Poorly-Considered Political Maneuvers

[evilhippo]

Lately, as this political season is finally coming to its end and the rancor among my coworkers becomes evermore biting and sarcastic, I've been finding myself more and more tempted to break with my "Silent Bob" approach to the workplace. This is, in part, because I've found myself tagged as a sort of one-dimensional character who somehow represents the whole of liberal thinking. No doubt my silent resolve to grit my teeth and get through the day with as little drama as possible is seen as some kind of carebear "Love everyone, even those who take advantage of your work ethic" mentality. I managed to stop myself from dressing up on Halloween as "Me, as you imagine me" with hippie pigtails, birkenstocks (I've been meaning to get a pair anyway), and a petition to rename Michigan Ave "Barack Obama", explaining that 1) I wouldn't ask them otherwise, but my signatures were due on November 1 so we could rename it before inauguration, 2) I was working for ACORN and would be paid by the signature, and 3) "And isn't it cool that we're just going to name it 'Barack Obama'? Really, we think that the word Obama will come to mean a path toward hope and the future, so it doesn't even need to be a street or avenue. It can just be an Obama." Thankfully I realized that the glee I would derive from them believing me, though wonderful, would quickly be followed by despair at them believing me. And then one of them would probably get me fired.

So now I'm sitting here with a bag of arugula in my fridge, and thinking "Wouldn't it be a great idea to bring it in to work on Tuesday and offer some to everyone?" I'd already planned it as my victory arugula, but I keep thinking that I need to get that jab in against them, just to prove that I've been listening to their nonsense and am perfectly prepared to counter with some of my own (and I think it's about to go bad so the sooner I use it the better). It's just... irony. Victory arugula is ironic, especially on Tuesday (I can't let myself have confidence yet, it'll jinx things). And there are approximately two people in the back office that would understand. So what do I do? Do I make the joke that gets me antagonized more as it sails over their heads? Or do I just sit quietly and continue to be the one-dimensional hippie Obama-worshiping liberal? (... I mean, truth is the only word that doesn't technically apply there is "worshiping." I think I'm just offended that they think I've put so little thought into my decision, and so my response to social adversity, as it always is, is to make fun of myself and them.)

Dear 2008 Election,

I WANT MY WEDNESDAY ARUGULA TO BE VICTORY ARUGULA!

♥
evilhippo

P.S. Even if I fail to be ironic at work, I am wearing some of the arugula in my hat when I go to the rally Tuesday night, and nothing is stopping me. Except maybe security, if they find leafy vegetables suspicious.

Comments

[zolac-no-miko.livejournal.com]

Omg, yes definitely wear arugula in your hat to the rally!!

Brave choice, arugula. But fair play to you, not a lot of women can carry off a decorative vegetable.

I must admit, your joke went right over my head. I somehow entirely missed Arugulagate and had to go look it up.

Keep your chin up! It can't even imagine how hard it must be to be a Democrat surrounded by Republicans... I've only ever been surrounded by other Democrats. I tend to play Silent Bob when political arguments are going on myself, on the rare occasions I stumble across them.

[evilhippo.livejournal.com]

I may just wear arugula in my hat all day. Decorative vegetables for the win! Now you've got me craving celery.

Hehe, that's what I'm worried about. If I can stump you, they'll probably beat me up. I sometimes forget that not everyone has been keeping such close tabs on the absurd things that have come out of this election (I love absurdity ever so very much).

Rational Republicans I can deal with now. I was surrounded by them in college and kind of got used to them. (In fact, most of the ones I know are voting for Obama this time around. Save for my roommate, but we're all argued out and so she gets to vote for whomever she wants, I guess. (-;) I generally try to avoid political arguments, just because it's kind of like getting into ship-wars. People hold their opinions way too personally to make any headway, and if you're on the other side you're not only wrong, you're immoral and dumb. Unless the argument is about the "liberal media." Next person to complain about that near me is getting a smackdown.

[zolac-no-miko.livejournal.com]

Yaaaaaaay! Mmmmm celery. You've got me craving arugula.

It's hard to keep track of all of the absurdity. There's an absurd amount of it. ;D

Yeah, I had a friend at school who's Republican, but we loved him anyway. God, no kidding about the ship wars. I always wonder who they're campaigning at, I know so few people who aren't fanatically attached to their political party of choice. Possibly including me. Not too many people are going to change their minds, unless someone in their party really fucks up, which thankfully Bush did. But the people who are going to change their minds already have, and the rest will be deaf to any reasoned arguments. We have liberal media? HOLY CRAP! WHERE IS IT?!

[evilhippo.livejournal.com]

Time for a salad!

Well... true. I'm sure I'll be excavating absurdity from this election cycle for years to come. I'm looking forward to it. (I wonder if Palin's definition of "real" America will still exist after the election. I'd hate to think going home will always make my parents' house an unreal part of the state.)

Someday, I want to be able to vote for a viable third-party candidate, because waaaaaaay too many of us are married to our political parties. It's pretty much to the point that, unless you're staging a rebellion against your parents or suddenly jump up or down a few tax brackets, you vote for whatever party your parents vote for. (I'm trying to sort out my upbringing, because I think my dad is a registered Republican, though in my lifetime I don't recall him liking or voting for a single one.) It's really weird to have two parties whose main supporters are all "You're with us or against us!" that then go on to fight bitterly for the people who are in between (because by the fighting logic, people in the middle should be against everyone anyway.) And, for the record, I can't get my mind around still being undecided in this election.

Well, according to the conservative pundits that hate it so, it seems to be located mostly on the internet. Which is cheating at words so hard. Come on guys, "media" is a broad term, but when you say it like that people think "TV and newspapers" which, amazingly enough, tend to stick to the truth and are largely unbiased outside of the opinion columns. But noooo, say "media bias" and all of a sudden any story someone runs that's negative to one side or the other, even if one side is making a fool of itself more often, and it's the dirty liberal media at work bending the wills of the unthinking masses.

[zolac-no-miko.livejournal.com]

Hey, at least your state is a real state. Mine is too exotic to be a real state, and doesn't share core American values with the rest of the country. ...Presumably "winter" is a core American value.

Yeah, I know. I mean, I'll always take Democrats over Republicans, but they're not perfect. I'd like to have options. ...They should have a two-vote system. Like, vote for your top two candidates. It would through everything out of balance and allow other parties to have a fighting chance, and I feel like more people would be happy with the candidate that won. Anyway, ha, I beat the system, 'cause my Mom's a hardcore Democrat, and my Dad's a hardcore Republican... I had to choose! (I didn't really beat the system. I've lived with my Mom since my parents got divorced, and I'm much closer to her family than to his. I'm as much a product of the machine as anyone.)

Oh right. The internet. Well, you can't believe anything you read on the internet anyway. INCLUDING THIS.

[flutingfrenzy.livejournal.com]

You're going to post about the rally, right? Right? I want to hear all about it! :D