“Revolution Blues”
By: Paul G. Atkinson IV
I am not a costume journalist. My gimmick is not to dress up in absurd attire and reflect on it. And this article is certainly not part two of my “Just Being an Asshole” piece. However, allow me to describe to you something I wore a few days ago.
I made a t-shirt to celebrate Election Day. I purchased an iron-on graphic kit from the child’s craft section at Wal-Mart, popped a sheet of this magical transfer paper into my printer, and hit enter to spit out a Photoshop design I made while procrastinating and abdicating homework a few weeks back.
The graphic was composed of a silhouetted soldier at arms. The dark figure resembled a green army man from the days of my childhood; a stiff and unmoving, lifeless figure with a machine gun stuck diagonally across his chest like a drooping, broken cross. This soldier rose out of dark black ink above the words “We’ll sleep sound when we’re in the ground!” These words were written in a bold stenciled font in all capital lettering above the “McCain 2008” campaign logo with the little star centered between two bars.
After learning how to use an iron, I pasted my creation to a white V-neck t-shirt and strode off to class. In-between workbook exercises two students seated behind me became interested in my art. One asked, “What does your shirt mean?” While the other asked, “Do you support McCain?” In a perplexed state of awe I sarcastically replied, “Yes. Yes I do. I support John McCain because I want to invade Iran and continue the needless killing of American troops.”
This was not well received. One student looked disgusted, the other looked ashamed, and a third person drawn in by my statement, actually made that jaw dropped “only in movies” face of bewilderment. The teacher, upon witnessing the commotion, wandered over to stare at my shirt. In his analysis, he read the shirt’s statement out loud and chuckled, which brought the shirt to the attention of the entire class. I got a few laughs, but it seemed there was a general sense of rage splattered across the entirety of the room.
I was under the impression my message was easy to understand and I had no idea I would run into the disaster of being mistaken as a McCain supporter. I thought the nation was in a liberal leaning ideological state, especially on a college campus. But more importantly I thought people were not this moronic.
My distress rose to a new high when a girl in this same classroom said something along the lines of, “Yeah, I’m not even voting, I’m registered, but I just don’t know enough about either candidate to make a good decision.” Did she live in the same America that I did? It didn’t appear that she had gouged out her eyes or stabbed out her eardrums, but somehow she was able to avoid nearly two years of presidential candidates clogging up every inch of the media.
We do not live in an America where only political scientists and avid watchers of C-SPAN are the sole folks enlightened with the workings of politics. From CNN to Comedy Central, hours upon hours of airtime have been spent dealing with the ins and outs of this election. The world of the college student has been barraged with opinions of America’s future.
Whether you listen to rock or rap there has been someone out there shouting his or her opinion at you. While I spent a night at an Against Me! concert that had more anti-Bush and McCain songs than I can count on my hands, Jay-Z was bashing Palin before kicking into “I Got 99 Problems (But A Bitch Ain’t One).”
Every class I’m taking, from Elementary French to American National Government has touched on the presidential race. Groups like the College Democrats and the College Republicans meet regularly. There’s even new group called INDIE that serves to invoke discussion and spread non-partisan political education that has been meeting on campus (I created this group and that was a shameless plug). Anyone willing to use his or her brain for a few minutes can grasp America’s political situation.
But maybe some people don’t get out. It’s possible that most people never go to a meeting. Maybe they never change their T.V.s from “Paris Hilton’s My New BFF” show. Maybe they do get out, but they just don’t realize that there is a world bigger than the downtown DeLand bar scene.
I’m proud of America for trying something new and I’m excited for our future. But more was at stake here than just a presidential election. Three states, including Florida, have put gay marriage bans on their constitutions. High five assholes! There was talk of the “Bradley Effect” as the election approached; the idea that everyone will say they will vote for an African American, that race plays no issue, but when it comes to Election Day everyone does something cowardly on their ballots.
Well, that wasn’t the case, but something similar happened… in the public eye, in a classroom discussion, while around people whose sexual orientations were unknown, nearly everyone said, “We are the same. We are equal.” But when it came time to vote 59 out of Florida’s 67 counties passed “Amendment 2” with over 60%, which it needed to pass.
It is disgusting to imagine how many brainless bigots are wandering the streets of this state, but what is even more repulsive is that hardly anyone realized that this amendment fucks over old people too. Anyone that is living together and not married loses the benefits they deserve. Some Floridians do truly hate old people, but it seems that most Floridians are just stupid people.
In a world where all the world’s knowledge is only a click away we’ve become too lazy to even move our fingers over the mouse and push down. For those of you that think Barack Obama is going to single handedly save America and for those that think he’s going to run it into the ground, do your research, take a few seconds, and realize you are all wrong.
“It is wiser to find out than to suppose.” – Mark Twain
