beautiful monsters

turning

And the star-spangled banner in triumph doth wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave.

Hmmmm… so, it looks as though I failed to sway the vote in Indiana. Can’t say I’m surprised – about the overall result, I mean, not just Indiana. Someone somewhere was saying it’s not enough to base a campaign on being against something, you have to be for something as well. Perhaps a bit of that was going on. According to Ireland, The exit polls showed that 21 percent of voters said that "moral values" -- more than either Iraq or the economy -- was what determined their vote. This is, after all, a country drowning in censorious, politicized religiosity. Apparently it was the gay issue, more than terrorism, that won Bush the election. Wow, we're scarier than bin Laden now?

This site has a breakdown of how different groups voted. Apparently people who vote for Bush are white, male, Evangelical or Protestant, high income, straight, married with children, and worried about terrorism. Well, no surprises there - except perhaps the Protestant thing. Hmmm. Anyway, some of the stats are quite startling. Moral values doesn't rank quite as highly as terrorism in these stats, but it's right up there. (Thanks to Reb for the link).

As Russell Brown notes, "Ironically, New York City and Washington DC, the two cities which actually experienced the terrorist attacks, went resoundingly for Kerry, along with Los Angeles, Chicago and Seattle. And the prairie states that no terrorist is ever going to bother with went Bush."

And where is that band who so vauntingly swore
Allegiance to war and the battle's confusion
So our lives might be plagued by terrorism no more?
The blood of the innocent, our moral pollution…
No refuge could save Iraq or her people
From the terror of flight, or the gloom of the grave:
And the star-spangled banner in triumph doth wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave.

At least he didn't just get in cos of the crazy electoral system. John Kerry lost the popular vote by some three and a half million votes. 51% of Americans are... well, I was going to say made, but I don't know that for sure. White, male, Evangelical or Protestant, high income, straight, married with children, and worried about moral values, apparently though. And seemingly unaware of the impact of their vote on so many people around the world. Or, to frame it more depressingly (as Podur does so elequently):

"...it is time to admit something. The greatest divide in the world today is not between the US elite and its people, or the US elite and the people of the world. It is between the US people and the rest of the world. The first time around, George W Bush was not elected. When the United States planted cluster bombs all over Afghanistan, disrupted the aid effort there, killed thousands of people, and occupied the country, it could be interpreted as the actions of a rogue group who had stolen the elections and used terrorism as a pretext to wage war. When the United States invaded Iraq, killing 100,000 at the latest count, it could be argued that no one had really asked the American people about it and that the American people had been lied to. When the United States kidnapped Haiti’s president and installed a paramilitary dictatorship, it could be argued that these were the actions of an unelected group with contempt for democracy.

"With this election, all of those actions have been retroactively justified by the majority of the American people."

Yes, the world is a scary place. And fundamentalist Christians seem to be taking over vast portions of it.

Lucid (oh so refreshing after the Salient, which seems to be one long, tedious letters column filled with pathetic insults) has a couple of great articles about Destiny. Yes I wish people would stop giving them so much coverage (and here I am adding to it) but some of it was really interesting. Some of it was scary, but we're coming to expect that from Destiny. Song lyrics like "Armed and dangerous... clothed in righteousness... we are here to take over, no room for compromise." But what was really chilling was a quote from Hannah Tamaki in Women's Day:

"I say to Brian, 'Ok, if we believe our lives are totally surrendered to God, we'll do what you believe He has told us to do."

Creepy.

I went to a meeting last night, kind of a debriefing on the Presbyterian Church’s ironically named “Motion 69”, which means says "that this church may not accept for training, license, ordain or induct anyone involved in a sexual relationship outside of faithful marriage between a man and a woman." Ironically the motion discriminates against heterosexuals, as it makes a provision for homosexuals who have already been ordained etc, but not for heterosexuals “living in sin” who are already ministers, elders, etc. Some people have already resigned over the General Assembly decision, which is really sad, because it means that the church is even more dominated by the conservative right. We, as a church, are just “going about our daily business” at the moment. But staying true to who we are, and certainly not going along with the Assembly’s decision. There was some talk about what some of the consequences of dissenting could be… The Presbyterian church actually own the church buildings, and apparently they can, in some situations, claim them back. Not on an issue that is this divided… but still, the thought of “St Andrew’s on the footpath of the Terrace” made me giggle. You gotta laugh sometimes. If only because crying all the time leads to red eyes and a nose rubbed raw with tissues…

*

What I reckon is...

The world will go on turning. Things wouldn’t have been that much better under Kerry. There have always been people like Tamaki, there probably always will be. We just have to keep on keeping on, educating, creating peace, caring for the environment, doing whatever we can.

Posted by Fionnaigh at November 4, 2004 05:10 PM