On Political Rage

[rymenhild]

I've been thinking about my overreaction to anniesj's Secret Service encounter. The woman herself seems remarkably reasonable about the precise issues involved in her case; for example, she notes that threatening presidents, even in jest, is not all right, and that the only impact of the Patriot Act on her situation is the permanent FBI file she will now have. At first read, though, I assumed that the incident was a betrayal of civil liberties that could be directly blamed on John Ashcroft and George W. Bush, and freaked accordingly. (N.B. I still find it deeply disturbing that an LJ satire, however ill-advised, can provide someone with an FBI file -- but not worthy of the kind of panic I aimed at it yesterday.)

Why was I so upset? Why are we all so upset?

This year, this week especially, any intrusion of politics into our lives reads like another sign of Armageddon. The articles on voter registration fraud are piling up. The Patriot Act just observed its third anniversary. The war news is not improving. Each successive poll names a different winner of the presidential election, and constitutional theorists keep evolving progressively weirder projections of what might happen if there's a tie in the Electoral College. By now I believe completely and instinctively that George Bush and his cohort of leaders of the United States are evil, and any piece of evidence that seems to support that theory I immediately grab and wave about the rooftops.

Here's the catch: While rational evidence may suppport much of my feeling that Bush is a horrible president and does not deserve to be reinstated, what I feel about him and his presidency is not rational. In the words of Ron Suskind's NYT Mag article two weeks ago, my opinions are "faith-based", not "reality-based". On some level, I have faith that Bush is a villain, that the Republicans for Voldemort image traveling around the Web is in some sense accurate, and that everything wrong on our planet today is in some sense his fault.

This may be partially or mostly true. Nevertheless, I am bothered to realize that my political opinions are not entirely logical or reasoned. I would like to be rational. I would like my vote on Tuesday to be guided by a thoughtful choice rather than by incoherent rage.

I would also like to have an administration in power under whose leadership we as the United States of America can all be thoughtful and reasoned in our political choices. Sadly, it won't happen this year. We can dream, though. Obama for President.

***

Also, you should all take a look at this prayer for voting written by Rabbi David Seidenberg; thank you for posting it, deborah_judge.

Comments

[shirei-shibolim.livejournal.com]

. . . and that the only impact of the Patriot Act on her situation is the permanent FBI file she will now have.

I was convinced that it had more of an effect than that — how did they find her home address based on a semi-anonymous blog? — until I realized that her fanfic site gives her full name.

[fleurdelis28.livejournal.com]

Also, someone directly reported her, which makes all the difference. If they'd found her in an anonymous blog on a Google search, that would be much scarier, but let's face it, even the federal government doesn't have that sort of time.

Also, what exactly is the impact of having a permanent FBI file?

[shirei-shibolim.livejournal.com]

If you're not a criminal, the impact is minimal.

Frank Sinatra had one because of his union involvement and his mafia friends; they just released it to the public a little while ago. It's a big file, mainly because the bureau thought it significant that Sinatra's tended to punch people for using words like "nigger" and "kike."

[fleurdelis28.livejournal.com]

Oh, cool. Sinatra goes up in my estimation.

I seem to recall Groucho Marx had one too, as discovered fairly recently by someone who decided to request it under the Freedom of Information Act.

I guess the big difference is whether the FBI is watching you for what you believe or for what you do. I also seem to recall that the FBI was aware of, but didn't take sufficiently seriously, the last four or so attempted presidential assasins. So maybe they're touchy.

[shirei-shibolim.livejournal.com]

If memory serves, Julius (Groucho) Marx was a unionist. The fact the he was Jewish probably didn't help him any more than it helped Sinatra to be Italian.

[debka-notion.livejournal.com]

I had a friend in elementary school and high school who has such a file because his father took said young man with him to a protest when he was about 5. I wouldn't be surprised if they had a file on lots of people one wouldn't expect.

[fleurdelis28.livejournal.com]

I'm reminded of a Law & Order/Homicide joint episode where the team is investigating something involving the federal government. Every time they're kept waiting by a bureaucracy, one of the characters is convinced it's because of all the information they have on him from his lefty activist days in the 60s, turning up in his profile and causing a security roadblock. At the end he finally asks to be shown his file, which contains the basics and the pronouncement "Not a threat."

Actually, it does make sense to kept a short file on the people you know are opinionated but innocuous. That way, if someone calls in about them again, you can save the Secret Service and everyone else the time and trouble.

[fleurdelis28.livejournal.com]

Interesting, seeing as a major liberal charge against Bush is that he acts too much on faith and not enough on reason.

More interestingly, it's something I've seen in a lot of people, and you are about the only one to identify it as such. Kudos.

(Which is not to say that the results yielded by reason are not plenty scary. But at least we can be reassured that neither Bush nor Kerry is charismatic enough to actually be the Antichrist.)

[terebinth.livejournal.com]

What's so bad about being illogical? I'd wager there are more people who bemoan the lack of faith in their lives than who wish they were more rational. Life based only on logic would be a very sad thing. How would we know what kind of food to eat? What reason would there be to get up in the morning? How would we even know what was good?

Certain people have a long history of trampling on your values. You can't just wipe the slate clean and rederive your disgust for them from first principles. The best anyone can do in such a situation is to have some faith in her own sense of fairness. Or at least wait for a good reason to re-evealuate his rising gorge.

[fleurdelis28.livejournal.com]

I totally agree that you have to rely on some things on faith. Many true things can't be proven even if you wanted to. But when that, applied to politics, starts yielding a completely polarized society where everyone is convinced that the other side eats babies for breakfast, something isn't quite working properly. I don't expect most Bush or Kerry partisans would ever vote for the opposing candidate in this election, with reason -- but they might understand the wider spectrum of the electorate, with which they share the country, a bit better if they deconstructed the issues.

Also, when you have a candidate or office-holder doing very disturbing things, it's better strategy to attack the person for that which they are actually doing, rather than what you think they might be hypothetically capable of.

[muchabstracted.livejournal.com]

I also think with the election so close, emotions are heightened.