My election reaction
Nov. 10th, 2004 09:13 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ste_noniSince I was away last week, I guess I've been reacting slowly to the election. Here are
I have been very bothered by this election. Partly because I didn’t see it coming – I really thought Kerry would win. I just don’t get how we could have the largest turnout in years (so I’ve heard) for more of the same when the same is so bad.
I think I may have finally put my finger on exactly what is bothering me. The Republicans are claiming that they won because people are worried about “values”. This implies that people who don’t agree with them don’t have values. Overlooking this condescension, I know what they mean, because I used to be one of those values people.
I grew up going to church every Sunday and most Wednesday nights. My parents raised me the way they thought God wants children to be raised. We read the Bible and we prayed. I went to a conservative Christian college and waited to have sex until after I was married. And I don’t think we were mindless Christians, which I see a lot. Everything I believed I had thought through and tested. My church taught that men were the head of women, and even though my mother disagreed with this, I think it was hard for her to argue because everything at my church was so thoroughly researched and bible-based. I studied Greek in college because I wanted to know for myself what the Bible said. I disagreed with this male-superiority idea, but my disagreement was in my gut and not anything I could win in an argument.
Over time, I have drifted away. I still go to church on Sundays and consider myself a Christian, but I’m not as onboard as I used to be. I think it started when I got divorced – at 23. My pastor tried to talk me into staying but I just couldn’t. Of course, I couldn’t win an argument with him. I didn’t have a “good” reason – I just didn’t want to be in that relationship for the rest of my life. My parents stood by me the entire time. They don’t believe in divorce, but they stood by me.
Anyway, I guess the results of this election have made me feel betrayed by what I thought were my people. I thought one of the strongly held Christian values would be truth. But that PIPA report shows that most Bush supporters (who according to Rove are most evangelical Christians) either don’t care about truth or haven’t taken the time to research it.
The outpouring of anti-gay sentiment in this country makes me sick. I’m fairly familiar with the parts of the Bible that deal with homosexuality. But like the men/women issue above, I just don’t buy it. I can read the words, but in my gut, they don’t ring true. And even if someone holds a religious belief, why should that belief hold any sway in our religion-free government?
I don’t really have a conclusion here. I guess I just feel betrayed. What hope do we have as a country (or world) when the majority thinks this way?
I have been very bothered by this election. Partly because I didn’t see it coming – I really thought Kerry would win. I just don’t get how we could have the largest turnout in years (so I’ve heard) for more of the same when the same is so bad.
I think I may have finally put my finger on exactly what is bothering me. The Republicans are claiming that they won because people are worried about “values”. This implies that people who don’t agree with them don’t have values. Overlooking this condescension, I know what they mean, because I used to be one of those values people.
I grew up going to church every Sunday and most Wednesday nights. My parents raised me the way they thought God wants children to be raised. We read the Bible and we prayed. I went to a conservative Christian college and waited to have sex until after I was married. And I don’t think we were mindless Christians, which I see a lot. Everything I believed I had thought through and tested. My church taught that men were the head of women, and even though my mother disagreed with this, I think it was hard for her to argue because everything at my church was so thoroughly researched and bible-based. I studied Greek in college because I wanted to know for myself what the Bible said. I disagreed with this male-superiority idea, but my disagreement was in my gut and not anything I could win in an argument.
Over time, I have drifted away. I still go to church on Sundays and consider myself a Christian, but I’m not as onboard as I used to be. I think it started when I got divorced – at 23. My pastor tried to talk me into staying but I just couldn’t. Of course, I couldn’t win an argument with him. I didn’t have a “good” reason – I just didn’t want to be in that relationship for the rest of my life. My parents stood by me the entire time. They don’t believe in divorce, but they stood by me.
Anyway, I guess the results of this election have made me feel betrayed by what I thought were my people. I thought one of the strongly held Christian values would be truth. But that PIPA report shows that most Bush supporters (who according to Rove are most evangelical Christians) either don’t care about truth or haven’t taken the time to research it.
The outpouring of anti-gay sentiment in this country makes me sick. I’m fairly familiar with the parts of the Bible that deal with homosexuality. But like the men/women issue above, I just don’t buy it. I can read the words, but in my gut, they don’t ring true. And even if someone holds a religious belief, why should that belief hold any sway in our religion-free government?
I don’t really have a conclusion here. I guess I just feel betrayed. What hope do we have as a country (or world) when the majority thinks this way?
(no subject)
Date: 2004-11-10 01:01 pm (UTC)What it boils down to is what each individual is most fearful of. And the largest number of people are fearful of a society that welcomes gay people and acknowledges the right of women to govern their own bodies, because it conflicts with their own way of life. The breakdown occurs when they percieve some deleterous effect of that society--that other people's freedoms somehow curtail or redefine their own, which is not the case. Being free to live as you wish was never supposed to mean that you also get to inflict or enforce your way of life on others. We--as a nation, it seems--have forgotten what "freedom for all" means.
They are also fearful of terrorism, and the man who stands up, talks tough and loud makes them feel more protected than someone who speaks quietly and rationally and is willing to try and get to the source, or the cause of terrorism and deal with it before it erupts. That sort of person is perceived as weak and not as protective. And there might be some effort involved on the part of the populace, as adults, rather than the simple "do as I say" authoritarian father figure. They'd rather surrender their autonomy and have someone else take responsibility. Or at least these are my perceptions.
But I can say that I'm as disappointed as you at the outcome.