The past few days, i have undergone an in-depth exposure to politics... from all frames of references; Internet sights, television and most importantly, the opinions of some of my closest (and highly political diverse) friends.
After all of the discussion, i decided to finally go pick up Farenheit 9/11 and give it a looky-loo. I got comfy on the couch, watched intently and 20 minutes later, fell asleep. I figured I was tired so i went and crawled in bed. Turned out i was just bored by the film.
i appreciate moore's egocentric views and passion on the whole subject, but i suppose i have too much practice in social cognition - using thought and emotions to understand other people.
(Yes... this is about to turn into a short psychology lesson and political rant):
Often, i think people have the tendency to make internal more than external attributions for other people's behaviors, i.e. people tend to underestimate situational factors. (Fundamental Attribution Error). As i watched Bush sit in that classroom of 6th graders and just sit... and sit... and sit... i didn't think "Yeah --- i bet he's thinking about how much he fucked up... how much he should have been at work... how much he's been hooked up in his life and now he's going to totally get called on it."
Instead of guilting into the self-serving bias (thinking attributions are internal only when behavior outcome is good... thinking attributions are bad
only when behavior outcome is bad), i thought more about how would i feel if i were sitting there, the leader of our country, just informed that a major landmark had just been attacked by terrorists?
I remembered a time my brother, who has severe cerebral palsey, underwent a serious siezure. By no means was it his worst, because i've seen him push through 25-30 minute ordeals that left him exhausted and passed out for hours afterward in the hospital. This particular time only lasted about five minutes. I use the term 'only' loosely, as this is still considered serious when involving a 10-year-old, 30lb boy, but when comparing it to some of the 1/2 hour episodes over the past 10 years, it seems a little less dismal.
I remember being in the livingroom, on the couch with my brother, and after three minutes of his siezure had passed (which by the way, feels like three hours), my mom went upstairs to do... something... Suprisingly, my mom and i switched rolls.
"Should i call 911? Do you want me to get him a blanket? should i get him a towel? or hold him?"
i was all of a sudden top personal assistant... meanwhile, my mom stood still... stunned and basically in shock. While i was downstairs on hold with an ambulance, my mom was standing in the door to her closet at a dead still, trying to decide which shoes to wear.
a few minutes later, the seizure stopped, the ambulance arrived, and everything was fine. But you have to think about the moments during, and how the situation was handled.
My mom is
the most together, most amazing person i know. She raised my brother and i completely on her own, WHILE goign to school, WHILE working 7-5 AND while getting her Masters in business from 6-10 about four nights a week. I would by no means call her stupid or an idiot or be appauled at her behavior that particular time of panic.
I can't help but apply this to Bush during that time. He looked scared, worried and unsure of what to do. If you were sitting there, how would you feel? How would you react and how would you make a plan of action when there are 11-year-old kids sitting in front of you and know you only as the leader of their country?
Granted, Bush has made some mistakes. But i feel with the upcoming elections, it's hard to make a decision on who to vote for at all. Kerry keeps flip-flopping on some major platforms. Who wants such a flakey president? Meanwhile, Bush comes across as the under-educated kid in class who was supposed to prepare a 5-minute speech on (insert subject here), but instead, smoked pot the night before and is now just standing before the rest of the class saying, "Uh.. um.... yeah..." It seems that michael moore has put him across as the kid so blessed to the dynasty of cash who just relies heavily on connections to get him where he is today. But ... who
doesn't do that? If you can get an 'in' somewhere, don't you take it?
Now we don't even have Nadar to waste our votes away... I wish there was a different democratic candidate. Dean could atleast give the liberal americans
something to vote for... something to get excited about it. Most of you voting for Kerry are just doing so because you hate Bush, and I think that's wrong, too.
For all of you who are already in decision, great. Practice your freedom to vote, and go do it. For those of you who have no f-cking idea which way you lean and are going mostly on what you've heard and how you 'percieve' each candidate to be, for the love of PETE, get online, look at candidate's platforms, make a pro/con list and weigh your options. Be educated about it and be proactive. Try to seperate all the negative slander and propoganda from the facts and try to figure out what the real deal is. Maybe if people ran with more positive attitudes, looking at the incredible things that america has to offer instead of focusing so damn heavily on all the social/economical problems we have, it'd be a hell-of-a-lot easier to figure out who to support.
I think i'd support anyone with the ability to give me a kick ass back/shoulder/neck massage right now. Not even all the running i've been doing is helping...
Off to write more. 'woo-hoo.' I SAID... woo. hoo.
