Oh, reality, again

[selenak]

Whenever I'm reading something about one of the Republican candidates, I feel trapped in the most horrible type of reality show. Or in some prequel for The Handmaid's Tale, thinking, oh, come on, Margaret Atwood, these characters aren't reall, far too over the top. It would be funny if it wasn't frightening if one considers they even made it that far and what that says about the people supporting them. War on women indeed.

I was utterly unsurprised to read Santorum has it in for the 60s. That was old already when Gingrich had it in for the 60s back in the Clinton years, and you'd think given the baby boomers are now all in retirement age, having it in for the 60s doesn't even pay anymore, but apparently not: it must be some sort of American Conservative coming of age: denouncing the 60s as the decade of evil. And sex. Never forget the sex. Mind you, when reading Santorum thunder about Woodstock (seriously?) and the Democrats being "the party of homosexuals" (does he get paid by the Democrats to do that?), I remembered that last week or the week before someone pointed out Germany (currently also ruled by conservatives) is governed by: a) A childless woman in her second marriage who never ever did the playing-the-housewife thing during her election campaigns, b) an open homosexual living in a registered life partnership with his male husband as her second in command, and c) after our latest presidential switcheroo, by a reverend who has been living unmarried with his (female) partner since the last twelve years and, which means we currently have a First Companion (girlfriend seems to sell the relationship short - the German word, Lebensgefährtin, is far better, because it means a long term, life long partnership without marriage). I mean, I didn't vote for any of them, but still, these are our conservatives. Allow me a moment of relief about living in Old Europe.

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On a related, but fannish note: you can leave prompts at the at the multifandom queer fest ficathon.

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Breaking Bad fanfiction rec:

Blue (she's like a dog that solves puzzles): set mid season 2, after Four Days. In which Walt gets a surprise present and Jesse fundamentally misunderstands the nature of a children's show, and, incidentally, probably the nature of Walt, as well.

Comments

[ratcreature]

OTOH, health insurance here does not pay for contraceptives nor abortions either if it is for family planning not medical reasons, because that counts as lifestyle choice. I mean, I guess sympathetic doctors might prescribe hormonal birth control saying it's for regulating your period so you get them paid, but afaik officially it's your expense (I've never used any, so I don't have direct experience). And for the morning after pill you need a prescription, not over the counter easy access. And overall the whole abortion situation here is pro-life far more than situation is on paper in the US (though admittedly the general absence of radicals shooting abortion providers and threatening people and such probably make the practical access to abortion services easier). I mean, here you can't get abortions after week 12 unless your health is in danger, there is the requirement to get the pro-life counseling, the waiting period, the whole issue with fertilized eggs getting protection so that reproductive medicine is limited because they can't just be frozen or destroyed or such, etc.

[lilacsigil]

I did not know that about German health care, especially the waiting period and pro-life counselling.

[selenak]

All true. But I can't imagine birth control being used as a campaign issue in this day and age over here the way it currently is in the US, and while we have our own idiots and populists with xenophobic catchphrases (*eyes Thilo Sarrazin*), figures like Limbaugh and Santorum are blessedly absent.

[ratcreature]

Yeah, campaigns work differently and religion doesn't have the rhetorical place either, except maybe Islam-phobia, but this image that the US debate seems to paint of Europe as this liberal place (or morally depraved, depending on the position, I guess), isn't reality either, and I think it's important to check the projection that often seems to happen. Sometimes in truly obvious and bizarre ways (like what Santorum said about the Dutch supposedly killing their elderly), so that you can only LOL (or cry), but it happens more subtly too. Like with gay marriage, it gets mentioned that such unions are possible in some European countries, but it gets omitted that for example homosexual unions in Germany are not equal to marriages, that our adoption law is homophobic. Same when it's seen that the radical anti-abortion fringe isn't so prominent here and doesn't assassinate doctors, it gets overlooked that many US pro-life demands are mainstream and law here, and so on.

[lilacsigil]

US politics fills me with fear!

Our centre-left party is more likely to have gay people than the centre-right party, but a lot of that is that the centre-right leader (Tony Abbott, *spits*) is a religious asshole who is forced to tone down a lot of his "abortion is evil, women should be virgins until marriage" rhetoric but it still pops out every now and then. Fortunately, most people seem disinclined to vote for his party while he's leading it, no matter how much they dislike the alternative.

Also, one of our gay senators and her partner just had a baby and all the reporting was exactly the same as when straight political figures have a baby. Even in the Murdoch press. I was really pleased!

Australians use the term "partner" which seems to have the same connotations as Lebensgefährtin, except that it's commonly used for married couples as well.

[g_shadowslayer]

At least you're not living in the middle of it...

BTW, I'm from the last "official" year of the baby boom and I'm not quite retirement age yet (especially not since I can't get any money from my retirement until I'm 67, whether I retired after 30 years of work or not). Wouldn't really be complaining but this is the second time in as many days that someone has had me half-way to the grave. (At least you weren't saying we'd all be dead in 20 years!)

[selenak]

I apologize for symbolically sending you into retirement years ahead of time. :)

[skywaterblue]

Most of the characters in Atwood's Handmaid's Tale are based off of real politicians of the time. (Don't worry, it doesn't seem to be common knowledge here, either.)

See, the thing about this contraception debate is that it is actually a very cunning trap laid by the Obama administration for the GOP nominees to fall into. Which they are doing in a great and glorious way, to the downward trend of their polling numbers. That's what makes it different from the Clinton era. Clinton's team always seemed genuinely bumfuzzled, when they weren't outright agreeing with them and allowing religious mandates on family planning foreign aid, or Don't Ask Don't Tell. (West Wing is kind of an interesting historical document in this regard in that the writers collectively based Bartlet on Clinton but were also collectively more to the left than Clinton's administration ever was...)

[selenak]

Which politicians, may I ask, so I can be properly scared?

Cunning trap: if so, I salute the strategy and hope it works, though the way it showcases how many of the GOP candidates are seriously crazy (and still having supporters) also still chills me. Also, while I'm reasonably optimistic there won't be a Republican president next year, I wonder: will the situation in the Congress continue to be this utter stalemate, because the way it looks over here, you can't get any laws passed because the Republicans are THAT fanatic. Do you think a drumming in the presidential elections might make them more amendable?

[skywaterblue]

Oh, I forget (the 80s were a little before my time) and Wikipedia doesn't seem to have it. But I think it used to be widely known the commander and his wife were broadly based on a televangelist couple. Not the Bakers, I think?

I think everyone currently thinks regaining the House is a 'best case scenario' but the resulting fallout has led Sen. Olympia Snowe of Maine to resign from her party with disgust rather than run for reelection, and everyone seems to think that'll increase the odds the Dems hold on to the Senate. (I've heard some nuttier pundits suggest she wants to run for a third party, which if true, would almost assuredly win Obama a second term. But.)

In any event, it's looking a lot better for Mr. Obama the last week.