Hobson's Choice (霍布森的选择, ホブソンの選択, 홉슨의 선택)

 I may have overstated my position in the last post. MJ pointed out to me that she was offended by my last post about who we elect as President not mattering that much, and that I'm only saying that because I'm a man and don't face the problems that women face. I won't say that I agree totally with this, but I do see it from her perspective: women's rights are highlighted more in this election than others, especially with abortion being a hot topic as well as IVF rights, a topic men like me have the prvilege not to talk about. Just like gun rights though (Harris has steered to the middle on gun control and says she owns a gun too and is not here to take away people's guns), Trump is actually pretty close on abortion issues as the Democratic candidate despite Republicans being traditionally against abortion and trying to overturn Roe v. Wade, which they did in 2022 with the Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization decision, a decision that was caused mainly due to the Supreme Court being packed with Republicans who had held the majority and actively tried to overturn Roe v. Wade as a stated purpose, something that was attributed to Trump when he appointed justices Amy Coney Barrett, Neil Gorsuch, and Brett Kavanaugh during his presidential term. So I can see what MJ is upset about, but also on that particular issue, Trump in the future is not saying he's going to implement a national abortion ban. 

While definitely not meaning to offend anybody including my own wife (and the entire country of woman), I think my rant against the election was generated mostly by the Hobson's choice that I feel we're forced to choose between, a saying that's similar to choosing between a rock and a hard place: neither choice is appetizing. Never in my adult life have I felt less encouraged to vote for a candidate, neither of whom I feel is qualified to be president, for various reasons. (The first time I really got into an election was in high school Kerry v. Bush, then 2 Obama terms where Obama gave hope for the country and spoke eloquently and intelligently about ideas that he was undeniably a good candidate for president, even if political opponents disliked his plans). I think it's partly due to me getting older and realizing the intractability of the world and U.S. politics of being trapped in a loop and consequently becoming more skeptical of anything that goes on in the hunt for power, and partly it's due to elections just being fundamentally different now with the internet, social media, and attitude of the country and the world.The democratic process has now become solely a popularity contest, not a job interview between the candidates and the voting public, which is problematic because there are just too many uneducated voters in the country influenced by various news outlets, lack of knowledge about what's true anymore. In 2004 I used to go down a list of fundamental issues and the candidates' position on those: abortion, foreign policy, economy, the death penalty, gun control, free speech issues, assisted suicide, climate, human rights (use of torture, etc.), education, health care, all of which have become minor issues or not discussed at all because they'e been dethroned by the personality of the person and whether the person is a "threat to democracy." I have a very close knit group of highly educated lawyer friends who often comment on news issues, and even they just end up debating all of the flaws of Trump, everything he gets away with, how crazy he is, etc..... it's too tempting to just focus on all of this flaws, and thus the real issues get obscured). Which, I realize, is a reason itself to vote against Trump is that no matter how you feel about it, he makes it about him and not the issues. 

If during a job interview I realize both candidates interviewing for the job have fundamental flaws, I can reject both and reach out to a larger pool of candidates, but not in an election. I feel like someone else has culled the possible list of candidates to just 2 and then forced me to interview those 2 people and forcing me to choose one no matter how badly I don't want to. So I'm just hoping to survive the next 2 days, watch Jeopardy, go to work without fearing rioters will cause trouble, wait it out in my bunker, stock my freezer with enough supplies (apparently this week many people are bringing back early pandemic times and preparing for the worst) and hope America's collective Hobson's choice isn't as bad as we fear it will be. 

Politics and Prose (政治, 政治, 정치 and 散文, 산문

 I dislike politics. I don't like office politics, friend circle politics, home owner association politics, baseball franchise politics, anythign that has to do with certain people having power over other people, but I ESPECIALLY dislike politics now. And right now, 2 days before the Presidential election, is the epitome of all of dislike, when everything anyone does gets politicized, when all of Facebook (besides the Dodgers winning the World Series and the Dwayne Wade statue memes) is just people discussing all the benefits and downsides to either candidate for President; I think it's talked about so much for the same reason there are office politics: people love to gossip, and the race for the highest office in the country as well as arguably the most powerful position in the world is just an excuse for people to gossip on the grandest stage. It's a way for politicans to give ordinary citizens "a chance to participate" even though your one single vote has a statistical value of zero influence on the election results, but gives you the illusion of doing something, perhaps for a good cause. (I know a few co-workers who instead of working this weekend, spent it in Pennsylvania knocking on doors for the Harris campaign, believing it to be "much more important" than their jobs.) Is it though? Setting aside the fact that knocking on doors to solicit votes seems unlikely to change too many minds this late in the election, are you really doing it for a good cause, or just perpetuating an election process that's too long and too costly as it is? Especially this year with the 2 candidates that are available, the talk is much less about policy than what the 2 candidates stand for and personal issues, so it's taking time up from actual fixing anything, more just talking about 2 individual people. Election propaganda will make it sound like my life is going to be drastically different depending on who wins, that it will be a utopia if one candidate wins and a living hell if the other side wins. I don't think it's going to affect me myself that much if either one wins, personally. Eventually it will affect the United States and which direction we go with climate change, immgration policy, use of A.I., etc., but me personally in the next 4 years? I'm not going to be moving out of the country or anything if one candidates wins or the other. 

Politics and Prose is a witty name for a bookstore in the D.C. area; I just love bookstores. They have a veritable cornucopia of books I want to read, everything, everywhere, all at once. It's like they have the exact blueprint to my mind's desires of what to absorb, especially on an off day at work, and I could just sit there through a zombie apocalypse or something even if the world goes to hell or (even worse for some people) the Internet for some reason just stopped running. The only downside to a bookstore is that people don't talk each other necessarily, it's a place for reading, not conversations, but that's almost better: often conversations at restaurants, the mall, public places just involve people trying to get you to buy something you don't need (extra dessert, extra hand lotion, squeegees) that you have to politely refuse. Bookstores don't want anything; no obligation to buy, no sales pitch about what book they want you to buy (there are definitely books that bookstores make the most money off of, usually the hot new trendy fiction bestsellers by renowned authors that they can mark up higher instead of the bargain book section that they know hasn't sold for a while and that they need to get rid of before the next batch comes in), and importantly no need to pay tip. It's honestly one of the last public places I can go to and feel comfortable (maybe museums) and not feel gross for contributing to the American capitalistic ways. 

Politics and Prose has the right idea, but here's my re-naming based on my preferences: 

"Less politics and More Prose!" Have more people read more books rather than get engaged in politics, have an overload of information and noise through the election, and then it suddenly stops and society doesn't care about it anymore. Prose is forever; elections are temporary. (My sister Emily pointed out a similar flyer on the street advocating for tattoos using similar logic: Tattoos are permanent! Politicans are temporary). And what they have in common for me: I don't care for any of them!