We have re-elected Obama (not, as the Wall Street Journal put it in an early-morning mobile front page version, let “Obama seize victory,” as if against the electorate’s will). I know there’s no magic wand in the President’s toolbox, so I’m not starry-eyed about instant improvements in the country’s economic — or possible triple-bottom-line — outlook. But I’m very glad Obama, and not Romney, won. And I’m very confused by the kind of hysterical and irrational hate and vitriol that the losers — and their media — are dishing up.

Sure, I’ve enjoyed the snappy comments from “my” side of the fence that came up on Twitter. “Breaking News: Vaginas Beat Assholes” by Elayne Boosler totally gets a gold star. But even here, with the word “asshole,” there’s no panic-mongering — which is what so many on the other side have done.

And it continues, post-election, whether in the liberal or right wing media. Esquire (presumably liberal) is running a blog entry, ‘How Can America Pick a Man Like That?’, which lets disillusioned (and seemingly crushed and panicked) Colorado voters in my age bracket (mid-50s) drone on about how now, with Obama re-elected, they WILL go bankrupt, they WILL face greater economic disparity, the WILL stay “stuck.” But nowhere in the article do we read WHY these voters believed that under Romney it would all change for the better — change for THEM, or why, if their business is already failing and clearly headed for bankruptcy, the Obama victory will make that inevitability more inevitable.

Either it’s inevitable or it ain’t, and if it looks 99% certain, no Big Daddy (red or blue) can fix it.

I have compassion for the economic plight and sheer grind that people are in (not doing so well myself), but I don’t understand why articles like this (much less the “worser” stuff on the right) get published. What do they add to the conversation?

Meanwhile, Donald Trump and other insanely rich people who have nothing in common with those disappointed and panicked Colorado voters, get away with pumping out speech that is downright seditious and shouldn’t be allowed to pass unchallenged.

We have hate speech laws, but somehow we seem to have decided that it’s ok to attack politics and elected leaders (POTUSes) and the US Government in any way, shape, or form, as long as it’s “only” speech and it’s done by ridiculously rich bastards (poor people, like nurses, will get nailed). How about we revive sedition laws and make an example of someone like Trump? How would he like that?

The media have a lot to answer for.

The media have created monsters like Trump (or Trump has used media to create himself, even if the hair is strictly analog), and the Colorado voters are consumers of said media. Connect the dots.

Posted: 11|7|12 at 11:05 am. Filed under: politics.

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