I wish they'd chose different colors though. This one gets the point across ok but something like bright-yellow and dark blue would have been more informative. (maybe I'll work on it myself.)
I agree with you about the divisive and useless "arguments" are choose to make that really do nothing more than demonize those who voted for Bush. I was pretty angry there for a while and actually said at one point that I'm ashamed to be an American... because I am automatically lumped in with this country that IMO made such a poor choice. ah *heavy sigh*. What helped me overcome that was a little education. The problem was I just could not fathom how in the world anyone could vote for that man. He rubs me in exactly the wrong way in probably every way possible. And on top of that, he seems like such a complete idiot, which ... ah... you know. my immediate thought is, wouldn't you have to be an idiot in order to vote for one?
well, I learned that people didn't vote for Bush so much as they voted for his religious beliefs. That's what really cinched it. As far as I can tell there are two big camps of people who voted for Bush.
1) the camp I already mentioned. people who have strong religious beliefs and for whom the gay-marriage issue was just too much to deal with. I'm told (and believe) that as people grow they're ability to handle complexity in life increases... but when people are confronted by an issue that runs totally counter to their core belief system then they'll rush away from complexity and take the simple, hard-line road in order to fight against what threatens their core.
2) conservatives who didn't hear a positive message about Kerry. There was such a loud/shrill "anybody but Bush" mantra coming from the Democratic party that it's the only message most people ended up hearing. all the more rational discussions were lost or drown out. in the end, people didn't hear a reason to vote for Kerry and voted for Bush simply because change is scary.
what I find more disturbing right now though is how the leadership of the Republican party is more or less ignoring the dissenting opinion. You're absolutely right when you say the margin is really pretty small. A record number of people voted for Bush (I hear from the White House Chief of Staff) but a record number also voted against him (from Howard Dean). Republicans I hear on the news though keep saying over and over again that Bush now has "political capital" (which he says he intends to spend) and something about a "clear mandate", blah blah.... Our own leaders (especially that divider who likes to call himself a uniter) are painting the country simple red and blue, not purple, for political reasons. The rhetoric coming out of the White House drives the anger. He does it in order to increase his power, but it's just so bad for the country. I hear historically speaking there was a time back near the birth of our country, and of course around the time of the Civil War, that our country was more divided than it is now, but this has to be the worst since the late 1800's. it's foolish decision to push your own agenda at the expense of alienating half the country, especially at a time like this. So many people are participating though, and that scares me.
we need a "madness" map. or maybe a dogma map... or people who handle complexity well vs. poorly map. I'm thinking, right now, the "poorly" side would be winning hands down.
no subject
http://www.princeton.edu/~rvdb/JAVA/election2004/purple_america_2004.gif
I wish they'd chose different colors though. This one gets the point across ok but something like bright-yellow and dark blue would have been more informative. (maybe I'll work on it myself.)
I agree with you about the divisive and useless "arguments" are choose to make that really do nothing more than demonize those who voted for Bush. I was pretty angry there for a while and actually said at one point that I'm ashamed to be an American... because I am automatically lumped in with this country that IMO made such a poor choice. ah *heavy sigh*. What helped me overcome that was a little education. The problem was I just could not fathom how in the world anyone could vote for that man. He rubs me in exactly the wrong way in probably every way possible. And on top of that, he seems like such a complete idiot, which ... ah... you know. my immediate thought is, wouldn't you have to be an idiot in order to vote for one?
well, I learned that people didn't vote for Bush so much as they voted for his religious beliefs. That's what really cinched it. As far as I can tell there are two big camps of people who voted for Bush.
1) the camp I already mentioned. people who have strong religious beliefs and for whom the gay-marriage issue was just too much to deal with. I'm told (and believe) that as people grow they're ability to handle complexity in life increases... but when people are confronted by an issue that runs totally counter to their core belief system then they'll rush away from complexity and take the simple, hard-line road in order to fight against what threatens their core.
2) conservatives who didn't hear a positive message about Kerry. There was such a loud/shrill "anybody but Bush" mantra coming from the Democratic party that it's the only message most people ended up hearing. all the more rational discussions were lost or drown out. in the end, people didn't hear a reason to vote for Kerry and voted for Bush simply because change is scary.
what I find more disturbing right now though is how the leadership of the Republican party is more or less ignoring the dissenting opinion. You're absolutely right when you say the margin is really pretty small. A record number of people voted for Bush (I hear from the White House Chief of Staff) but a record number also voted against him (from Howard Dean). Republicans I hear on the news though keep saying over and over again that Bush now has "political capital" (which he says he intends to spend) and something about a "clear mandate", blah blah.... Our own leaders (especially that divider who likes to call himself a uniter) are painting the country simple red and blue, not purple, for political reasons. The rhetoric coming out of the White House drives the anger. He does it in order to increase his power, but it's just so bad for the country. I hear historically speaking there was a time back near the birth of our country, and of course around the time of the Civil War, that our country was more divided than it is now, but this has to be the worst since the late 1800's. it's foolish decision to push your own agenda at the expense of alienating half the country, especially at a time like this. So many people are participating though, and that scares me.
we need a "madness" map. or maybe a dogma map... or people who handle complexity well vs. poorly map. I'm thinking, right now, the "poorly" side would be winning hands down.