that which must not be spoken

I deliberately keep my politics off this blog, because I’ve found that politics is a topic that necessarily inflames passions of the sort that are antithetical to people sitting around and talking about things they enjoy. I’ve been a traveler of the middle path, with a leftwards drift, since 2000, and Ive seen a lot of victories and losses on both sides of the aisle. My experience shows me that people are the same – they have the same fears, the same biases, and the same need to paint their opponents in dark colors of the Other to validate their passion, because they wrongly feel that there’s some shame in that passion. There isn’t – the passion is good, and it’s necessary, and it’s worth it to look in the mirror after a bitter fight and reflect that what divides us is so much smaller than what brings up together.

There are those who will not be able to let go, and there are those who will, but just not yet. I don’t think anyone I know or read regularly sincerely wants the President-elect to fail, or wants the country to be punished for making the “wrong” choice, or takes any pleasure in pronouncements of doom forthcoming. But much of what those people I respect are saying right now, does sound like they do desire those outcomes, in the absence of benefit of the doubt, or the simple knowledge of their characters born of personal contact and friendship. Emotions are cathartic and also nothing to be ashamed of.

At any rate, I am glad the election is over, because there’s a lot of blogging to do in the otakusphere. I’ll be back on a regular-ish schedule again now. If you have any interest in what I’ve to say in the political realm, I do invite you to stop by my blog at Beliefnet, City of Brass – but let’s leave that, there.