Afternoon Inquisition

AI: The end is near!

ELECTION DAY! IT’S HERE! WE CAN FINALLY GO BACK TO TALKING CIVILLY ABOUT HOW MUCH WE DISAGREE!

No, seriously, I am so done with this election. And it ended with a frustrating showdown of me vs. Texas for Mofo’s suffrage. In the end, I cast a ballot that probably won’t be counted, was lied to about 50 times and sent on my way. I’m angry. But the good news is, THE ELECTION IS ALMOST OVER!

So who is ready to talk about something else? I’m worried our arsenal of conversation topics is depleted and expired. What did we even talk about before the election? I remember something about Kanye West really liking Beyonce’s video more than Taylor Swift’s. Should we talk about that? I don’t even know. Will Tumblr go out of business or will fetish porn keep it alive?

This is probably what it feels like to be an empty nester… except that I really hate one of the kids I’m kicking out of my house. Or maybe that is exactly what empty nesters feel like.

So… now that the election is over with, what can we talk about that’s not about Romney/Ryan vs Obama/Biden or transvaginal ultrasounds? (Though TVUs aren’t going away for me here in Texas. My daughter has a horrible reproductive-rights future ahead of her.)

Where do people go after they elect an official? What happens to us? What will we do? Will our families be there? What about our pets? If someone doesn’t vote, do they get to go to post-election world or are they doomed to an eternity of stump speeches and pundits analyzing Gallup polls? Are you happy it’s over?


The Afternoon Inquisition (or AI) is a question posed to you, the Skepchick community. Look for it to appear Sundays, Tuesdays and Thursdays at 3pm ET.



Elyse

Elyse MoFo Anders is the bad ass behind forming the Women Thinking, inc and the superhero who launched the Hug Me! I'm Vaccinated campaign as well as podcaster emeritus, writer, slacktivist extraordinaire, cancer survivor and sometimes runs marathons for charity. You probably think she's awesome so you follow her on twitter.

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7 Comments

  1. I’m happy, now I can turn the tv on again. I bet the Boston Globe will miss my business, I bought a paper every single day just so I could see the election coverage and — TURN TO ANOTHER PAGE.

  2. I can answer one of these questions. Nonvoters go to Election Purgatory in which every time they open their mouths to say something they’re told “YOU Don’t Have The Right To Express An Opinion! You had your chance on Election Day and you blew it!”

    But I do like this writing (specifically the last paragraph on the second page) in “Teller Reveals His Seecrets:”
    http://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/Teller-Reveals-His-Secrets.html
    It appears that soothsayers, magicians and politicians were the first scientists to study human perception.

    For me, I just got this little peach of a sticker that says “I’m a Georgia Boater!” or something like that.

  3. I’m not remotely done! I’m addicted to watching election nights – I’ll gleefully watch that map with states turning red or blue all night. It makes no sense for me to do this since I’ll know the results tomorrow morning anyway and it’s not even my country but I don’t pretend it’s a rational thing. (And I’ll watch that stuff for my own country with even greater enthusiasm when it’s us having an election)
    I suppose it’s similar to football fans watching a game.

  4. Over? It’s not over. The acceptance/concession speech will still be ringing in your ears when the party machines will start gearing up for the next election. Hell, there are already politicians from both parties thinking about 2016.

    Which is why I will fight the Americanization of Canada’s campaign process. We have no campaigning (in theory ofcourse) until 6 weeks before the election. Then you vote and everyone shuts the fuck up about it until the next time the writ is dropped. So civilized.

  5. Sam: It’s worse than that. In many cases (and indeed, this was one), there’s a good deal of ‘positioning calculus’ that goes into who decides to run for office. This is never about the current election, but about the next one.

    For instance, many of the pundits I’ve heard have said that one reason the Republican Presidential primary field was so dismal this year was that none of the ‘serious’ contenders wanted to run against an incumbent, and felt that it was better to wait until 2016, while possibly trying to make a name for themselves by doing party-support operations during this cycle. So in a sense, we’ve been talking about the 2016 election since 2010….

  6. I am SO ready to talk about something else!

    I’m sick of hearing “Obama must go!” in the household I live in. Also sick of complaints right now of what states voted for him.
    It’s the downfall of living in a house of conservatives. Wouldn’t be this way if I had a much better job.

    Also tired of all the Obama posts made by Pauley Perrette. Just want to say “Yeah, you love the guy, now enough already”.

    Time to get back to fighting for reality, fighting for action and solutions for climate change, ect.

    Let’s get back to hearing about awesome skeptics, what new fun Rebecca and others have came up with.

    Only thing that would make me happier after all this election crap is over is a nice, furry kitty. Make that TWO.

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