That Triumphant Processional Where Liberals Are to be Paraded in Chains Before the Capitol. Naked.

[mallorys_camera]

Among the people I sent email out to about the upcoming meeting of the DCPAA was Ed, my neighbor and occasional hiking partner.

Yesterday, while I was out raking leaves, Ed wandered over.

“So! Are you gonna come to the meeting?” I asked.

“I don’t think so,” he said.

“Why?” I asked.

He looked at me. Shrugged. Cleared his throat. “I want you to know I forgive you for voting third party.”

“You forgive me for voting third party,” I repeated.

“I mean, my friend Reed in D.C. – I could just fucking strangle him. But you – you’re just kind of out there –“

“I’m just kind of out there,” I repeated. “Why aren’t you coming to the meeting?”

“I don’t –“ He shook his head.

You’re not coming to the meeting because you’d rather sit around and feel sorry for yourself than take any concrete action, I thought. And you can shove your fuckin’ forgiveness some place tight and moist where the sun don’t shine.

But I said neither of those things.

Instead, I transfixed Ed with an enormous, angelic smile and went back to raking leaves.

He hung around for at least 15 more minutes. It was obvious he wanted me to ask, “Ed. Ed. What’s wrong?” so he could launch into a sobfest about how terrible he feels, how worried he is about the future of his country. 'Cause you know, talking about your feelings is a real change agent.

Earth to Ed: Nothing has fuckin’ happened yet! Except that Trump has backed down on one of his campaign promises and announced that rather than dismantle Obamacare and piss on its smoldering ruins, he intends to – ahem! – adjust it. No doubt angering a sizeable portion of his base not to mention his would-be puppet masters, Pence, Cruz, Ryan, Gingrich et al

Relax, Ed, I want to say. I hear they canceled the triumphant processional in which all liberals were to be paraded in chains in front of the Capitol. Naked.

###

In Facebookland, my beloved son Max posted a long sympathetic screed wondering how he could support all those brave people who were manning the barricades, rioting in cities across the nation.

And before I could stop myself, I wrote: These people, in getting out in the streets, are establishing their liberal bona fides, in a process that has not changed one whit since at least the sixties. They've got time on their hands, the Democratic party lays in smoldering rubble, and there will be competition to see what replaces the toppled Clinton machine - a DLC product the left never truly liked - within that vacuum. They know they're not changing the election results; they're virtue signaling. And, no doubt, getting laid in the process.

Thereby unleashing terribly hurt feelings in Max. And a hysterical meltdown from Mrs. Hare V 2.0, his stepmother, who wrote, HRC was playing by the gentle rules of the game/system that has been played during our country's history until this election!

Oh, really, MaryAnn, I thought. Hillary Clinton is no fucking unicorn. And you should brush up on your American history.

But I went back and deleted my comment. 'Cause you know. I love my kid. And MaryAnn has been incredibly kind to both my kids, Max (her stepson) and Robin, who has been dubbed an honorary Hare.

I will not post about anything but cats on Facebook.
I will not post about anything but cats on Facebook.
I will not post about anything but cats on Facebook.
I will not post about anything but cats on Facebook.
I will not post about anything but cats on Facebook.
I will not post about anything but cats on Facebook.
I will not post about anything but cats on Facebook.
I will not post about anything but cats on Facebook…

Comments

[lilchiva.livejournal.com]

These people, in getting out in the streets, are establishing their liberal bona fides, in a process that has not changed one whit since at least the sixties. They've got time on their hands, the Democratic party lays in smoldering rubble, and there will be competition to see what replaces the toppled Clinton machine - a DLC product the left never truly liked - within that vacuum. They know they're not changing the election results; they're virtue signaling. And, no doubt, getting laid in the process.




I have like the biggest internet crush on you right now. That is all.

[mallorys-camera.livejournal.com]

Awww. Thanks! :-)

Gotta say I am so fucking grateful to have this obscure, little-visited corner of the Internet where I can rant whenever the hell I feel like it.

[cah1470.livejournal.com]

Yes on the ranting and the internet corner LJ provides. I am right there with you. OMG he forgives you? Are you fucking kidding me??? Thankfully my son refuses social media but I did jump down the rabbit hole with a friend of a friend on FB breaking a strict rule of mine going back and forth about the KKK parade. It's just so infuriating but commenting never helps, the bike ride I went on afterward was much more effective.

[mallorys-camera.livejournal.com]

Commenting always leaves me feeling awful and negative.

[therobertpaul.livejournal.com]

Sheesh, it’s not like you voted for Harmabe. (Who apparently did not receive 11,000 write ins. Which is a shame, as I was very fond of his “a banana in every pot” campaign promise.)

Basically, the lesson is: Americans are more comfortable with a candidate who invokes bigotry than one who invokes entitlement.

And goats! It’s okay to post about goats, too!

[mallorys-camera.livejournal.com]

[bel-ebat.livejournal.com]

Well, I went to one of those protests, and I agree with you. Within the first five minutes I was like, "Oh, this just feels good!"

My cousin wrote a status about stumbling upon a protest and "trying" to join but instead just bursting into tears about how "beautiful" it was. I was like, girrrrrllll.

I don't think there's anything bad about virtue-signaling/I think it's a useful process. I just don't think people have to act like it's above and beyond courageous or beautiful. If you want to do it, you can do it too. I thought that was supposed to be the point!

[mallorys-camera.livejournal.com]

I don't think there's anything bad about virtue-signaling

Of course, there isn't. I've just turned into a cliche! :-) One of those Annoying Old People whose only pleasure in life is to claw ineffectually at the sleeve of every young person I know and croak, "Why, when I was a girl, demonstrations lasted for 40 days and 40 nights, and the police used tear gas that had been distilled from the lacrymal glands of terrified virgins that Dick Nixon kept in his secret dungeon."

And if you live long enough, you'll turn into one, too! :-)

[bel-ebat.livejournal.com]

Hahah. I believe you!!

[lifeinroseland.livejournal.com]

I'm curious... Did you type or copy paste at the end of this entry? Because it matters.

[mallorys-camera.livejournal.com]

Copy paste.

[lifeinroseland.livejournal.com]

Hm.

[robby.livejournal.com]

If she was sincere she would have typed it all out.

[faeriefiles.livejournal.com]

Haha, yes Facebook is a powder keg at this point. I think I have pretty much been "unfriended" by those on both extremes of the political and religious spectrum. Well, except those who still need something from me and they just growl a bit and attribute my odd ideas to the stress I am under at the time. Bwah ha ha

[mallorys-camera.livejournal.com]

I try not to get unfriended by members of my extended family circle. It makes holiday dinners difficult.

[faeriefiles.livejournal.com]

I'm a good enough cook to get away with it. ;P

[faeriefiles.livejournal.com]

Lots of OMG I HATE HER...but that pecan pie, homemade rolls, and delectable turkey still means they will arrive on time and sit through a polite dinner.

[mallorys-camera.livejournal.com]

Ha, ha! :-)

[millysdaughter.livejournal.com]

Me, too

[millysdaughter.livejournal.com]

And I hold the checkbook.

[faeriefiles.livejournal.com]

Ha ha, that also helps encourage polite dinner table behavior. :)

[millysdaughter.livejournal.com]

I have noticed that money can be a great motivator...

[faeriefiles.livejournal.com]

Indeed :)

[livejournal.livejournal.com]

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[idunn.livejournal.com]

Goddamn, your neighbor is passive-aggressive.

[mallorys-camera.livejournal.com]

Well, he's a pal.

But, yeah. It's his world: We just live in it.

[millysdaughter.livejournal.com]

I keep forgetting.

[mallorys-camera.livejournal.com]

Well, most people in my experience are self-involved.

I don't think I am particularly.

But I think that's because I'm a writer, so I try to look at people's realities.

[petrona.livejournal.com]

When my children write something on social media, that is about something that matters to them, I will never post something incendiary on it. Most times I will avoid commenting on it at all. If I have an opinion I want to share with them in regards to it, I will talk to them privately. And I'm happy to say they have always done the same for me.

[mallorys-camera.livejournal.com]

Yeah, that's really the best approach. I tend to be the fool that jumps in where angels fear to tread a tad too often.