Vote Like Your Life Depends On It

So, could Trump be any more obvious at this point?

Look, it's always been obvious when Republicans try to suppress voters.  Historically, voter suppression favors Republicans.  Whenever they close down polling places, it's usually in poor neighborhoods that tend to vote Democrat.  If everyone who wants to vote were actually allowed to vote, we'd probably have more blue states than we think we do.

It's a despicable practice.  Engineering who can vote and where, gerrymandering, and now sabotaging the Postal Service - it's like they admit they can't win without cheating.  And yet, Trump is the one who keeps saying, "If I lose in November, it will be because of voter fraud."  

That's not idle prattle.  As usual, he's trying to plant the seeds to support whatever lies he might need later.  Even if he says nothing more about it (yeah right), if Trump loses in November, Republicans will doubt the results.  They won't need any further evidence of tampering, they'll only need those seeds Trump planted in their highly suggestible brains.

We can't leave any room for doubt.  We need this to be a landslide, so no one tries to overturn the election on some "hanging chad"-style technicality.  Do whatever it takes to vote.  If you're not allowed to vote by mail in your area, take the risk.  Wear a mask, stand six feet apart, take whatever other precautions you can, but go.  Keeping Trump out of office is one of the few things worth the risk of leaving the house during a pandemic.

Four years ago, some of my friends couldn't decide between Trump and Clinton.  Some of them didn't vote.  Others threw their vote away on third party candidates.  Under normal circumstances, with normal candidates, I'd support voting for third parties.  You won't win, but if they get enough votes, it sends a message that the world is ready for new ideas, which could influence future elections.

But too many people stayed home four years ago, and now people are dying.  Many people are dead now, people who would still be alive under any other president.  If you didn't vote for Clinton four years ago, you share some responsibility for those deaths.  I'm not going to flat-out declare you responsible, because you didn't know.  This time you do.  If you don't vote for Biden this election, more people will die, and you will be responsible.  

If you voted for Trump four years ago, you were a fool.  I can forgive fools.  If you let him win this November, you're a murderer.

Token Ethics

You've probably heard of "Nice Guys" when it comes to feminism.  If not, basically Nice Guys (not to be confused with actual nice guys) are guys who pretend to be a woman's friend, when they're really hoping she'll eventually become their girlfriend.

Now, there's nothing wrong with having a secret crush on a platonic friend, and being too shy to tell them.  But Nice Guys only pretend to be a friend, and only hang around their target to weasel their way into their heart.  They feel that they're owed a sexual relationship after putting so much time into being a friend.  Or as many people on the internet put it, Nice Guys treat women like vending machines.  They believe that if they put in enough Nice tokens, eventually sex will pop out.

Lately I've been thinking about the token theory as it relates to other subjects.  For example, Christians.  Many Christians seem to believe that all they have to do is pop in a few religion tokens - like going to church, wearing a cross, putting a "Honk if you love Jesus" bumper stick on their car - and then they can do whatever they want the rest of the time.

They claim to love Jesus, but they vote against helping the poor.  They think they're going to Heaven, but they're prejudiced against foreigners and GLBT people.  Christianity is supposed to be a "think of others before yourself" philosophy, but they think that if they just memorize enough Bible verses, they can just forget the part about helping the less fortunate.

Most recently I've been thinking about Patriotism tokens.  People seem to think that if they stick enough US flags on their property, that they're true Americans.  But they refuse to comply with the basic ideals of our society.  There's more to being an American than sticking a "Love it or leave it" sticker on your bumper.

Some tips:
A true American doesn't wave a Confederate flag.  That is the flag of a movement that was - by its very definition - anti-American.  Arguably, it's treason.  I can accept immigrants who still wave the flag of their old country, because it's possible to love two countries.  But you can't love the Confederacy and also love America.  That's like pledging your soul to both Satan and God.  They aren't compatible ideals.

A true American isn't xenophobic.  I hear racists talk about America losing its cultural identity if they let in too many immigrants.  But our cultural identity is supposed to be "Melting Pot".  We were founded by immigrants and refugees from many countries.  One of our greatest landmarks is the Statue of Liberty, a gift from a foreign nation, and a symbol of hope for those fleeing other countries.

"Oh, but we're overcrowded!"  Yeah, funny how whenever Liberals talk about the overpopulation, Conservatives claim you can fit the world's population in Texas.  But when Liberals talk about immigration, suddenly the US is packed to the brim.

But of course, what really prompted me to write this blog was the current pandemic.  I'm still seeing people who refuse to wear masks unless they're forced to, or wear them badly, or otherwise not taking this COVID-19 seriously.  I'm even seeing maskless people make fun of those wearing masks.

That is some next level stupidity right there.  I don't care if you're Democrat or Republican, because neither side has declared the crisis to be over.  Not even the  mango-in-chief has declared the virus gone, he's just shown a general preference for making money over saving lives.

So it's damned if you do, damned if you don't right now.  You can wear a mask and lessen the spread of the virus, but Trumpers will make fun of you.  That's an easy choice - I'd rather be mocked and live, than die a cool person.  Except - the masks don't really protect you, so much as they protect others from you.  So going maskless doesn't make you "tough" or whatever, it just means you don't care about other people.

To all the virus deniers out there:

If you refuse to wear a mask in public during this pandemic, you are a wimp.

I don't want to stoop that low with my insults, but it's the only language these idiots understand.

A true American doesn't shy away when America needs help.  The government has asked us, for the good of all America, to comply with quarantine rules.  This means staying home as much as possible, wearing masks in public, and avoiding crowded places.

And yet Conservatives are putting their own comfort ahead of the needs of their country.  They are the citizens who have always considered themselves the most patriotic.  They've spent years claiming that they're the only True Americans, and yet when their country actually called upon them to be heroes, they said, "No, we need haircuts."  They claim being forced to wear masks is unconstitutional, despite the fact that they've never read the Constitution past the Second Amendment.

It is time to change our perceptions of the parties.  Currently, Liberals are seen as bleeding hearts who only care about foreigners and the poor.  Conservatives are seen as patriotic Christians.  The truth is that Liberals care about the big picture.  Liberals care about the world as a whole, and recognize that what hurts anyone hurts the world as a whole.  Conservatives don't care about any issue that doesn't affect them personally.  How is that considered patriotic?

You can't just make token gestures.  You can't just shout, "America Great!" at the top of your lungs and call yourself patriotic.  Sometimes your country will ask something of you.  In this case, it's something pretty small:  Wear a mask in public, and stay home as much as possible.

Is that really so much to ask?  If you're such a pathetic wimp that you can't comply with such a small request, what's going to happen when the country needs something bigger from you?  How can you call yourself patriotic when you can't even do the little things?

Want to be a patriot?  Then take this as a challenge.  Show your American pride by actually doing something for your country.  This is the smallest thing the country could ask of you, and if you can't do it, then you're the very thing you've accused others of for years:  A traitor.

Stay home as much as you can.  Wear a mask in public.  Wash your hands.  Stay six feet apart.  Take the current crisis seriously, whether you believe in it or not.  The lives we're trying to save include your own.

Two Kinds Of People

When we discuss issues like tax-funded college tuition, there are two kinds of people.  Some people say "I suffered, but I don't want you to have to."   Others say "I suffered, so you should suffer, too."  The former are making the world a better place.  The latter are actively trying to make life harder.  

What if we applied the same logic to other progress?  "I suffered through polio, so why should today's kids get a vaccine?  And what's with cars?  Horseback was good enough for my ancestors, so it's good enough for today's entitled slobs."

But that's only a subset of the bigger problem.  Take any social justice issue.  Racism, economic disparity, gun crimes, whatever.  Again, you have two kinds of people: "Life is hard, so let's work to make the world a better place" people, and "Life is hard, so suck it up, buttercup" people.  Again, the former are trying to improve things for everyone.  The latter are simply assholes.

Assholes. 

Their opinions don't matter.  They are not worthy of our respect.  The world is a worse place because they are in it.  

Don't be like them.  I'm not saying you have to devote your life to charity.  Just don't be one of those people who throws up their hands and says "The world sucks, but whaddayagonna do?" while supporting the very politicians who are making the world suck.

Life is hard.  But it doesn't have to be this hard.  Sometimes the world does suck.  But it doesn't have to suck this much.  It's impossible to fix everything.  But that doesn't mean we can't fix anything.

If you can't be the visionary, at least don't be the obstacle.

Gender Check-In

Just an observation.  

When I make a lot of transgender-related posts in a row, I hear rumblings of, "That's all he ever talks about!  He just keeps saying the same thing over and over!"  Some of that might be my own inner voice, but other people have commented on now and then.

But when I go a long time without mentioning gender at all, I hear rumors about myself from the grapevine.  Musings along the lines of, "Well, it looks like he's given up on his dream of wanting to change his sex... I guess it was just a phase after all...  He finally came to his senses..."  This gossip mostly comes from family.

Trust me, gender is still the one thing I think about more than anything else.  I make daily visits to transgender message boards.  I fall asleep at night imagining life as a woman.  I play The Sims and D&D just to live vicariously through female characters.  

No matter how bad things get in my life, if you were to ask me to list all my problems in order, gender dysphoria would always be at the top of the list.  If I were in a plummeting 747, mere minutes from crashing, and suddenly a genie's lamp bounced into my hands from an overhead compartment, I'd still use my first wish to change my sex.

But just as you're probably tired of seeing similar posts over and over, I get tired of writing about the same subjects.  If I don't post about my gender issues for a while, it's usually because I don't have anything new to say about it.  I mean, if I wanted to post the same blog over and over, I'd just copy and paste it.

Heck, I'm pretty sure even this blog is something of a repost, so I'll stop right here.  If you're just stumbling across this blog for the first time, here's some of my more relevant entries on my relationship with gender:

What Cis People Need To Understand

I Know.  Still.

Doing The Math

...But The Math Is Irrelevant

You Can't Make An Omelette...

Facebook Politics

Very rarely do I make political posts on Facebook.  I used to, years ago.  But then I started using Twitter, Tumblr, and Reddit.  These days I like to keep my Facebook clean and fluffy, with mostly cat pictures and vacation photos.  I use the other sites (including this blog) to vent about politics.

Not that my friends don't know my politics.  I still click "like" on my friends' political posts, and occasionally comment, so I doubt I have a lot of Facebook friends who think I'm a Republican.  But for me, Facebook is now a place to show off what's going on in my life, not a place to start fights.

But I do think others should be allowed to post whatever they want.  It's their page, their decision.  If somebody starts to post too many annoying things, I'll unfollow them.  Very rarely do I actually unfriend someone over politics, when it's just as easy just to change my settings so that I no longer see their posts.  

Okay, I have unfriended one guy over politics, but that's because I really couldn't see any reason to keep him in my life - he wasn't family or an old high school friend or anything, just a guy I played D&D with before he moved out of state.  And he really did have despicable political opinions.

But 99% of the time, I feel that it's better to just mute or unfollow the people who annoy you, rather than unfriend them.  What I definitely won't do is ask people to police what they post on their own pages.  About ten years ago, this one friend kept asking people not to curse in their Facebook posts any more, because her son had just started using Facebook.  

Um... no.  I mean, I can't remember ever using foul language on my own Facebook status updates, so I'm probably not one of the people she was complaining about, but still, no.  You don't get to ask that.  Facebook is a place where we get to be ourselves, and it's not our job to present a false version of ourselves just to protect your kid from seeing certain combinations of letters.

I have this one friend... well, high school friend, I haven't actually spoken to him in years... who often complains about people making political posts.  The thing is, he posts plenty of political memes of his own.  He claims to be apolitical, but he really likes stirring the pot.  He'll post something controversial to his page, wait until a good argument gets going in the comments, then reply with, "This is why I never make political posts."

Recently a few more of my friends have started complaining about political posts.  But here's the thing.  We are three months away from a presidential election.  Three months.  You are going to see political posts.  Even if this were a normal year, you would expect to see a lot of politics right now.  But 2020 isn't just any year.  This is the year of COVID and police brutality.  And the incumbent candidate might well be the biblical Antichrist.  It would be insane not to expect political posts.

If you really can't stand politics, you should probably stay off Facebook until December, or at least start muting your most political friends.  Remember, you can mute someone for a month, or you can unfollow someone permanently (or until you change your mind).  They don't see it when you do this, so it's not going to offend them.  And it's a much better solution than unfriending them.

Redundant Data Phenomenon

I wonder if there's a word for when two things you think you know actually turn out to be the same thing.

For example, my office has about fifty employees, which is just enough people that when a new person starts working there, I don't meet them so much as I gradually become aware of them.  A few years ago I started interacting with two new employees.  First was Mikey, with whom I sometimes made small talk in the break room.  The other was Micaela, who I never met in person, but who would sometimes send me e-mails when she needed information from my department.  (Note, I've changed the names for privacy reasons, but you get the idea.)

One day I passed Mikey in the hall, and she asked me about an e-mail she'd sent earlier.  I couldn't remember her sending me any e-mails that day.  I'd gotten one from Micaela, but I couldn't remember seeing one from Mikey.  Actually, I couldn't remember ever having received an e-mail from Mikey.  So she described the contents of the e-mail, and that's when I put two and two together.

Another example - back in high school, I had a friend who wasn't into wrestling.  However, enough of his friends were fans that he knew a lot of the names.  He was aware that there was a wrestler named Hulk Hogan, because he'd seen that name in print, but he'd never heard anyone talk about him out loud.  

But there was this other wrestler - that guy with the shoulder-length blonde hair, balding on top, handlebar mustache, wears bright yellow shirts that he always rips off before a match...  Yeah, his friends wouldn't shut up about this "Hull Cogan" guy.  When I told him the truth, he didn't believe me at first.

It sounds ridiculous, but it makes sense.  I've never played a Pokemon game or watched the cartoons, but I bet I can name at least fifty of them thanks to pop-cultural osmosis.  But the names are still vague enough that I wouldn't notice if there were both a "Voltorb" and a "Vull Torb" in my mental pokedex.  If my friend had cared enough about wrestling to ever think about Hulk Hogan and Hull Cogan within five minutes of each other, he might have put it together himself.  

It's almost like that bit of trivia is taking up two slots in your brain, and realizing they're the same trivia is like discovering your best friend Clark Kent is also your boyfriend Superman.

Though I also have an opposite story.  I might have already posted this one in a blog, but whatever.  Back in college, there was this student I used to see around campus.  She dressed in punk outfits, and had a neon colored buzz cut.  Some days her hair was bright orange, other days it was bright green.  I thought it was weird that she recolored her hair so often, but I figured it must be that Halloween hair color that washes right out.

After months of passing her on campus, seeing her hair change color a couple of times a week, I finally saw both twins together.  Neat.

Getting Fed Up

I've been watching my brother and my aunt argue on Facebook about wearing masks.  It's amazing to me.  My side links to all sorts of reputable reports about how the masks save lives, and how doctors overwhelmingly believe that mask use is the way to go.  My aunt keeps replying with nebulous comments like "plenty of doctor agree with me" and "I heard somewhere that masks can cause diseases."  She sounds a lot like Trump.

It's not up for debate.  You're either wearing a mask in public, or you're a bastard.  This pandemic has lasted too long for us to keep having this conversation.  Some of you are still stuck in April, making the same stupid arguments you had then, your fingers in your ears going "la la la la".  We already know how to end the pandemic, but Republicans just aren't willing to do it.

Trump has made us the laughing stock of the world.  We're one of the few countries left that hasn't gotten the disease under control.  If we want to know how to do the same, all we have to do is look at some of these other countries and see how they did it.  It's pretty simple - Enforce everyone to stay in their homes, except for a few essential jobs, like doctors and delivery drivers.  Anyone who does have to leave the house, has to wear a mask, no exceptions.  And of course, pay people to stay in their homes.  It would only take a couple of months for the virus to die out, if they strictly enforced this.

Instead, we're trying half-assed method after half-assed method, and cases keep rising.  You might think it's too expensive to pay people to stay home, but in the long run it would be cheaper.  Two expensive months versus what will probably be more than a year of various half-assed methods. 

If we had done this in April, we'd have it under control by now.  I know it would be hard to enforce, and here's where I get really mean.  But I would recommend total enforcement.  I'm talking totalitarian, "snipers on the roof" enforcement.  Wear a mask or go to jail.  Resist arrest and die.  Yeah, I know it's harsh, but it's only for two months.  And frankly, at this point, I think refusing to wear a mask is attempted murder.  

Treat the maskless like the potential murderers they are.  They know they run the risk of infecting others.  If a guy started walking around Kroger firing a handgun in random directions, he'd get arrested (if he's lucky).  This really is no different.

My aunt says, "I don't believe masks help, and I'm entitled to my opinion."  But ignorance can't be an excuse when lives are on the line.  The fact that anti-maskers are incredibly fucking stupid isn't a valid legal defense.  If my hypothetical Kroger shooter said, "I don't believe bullets are dangerous," we wouldn't just say, "Bless your heart, I guess you can go."  

No more half-assed solutions.  If Trump really wants to get re-elected, he should bite the bullet and get this over with.  Lockdown.  Enforce it.  Pay the citizens.  Then he can take credit for ending the virus (despite the rest of us recommending these actions since April).  He'd finally be the hero, and the quarantine would be over just in time for the election.  

But of course he won't do any of that.  He won't do the right thing even when it benefits himself.  It's just not in his nature.