Saturday, September 15, 2012

A woman can shut this whole thing down, right?

Unwittingly, and despite a good plan, I've descended into political hell.  It began innocently enough with a comment from my husband said while we were on vacation:  "Mitt Romney is going to be your new president." Since then, I've allowed myself to buy and read books about politics and have been watching the 24 hour news cycle.  Money has been donated to the political party of my choice and on a daily basis, I get at least 6 emails from that party begging me to give more.   Who do they think I am?  The Koch brothers? I need to go back to donating to charitable organizations because  they only ask for more money once a month or so, not 6 times a day.  For nearly 48 hours this week, iCloud email was down for about a million users worldwide and I counted myself blessed that I was finally one of a million because I got no emails during that time.

I need a better plan for combatting television news.  I feel so anxious about all of the unrest around the world and a few times this week, I've felt real despair.  In my heart, I believe this constant news cycle feeds the unrest and muddies the waters.  There is no way that what happened in Libya was anything but a well planned terrorist attack meant to coincide with 9/11.  It was a colossal mistake for me to delve deeper into what really happened to the four men who died there because what I found truly sickened me.  The immediate spin--especially by the media & pundits-- of their tragic deaths has been despicable and I wonder how it took off in the direction it did at a time a little more respect should have been shown.  Ted Koppel's fascinating piece on Rock Center (which I had never watched before last week) really opened my eyes to how this 24 hour hateful news cycle works.  I'm hopeful what I learned will help lift me out of this hole I've dug myself.

In the meantime, I've honed my action plan. Late last night I bought a new book that has nothing to do with politics and during the day yesterday, I knit a bit on a new shawl while watching the movie, Butter.  OK, so the movie had political undertones, but I didn't know that when I started watching and at least it was satirical and humorous.   Today there is a local art fair on the menu for distraction and tomorrow a trip to the cider mill. It has been really helpful that the pattern for the shawl is full of mistakes and has required intense concentration and significant fudging to get it right.  That's distracting me for sure.  Even Leo is trying to help:

Someone doesn't like the change in weather.
Thank you to all who have helped me find jammies for Stinkerbell.  It turns out a local discount store had them for $18 in a fabulous Hello Kitty pattern.  I know I said I'd never go into that particular store and give them my hard earned money, but desperate times call for desperate measures.  I capitulated.

10 comments:

Stephanie V said...

Not even my election and I'm right with you on shutting it all down. The news stuff, for sure. Totally agree that if we didn't know every little connection (real or imagined)we would all be a lot happier.

Leo looks so cozy. He's got a great attitude...we should all hide under the covers until it's over. With our knitting, of course.

Empress Bee (of the high sea) said...

i am SO with you on all the calls. being here in florida, the land of the old, we are getting bombarded with commercials about how romney is going to take away social security and medicare. round the clock. i want to punch a face. so. hard.

hugs, bee
xoxoxoxoxo

Jane said...

Leo doesn't look as if he'll be moving any time soon.

Gail said...

Sadly, like an ostrich, I want to keep my head in the sand. I do vote and make those decisions with what I hope is educated wisdom.

I try to avoid the news like the plague.

Finding Pam said...

The news litrally makes me sick. I am so saddened by what happened in Lybia. I can't say any more on the subject.

Love Leo all bundled up.

I'm glad you found pj's for your daughter.

ari_1965 said...

The election is in November. I know what I'm going to do on that day. So I don't really need to listen to all the talking heads yap on and on about this candidate and that candidate, and how everything is or will be going to hell in a handbasket.

Yap, yap, yap. We have so many news outlets these days, which means so many viewing hours and so many pages to fill. Most of it is just crap.

I do care about what happens in other countries. I just am never sure if I'm getting the real story on it. Even public radio isn't what it used to be.

Rositta said...

I agree wholeheartedly with you on the news. I have been sickened by the coverage. If anyone ever tries to tell me that islam is a religion of peace and love I will scratch their eyes out (just kidding). I seem unable to stop reading twitter feeds though. Your upcoming election is a dogs breakfast (sorry Leo), and I'm glad I'm not American right now. Here being a conservative is not even close to your republican. I don't envy you your choices. Didn't we have this discussion four years ago. I'm sure you will all make the right choices. Meanwhile I'm knitting warm sweaters and dreaming of sunny California on our agenda for next month...ciao

Celia said...

I really got disgusted with the news when they were showing the nearly dead and bloody pictures of Muammar Gadhafi. Disgusting!

Brenda said...

I watched the video.. and while I suspected there were places that preyed upon someone saying just the wrong thing and then promoting it as much as possible....this was the first time I had seen something like this. I would much rather spend my time trying to help someone with a hurting soul. If more people could change the way they feel about life....the laws would not matter so much. I wonder how many people would love to pick apart my words here...and make it all about me being stupid or naive or whatever they want to read in to it.
The weather is cooling down and Leo looks very cozy.

Knitty said...

I am trying so hard not to write about the crap that flies in the face of the election. I really think it gets worse every four years, or am I just getting wearier of it all?

I suspect that a relative skipped two family celebrations because they've been so vocal and negative in their political rantings on Facebook. I have no idea if siblings, cousins, parents, etc are voting the same, the opposite or maybe not voting at all, but everyone seems to be embarrassed or annoyed at this person's rantings.

Skipping your little nephew's birthday though. Not classy at all.