Friday, May 7, 2010

Finding a balance

Balance I'm trying.

I find myself getting a little too caught up in the constant daily flow of political and other news information emanating from various news sources, both on TV and online. I enjoy being informed, and I think it's important that all of us try to do so. I think that is part of being a good citizen. I'm still stunned when I hear someone say, "Oh, I don't pay attention to all that stuff. It's boring/stupid/unimportant/too upsetting." The only one I'll agree with on occasion is the latter. I find myself getting so angry and agitated about things lately that it's coloring my entire world. I maintain a little more balance over on Facebook, because I find amusing and fun things to intersperse with the political and religious, and my friends keep me laughing with a lot of fun posts and comments. I've been more heavy-handed here, and that's part of the reason I haven't been posting as much lately. I can only handle so much.

Amazingly enough, it's not so much the politicians themselves, although I do get disgusted with some of the antics I see (and we're seeing plenty these days). What I'm more frustrated with is a lot of my fellow citizens who seem to embrace the endless contradictions of their anti-Obama movement. Their mantra is "defend the Constitution!" But they're the first to cheer the scuttling of it by the Arizona legislature, who decided it's perfectly okay to stop someone and check their papers merely because of the way they look. They champion the stripping of the rights of an American citizen who has been accused of a crime but not yet convicted, all the while defending every American citizen's right to buy a gun, regardless of possible history of mental illness, and sometimes with no background check at all. (Something is wrong when people can buy guns at garage sales.)

They accept blatant lies and conspiracy theories spilling from the mouths of those on a certain "fair and balanced" network and on the radio, without bothering to check the facts themselves. They forward me emails about Obama being a secret Muslim, about Michelle racking up a huge bill at a New York City hotel by ordering lobster and caviar, about how a birth certificate isn't the same as a certificate of live birth...and when I debunk all these claims using Snopes or PolitiFact or FactCheck and send that back to them, they send me another forwarded email about how the people who run Snopes are mysterious liberals who don't really check things at all, so I send them an email back containing the link to the PolitiFact or FactCheck article that debunks that. It's mind-boggling.

Then there are the charges that the Obama administration is either socialist, communist, or fascist. (Maybe one day they'll pick one.) The "regime" is compared to that of Hitler, which I think means that the accusers have no concept of history or scale. The administration is soft on terror—and remember, no terrorist attacks occurred on American soil during President Bush's administration...Rudy Giuliani said so!—they deliberately caused the massive BP oil spill in order to stop offshore drilling (despite having authorized it just a few weeks before), they want to force women to have abortions, Obama wants to create a dictatorship (never mind the fact that he was democratically elected), the administration wants to stop people from being Christians, and they want to kill Grandma by forcing her to appear before a death panel and make her case for why she should be allowed to live.

I'm so fucking sick of it. It's all bullshit, and anyone who buys all of this hook, line, and sinker is a fucking retard. Are there problems that need to be addressed? Of course. Do I agree with everything the President has done? No, I do not. However, he is our duly and democratically elected Commander in Chief, and if you don't like it, by all means cast your vote against him in the next election, and voice your disagreements with his policies. I will even defend your right to pray for his death if that's the way you get your jollies, and if your god is so psychotic that you think he just might kill the President of the United States for you because of your prayer, then you two have a ball together. But if all you've got is lies, contradictions, and bullshit, I'm really sick of hearing it.

So yeah, I'm not in a good place right now, and although I'll keep writing about a lot of this stuff—it’s my bag, baby—I think I'll just leave the loonies to their fun. Enjoy your constant hand-wringing and mental anguish about your country being taken over by godless liberals and people who don't look exactly like you. The rest of us will just go methodically and efficiently about our business.

12 comments:

  1. It is very discouraging, and, well.... sad.

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  2. I wonder when would you say the current political climate began to ramp up? Remembering how negative and ugly things were for Clinton, first campaigning and then his reelection, that seems like a good place for things to have started.

    Socialist. Fascist. Communist. The thing about those charges is that they are three distinct and different idealologies and you CAN'T be one if you are the other.

    What Obama administration has shown is that his off the cuff remark about 'guns and religion' is closer to the truth that people want to believe. By pandering to the worst fears of white Americans a lot of silt is clouding the waters. Meanwhile, things that don't make sense go along unabated.

    Hate the war - love the troops is an conceptual nightmare for me. What ever it is supposed to mean? To me it is like a sedative for us to be calm while people profit off of broken lives, death and carnage. Even though we agree that a military solution isn't going to change things in either Iraq or Afghanistan, we are suppose to allow for billions of dollars and untold human capital to be spent for a unknown purpose.

    The law in Arizona, which does not INTRODUCE NEW LAW, is another example of where the true spirit or intent of something is a big distraction. Because it doesn't do anything, what is the purpose of the law? To be mean and show malice? To force the Federal Gov't to act? I don't get it but I do think that too much is being made of it.

    Why is it that people can believe that Obama is a closet Muslim when it was the Bush family that had close ties with the royal family of the KSA? Or that in the rush to Iraq that Cheney made billions through his defense industry contacts??

    I read and follow enough to keep on my toes so that I don't fall too far behind, but finding out how scared and panicky people are, that they foster their own worries because in my mind, things aren't easy or simple enough for them, makes me shake my head in resignation.

    Sorry for hijacking your entry. I find that a lot of my common conversation is best kept to myself. So it is a build up that sorta spilled out. Have the best day!!

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  3. You do seem kinda wound tight lately! How about an update on the flora and fauna around Nutwood!? Maybe you should take a nature hike and them update us!

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  4. I am really busy at work so I do not even blog any more some day I will and like u I find this pseudo intellectual bullshit along with the religious pondering shit frustrating. However I am glad that u blog with sincerity and commitment. I also like when u curse. Love reading ur post

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  5. I perfectly understand you, Beth. The last electotal shambles here in the UK have upset me quite a lot too. But what upsets me most is the ignorance of the electorate, aka people! Take care. Ciao. A.

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  6. is teabagging, by its very nature, seditious behavior?

    i know i;ve said this before but your passion has gotten me more interested in being an informed citizen and i thank you for sharing so much information with me.
    xxalainaxx

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  7. I perfectly agree and side with you Sweetie.

    I happen to really love Obama as our President and I too am sick of all these whackos out there making up so much crap and false stories....Ugh! Can you imagine how Obama feels reading all this crap about himself? Sad.

    Hugs, Rose

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  8. preaching to the choir, my friend. I find that most of those who take the time to comment on FB are against whatever it is that i just wrote about....most from J Land....and i want to defriend them so badly....(i have defriended 95% of all people from the Internet off of my FB anyway)....fucking retard is a good word for those who blindly follow anyone from any religion or political affiliation just because they are from a certain "group". WTH? I really respect those who stand by their beliefs but lets have some damn common sense. Most people only care about THEIR needs, THEIR life, THEIR money, THEIR family and truly, fuck everyone else. I love it when you get fired up.

    you sure are not a fucking retard.

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  9. Excellent post. When it comes to politics, I'm like the Swiss. I stay neutral. However, the Teabaggers are showing their stupidity more and more, and those liars at Faux Noise are gonna continue hate-mongering until one of their sheep kill an innocent person. Thanks for sharing, though.

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  10. My Sanity Salvation Schedule consists of no more than two serious/sad/incensed posts in a row, interspersed with either lighter-hearted or funnier posts. I try to make myself stick to that 2:1 schedule, although it's very hard sometimes. I've worried that my readers who expect one kind of posts from me won't like the other kind, but I'm finding that loyal readers fully expect me to be as human as they are.

    Post all the Blog Balancers you like; we'll be right here with you.

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  11. I know how you feel (don't you just LOVE when people say that??). My problem is overwhelming input and feeble output. SIGH

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  12. I have to hand it to you, Beth, for continuing to post about important issues, despite being fed up and discouraged. I'm sure you realize that there are a lot of us out here who are equally discouraged, yet unable to articulate our feelings as vividly as you do. We thank you for continuing to sort out the bullshit, despite how deep and malodorous it's becoming.

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I'm funny how, I mean funny like I'm a clown, I amuse you?