and people reveal themselves to be a little more ignominious as time passes. A lot of people seem to have this idea of constant, irrepressible human progress towards some semblance of equality, harmony and understanding. Fuck that.
The fact of the matter is that give us the chance, and we will demonstrate our hatred and intolerance in waves. You can check yesterday's elections for that. Voters in Maine came out to repeal a gay marriage law the state legislature passed. Just like thirty states before them, gay marriage went up for a vote, and it was denied. And I still don't know why. I mean, I know why people vote against it. They cite some religious drivel, some nonsense about sanctity and honor or whatever, but I really just don't know why they care if gay people get married or not. It has nothing to ostensibly do with them. They are just hateful and seem to relish in denying other people joy.
I have this idea that people in America, other places too, I am sure, but I only know America, know that their lives are empty, shitty and lived in service to higher powers - their employers, politicians and the rich, which are often indistinguishable from one another. They may not be aware of it in a fully conscious sense, and they may not give it much thought, but they have a sense of it at some level. It compels them to act in such awful, vengeful ways. They love taking things out on other people. They will direct their misery at just about anyone, acting out in a wide variety of situations - driving, internet forums, picking on individuals they perceive as weak and oppressing groups they feel are susceptible to being dominated. We are a profoundly miserable people who often behave much like electricity. We will strike out at whatever is closest to us, requiring the least amount of effort. I feel that this is a large part of why men beat and cow their families - they are closest to them. They're always there, as is these men's rage, the rage that comes from so many other places and is channeled in such unproductive ways.
When it comes to enacting legislation and things of that nature, white people in this country love to enshrine their special status. They will and have put laws on the books to discriminate against, well, anyone, really. I guess just about everyone has faced discrimination in this country, save for the white man born here to a wealthy family. And by fucking god do white people like to keep it that way. They will go against themselves so often, just to try to ingratiate themselves in some way with these untouchables who rule them.
Wave a flag or a cross at them and poor white people will come out in droves for just about anything you want, as long as it's hateful and glorifies their idea of white, religious, individualistic America. Cut taxes for the rich? You bet. Fight against socialized medicine? Here we are, boss. Slash funding for education? Sure thing. Whatever you want.
Dear Earth Lords, you have long since convinced us that black people, Mexicans and transoceanic, non-white immigrants are our enemies. They want our jobs and our virtuous white women. We will defend all of those with vigor, devoting special energy to maintaining the homogeneity of our neighborhoods. We will unite along racial lines, much to the detriment of our economic well-being. We eagerly embark on this journey with you. It is of no practical value to us, but we promise to never examine this fact.
As for the white middle classes, they are scared as fuck of losing their tenuous economic perches. The poor white people, they never had shit to begin with and don't expect to ever gain much, so all they really need is their whiteness, maleness, Americanness, femininity and whatever else. But these middle-class people, they will bite whether you wave a flag or a dollar. Taxes, taxes taxes. Economy, economy, economy. Jobs, jobs, jobs. And they hate black people, but mostly because they are beneath them, as well as a criminal threat. They are not primarily their competition. They hate immigrants, but like it when they trim the shrubs in the front yard.
And everyone hates gay people. White people, black people, religious people of all stripes, rich people, poor people. Maybe portions of the middle classes sympathize with them the most, for trying to maintain that delicate balance. Middle class people know what it's like to have to pretend, to put on a show for everyone.
In New Jersey, Chris Christie trotted out this platform of "fixing the economy," whatever the fuck that means. I suppose it's calculated to be a statement open to maximum interpretation, where people take it to apply to them. It got him elected, along with his messages of repression - specifically anti-choice and anti-gay. The images of his fat, happy, white family put the cream in the twinkie. He's a religious conservative and loves George Bush. He favors such brilliant measures as further reducing state funding for education at all levels, always a guarantor of a bright future.
Christie won. More people chose him than anyone else. People in New Jersey, counter to its liberal image, tend to be rather conservative. Sure, Obama trashed McCain last year, but also, look who he was up against - an old man and an idiot hick. A lot of young people came out, a lot of black people came out, and a lot of white people felt like they had to "do the right thing."
This time around, there was no celebrity candidate. Nothing fresh was at hand. "Hope" was reserved for lower taxes, and the only aspirations for "change" were for that mystical nebulousness, the economy. It was back to that same American political drudgery - which white guy? That's the shit that turns a lot of people off. They don't want those choices. They don't see anyone who represents them or whom they want to represent them, so they abstain. Maybe they don't think much changes for them, regardless of who is in office. So other people go to the polls and choose for them.
Thanks to the fundamental shortsighted nature of Americans, it was Chris Christie this time. Idiot people ate up his promises of more money in their pockets and clung desperately to his denigration of Jon Corzine's economic abilities. Surely, it must be Jon Corzine's fault! After all, he WAS the one in office when all this meltdown business took place. No need to look even a few years back, to the policies of yore. No, this is all on Corzine. New Jersey operates in an economic vacuum, and everything is in the governor's hands. All he had to do was fix it, but he wouldn't. Or something. At least, that seems to be the gist of much support for Christie. I am no Corzine supporter and do not care to entrench myself in the uselessness of American party politics. It's just that, come on, Chris Christie? This guy is a fat piece of shit who just can't hate enough.
I guess that a lot of people who voted for Christie are in need of something to believe in. They don't know shit about economics and think it's as simple as one person fixing what's broken. Even worse, they believe, or at least pretend to believe that when someone makes campaign promises to do so, it will happen, as though he deals in magic. How could New Jersey have a thriving capitalist economy when the national economy is fucked, not to mention the global situation? Duh. These voters also either embrace his social conservatism or find it generally agreeable. They just don't care about people who aren't them. Money is their god, and at this time, they have chosen Chris Christie as their...what, bishop or something like that?
Here is November 4th, the day that Americans revealed themselves to be a little more hateful and vindictive than they were yesterday.
"There is an inner logic,
and we're taught to stay far from it.It is simple and elegant,
but it's cruel and antithetic,
and there's no effort to reveal it."
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