Remember remember the Fifth of November

[elisi]

To UK friends: Happy Bonfire Night!

To US friends: Happy Saving Democracy Day! (And if the Orange One wins, you can try a Gunpowder Plot of your own...)

Song for the day:

🎶 We didn't start the fire
It was always burning, since the world's been turning
We didn't start the fire
No, we didn't light it, but we tried to fight it 🎶

Comments

[promethia_tenk]

I think I'm just in full dissociation mode. I've barely thought about the election for weeks now and have to keep reminding myself it's today. Better than the constant gnawing sense of dread from the last two times, I guess. Also I'm fully assuming we won't even know tonight, so.

Which is not to say I won't be sitting vigil for democracy with the news streams tonight.

[elisi]

I have not kept up anywhere near the same level I have before. Possibly due to getting rid of Twitter. But also just wanting to use from the dread...

(American politics was like a fandom back in the Obama days 🙁)

Good luck!!!

[lokifan]

We didn't start the fire

Haha!

[elisi]

What song fits BOTH Bonfire Night AND an American Election... WELL! :D

[silverusagi]

Ah I didn’t even realize until now that our election was also the 5th of November. I hope that’s a good coincidence and not a bad one!

[elisi]

🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏

[kaffy_r]

I will be glued to MSNBC for most of the day, especially after polls on the East Coast close, sometime between 7-8 p.m. ET. I'll have chilled soju, which I'll try not to imbibe too much of. I'll scream at the television set, or at least talk back to people on the screen. I'll hope. I'll hope a lot.

And maybe order pizza for delivery. Back when I was a young reporter, I and all the other young reporters and slightly older editors would get pizza delivered on election night, to stuff our faces with, before heading out to the polls and to candidates' parties. It was always thin crust, generally edible. I spent so many election nights eating indifferent pizza that, even after all this time, I find myself faunching for pizza today.

And to my UK friends, Happy Guy Fawkes Day/night

[elisi]

I'll scream at the television set, or at least talk back to people on the screen. I'll hope. I'll hope a lot.
So do we all... 🙏

I spent so many election nights eating indifferent pizza that, even after all this time, I find myself faunching for pizza today.
That's lovely. I hope you get some nice pizza!

And to my UK friends, Happy Guy Fawkes Day/night
<3

[kaffy_r]

Thanks - I'll be ordering our pizza for delivery in about an hour. Bob immediately agreed to my rather diffident suggestion about ordering pizza; he knows my past. Heh.

Are you and yours going to be enjoying bonfires?

[elisi]

Bob immediately agreed to my rather diffident suggestion about ordering pizza; he knows my past. Heh.
<3 That's true love.

Are you and yours going to be enjoying bonfires?
Not tonight, but we are having family round on Thursday. (Generally someone hosts a bonfire night, usually depending on who has something that needs burning.)

[ragnarok_08]

I'm on pins and needles re: the election.

[elisi]

*I* am deeply stressed. Far more stressed than about any election in this country. :(

[desdemonaspace]

I am trying to keep off news sites. Tomorrow (or even the next day) is soon enough to learn if we've gone into the toilet or not.

[elisi]

I'm going to bed now and am praying that it'll all be over when I wake up...

Whoever wins, we lose etc

[(Anonymous)]

"They Might Be Giants will perform their last show ever tomorrow night at the Brewery.
To celebrate the election of the new president, TMBG will commit suicide during the show.
'We're going to kill ourselves no matter who wins,' said John Linnell, one half of the duo. 'If Bush wins, we'll do it more painfully.'

07/05/1988

Re: Whoever wins, we lose etc

[elisi]

Damn, that's an old quote.

God, those were the days. Can we go back?

Re: Whoever wins, we lose etc

[(Anonymous)]

"Campaign tip: if the opponent is going far right in order to court an increasingly far right voter base, try going moderately right to appeal to neither the left nor the right".

“Liberal political parties will be like ‘you believe in having principles? that pales in comparison to my strategy, running an effective and competent electoral campaign and appealing to voters’ and then run a dog shit political campaign that nobody likes”

Re: Whoever wins, we lose etc

[elisi]

Tbh I find the whole exercise of allocating blame pointless?

Trump wasn't subtle. And some people clearly just like fascism and voted accordingly. All the MAGA people.

It's the ones who went: "I can excuse fascism, but I draw the line at [insert whatever wedge issue they care about]."

The pundits go: Oooh, Kamala didn't run a good campaign on [insert wedge issue], when the point is people voted for fascism! *hands*

Do I wish 'the Left' would agree more? Sure. But it feels like it was a choice between freaking Sauron and freedom, and half the country went 'Ah, but we don't like those pointy-eared elves, they think they're better than us'. (The Rings of Power isn't perfect, but GOODNESS it feels prescient.)

/rant, for which I apologise

Re: Whoever wins, we lose etc

[(Anonymous)]

The thing is, I feel like when people go: "why should we vote for you?"

And the reply is "because I am not Trump/the Tories/insert X boogeyman here", well, that's fair, sure; but you can't keep riding on that *forever*. At some point, you need to offer something concrete besides that.

But to be fair, from what I understand, even if all the poeple who voted third party had voted for the Democrats, Trump would *still* have won

Re: Whoever wins, we lose etc

[(Anonymous)]

whoops, wasn't done

So yeah, the issue is definitely the people choosing to vote for Trump.

Like, I disagree, but I *understand* choosing to vote for the Democrats. I would not call them freedom in a million years, but choosing to vote for Trump *is* "hey, let's vote for Sauron". Like, there is no excuse.

[As for the Rings of Power, I just don't think it needs to exist (shrug); but haven't seen it]

Re: Whoever wins, we lose etc

[elisi]

And the reply is "because I am not Trump/the Tories/insert X boogeyman here", well, that's fair, sure; but you can't keep riding on that *forever*. At some point, you need to offer something concrete besides that.
Oh totally.

And the thing is that the Biden administration has done a ton of good stuff (also terrible stuff *cough* Palestine *cough*), but there is very little awareness of it. :( And everyone can argue about why that is, but when the news-cycles are dominated by outrage rather than stories like this, there is a problem. (Also see: All the newspapers being owned by billionaires etc etc)

MIND YOU, I think there is definitely something rotten in the States of America. Their whole Exceptionalism thing is very damaging, and they will at some point need to have a look at what they are as a country. But tinkering with foundational myths is very very difficult.

And to bring both your comments together:
Like, I disagree, but I *understand* choosing to vote for the Democrats. I would not call them freedom in a million years, but choosing to vote for Trump *is* "hey, let's vote for Sauron". Like, there is no excuse.
This ties in with my thoughts above (you get to be my soundboard for all these thoughts that I am trying to pin down) - America thinks of itself as 'The Land of the Free' or whatever, when in reality they live on stolen land and the country was built on slavery.

Not saying the US is unique in this respect of not wanting to look at the harsh reality, generally polls in the UK find that people think that The British Empire was a good thing.

[As for the Rings of Power, I just don't think it needs to exist (shrug); but haven't seen it]
It's very shiny fic that got filmed and put on screen. Does it need to exist? Probably not. But I enjoyed it and what it does, it does very well.

[trepkos]

Bonfire night is not a happy time for me - I just think of all the terrified pets, terrified wild animals, hedgehogs, insects, etc. burned to death in bonfires, and terrified people.

[elisi]

That is a good point. I hope everyone checks their bonfires for hedgehogs at the very least.

[jerusha]

Fingers and toes crossed!

[elisi]

You get my Crowley praying icon...

[sea_thoughts]

*silently lines up some drinks*

[elisi]

Cheers. Icon is A+++