Posts by Danielle
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Danielle, sweetie, get out there, do the right thing, and help to push NZ First over 5%
<holds knitting needles aloft> To the Henderson RSA! Who's with me?
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if only by a matter of degrees I'd have to say that this victory for this candidate in this country is probably a bigger deal at this time in history
I agree with you. One of my lecturers when I was doing my MA said that the ways in which different societies stress their inequalities sort of... define those societies, explain them - give you an analytical framework to work with, as a historian. She used 'class' as the primary idea in England and the USA's was, of course, 'race'. (Not that class struggle doesn't exist in the USA. Just that it wasn't the defining characteristic of the country's social issues.)
the gaping wounds of history are just so stark
Yes. The amount of verklemptness (is that a word?) I have is related entirely to this. As Jolisa said: relief, shame that it took so long, and joy. I suppose if you find history irrelevant (and a scary number of people do), those kinds of emotions seem excessive. And I think that they almost *have* to die down eventually: he can't maintain that kind of responsibility for all these feelings. It would be stultifying.
Did anyone link to Condi Rice reacting to the news? She was clearly absolutely elated! I've never seen her so perky. Weird and cool, even if she did sell her soul to the Bush administration...
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Those figures from 2005 pre-election polling are interesting. So we're actually talking about a swing to National of only about 5%? That's not exactly huge, is it?
In other news: I still think we're fucked. Sigh.
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I think Aaron Sorkin is actually the Wizard of Oz
I dread to think what that makes Studio 60.
(Btw, I have received far too many compliments during this thread. Thanks. :) Also, Islander, if only I was anywhere near Kaikoura!)
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By the way, am I the only person who, after reading the title of the post, is singing "You Sexy Thing?"
No sirree, you are not the only one at all. 'Yesterda-ay, I was one of the lonely people...'
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But it's still fun for a lot of people to be sexist, because we feminists are just a bunch of man-hating whiners who are making it all up and taking offence for no reason and should get over it.
Oh, replying to myself, I'm so awesome. Yeesh. But I just remembered that I've heard plenty of folk say that people of colour should 'get over it' and that they're making stuff up, too. So perhaps I'm wrong about that.
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Regarding this 'emotional pull of the first woman POTUS' issue... I think I would have been moved quite profoundly if Hillary had won, but... it really does depend on the person, ultimately. I wouldn't have felt that rush: 'he's just some random guy! Anyone can be president? Seriously?' with Hillary because she had a Washington background. And the fact that Obama is, by most non-wingnut measures, an admirable and inspiring person makes this 'first' all the sweeter for his supporters. But would I have been so thrilled if it was Colin Powell? Or, the lord forbid, would I be happy about the Holy Uterus of Palin occupying the Oval Office in 2016 or something? Gack!
Also: the emotional pull for society at large would be different; most people accept that racism is bad, mmmkay? But it's still fun for a lot of people to be sexist, because we feminists are just a bunch of man-hating whiners who are making it all up and taking offence for no reason and should get over it.
Kyle, I think the oppression olympics are depressing and stupid too, but many, many women have died horribly and suffered greatly as a result of sexism and misogyny; it's just that women are such a huge group, and we're all part of other subgroups, so it makes the kinds of popular narratives associated with the civil rights movement very difficult to write.
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and as my wife pointed out yesterday that 49% are "53 million rednecks with guns" .... a little bit of a generalisation
Just a tad. I know quite a few armed rednecks. My cousin, in reddest of red rural Louisiana, a place where people hunt and shoot and fish and rail against the taxman and call people the n-word (oh yes. Still.), emailed me yesterday and said that although he didn't vote for him (he wrote in some crazy libertarian third-party candidate), he thought that Obama would be 'a good president, better than McCain'.
Sometimes, you just can't tell who will think what, or how they'll react. They'll always surprise you.
That being said: please please please don't let him get shot.
in words that have become a refrain for so many, “I never thought I would live to see this day. I never thought it could happen in my lifetime.”
Aaaaaaand the waterworks again. :)
I got an email from my friend in Chicago. He said a large group of people were on their way to the rally when the election was called for Obama; everyone started running and jumping and skipping along the streets to the park like little kids do. He's 38 years old. I loved that image.
a mixture of relief and shame (that it took so long) and joy
This. I was there for that 2000 election debacle and ever since, I've thought 'there's no way they can come out of this spiral. It's just getting worse and worse'. Governments aren't all about rainbows and kittens, I don't expect that, but holy *crap* that was a long eight years of feeling totally disgusted with everything. Now I can just feel disgusted with about... 50% of everything, and it's a huge relief. :)
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Well, what a charming apology that isn't!
It should be noted that I laughed out loud when I read Mark's 'apology'. I'm thinking the unspoken second clause after 'I'm sure that's not the worst thing you've ever been called' might be something like 'because you're a total bitch on wheels'. Hee!
Then Danielle came and restored sanity and happiness.
Awwww! Also, that's conceivably the first time I have ever brought sanity to, like, anywhere. Maybe it's a measure of how weird the thread had become?
Are you, like me, Danielle, spending alot of time recently with your head in the sand?
Oh yes, Jackie. My brain is getting excellent circulation down here. The sounds from John Key and his peeps are admittedly a bit muffled, but I like it better that way. I just pretend Craig is One of Us and then I'm practically in an echo chamber. Sweet as!
Incidentally, I'm Kai Tahu too, Islander. Not much, but a bit. And Kati Mamoe.
then I had to tear a new one to Denis Welch
Wait, what? Is this thread so long that I've forgotten huge swathes of it?
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OK, this thread is now totally ridiculous and I'm a shrew (I'm apparently 'benignly' insulted, though, so I suppose I should count myself lucky), and you know what? I don't care, because I just saw a clip of Maya Angelou reciting 'I Rise' on the CBS Early Show this morning, and I saw Stephen Colbert and Jon Stewart try to hold back tears last night on the Daily Show election special, and this morning I saw a photo of a young African-American man joyously yelling 'my president is black! my president is black!' wearing an Obama/Aladdin Sane t-shirt in Chicago last night, and I still think this is fucking awesome. Even if it's all shittiness and compromise and horrible disillusionment after this, I'm going to remember these few days.
Just call me Pollyanna Hippy McGee and be done with it.