Politcs.

[icarus]

I've run across a couple posts on my f-list this week about people tired of reading posts about politics. I hit post number three this morning, and now I'll say something.

There's a lot in this journal. For the last five years I've been posting about fanfiction, school, Buddhism, meta, doctors, commander fuzzhead, gaydar reports, ice cream, jazz in the park, my apartment search, car break ins, my family, and politics. I went through my tags and learned first that, I need to be a little more consistent and watch the typos, and second, that I post mostly about fanfiction, followed by school, followed by politics.

Or as one of my tags reads, politcs.

I figure all of you do what I do when I hit a post I don't want to read -- skim. During the Democratic convention I grew awfully tired of ObamaObamaObama posts (yes, I'm voting for him, yes, it got repetitive). My down-arrow key solves that. Occasionally I run across a political post that cause me to stop, blink in horror... and then I move on. Chances are I wouldn't like this person's taste in shoes either, but it's their personal space, they can wear what they please, and fortunately their taste in shoes has nothing to do with their fine fanfiction which is what I read for anyway. Skim, skim, skim.

I'm certainly not going to suddenly cut tag my political posts. Why would I do that? I wouldn't ask that of you. Besides, I want you to know what I think!

But in case it gets repetitive, here's the short form. Then you can go back to skimming my political posts, which, if you've friended me, you've probably been doing for years.

Democrat or Republican? Democrat. I would cheer if a hunter took out Cheney.
Obama or Hillary? Hillary, even though I've never liked her, but Obama's good enough.
Health plan? Hillary's!
Gun control or gun rights? Surprisingly, gun rights. I prefer the government fear its citizens. (WG points out that a handgun doesn't mean much against an F-16.)
Pro-Iraq war or Anti-Iraq war? Live with a military analyst. Anti-Iraq war for its sheer military stupidity. Will believe the success of the troop surge if it continues to be a success in January, since most of the killings in Baghdad were purges by Al-Maliki and his cronies.
Al-Maliki? Corrupt bastard who will likely be hung in the next 20 years.
Offshore drilling? No. Let me quote my favorite senator, Maria Cantwell: "The US has only 8% of the world oil reserves. We can't drill our way to energy independence."
Drilling in the ANWR? Hell no.
John McCain? Hot-headed loose canon but I kinda like the guy. Do I think he'll make a good president? Oh... hahahahahaha!
Sarah Palin? For PTA chairwoman. In hell. Or that cult she belongs to, which sounds like a close approximation.
China? Scary. Current owner of our manufacturing base, thanks to the WTO types (I include Bill Clinton in this), soulless corporations, and eight years of George Bush.
Tibet? Deserves its country back.
The economy? We're in deep shit, largely due to, 1) Bush's massive deficit spending hurting the dollar, 2) utter corruption in the housing industry due to lack of regulation, 3) huge tax cuts which have helped my capital gains but hurt the future of the country.
Globalization? Good for corporations, bad for me.
Housing crisis? Am I the only one who noticed these were the same institutions who touted Enron?
Oil prices? High because of Bush's deregulation, not supply and demand. Which is why the trickle of oil ten years from now from the offshore drilling will make no difference.
Net neutrality? The future depends on it.
India? Mixed. This is my field, so I understand India. Not too happy with our service sector being shipped there because, one-- jobs. Two-- India has always some of the worst service in the world.
Global warming? We're so fucked.
Gay marriage? Does that even need to be a question? *g*

Now WG's defrosting the fridge so, gosh, looks like we have to eat all the popsicles.

Comments

[princessofg.livejournal.com]

yup.

perfect is the enemy of better, so vote Obama. please. i want my country back. now.

*goes back under bed*

[rabidfan.livejournal.com]

I'm so non political I'm in a class of one...but I don't care how much the other people in the world talk about it. Hey, it's supposed to be a free country. Talk all you want.

May I have a popsicle, please?

[tekalynn.livejournal.com]

I could reluctantly live with a McCain presidency, as long as he doesn't obliterate Tehran in a fit of pique (something I believe he is entirely capable of doing) but save me from Palin! Honestly, I started by thinking she was probably reasonably okay, but the more I read of her, the more she terrifies me.

Obama all the way. I started out being neutral about him (really more of an Edwards fan and yes I know he cheated on his sick wife which was a horrible thing to do) and more of a Hillary fan, but as the primaries wore on, I found myself liking Hillary less and Obama more. Now I am backing Obama all the way.

[winterthunder.livejournal.com]

Same here on Palin. I even started out with some excitement that all four of the candidates appeared to be people who were intelligent, cared about the real issues and could sit down at a debate table and have a genuine conversation while completely disagreeing with each other. Now I'm afraid that Palin definitely doesn't fit that profile, and since McCain picked her, that doesn't bode well for his intentions of keeping this election about the real issues.

[daneffew.livejournal.com]

It is your journal and you have the right to say anything about anything. I think you write the interesting things. And I really enjoy reading your editorials. And if you or anyone writes something I don't care for that is indeed what the back button or scroll button is for.

Not to mention reading your fic is a joy.

[sherryillk.livejournal.com]

I've got to say, I've been rather tired of the politics posts myself showing up on my flist. I haven't said anything like others because I respect that people have the right to say anything they want to in their own journals and should have the expectation that people will not to freak out on them by doing so. For me, it's a simple choice -- if you don't like what someone on your flist is saying, just remove them as a friend. If you're unwilling to go that far, then you really just need to ignore the posts and reconcile yourself with the decision.

[hateable.livejournal.com]

You are actually one of the few people on my f-list who does talk about politics, and even though I am not terribly political, I've enjoyed all of your posts. As with anything if you don't like it, seriously, people, you have a back button and you have a scrollbar. Try one of them.

Oooh, popsicles. :D

have you seen this?

[september1967.livejournal.com]

http://www.laprogressive.com/2008/09/05/alaskans-speak-in-a-frightened-whisper-palin-is-“racist-sexist-vindictive-and-mean”/

Re: have you seen this?

[icarusancalion.livejournal.com]

Palin: 'Sambo beat the bitch!' (http://www.laprogressive.com/2008/09/05/alaskans-speak-in-a-frightened-whisper-palin-is-%E2%80%9Cracist-sexist-vindictive-and-mean%E2%80%9D/) Oh my fucking god.

And everything that Kilkenney said is confirmed through other sources. Every syllable.

Get the word out. And I'm a student, but I'm donating more to Obama's campaign.

Re: have you seen this?

[september1967.livejournal.com]

Puts the whole Palin is a barracuda reform minded straight shooter in perspective.

[brashley46.livejournal.com]

O hai. You prolly know me by now ... Socialist, not a Democrat in a carload, Cynthia McKinney and Rosa Clemente for druthers.

Health plan? Canada's, which makes Hilary's look like the sellout to the big drug companies and HMOs that it was.

Gun rights? The workers must have the right and the means to defend themselves.

Iraq? Afghanistan? Support two of the more corrupt of the reactionary Middle Eastern governments? Hahahahaha .... OUT. NOW. OUT. NOW.

China? Bunch of Stalinists who have not yet quite consummated their betrayal of the revolution.

Tibet? The Dalai Lama is a reactionary feudalist who I would not trust to govern a Toronto ward. Tibetans are entitled to better treatment within China, such as civil service exams in Tibetan.

On the rest I agree with you.

Meanwhile, I have a probable Canadian federal election, starting about 14 hours from now.

[icarusancalion.livejournal.com]

Actually, I think we agree on all but one point --

Tibet? The Dalai Lama is a reactionary feudalist who I would not trust to govern a Toronto ward. Tibetans are entitled to better treatment within China, such as civil service exams in Tibetan.

I'm actually more educated about Tibetan history than your average Joe.

The feudalism label was slapped onto to Tibet 20 years ago by Snellgrove back in a time when western historians were making erroneous comparisons between Europe and Asia. They made the same mistake in their assessment of Tang China, something that's being rectified now. Historians didn't look closely at land ownership and rights.

Tibetans owned their own land. There were two completely different land ownership systems in place in Eastern Tibet (Kham and Amdo Golok), and Western/Central Tibet.

Eastern Tibet had a system of tribal land ownership, where grazing fields were owned by an extended clan, passed down through the head of the clan. The legal system was largely through arbitration through the head of the family, with the official Tibetan government (far, far away over high mountain passes) having little or no involvement in people's daily lives. It did not collect taxes or provide roads or schools -- in fact, it was largely a theoretical relationship, tied by trade routes and cultural identity.

The monasteries functioned as the de facto boarding school system. The eldest son was sent to the monastery (Tibetans still brag about their "son the monk" in same tones you hear moms talking about their "son the doctor" here; it means educated and erudite). The younger son became either a trader or herdsman.

(This was why when China attacked Eastern Tibet, it shelled the monasteries. The younger brothers were the guerilla fighters, while the older brothers hid them behind monastery walls and dress them up as monks when the PLA came looking for them. But more about that in a moment.)



I won't got into the Tang Dynasty, that's off-topic, but people

[icarusancalion.livejournal.com]

In Western Tibet, land was individually owned, passed down through the maternal line. The property (sheep, yak, what-have-you) was passed down through the paternal line. There I believe Tibetans did pay taxes to the local gentry. Legal border disputes make it clear that there families owned their own land, rather than a feudal system.

In terms of a legal system, it was closer to feudal law as they didn't have any common law. Disputes were settled by the local gentry -- or -- and here it becomes clear why having a son who was a monk was important -- the local Lama could appeal on your behalf if you didn't like the lord's decision.

In Eastern Tibet, upward mobility was just the result of becoming old and the head of your clam. If you were ambitious, your only option was the monastery where you could be educated, earn your Khenpo degree, and possibly be an administrator (these monasteries were huge, consisting of thousands), a professor, or even start a new monastery. The monastery was also the center of the arts, training painters and musicians (Tibetan Buddhism is very colorful).

In Western/Central Tibet, upward mobility was non-existent outside of the monasteries, which lead to the false Orientalist comparison between European systems and Asia.

[icarusancalion.livejournal.com]

and the head of your clam

Or head of your clan, even. *g*

[icarusancalion.livejournal.com]

China, of course, learned very little about Tibet before it conquered Tibet's tiny army and forced it to accept the 17 Point Agreement in 1951. China assumed Tibet was feudal (Chinese historians even believed that Tang Dynasty China had been feudal) and implemented land reform in Eastern Tibet.

Recall that land was owned by clans in Eastern Tibet.

So China took tribal lands away from Tibetan clans and gave it to... wait for it... Chinese. Who started to act like little lordlings. It was actually a step backwards.

Eastern Tibet, always a war-like region (it had suceeded from Tibet many times) rose up militarily. They formed a militia, people used their own savings to trade for guns, and fought back forming the Chushi Gangdruk militia. Elder brothers in the monasteries hid the fighters and often hid weapons caches as well.

The PLA went nuts, because from their standpoint they were liberating the people from their (non-existant) overlords. The rebels traveled in clan groups, so when they were captured, their wives were captured, too. A standard tactic of the PLA was to gang rape the soldiers' wives in front of them.

Excuse a moment for seething hatred towards the Chinese "liberators."

The PLA did the same to nuns they captured when they burned monasteries to the ground.

I hate the Chinese so much for what they did to the Tibetans, and I'm speaking as someone who knows these women. I've spoken with them, taught them English, they're my friends.

The Chinese apparently assumed that the "people" were ignorant and just blindly following the monastics, so they began arresting and executing monks.

The Tibetan central government did nothing during this time but cooperate with the Chinese, keeping the 17 point agreement. They sent a delegation to Eastern Tibet to insist they stop the rebellion -- and the delegation joined the rebellion once they saw what was happening.

[icarusancalion.livejournal.com]

In Western Tibet, the Chinese had created the "Tibetan Autonomous Region" and left it pretty much alone.

Faced with a central government that was cooperating with China, Eastern Tibet's militia, the Chushi Gangdrak, bypassed it completely (at the time the Dalai Lama was teenager). They contacted the US, the rather new UN, and the Indian government.

Eisenhower took interest, but wanted an official okay from the Tibetan government before they'd supply a rebellion. The CIA did train Tibetan soldiers in Colorado. Eventually the US gave up on hearing from anyone in the Tibetan government and supported the rebels anyhow.

Refugees poured from eastern Tibet into western Tibet, and finally the other half of the country woke up. That's the uprising you hear about in movies with Brad Pitt and whatnot.

Anyhow, this history is all moot. The Tibetan Government in Exile is democratically elected and has been for the last forty years. The role of the Dalai Lama is as spiritual leader, symbol, and uniting force. He's proposed that the next Dalai Lama also be democratically elected.

[wildebeth.livejournal.com]

Ugh, count me among those who quickly tire of politics. I think you express yourself with a little more sophistication than many, and your posts always seem very well thought out rather than just gleefully closed-minded and bitchy. Your ideas and opinions are often wonderfully complex rather than just a knee-jerk reaction to someone's label. I like that.

It's when people post stuff like, "Stupid Republicans/Democrats/Communists!! They're all [insert stereotype]. And anyone who's going to vote for them is [insert insult]." So much drama. I don't begrudge anyone the right to express their opinion in their personal space, but I reserve the right to be annoyed by the way they express themselves.

[littlemousling]

Yes! The only thing I'm tired of seeing in my flist is posts about how we should be cut-tagging politics. Um, why? If people want to hide their heads in the sand or ignore an incredibly important election, they can use their scroll bar or defriend. I'm not going to edit myself to please other people.

[seekergeek.livejournal.com]

Yay, popsicles! (Will continue to happily bypass the politics like I've been doing already. I'm good with the scroll buttons. *perky thumbs up*)

[angiepen.livejournal.com]

I've had some of that on my FList too, mostly from people who aren't Democrats and are tired of all the opinions they don't agree with going by. [bemused smile] Sorry, folks, that's what participatory democracy is all about. And if you don't want to read it then you can just scroll on by; it works just as well for contrary politics as it does for bad fanfic.

Angie

[enname.livejournal.com]

Well for those people there is this rather marvellous option of just not reading. Whilst I did political science as one of my undergraduate majors, I sometimes get terribly depressed by it and don't want to read and need a break before I snap and want to blow up the planet. I do like your stuff though, versus many of the other reports that I run across that make me tear my hair out or pursue an ostrich approach, because it is informative, has good links and is accurate. I don't generally comment though as the American election, whilst being important because it does effect your economic and foreign policy, does not have everyday ramifications ... and my opinion doesn't really count.

[enname.livejournal.com]

Everyday ramifications for me. Obviously.

[dancing-moon.livejournal.com]

If it gets extreme, there is always the option to filter people out until the election has passed. I've done that with ljfriends for a while, when they got caught up in a new fandom *coughPrinceofTenniscough* very loudly with multiple posts every day about it. Then it passes, or at least becomes less intense, and back onto the main flist they go.

[lavvyan.livejournal.com]

I always find your political posts rather interesting, because you sometimes take on a perspective I wouldn't have thought of. That, and obviously I wouldn't be following the US presidential drama theatre like you are.

So the only thing that really throws me is the gun thing, but then again differences in opinion make the world more interesting, I guess. More dangerous, too, in this case, but interesting is good.

[icarusancalion.livejournal.com]

I'm from Michigan.* Our idea of gun control is teaching kids how to properly handle and clean a gun at age 12. I won't be looking down a barrel of a gun to see if it's loaded.

Yeah, that's one of things you're taught not to do. We all laughed, but our science teacher -- who taught the class -- said, "You would be surprised at just how many people kill or injure themselves that way." You also never rest the butt of a rifle on the ground like you see in pictures all the time. Good way to get a bullet in the chin. You cradle it, or you shoulder it, with the barrel pointing up and away from you and other people. We were taught to sight, take aim slowly and properly (another big cause of hunting accidents, although drinking is probably the biggest) and plinked at tin cans.

We were also taught to recognize hunter's orange and to never, ever wear white in the forest, especially not during deer hunting season. We were shown what a white handkerchief looked like through the trees. Oh, boy. You'd be safer with a target painted on your back.

Most of the girls declined to try the shotgun, but I went for it. I didn't hold it properly and got a nasty bruise in my shoulder from the recoil.

But a year a later at 13 I won some marksmanship awards with a .22 and in archery.


* Hunting and fishing central.

[pinkfinity.livejournal.com]

Ooooh, nifty list! Can I gack it?

[icarusancalion.livejournal.com]

Of course! :)

[psycho-tabby.livejournal.com]

Well I'll put my two cents in and say I really quite enjoy all your US politics posts, I think its fascinating to get another viewpoint than what I get on the Australian news.

(Were the LJ people complaining from Australia? or had lots of West Australian people friended? Cause we just had the state elections this weekend which ended up with a pretty bad result (from my POV) which may have resulted with in a lot of people bitching and therefore the complaints about complaining politics posts)

[beadslut.livejournal.com]

Without a doubt, this is the most important political race of my eligible-to-vote lifetime. I have listened to and watched more coverage on this than I ever have since I got the right to vote in 1974. Say on, girl.

[icarusancalion.livejournal.com]

Hear, hear.

[sarcastic-irony.livejournal.com]

May I suggest?

[icarusancalion.livejournal.com]

That's brilliant! LOL.