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posts about #barackobamagloriasteinem more → Oprah Winfrey & Gloria Steinem Bask In The Glow Of Obama's Win
New York, 6:14 AM
Tue Dec 22
55 posts in the last 24 hours
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| posts about #barackobamagloriasteinem more → |
Oprah Winfrey & Gloria Steinem Bask In The Glow Of Obama's Win |
Original material is licensed under a Creative Commons License permitting non-commercial sharing with attribution.
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11/06/08
All that said, I am unfamiliar with what period of American history your mom is referring to. You might ask her exactly when was this terrible time she's "remembering", where paying taxes to democrats resulted in something besides the federal govt. doing defense and interstates and farm subsidies, and, yes, welfare and WIC and the myriad programs the govt always does, Dem or GOP? I struggled hard to not go on welfare (more as a matter of personal pride rather than not qualifying), but I know many who've been on welfare in rough patches of their lives. They don't drive Escalades and live on steak. "Welfare queen" urban mythology to the contrary, it has never been this way. Ever.
I've seen people I know mistake bogeyman fears for some kind of experienced "reality". Is somebody in her immediate orbit is a hard right wing ideologue? Like a friend of mine, she may have absorbed that view rather uncritically from someone she trusts and that's what you're hearing reflected back at you. Or maybe she attracted to the Fox News black vs white version of the world, but the toxicity of such simplistic notions has overwhelmed her common sense.
Not much you can do to change extreme political views or favorite fears, in my experience. You might reassure her that none of what she dreads has yet come to pass, and it may well never occur. I guess I'd encourage her to put her belief on the side of angels and pray to be pleasantly surprised. What's she got to lose?
11/06/08
11/06/08
I saw some earlier posts on Jez about horrible Obama comments on Facebook and other social networking sites. I've seen them from some of my "friends" too, and have just been unfriending or ignoring them. But then I saw this posted by a person in my immediate family: "My president is black :( !?!?"
The person who wrote that and I are not close. We see each other around the holidays, and that's it. She is a teenager and she currently lives in rural Georgia, where I am from but no longer live. None of those are decent excuses (what would be?!), so I mulled it over for a long time and ended up sending her a lengthy message. I tried to strike a disappointed but encouraging, educated tone. I wish I could post the whole thing here for feedback. I hope I did the right thing. I feel like letting it go would have been damaging -- to both myself, and her. Help?
11/06/08
Yes, because I suddenly forgot I'm from rural Kentucky, the meth and welfare capitol of the South.
11/06/08
My answer to those sorts of comments is "Yep, your new president is a black guy. He also appears to be a smart, level-headed, well-organized big-picture guy. Considering how well the old-style rightwing white crew has been doing, I think we ought to give him a chance."
While they may not agree with me, it does shut them up, because all but the most rabid Jonestownian Republicans think BushCo has screwed the national pooch pretty badly.
11/06/08
Jon Stewart is a funny funny man.
11/05/08
Man. It blows my mind to think of Steinem in her 30's because so much has happened! I only pray that I will have such an eventful, productive life as hers. When I am 70+ I want to tell about the changes I helped usher in.
11/05/08
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[www.cia-on-campus.org]
11/05/08
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11/05/08
Good luck in getting those inauguration tickets, I'll cross my fingers for you!