For once a decisive election result, and the democrats are back in power in the USA...:cheers2: arty: What does this mean for the UK, and will it have any effect on the result of our next general election? http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/nov/05/uselections20084
Hooray for the slightly less irrirtating one I do wish theyd stop going on about the fact that hes black. BBC last night was fucking unbearable. Im wondering when theres gona be a prez with GINGER HAIR
They go on about the fact that he's black because it is a very big deal both to the American society and politics; it stands as a milestone in both. And having the information of state and county demographics is important when considering who people will vote for.
As for him being president, I'm so happy! Seriously, this means alot and will no doubt affect the rest of the world.
Why the fuck does it mean a lot? It shouldnt mean anything. Thats the whole point... End racism by constantly going on about the fact that someone has a certain colour skin and turning that into a big deal. Sure Im not saying they shouldnt MENTION it...but not every 5 bloody seconds. Its just not important. I really thought that was the entire point. Theyve voted the man and the politics, not his skin colour
Its got nothing to do with racism. Pointing out someone's skin colour because it has significance on the cause is not racist, but pointing out someone's skin colour as a negative aspect to the cause is racist. I'm sure the majority of black people disagree with you that this isn't a big deal, because after 400 years of oppression and only 40 years of being able to vote in the US they've been given something that really is important to them, and something that can finally represent them truly. You may not want it to be a big deal, but in the overall aspect of things it most definitely is!
Ok, sure. I accepted the world was crazy a long time ago. I thought surely the whole point about "race" was that it didnt really matter, were all human and thats that and the ultimate goal was to be able to see beyond the skin colour and get back to what actually has meaning, but obviously Im wrong I thought the idea was for there to BE no "them" (which results in there being an "us", too) The whole thing is just distracting from what actually matters, like going on about the colour of someones eyes. Im not going to get glimmers of pride rising up because some of the world leaders have had blue eyes like mine (Blue eyes have run in my family for generations, dont you know?) I never said it shouldnt be a big deal simply because I didnt want it to be. My point is I genuinely didnt believe it should be
I stayed up until 3am last night But I was very, very happy and still am Even if I did take rather a lot of concentrated caffeine this morning :leaving:
The thing you have to realize is that it does matter to a lot of people. Whether it should or not. Whether we should have had slavery, Jim Crow laws, or not. Whether it should be necessary for black parents in the US to tell their children never to run when police are near by because you risk being killed....or not. Whether or not black students realize they are treated differently and must behave better and excel more academically to succeed...or not. Whether or not we incarcerate a much higher percentage of black men than white men...or not. This is the way things are and were. Not talking about it, is not going to make it go away. It would be nice if it would, but in fact, it would make things worse by trying to pretend that the obvious racism, that still exists, and existed since the start of this country, was not or is not there. This is a great time because it will help to show the world that even with racism, a man who is black and had a Muslim father can become president of the US. It is something to be proud of in our long trend away from racism, not something to pretend does not exist.
I never said we should pretend it doesnt exist. I just dont see how going on and on about his skin is taking things away from racism. Surely its making it worse. Its supposed to be about him and the politics. To me, putting one of the main focusses on his skin colour is NOT any kind of justice. Fuck I dont know, maybe I was born too early. Maybe I live in a bubble. I seem to be wrong about everything (just a general comment, not taking anything you said personally) Maybe the fact that hes black really is a big shock horror hooray, in which case we have such a long way to go its scary
it's more a commentary on race relations in the usa. it just plain does matter. hopefully we'll work towards where it doesn't and for many this is a sign that it is getting better. he got almost the ENTIRE black vote in the usa, because it really does matter. the why can be bantered about for a while, but ultimately the why is a question we'll have to work on later. people have been given a great deal of hope. i voted third party.
Yeah, there was a man on the news yesterday talking about it. He said that Obama was most likely not going to be affected by people voting against him because of his colour because at the same time, alot of black people would be more inclined to vote for him for the very same reason. And it was true.
I think this is great news for the world. Obama is far from perfect, and I expect many of his domestic policies will go unfulfilled, but in all honesty I'm not that interested in how much Americans get taxed. What's important is the world stage and I think, although there will be an ongoing war in Afghanistan, although the 'war on terror' will continue and America will continue to pump money into the Israeli military (which is about to get a whole lot uglier when Netanyahu wins the elections), although he might fail in his Iraq committments, American, and by extention British, foreign policy will be a whole lot less belligerant in the next decade. America's standing in the eyes of the world will also be improved, at least for a short time. I hope he doesn't squander it....
Don't forget, we've still got three more months of Bush, and if a week is a long time in politics, three months can be a very long time when the leader of the free world happens to be the world's stupidest man....
Maybe not, but I was thinking yesterday as I watched Obama's victory speech, how Bush's total lack of eloquence and lowest common denominator charisma contrasts so completely with Obama's high flying rhetoric and gift for the spoken word. One side effect of an Obama presidency may be to look back on the last eight years of Bush diplomacy and - if we can keep ourselves from crying - laugh even harder....
