I'm an old campaigner, I've survived Y2K, Monkey Pox, Bird Flu, Acid Rain, the looming petroleum shortage (predicted in the early '90s), mutant frogs, the hole in the Ozone layer, and even life before the internet, I can even read a plat book (much more accurate than google maps!), so it is little surprise that I have survived the night, an epic battle with the fate of reality in the balance for both political parties...what the Romans had in the Coliseum we have on election night, ugh! At least my gluten free graham crackers turned out, that's the important thing. I am so tired of the drama, very much concerned about the deep divide between seemingly every person against every other over everything, but mostly just tired of 'the end of the world is nigh unless so and so wins...' And the big story of the morning is not who won or didn't but again, how badly the polling reflected the actual results.
I don't know what could go wrong with polling, I mean everyone wants to be explicit on the phone with a complete stranger when your business and reputation can be destroyed, your property vandalized, your family threatened for a wrong answer, when every media outlet and social media source is constantly beating one over the head with one's innate racism, homophobia, stupidity, and nazism for even daring to momentarily ponder something contrary to what the cultural elites tell us is best for us. In a country where looters and rioters are justified to vandalize, threaten, and destroy and can gather in any number (without masks) as long as their cause is 'just' but getting together to eat a meal with your extended family for anyone else is an overt violation of human rights and endangers the very fabric of reality, you wonder why the polling might be a little flawed?
After the last election, some number from a deep blue state called our church and demanded to know if my husband was racist. This person happily clarified by demanding to know if he voted for Trump before slamming down the phone and not waiting for an answer. I can't wait to see what happens this time around! No, I can't imagine why people might be reluctant to mention their true thoughts on anything, especially a heavily contested election. It is bad enough reading baking blogs looking for recipes, there are people that turn nasty at the thought of using real sugar or eggs or canola oil (and they still have the nerve to complain their results aren't anything like the real thing!), how much worse this political slough?!
I don't like politics, I don't want to get into them here, but the truly disturbing thing is the dehumanization of everyone who isn't one's self, anyone who disagrees with us over anything is an enemy. I don't think the internet or social media or 24/7 news commentary has been good for human civilization. It overwhelms us, it divides us, it intimidates and frustrates us and we take that out on our fellow beings. Let's consider pulling the plug on non-essential media and internet usage, put down the phone and pick up a book or a conversation, shut off the blathering head on your TV and listen to your blathering toddler, it will be far more intelligible. Learn to think, learn to love, learn to appreciate, learn to help, learn to encourage one another, that will save civilization as we know it far more efficiently than whomever gets elected.
