selling his community out.

Though is he buying the greater good?

Would YOU Kill for that Plasma-Screen TV? Black Friday Indeed.

This article detailing the misadventures of a seasonal employee and his DEATH by TRAMPLING is a great example of American consumerism going just a tad too far. It is also an example of how ridiculous the blame game gets here. The article, through several of its sources and interviewees paints Wal-Mart to be the problem, that it should let its workers unionize, that it should have been more prepared to deal with the mob-like crowds.

Really? It's Wal-Mart's fault that people are willing to trample a seasonal employee to death in order to be the first to get great deals on poor-quality goods? If ever anyone needed evidence of American capitalism ironically killing its own citizens, this is literally it. How can it be true that the instinct to shop is greater than the instinct to help another human being who is dying?

The police should search his body for footprints, match them up to people and then put each and every one of those people on trial for murder.

Dr. King's Dystopia, or: Dear President Obama,

The moment the CNN said "Obama projected President Elect," we were in disbelief. We changed the channel to MSNBC, then to FOX news. When FOX said the same thing, we knew it was true. Then we heard the joyful cries in the street.

"Obama! Obama! Obama!"

We went outside to join them. We screamed, I yelled, I was lost in a mass of happiness, hope, and relief. Of course this would happen in New York City. "This is so GOOD," I repeated loudly, laughing almost maniacally with excitement, faith restored anew in my fellow man, faith restored in democracy. "I have hope. I actually have hope," I repeated, astonished.

It sound mellow-dramatic, but it's true. I was terrified that McCain had a chance (Hey, it happened for Republicans two elections in a row).

We went out on the street where the homeless shelter was awash with happiness, we gave them high fives as we passed and rejoiced, shouting "Obama! We did it!"

We walked uptown and had victory shots of Jack Daniels, the most American thing we could think of at the time. We walked north still, where in every bar with a television no one spoke, the patrons quelled by McCain's concession speech. No one spoke, all eyes were glued to the television. It was as if some disaster has struck and we were all in disbelief. It was, in fact, quite the opposite: hope was restored.

As we got to Union Square, the crowd was immense; a gigantic American flag flowed over the rejoicing bodies. People not knowing how to express their relief, their elation, climbed the lamps and were subsequently arrested. But I don't even think they cared. They had their hope; even the face of arrest, they claimed victory. As people banged on pots and pans, a man brought a bass and played a tune and we all danced to the hymn of the re-instated Democracy, our reiterated faith in each other and our people.

"Finally, I won't have to use drugs as escapism!" I yelled half-seriously--I really didn't feel like I would need to get high ever again.

Others chanted "Yes we can!" or "Si Se Puede" or "This is what Democracy looks like!"

Then a friend of mine came up to me, looking distraught and enveloped me in his arms, giving me a hug so genuine that it felt like I was a child again. "I am so sorry about Proposition 8," he said, "It's so fucked up. I'm so sorry."

"No." I said, "It didn't pass yet, did it?" He was drunk and didn't really know how to respond, but he was noticeably upset.

My friend in Indiana texted me "Have you seen the numbers on Prop 8?"

"No. It didn't pass, right?"

"They're still counting ballots, but it's %51 for it."

My heart sank. My hope was gone "Why do they hate us?" was my only--albeit short-sighted and immature--thought. I couldn't understand. I felt myself losing my drive to be with all these people who I knew could fully enjoy being citizens under their elected official--the Obama that I helped elect, too. I had to leave. I said goodbye to the mob, to the joy, to the hope.

I went home and got high.


In two days time I would read the exit polls, the "crushing defeat for the pro-marriage community" headlines. I would find out that, in record numbers, black voters came out to support Obama, and ironically enough, in record numbers, black voters came out to vote yes on Proposition 8. Sixty-one percent of black voters in California who voted Obama also voted for the ban, versus forty-nine percent of white voters for Obama.

True, this was one of the most expensive issues on the ballot for California in years, and true that a record number of voters came out for this election regardless, but I can't help feeling like it is almost directly Obama's fault that Proposition 8 passed in California.I don't blame him; I don't hate the sinner, I hate the sin.

By enticing the black voters in record numbers in California and also explicitly not supporting gay marriage, he okay-ed their attitudes. He opened the floodgate of anti-gay votes that led to the ban. Like I said, though, I don't blame him.

When Mr. Obama talks about gay marriage, he does so awkwardly, without his characteristic charisma and eloquence. He relies on his faith as a Christian to define marriage to be between a man and a woman. Compared with the rest of his interviews, however, a reader or viewer can just tell how awful he feels about not being able to say that he supports gay marriage; through his clenched, Christian teeth he says to us: "Look, I'd love to give you marriage, but I can only do that if I'm elected. And I know I won't be if I support gay marriage." Okay. We get it. We wanted to elect you, too. I don't blame Obama the person; I'm glad he's here. It is just the most discouraging thing in the world to fight for this man to become President of the United States, to be "part of" this phenomenon, and then be explicitly excluded from it.

"Yeah! We all did it! But homosexual citizens' feelings really just aren't as valid as normal, Christian heterosexual citizens," Was the message there.

I honestly just don't understand where history went. What happened to Dr. Martin Luther King Jr's dream where "one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: 'We hold these truths to be self-evident, that ALL MEN ARE CREATED EQUAL.'" That " I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character." What happened to Huey Long, the founder of the Black Panthers liberation movement defending homosexuals explaining that "Homosexuals are not given freedom and liberty by anyone in the society. Maybe they might be the most oppressed people in the society." And that "The terms 'faggot' and 'punk' should be deleted from our vocabulary."

Is the Christian black community truly so far from its Civil-rights Era roots of freedom? How does God's Bible trump "Truths that are self-evident?"

I had a dream that "Separate But Equal" was over after Brown vs. Board of Education (a monumental decision that started to destroy "Separate But Equal" on the basis of it being unconstitutional (Hint: it still is)) would hold up.

Now, I have to cling to a dream that one day, everyone will be judged on their character, and not on whom they love. I have to cling to the hope that emptied from before I found out about the decision that isolated me from the happy mass of people that could rejoice in their victory AND their love.

I cling to Dr. King's Dream because, lest it be forgotten, someone has to.

Yes.

Obama Won.

Also, I love Daryl K.

The Beginning, or End, of Hope. You Decide Tomorrow.

As much as Matthew Arnold, my patron-saint of Art criticism, would abhor this blog's involvement in politics(See "The Function of Criticism at the Present Time"), I feel it is my duty as cognizant human being who claims a high taste, which I argue pervades over almost all spheres (taste, not MY taste), to endorse LOGIC.

Or Obama. Same thing really.

Barack Obama is objectively the only decision in this election. This is true. No minced words.

(Never mind that he genuinely wants to improve the quality of life for ALL of American citizens (not just the ones that can afford $150,000 wardrobes, stylists, aestheticians, and to fly her children around the country and charge it to the taxpayers), through alternative energies, standardized health care for all, and finally holding the embezzlers on wall-street responsible for their gross oversights and greed)

This is true simply because Palin has proved herself incapable of filling the office of president.

Oh yes, you read correctly. I wrote that Palin is running for president. This is because by voting for McCain, you are voting for her almost directly. John McCain is SEVENTY TWO years old. While some may argue that this gives him perspective over more than half a century, doctors and people who have a slight knowledge of Biology would tell you that he IS GOING TO DIE. I give him two years maximum.

He survived melanoma, an aggressive skin cancer quite lethal (lethal enough for me to have 3 large scars on my back and chest simply so I could avoid the threat in the future). A lot of people don't survive it. He did. Good for him.

He survived Vietnam. He even survived torture.

He won't release his health records. He can't remember how many properties he owns (around seven?), he can't remember who he's debating ("THAT ONE!" and "Senator Governor" are two of his favorite pet-names for Obama). Because of these factors, we can only conclude that his health is notably waning, and that he has already begun the terrifying descent into senility.

But what about the old adage "What doesn't kill you makes you stronger"?

Have you ever seen a cancer patient after chemotherapy? Have you ever spoken to a paraplegic about his desire for a speedy death--through a computer, no less? Actually, the very nature of disease and virus is that you become weaker from it so that it may gain property on the evolutionary playing-field (I don't really recall too many Plague or Cholera patients who claim to be stronger because of their experience, even the ones who do survive). Don't even get me started on the possibility of McCain having Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (note, this is bad for a president who potentially has to be in environments reminiscent of the original war-environment).

McCain may be a maverick (actually, he's conservative, kind of anti-maverick by definition), but he is not immortal. He has suffered the wear and tear of existence--Cancer, Vietnam, living almost 3/4 of a century--just passing the average life expectancy in America. That's 69.3 years FYI--and like any physical body, it must die; we all must. But McCain is closer than, oh, say a forty-seven year-old Obama.

In this manner, especially combined with her audaciously public power-driven politics (She thinks the amount of power that the vice-president was given during the Disaster Years (Bush's 8-year term) is not only appropriate, but exciting. Never mind that the Vice President, as outlined in the constitution, presides over the Senate and casts a deciding vote. If they need it. ) she will become the next president. So when McCain inevitably dies a year or two after the election, we will have President Palin the hockey mom, the pit bull in lip stick.

Are you afraid yet?

Oh, you betcha!

The democratic election is a function of a democratic society wherein each member has a voice to say what is best for the country as a whole. NOT just the Christians. NOT just your family. NOT just YOU.

Honestly, I don't know how to end this. I feel like if McCain is actually elected, literally all hope will be lost for America. If we can't learn from 8 consecutive years of undeniable mistakes, we won't ever learn.

Post Script: I can't even begin to talk about the general disgust I feel towards the republican party's desperate tactics to win the election, so read about them HERE .