I've set out now to sort of rewrite Obamania because I don't think that it was anywhere near eloquent and as I wrote it in a frenzy of uncontrollabel and part-irrational anger I'm not too happy with it. In this post I wish to explain myself again, and I've tried to incorporate some things that I thought about after the feedback I got on the original post. (I'm still going to leave the original post up there, in case someone wants to read it. I'm not sure if I recommend it.)
-----
I've had the beginning of this post (above) ready for ages, but just didn't have the determination to actually write it up. I did, however write a personal message to a friend of mine who I had a minor argument with regarding my Obamania post. I think, with the Awesome Inauguration coming up next Tuesday, this might be a good time to tackle this one again. However, since I'm lazy and I'm actually quite happy with that message I sent to that friend of mine, I'm just going to copy paste it here. I've done some minor changes to it, mainly to make it a bit more PC as well as adding some links and stuff. (It's a bit long, so prepare yourself, get a drink and some snacks and.. Enjoy!)
-----
Firstly, I hope you realised from the quality of the blogpost in question that it was written in a frenzy of mindless anger and annoyance. Although, I do stand behind my words. I just mean that had I actually THOUGHT about what I was writing about I would've said things a bit differently.
I am still holding on to my opinion on local elections. I do believe that they are the most important elections for the average Joe or Jane. However, I'm not trying to say that other elections aren't important, on the contrary I believe elections are a wonderfull thing and all of them matter. Neither do I think that people are wrong to get enthusiastic about the US elections (and this is something I realise I didn't make clear at all), but I think that it's a real shame that many of the people I know who got all worked up about the election are people who don't care about what goes on in their own country. Or people who in general don't seem to have any real interest or opinion about US (politics) other than 'Bush sucks' (or more recently 'McCain sucks and Palin is an idiot'). And I'm not trying to say they're wrong, I just think it's a bit pathetic in a way, you know just repeating things they've heard other people say. If you see what I mean.
I'm finding it very hard to believe that we are now or would have been anywhere near WW3 had McCain been elected. I'd like to think that if McCain had died in office and Palin would've become president, she wouldn't have just sent out a load of nuclear missiles to Russia, even if she has seen Putin rear his ugly head or whatever it is she said she'd seen. I just can't imagine it [WW3] happening anytime soon, and I think I personally will stay a lot happier not even imagining such a possibility. (Following pic from flickr.)
I take your point with the July 2005 bombings, though. [This one I should probably make a bit clearer. My friend used terrorism to back up his argument about the importance of the US election to people everywhere, which is a fair point, I suppose.] Terrorism is something (kind of like the WW3-thing) I don't really think about, having never experienced anything the like. I've never felt a real threat of terrorism even living in London now. Perhaps it's because I'm selfish and can't really picture it before something happens to someone I know or something.
I'm a lot more scared of being stabbed, shot or simply mugged in the streets. Just the other day there was a stabbing/shooting (I never found out which it was, my guess is stabbing) right next to our local library. And a few days before that someone got stabbed right outside the house of some friends of the boy. That's something I worry a lot more than terrorism, which brings me nice and neatly back to the importance of local elections. I think it's not easy to link local stabbings with the US presidential elections, but it's a clear sign that there are severe problems in the society we live in (and I mean society here in the national/local sense not in the international sense).
Hm, I think that's it. Well, I've exhausted the pseudo-academic side of my brain and won't say more even if I should. ...And in case I've not made myself clear enough, I'm really glad Obama won!
-----
I think there is more to be said on the topic, perhaps that's something that could be done in the comments. If you've got something to say, SAY IT! I would very much appreciate any feed back or opinions and I do to keep an eye on the comments in case some of you actually DO want to discuss all of this. If you got this far, that is.
No comments:
Post a Comment