I was gonna go to bed, but I got sucked into reading people's posts of joy.

[hermionesviolin]

I have never been in love with Obama like most of the people I'm surrounded by have been, but posts like the one I linked to last night made me want to vote for Obama, and all the positive energy I'm seeing on my flist/StalkerPin makes me happy Obama won.  I honestly hadn't seriously thought ahead to the-day(s)-after-Election-Day (though I was inclined to think Obama would win the election), but I am so tired of people being so unhappy (and cynical).  Not everyone's happy about tonight's Presidential results, though, and to quote JadeLennox:

one country, different opinions, can we be gracious in either victory or defeat? No more moving to Canada jokes, Jesusland snark, or mockery of rednecks and pregnant teenagers?

***

Moi posted a YouTube embed of MLK's "I Have a Dream" speech (full version, plus a snippet of his "I have been to the mountaintop" speech in a second YouTube embed).  In the first one, I was struck by how many biblical allusions there are in it.  I thought, "Wow, could you get away with that these days?" -- and then I thought: "How many listeners will even recognize those allusions?"

One line I was struck by, given the current context: "We cannot be satisfied as long as a Negro in Mississippi cannot vote and a Negro in New York believes he has nothing for which to vote."

***

I'm not going to go looking for CA Prop. 8 results until morning (I really am going to bed after I post this), but this post (via ann1962) made me happy.  I am a deep believer in personal connections making more of a difference than systemically imposed anythings.

Comments

[mjules.livejournal.com]

OK, that Prop 8 post made me cry like a little baby.

[scrollgirl.livejournal.com]

No more moving to Canada jokes, Jesusland snark, or mockery of rednecks and pregnant teenagers?

Heh. I don't mind moving to Canada jokes ;) Though it's funny you mention it, because a flister just posted about some Facebook "friends" who were groaning about Obama winning and the country going down and how they wanted to move to Canada. And she was like, "Yeah, I don't think Canada means what you think it means."

I loved that Obama acknowledged that there were a lot of people whose support he still didn't have, but that he would listen to them and be their president too.

[sangerin.livejournal.com]

Why do liberals always have to be better than conservatives? How come if they're nasty, we're not allowed to be nasty back, when, after eight years, we finally get back into power?

[hermionesviolin.livejournal.com]

I want EVERYONE to be better than the nastiness. I want people to be gracious in defeat and in victory. I want people to not lose sight of the opposition's humanity, regardless of who the opposition is or what the issue in question is.

I respect the urge to vent/gloat (and there are private contexts in which doing so is okay), but a system of "They did this bad thing first, so I'm gonna do it back to them" never works out well.

[sangerin.livejournal.com]

Of course it doesn't work out well, but I don't see why I have to keep and keep and keep on bending over backwards to make people who hate me feel good.

And the point of this comment was supposed to be apologising for going over-the-top in your LJ, and I've just gone and spouted off at the mouth again. But it's just... maybe Jesus could turn the other cheek, but he was Jesus. I'm not, and my cheek is sore.

[hermionesviolin.livejournal.com]

I didn't think you were over the top (in either of your comments).

And I do recognize that I'm speaking somewhat from a position of privilege in that I haven't felt personally hated or attacked by the Right.

And I wouldn't say we have to "bend over backwards to make them feel good" -- I just want us to curb ourselves from trying to hurt them. And I'm not even sure I would wholly advocate for "turn the other cheek." I think we can and should stand up for what we believe is right. But I want the focus to be on the issues, rather than on insults and personal attacks and accusatory generalizations. (And I'm not saying you personally do any of those bad things, just that those are the kinds of things I'm talking about when I say I want us gracious &etc. I want us to focus on working toward solutions and improvements, rather than working against each other.)

mountaintops

[onwingsofeagles.livejournal.com]

I've been crying all day. Okay, part of that is that I'm "emotionally labile" because of Grandma issues. But I watched Obama's acceptance on CNN.com this morning and just starting crying at the sight of a black man who has just been elected President of the United States. My boss worked in Mississippi for two years and people wanted to kill him -- and did kill others -- just because they were working to give American citizens basic human rights (the right to vote and desegregated health care). He said last night he saw the photos he has up of the Selma march (which he was on) and MLK, and thought of King saying "I have seen the mountaintop, I may not make it..." And the next day King was killed. But my boss lived to see the mountaintop. It's not nirvana, Obama isn't the second coming, he's just a man, but still. I am so proud to see my country having moved from the early days of the civil rights movement (letting go for this moment of the ugly history PRIOR) to the day when a black family will live in the White House. Racism isn't dead, but oh my God, how far we have come.

[hedy.livejournal.com]

I have never been in love with Obama like most of the people I'm surrounded by have been, but posts like the one I linked to last night made me want to vote for Obama, and all the positive energy I'm seeing on my flist/StalkerPin makes me happy Obama won.
Word.

ETA

[hedy.livejournal.com]

Every time a "ZOMG mixed red and blue marriage!" feature was on TV, my first thought was "But Elizabeth turned out so well."

Re: ETA

[hermionesviolin.livejournal.com]

HEART!!!

:)