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Thursday, November 4, 2004
His name is Frank.
What a rollercoaster week, huh?
The elections are finally over. Although I like to follow politics, I must admit that it's nice to get over all of the campaigns. Eventually they become monotonous and repetitive and you have the same mud being thrown on either side. It's nice to be out of that; there's a fresh feeling about it, I guess.
I am pleased that Bush won, but this is not really due to a love for Bush. Truth be told, there are many issues where I am completely opposed to Bush; gay marriage, potential Supreme Court issues and even certain foreign policy areas (like Bush's uncharacteristic protectionism of the American steel industry, which was actually illegal, but which he thankfully overturned when the pressure came on).
I had felt that Bush may be defeated, because of the heavily-biased media influence. I wouldn't say that I feel that all mainstream media is leftist or something, but there's no question that the coverage has been very biased against Bush. It's really easy to take something and ignore another aspect to it that qualifies the meaning. You know? This has been a source of frustration for me, because so many of his most aggressive foreign policy critics get it wrong so consistently.
Perhaps, if I were actually living in America, I'd have voted for Kerry as a result of his domestic agenda. But who knows. Being in the position I am, America's foreign policy and foreign economic policy are the most important issues to me. And Bush wins in those categories for me.
But having said that, I do understand the serious concerns of those who disagree with Bush's social policy. But I must say, this doesn't really depress me as much as it should, for two reasons. One, America is a pretty conservative nation compared to the rest of the world. I mean, that comes as no surprise to me whatsoever. You only have to look at America's obsession with religion to understand that (and I'm not saying it's necessarily a bad thing -- so retract your claws -- I'm just saying that it's a reality).
Apart from that, I tend to feel that no matter what is done during this presidential term, issues like civil rights will always march forward in the longterm. I view it as being an inevitable part of modern society's development. As populations become more educated and less ignorant, civil rights tend to advance. There was a time when Governments (both in America and in Australia) actually had racist policies on the books.
Do you know that during the middle of the 20th century, Australia had a policy called "The White Australia Policy"? This policy was based on the fear that if we opened the floodgates of immigration, so to speak, we would be overrun by asians. Considering that an enormous number of neighbouring countries had sent many people here during the 19th century (during the major goldrush era in Australia), there was a concern that if it continued, Australia would simply become "another asian country".
And yet, today, not fifty years later, Australia has some of the most even-handed civil rights legislation in the world. The only countries that really stand out ahead of us would be some in Europe (particularly the smaller European states who have far more advanced civil rights legislation on the books). But considering where we came from and considering that we are geographically located in an area where we are the minority, it's quite amazing that things have come so far.
So, my feeling is that things like gay rights and other minority rights are not a question of "if", but more a question of "when". Whether it's ten years, twenty years, or one hundred years...unless our societies collapse into the ocean, these things will all become a reality.
I understand that it's tough to be optimistic about such things given the current climate, but fundamentally, this is how I feel. And that is why I do not feel especially passionate about this aspect of Bush's platform.
In any case, it's sometimes tough to be all over the place, politically speaking. If I ever had a political party of my own, it wouldn't be Democrat or Republican; it'd probably be a combination of both, along with some entirely new third party elements. I've always wondered why people think that one side can solve everything, know what I mean? Surely life isn't so simple. Surely a mixture of ideologies and philosophies is required to solve the many complex issues in a complex world.
*shrug*
Anyway, before I end this rambly post, I want to mention a few other things.
Firstly, I want to thank those of you who have continued to participate in The Reanimatrix. I'm really, really pleased with your submissions and I've already added them to the front page index. I do intend to continue it for as long as it can run. But at the same time, my hope is that more people will try to create experimental threads in the OB Anthology forum. That place is so ripe for experimentation (other than just posting a single thread for a single short story or something) and it kind of surprises me that more people aren't playing around with it.
Anyway, Kill Adam continues, but I think I'd like to start one of those other RPGs soon. Collaboration may be key to doing that, though. I feel like Adventure Square needs a good kick in the butt; although the RPGs in there are mostly pretty high quality, the concepts are starting to become a little stale, in my humble opinion. |
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