"Save Time...See It My Way!" (or something like it) - Lucy Van Pelt
I wish if I were to ever run for the Presidency that she'd be my running mate. Then again, she'd probably want the job herself. So much for that.
It never fails to amaze me how the claws come out for Presidential campaigns. Heaven forbid this be a dignified and emotionally Vulcan-ish process. It can bring out the best and the worst in people who are running the campaigns. And the candidates get caught up too...
(insert failed rimshot here)
Things like this turn decent, hard-working, singularly intelligent people into stark-raving lunatics, be they blustering neocons or bleeding heart left wingers, all pleading their candidate's case and not even beginning to try and comprehend another's (gasp!) differing point of view. Mainly because they are too busy shoving ideology and dogma down the seemingly unable-to-decide-block's collective gullet. Well, just because I consider myself a political mutt (3/4 Libertarian, 1/4 Democrat who is pro-death penalty and with an "if guns are outlawed only outlaws will have guns" outlook on firearms) and have not declared a political affiliation on my voter registration card does NOT mean I am undecided and therefore am in need of your regurgitation of the party line. Pardon me if I don't identify myself in terms of black and white, or red and blue as the case may be. I am not the wishy-washy fencesitter you would like for me to be so you can proselytize and evangelize while fully enraptured on my front porch. Quite frankly, I am sick of it and am so over you. And don't give me that shit about how the First Amendment guarantees you your right to do it. It also guarantees my right to free speech by slamming the door in your face (and with any luck damaging some toes or a nose that got a little too far in the doorway - screw you, you had it coming anyway).
And the internet has only served to exacerbate this even more. I cannot log on to a personal-interest forum of any sort without seeing a thread or five dedicated to the sycophants of the two-party system, and then watch from my PC screen those that were the best of internet friends rip each other to shreds over the fact that one supports the opposite candidate from the other and spews political opinion that is 180 degrees away from the other. Why can't you understand what I'm saying?, Why can't you see what I see, Why can't you just save time and see it my way?
It sickens me. Unfortunately, it's not as easy to tune it out on the internet. Sure I could just turn my machine off or stop frequenting my web favorites, but that's like cutting off your nose to spite your face. There's a proper time, place, and context for these types of things. It's just not in my Yahoo or Myspace groups that pertain to being a mom and commiserating with other moms about 3-year-old tantrums and 8-month-old diaper disaster war stories, or in my Star Wars BB forum, or my e-mail box attached to yet another edition of those utterly addictive LOLcats. And if I felt the need to educate myself on all viable candidates, I would do so myself. You know, without the help of a narrow-minded zealot. No, really, I'm fine, I don't need your assistance to figure this out.
"Read between the lines/criticize the words they're selling/
Think for yourself/and feel the walls/become sand beneath your feet."
- Queensryche, Anybody Listening?
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