OK...What's Next?

[random chance]

I'm trying to follow everyone but it's a laborious process so if I miss anybody it wasn't deliberate.

[catrox14]

1 minute ago, Pixel said:

@catrox14, I see you all the time over at Supenatural. I just don't post much there. I'm happy to have interacted with you more thanks to this forum. 

Ive seen your posts at SPN as well.  I'm happy to have interacted with you more as well! 

I'm grateful for this place because I needed to know I wasnt alone in my worries for our country's future.

[possibilities]

I could start a yahoo email discussion group if you all want. PM me if interested.

[galaxygirl76]

Aw, I'm sad :( I'm gonna miss you all.

[catrox14]

I'm on Twitter . I mostly Tweet about sports and TV shows but I do Tweet about politics as well. PM me if you want my Twitter handle.

[ruby24]

I'm on twitter as well! I tweet about politics, movies and TV stuff. I'll talk to anyone though! You can PM me if you'd like to know my twitter handle too :)

I'll follow all of you back of course!

Edited January 7, 2017 by ruby24

[Lantern7]

Thanks for keeping me (relatively) sane over the past few months. Thanks for indulging my straw-grasping hope and "unique" sense of humor. If you have Facebook, you can find me here. Not much else I talk about beyond reality TV and comic conventions. Also, channeling the president-elect, including shit I wasn't comfortable saying here. And here's my blog. I started it in 2005 after I was "fired" from Reality News Online. That site is defunct, so I've been posting my old recaps from Real World/Road Rules Challenge. I don't post much else, because my life is somewhat boring. And it sucks. Hillary could've won in both ways, and I'd be a little cheerier. If you follow me on p.tv, you'll see I'm into sitcoms, reality stuff, and superhero action.

[Pixel]

Alas, I am not a tweeter. I have an account but rarely use it.  

[possibilities]

I have a twitter account but I can't figure out how to get messages sent to me via email and I can't deal with the phone thing. But you all make me really wish I could do it!

[Apprentice79]

6 hours ago, MulletorHater said:

Possibilities, thank you for your very thoughtful post.  The New York Times published yet another op-ed piece today, "Why Rural America Voted for Trump."

I totally get what you're saying and there was a time when I would have--and did--try the very things you suggested.  And, sometimes I had varying degrees of success.  A while back I mentioned the woman who told me straight to my face that she hated that [expletive omitted] Obama so much that she would rather have her son die of his chronic illness than to accept Obamacare.  What was I suppose to say to that other than "fuck" and "you?"  I'm just sorry for her son.

So, let me just say this as tactfully as possible:  Frankly, I'm exhausted.  Tired, frustrated--and sick and tired of being sick and tired.  And, I'm not the only person of color who has felt this way.  I'm tired of being the one who has to always understand how others must be feeling and being asked to adapt my behavior and thought processes accordingly.  For years, people like me were told that we should get an education, become productive members of society, and pull ourselves up by our bootstraps.  A lot of us have done that.  In fact, we have an outgoing President and First Lady who have also done that.  And, the people cited in that article resent it.  They resent us "flaunting" our intelligence and the trappings of our success.  But, they have no problem with people like the Bushes and the Drumpfs of the world doing just that and more.  Because, you know--it's expected and acceptable when they do it.  These voters have been fed a steady diet of hate from various sources--a diet that causes them to demonize people like me.  Just because I vote a certain way, I have my faith and patriotism diminished and am told that I'm not a "real American" because I live in a place like Washington, D.C.

I'm done trying to understand people who despise me, who think I'm uppity because I speak proper English, and who think my husband and I are "out of order" because we're ambitious and enterprising.  How do I begin at this point to try to effectively communicate with people like this when we don't even live in the same reality?  By way of example, a certain segment of the population actually believed that Hillary Clinton was running a child sex ring out of a pizza parlor here.  An even larger segment have believed for years that President Obama is a Muslim, wasn't born in the United States and sympathizes with terrorists.  They believe that Michelle Obama hates White people and hates America.  Some believe that liberals are smug, lazy eggheads who are godless.  They believe people like me are "dependent," which is code for lazy welfare queens and baby-producing young bucks.  They believe they work hard while we in the cities live on the dole.  Never mind that so-called blue states support the red states through our taxes.  

At one time I would have felt their pain.  But, they are not the only people who feel alienated and left behind and have seen their retirement savings dwindle.  I'm sorry that their jobs no longer exist, but guess what?  Some of us have had generations of parents and grandparents who were aboard the last-hired-first-fired train.  And, I would bet dollars to donuts that those same rural voters would have had absolutely no sympathy for them whatsoever.  Just so long as they could look down on those "other" people.  They preach about personal responsibility but take virtually no responsibility for the choices they made.  Instead, they choose to blame boogeymen, i.e. President Obama, those brown people, the "illegals," women who don't know their place, etc.

So, yes--I'm exhausted by nearly 8 years of effort in trying to get certain people to understand that just because I wanted a piece of the pie, too, didn't mean I was trying to take something from them.  I'm tired of the alternate reality they choose (the operative word) to live in.  I'm done trying to get folks to understand that I also believe in hard work, faith, and family.  We have a president who spent years listening to the people like the ones described in the article.  Not only did he listen, but he tried his best to come up with workable solutions to address their issues.  He understood that the loss of those jobs is a global issue and that they were gone for good.  He tried to make healthcare affordable for all; to institute a jobs bill to rebuild our infrastructure to put people back to work; to make community college affordable for all so that those left behind could get marketable skills to compete in the new job market; to come up with new and innovative sources of energy.  He understood that this would be a tough sell.  His biggest mistake?  He foolishly believed that the people who didn't vote for him loved this country more than they hated him.   And, yet he did all this only to be angrily rebuffed and obstructed at every turn.  

I love your post and as a person of color and an immigrant, there is not enough adjectives, in the English language, to adequately express, how much I loved your post. I have often lurked on here and this forum has consoled and informed me.  I am sad that we will no longer have this place, to commiserate with one another.  The one good thing, that, I will say about this abysmal election, is that, I am no longer going to be apathetic, about elections .  I will get involved more and inform myself and others around me about issues and politicians.  We need to be involved in elections, at every level, not just, Presidential elections.  Elections are consequential and when we don't take it seriously, we get an orange turd, as President.  The fight has just begun and President Obama, has said, that, history moves in cycles.  We will get through this.  I am trying to be positive, but, it is very hard... God bless you all!  and God bless America!

Edited January 7, 2017 by Apprentice79

[Guest]

I'm on the Twitters, too. PM me for handle. 

Thanks for being there in a time of need, reality-based friends!

[Lana X]

what is happening?

 current events and politics isnt closing down, is it??? 

dammit nevermind. just read the update. uggh man.

Edited January 7, 2017 by Lana X

[Lana X]

well i am over in the morning joe thread a lot. hope to see some of you all there! ?

[NewDigs]

On 1/4/2017 at 3:59 PM, Morgalisa said:

The View and the MSM keep reporting that T***p had something to do with the reversal of the Ethics committee decision. Congress said they received a storm of calls. There is a movement on Twitter called #TheResistance. We get names, phone nunbers, issues to call about. It was the people only. Next is Obamacare. Joy seemed to know where it came from.

Brought this post over from a View thread.

I don't remember seeing info about #resistance and it looks interesting.

[callmebetty]

Sorry to ask. How do we set up to follow posters? Knowing me I'll click around too much and then before I know it I've reported people instead of following.  Thanks!

[Moose135]

7 minutes ago, callmebetty said:

Sorry to ask. How do we set up to follow posters? Knowing me I'll click around too much and then before I know it I've reported people instead of following.  Thanks!

Click on the user's name next to their post to get to their profile, then click the Follow Member button.

[Enigma X]

It really bugs me that we are losing our forum. I am now living and breathing among those who drank the Kool-aid, and this thread helped me immensely.

[jenrising]

Hey, all. I don't think I've posted in this particular thread, but before it goes away I wanted to say something. This election was a real horror and the next few years will be too, but it was awesome to see people who I only know from chatting about tv shows feeling the way I do and actually talking about what to do next. It's been part of the small hope I have. So... thanks!

[SoSueMe]

2 hours ago, Moose135 said:

Click on the user's name next to their post to get to their profile, then click the Follow Member button.

Jumping off this post to ask, is "following" like "friending"? Or just a way to keep up with their content? Thanks

[ruby24]

Another thing I think this forum has done is raise political awareness and pledges to activism, so I think it's been a very good public service in a way. It's very sad to be losing our small community of activists. I know we're spread out everywhere, but I do wish there was a way for us to meet up or simply transplant the community somewhere else, so that we don't lose what we've built together.

[NewDigs]

5 hours ago, Lana X said:

well i am over in the morning joe thread a lot. hope to see some of you all there! ?

Me too. And Rachel and Chris etc.

I can barely remember where I posted before TheDebacle. I can barely remember what I used to watch! Got some catching up to do.

 

Very verklempt right now. Actually, weepy. 

Thanks! All.

What a help this has been for these desperate times.

Wow.

[Lantern7]

Before things shut down, I'd like to share this Pixel Challenge entry based on The Apprentice from 2004. If I knew what would transpire in twelve years' time, I wouldn't have put the Orange Skull as Wolverine. Just thought some of you might like it.

[walnutqueen]

1 hour ago, SoSueMe said:

Jumping off this post to ask, is "following" like "friending"? Or just a way to keep up with their content? Thanks

"following" means you get a notification every time the person you follow posts; i.e. "walnutqueen posted in OK-What's Next".

"friending" seems to have fallen by the wayside during one of the "upgrades" (sorry, all my friends!!!).