Again, an excellent essay on the vagaries of voting under the two-party system, which means that you have to make a choice between which is worse, or, alternatively, which is better. All the time, in fact. Salient points, Julie:
1) The abortion issue: Is there common ground? It has become a values vs. values, or moral vs moral question. And in this case, it is clear that the "moral gaze" of the Other is hell..**
Morality and values create a manichean world and are often a form of lip service to attempt to impose my power over yours. The Democrats are hampered by their morality-steeped "we go high" motto that has turned them into a party of goodie two-shoes trying to be the teacher's pet by telling on others..... Meanwhile, the GOP has blatantly embraced a kind of anti-morality, defending itself by intimating that it's up to each of us to decide what is moral or not, but as a party... meh... They proved that point when, after a deep breath, they re-endorsed DJT after the Hollywood Access tape revelation. The battle of morals is rooted in America's Puritan DNA, by the way...
2) Mika and Joe.... The two banshees of morning TV... daily screeching about Trump gave him many votes, because Trump and his henchmen know that there is no negative feedback. Being in the spotlight is the key to success (there have been studies about this phenomenon in the 70s already). I noted this in 2016 already. Harris may have had a better chance if she could have ripped her shirt open and bellowed something saucy.
3) Journalism and power: HL Mencken already deplored the devolution of news-gathering when reporters started "wearing spats and playing golf." And this was in the '20s! Today, we measure success in clicks and likes and virality... Not in quality.
** Sorry about the literary reference to Sartre's Huis Clos (No Exit), which we read in school in France, where I grew up. We all know the famous saying from the piece: Hell is the others.. But why? Take one of the protagonists, Inès, saying frankly "I'm mean [méchante]: that means I need other people's suffering to exist." Or Estelle's line "I cannot stand when people expect something of me, it makes me want to do the contrary."
Hell Effin' YEAH - you are spot on! Isn't it disconcerting that Rep. Tlaib isn't savvy enough to realize what her game cost us? All of us. And she's been in politics how long??? And as for Myka and Joe, yes, that move was disgusting. And quite shocking, considering all the things they've said about T all along. I'm just trying to figure out who has the right answer to what went wrong. There sure are a lot of opinions floating around, but I find myself questioning much of it. This is who America is, apparently.
Again, an excellent essay on the vagaries of voting under the two-party system, which means that you have to make a choice between which is worse, or, alternatively, which is better. All the time, in fact. Salient points, Julie:
1) The abortion issue: Is there common ground? It has become a values vs. values, or moral vs moral question. And in this case, it is clear that the "moral gaze" of the Other is hell..**
Morality and values create a manichean world and are often a form of lip service to attempt to impose my power over yours. The Democrats are hampered by their morality-steeped "we go high" motto that has turned them into a party of goodie two-shoes trying to be the teacher's pet by telling on others..... Meanwhile, the GOP has blatantly embraced a kind of anti-morality, defending itself by intimating that it's up to each of us to decide what is moral or not, but as a party... meh... They proved that point when, after a deep breath, they re-endorsed DJT after the Hollywood Access tape revelation. The battle of morals is rooted in America's Puritan DNA, by the way...
2) Mika and Joe.... The two banshees of morning TV... daily screeching about Trump gave him many votes, because Trump and his henchmen know that there is no negative feedback. Being in the spotlight is the key to success (there have been studies about this phenomenon in the 70s already). I noted this in 2016 already. Harris may have had a better chance if she could have ripped her shirt open and bellowed something saucy.
3) Journalism and power: HL Mencken already deplored the devolution of news-gathering when reporters started "wearing spats and playing golf." And this was in the '20s! Today, we measure success in clicks and likes and virality... Not in quality.
** Sorry about the literary reference to Sartre's Huis Clos (No Exit), which we read in school in France, where I grew up. We all know the famous saying from the piece: Hell is the others.. But why? Take one of the protagonists, Inès, saying frankly "I'm mean [méchante]: that means I need other people's suffering to exist." Or Estelle's line "I cannot stand when people expect something of me, it makes me want to do the contrary."
Hell Effin' YEAH - you are spot on! Isn't it disconcerting that Rep. Tlaib isn't savvy enough to realize what her game cost us? All of us. And she's been in politics how long??? And as for Myka and Joe, yes, that move was disgusting. And quite shocking, considering all the things they've said about T all along. I'm just trying to figure out who has the right answer to what went wrong. There sure are a lot of opinions floating around, but I find myself questioning much of it. This is who America is, apparently.
Mikka’s father would be appalled. Well said. You make the least worst decision or you get the worst worst outcome