Feels hopeless.....

[Camp Creek Kid]

This thread is not meant to disparage anyone or their views and I really have no desire to start re-hashing politics - there are a ton of threads and posts where all can share their views - I am posting this now because I had such a depressing talk with friends last night about upcoming elections...

I have recently been feeling so incredibly completely out of my element here. Beautiful place, very kind, giving and generous people, a lovely place BUT I am so acutely aware of how conservative it is here.... I feel at times I am in a time warp - rest of the world moving forward and we here moving backwards - I honestly fault no-one and think it is just me and not everyone else - my views of the world (hardly unique!) is just too foreign to too many people here and I simply cannot relate to too many people's lives, desires and thoughts about the rest of the world - I feel quite isolated - does anyone else feel this way???

Chickpea,

As far as those who post on this website, I'd say that of those interested in politics, the majority are liberal and those who are liberal are very vocal and assertive with their political views. I was shocked at the negative personal comments directed to me when I got involved in a political discussion. It disappointed me and I pretty much gave up SoWal because I felt it was too liberal for me (but couldn't stay away). I just decided that my time is too precious to waste on futile political debates and worrying about the elections, etc. Whatever happens, things will work out just fine and we will personally get through it and so will our country.

You are an incredible person with a life experience that has given you a unique perspective on the world that most could only dream of. You should be proud. I have learned in my life that it is easy to believe something when everyone else around you believes the same thing. When you are out of your comfort zone and you have to defend and/or explain your convictions is when true growth occurs. It surprises me that you feel isolated, but I think many can relate, including myself. Living in an area where you have no "roots", no family, etc., can be difficult no matter where you are. I think that this is particularly true right now when so many in our local area are struggling financially and there are true hard times. It is easier to see the flaws of SoWal (and any area) when life gets a little hard and the excitement and optimism that we all felt a few years ago has vanished.

When I get frustrated about SoWal I have to remind myself that there isn't a safer, cleaner, more wholesome place for my kids to grow up. For the most part, people here are good and decent and we're all trying to make sense of this world the best way that we can. It isn't a perfect place, but no place is. If you lived somewhere with a larger liberal population, you'd have a whole new set of problems to deal with--traffic, smog, earthquakes, blizzards, crime, etc., etc.

You are honestly one of my heroes in life because you have accomplished so much in your career and you are a genuine, kind person and a great mother.

 

[hnooe]

Frankly the Sowal chat forums seems to be fairly liberal compared to the rest of the Panhandle area. I am sure there are many, many Conservative "lurkers," who don't chime in (so, thank God for 6thGen). The fact of the matter is that Liberals are generally speaking, much better writers and communicators. Their posts are more entertaining and much more creative, so much so that even the Conservatives enjoy reading them while lurking!

Also more Liberals consider politics and political discussions "blood sport", the Conservatives on the forums are much more polite and well bred, and don't want to get into fray with all the personal attacks when the topics are "heated."
IMHO.

 

[traderx]

Frankly the Sowal chat forums seems to be fairly liberal compared to the rest of the Panhandle area. I am sure there are many, many Conservative "lurkers," who don't chime in (so, thank God for 6thGen). The fact of the matter is that Liberals are generally speaking, much better writers and communicators. Their post are more entertaining and much more creative, so much so that even the Conservatives enjoy reading them while lurking!

Also more Liberals consider politics and political discussions "blood sport", the Conservatives on the forums are much more polite and well bred, and don't want to get into fray with all the personal attacks when the topics are "heated."
IMHO.

Wow, talk about hitting the nail squarely on the head.

I completely agree.

 

[JustaLocal]

Frankly the Sowal chat forums seems to be fairly liberal compared to the rest of the Panhandle area. I am sure there are many, many Conservative "lurkers," who don't chime in (so, thank God for 6thGen). The fact of the matter is that Liberals are generally speaking, much better writers and communicators. Their post are more entertaining and much more creative, so much so that even the Conservatives enjoy reading them while lurking!

Also more Liberals consider politics and political discussions "blood sport", the Conservatives on the forums are much more polite and well bred, and don't want to get into fray with all the personal attacks when the topics are "heated."
IMHO.

You are on a roll today!

 

[30A Skunkape]

Frankly the Sowal chat forums seems to be fairly liberal compared to the rest of the Panhandle area. I am sure there are many, many Conservative "lurkers," who don't chime in (so, thank God for 6thGen). The fact of the matter is that Liberals are generally speaking, much better writers and communicators. Their posts are more entertaining and much more creative, so much so that even the Conservatives enjoy reading them while lurking!

Also more Liberals consider politics and political discussions "blood sport", the Conservatives on the forums are much more polite and well bred, and don't want to get into fray with all the personal attacks when the topics are "heated."
IMHO.

Great post! Life would certainly be boring without liberals...visualize existence without Ben & Jerry's or Jerry Springer.

 

[hnooe]

Great post! Life would certainly be boring without liberals...visualize existence without Ben & Jerry's or Jerry Springer.

..............................Don't forget Barbra Streisand!

 

[rapunzel]

I just think we need to open up a couple of bottles of wine and head over to the beach and make it a lib-nuts only event!!

 

[30A Skunkape]

I just think we need to open up a couple of bottles of wine and head over to the beach and make it a lib-nuts only event!!

I'm calling the cops...

 

[GoodWitch58]

Chickpea...I hope all of this helped you feel a little better.

 

[Chickpea]

Chickpea...I hope all of this helped you feel a little better.

It does - thanks and obviously I had a moment or two of self pity and I will get over it.

BTW: this has absolutely nothing to do with being liberal or conservative - I have plenty of friends who are fiscally and socially conservative and we have healthy debates and we may agree to disagree - no big deal - I am completely used to different opinions and know that in general this is healthy.

What I reacted to so strongly on friday is that I was at an evening gathering with a bunch of people (mixture of friends, acquaintances and some I did not know) taht started off pleasantly enough but ended with me (and only me feeling as if I was caught in a time warp. Many of the people at this party have some friggin standing in this community, whatever that means - to me it means that by virtue of their jobs, access to education and good jobs, I would have thought it would have translated into what would be access to people of different religions, social standing, political opinions - just access to diversity which is so important! - these people who are seemingly educated, have left this country on a number of occasions, etc..etc.. and what started as a healthy debate between 10 people or so on different opinions for this upcoming election, turned quite sour after about 20 mins because I realized that the thinly disguised bigotry and racsim spewing forth as barely veiled, was in fact reflecting the way many many people thought (given how many were nodding their heads in agreement).

And as I looked around and realized all would probably vote (overall a good thing obviously!), I realized that many of them have no idea how the rest of the world lives, they are just fine luxuriating in the perception that might makes right when it comes to the US foreign policy, that the +4,000 american lives lost in the wars over the past 5 years is worth countless more than others who have lost multiples and multiples of that - that the compassionate side of conservatism in many has been replaced by false (but their very real) perceptions of fear and I realized that those numbers are just so much greater around here than what I am accustomed to and it was jolting, disconcerting and scary to me.

The most surprising part was (and I felt like I was in a movie and everything was moving in slow motion) that I know that these people are generally not racist, or bad (they are good, kind, religious, etc..) or uneducated - but it was just their unmoving and firm beliefs about others - and I was desperately trying to reconcile in my mind how it could be that so many good people, can in a time of war, let go of what should be strong principles.

I apologize because I realize I am being cryptic but I have no desire for anyone who was there on friday to think that I am being accusatory. I am hoping no-one reads this thread!!! I know many people have no idea what my origins are or I would think that at the very least they would feel some inclination to be politically correct - but in this particular evening, after many many conversations over the past 4-6 months with republicans and democrats alike, I felt so foreign and out of place in a way i guess that I have rarely experienced.

I am certainly heartened by many of the responses on this thread but in my moment of feeling hopeless I was left with the lingering thought that there are just too many people in the US who feel the way many felt that night and it seemed that the stauts quo is what we will get and that change will not come easily because fundamentally too many people genuinely fear this .

Anyways I will get over it - thank you really from the bottom of my heart for the kind PM's and posts.