Ranty Sunday Afternoon

[GirlinContempt]

Tomorrow is election day, and I just reminded my room mate that our polling station is in the high school we live next to.
Her response? "Oh, I threw away my voter registration card, I'm not even voting."
When I asked why not? "Well because all the parties have some good ideas but I don't support just one. If I did bother to go I'd just spoil my ballot."

Yeah, ok, you know what? This really comes down to not bothering to pay attention to ANYTHING that's been going on, not bothering to look in to the different candidates, and being a lazy ****.
That shit makes me mental. We're asked to step outside (In our case, it's about 25 feet from our door) once every few years and spend 15 minutes making choices about our own destiny. Debate the corruption of the system all you want, that's fine, but when it comes right down to it it's the best we've got and you could at *least* make a statement by spoiling your ballot. People DIE, are tortured, jailed, etc. for wanting things like elections or free speech or newspapers, and you can't even pick up a paper to read about whats happening in your own fucking country, let alone get off your self-absorbed bourgeois ass to make a choice?

It's infuriating. If she says ANYTHING about politics to me between this vote and the next, she is getting a verbal smack down such as she has never encountered before. Sort of like she bitches about her sweet unionized position where she gets paid too much and does nothing, because even though she's never attended a single union meeting, she just *knows* the union is bad and doesn't like it. You know, it's not like they're responsible for her getting paid double minimum wage to sit on her ass and chat with people in a gym or anything, or they do anything good like get her benefits and extended vacation :eyes: fuck the union I can't be bothered to go to a single meeting ever. :mad:

I had this debate with another friend, about the union thing, and he pointed out some people just don't care about unions, and he had no problem with that. Well, guess what? I was right. That kind of 'entitlement' attitude is never just confined to one thing, and it's selfish short sighted bullshit.

[ghostsofgiants]

1. And to think I'm pissed over my roommates voting Liberal.

At least they're actually voting.

[GirlinContempt]

2. No shit

I can see the polling station through my window, for christ sake!

[ghostsofgiants]

3. Seriously.

The apathy and ignorance must be unbearable.

[Telly Savalas]

11. Last week I saw a young guy handing out pamphlets for the Cons.

I was about to sneer at him when it occurred to me that even if this guy is Wrong (like capital W wrong), at least he gives a shit, and people giving a shit is what makes democracy work.

But the OP's roomie pisses me off. I've lived here 4 years. (That 4 years in Parkdale-High Park is 4 years longer than my MP has lived in the riding.) I pay taxes. I'd be delighted to have a say in how things are run. So it drives me bonkers when I hear of someone pissing that right away.

But what the fuck, after Monday I'll be getting a tax credit that should be just enough to buy a six-pack of Steam Whistle and 1 kg bag of Our Compliments popcorn each week.

[GirlinContempt]

12. At least he believes in SOMETHING enough

to do something. I know whatcha mean.

[Omphaloskepsis]

4. Our dumb-fuck-id-ness is slowly seeping north.

Welcome to the club! Do you want cheese curds on your personal debt?

[GirlinContempt]

5. *cry*

[Omphaloskepsis]

7. The word on the street is..

Survivor starts up again on Feb 2.. CBS wants to make you happy.. Run with it. Windows still sucks..

[ghostsofgiants]

6. That's fucking depressing.

[Omphaloskepsis]

8. The key is to get stupider faster then they get corrupt.

I know nachos are good.. I just can't remember how to make them. Something is amiss.

[khashka]

9. You said it baby

If I hear one more anti union screed.......


Sure they are corrupt - but people died to make sure we had a livable wage and decent benefits.

They are my foremothers and forefathers and I owe them. So I vote.


Khash.

[GirlinContempt]

10. Yeah, you know

I can respect people who can at least back up their statements (I can't even call it an argument cause that would take something more than 'cuz i sed') no matter how much I disagree with them. But just pulling it out of your ass, remaining willfully ignorant in this country, isn't respectable. It's despicable.

[elshiva]

13. I agree. The first election I voted in one of my classmates

said, "Don't send me anything more about the election, I don't care."

"Indifference is a weapon of mass destruction."- Kucinich

[GirlinContempt]

14. I just can't understand that attitude

*sigh*

[Ohio Joe]

15. It is wickedly annoying

I would guess that only about half the people where I work vote but they all seem to whine about how bad things are. I don't understand how so many people don't see the connection between their not voting and their not having the people in office that they would rather have as well the laws being passed/not passed they would like to see.

[GirlinContempt]

16. In my world

you don't even get whining rights unless you vote.

It's like for this person, though. I could point out how, as a student AND a government employee, not to mention a citizen, the election has a pretty direct impact on her life. As someone who couldn't afford healthcare if it was privatized, it makes a difference. Would that change anything? I somehow doubt it.