"The radio came alive with a vengeance; at the Texan station news of a flood was being delivered with such rapidity one gained the impression the commentator himself was in danger of drowning. Another narrator in a higher voice gobbled bankruptcy, disaster, while yet another told of misery blanketing a threatened capital, people stumbling through debris littering dark streets, hurrying thousands seeking shelter in bomb-torn darkness. How well he knew the jargon. Darkness, disaster! How the world fed on it. In the war to come correspondents would assume unheard of importance, plunging through flame to feed the public its little gobbets of dehydrated excrement. A bawling scream abruptly warned of stocks lower, or irregularly higher, the prices of grain, cotton, metal, munitions. While static rattled on eternally below-poltergeists of the ether, claqueurs of the idiotic!"
- Malcolm Lowry Under the Volcano, 1947
The last eleven days since my last post have been spent between Hebron, OH and Chattanooga, TN. Mostly sitting and getting paperwork together and of course talking current events, which in the U.S. means discussing politics. There's an old saying that says the two things you should never discuss in polite company are religion and politics. Which is true. Folks hold on to their beliefs in both areas with a deep conviction. This, however, becomes problematic in election years. This year, the issues are big and complicated and can't be solved with buzzwords and catchphrases. It is the stuff that causes fistfights and riots if one doesn't couch their ideas correctly. As tense as it has been, the last couple weeks have taught me a lot about my fellow Americans, and myself as well.
A couple days ago, in Chattanooga, TN a fellow driver asked me if I was voting for Hillary Clinton. I took umbrage at this and sternly told him "who I vote for is none of your business." He responded by apologizing profusely and I realized, I must have intimidated him and then explained that, I'm trying to remain centered when discussing politics. I also explained that since we use a secret ballot, we are not obligated to disclose to anyone who gets our vote.
Last week in Hebron, OH, a driver decided to fling accusations at me because: a) I disagreed with him about a point in the Constitution and b) I was able to pull up a copy of the Constitution and back my point up. All he could say after we were done was "you mean you actually read that shit?" I should note this guy also proudly said he was voting for Trump because "he'd make sure the Constitution was upheld." While there, folks like that were in the majority.
I found staying generally neutral was enough to actually find where the consensus lies. I was surprised at the number of conservatives out here that hate Trump. I was also surprised at the number of liberals who like him. One thing that we all agreed upon was this: like him or hate him, Trump has increased the number of voters.
The thing that drove all these discussions was the news. The TA in Hebron had Fox News, my company's terminal in Chatt. had a tv dedicated to CNN. This background noise seemed to influence the mood of the discussion. The discussions around Fox News bordered on hostile, the discussions around CNN tended to be more civil. Although, I heard rumours about a fist fight breaking out in the CNN room but since I wasn't there, it's just hearsay to me.
I realize the political discussion isn't over, technically, it never will be. But, the one we need to have across the U.S. is just starting to ramp up and may get crazier. I figure as long as a few of us can keep our cool, we'll be fine once the smoke clears.
Good night and may your god go with you.
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