Woke up this mornin', got the election blues

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

Begin forwarded message:

From: Brian Randell <Brian.Randell () newcastle ac uk>
Date: November 4, 2004 6:21:45 AM EST
To: dave () farber net
Subject: Woke up this mornin', got the election blues

Hi Dave:

For IP if you wish.

Todays (UK) Guardian newspaper has an article by Emma Brockes which I 
think captures very well the reactions to the US election results of a 
large segment of the population here in the UK:

> Woke up this mornin', got the election blues
>
> We went to bed daring to hope and awoke to the crushing news. And ever 
> since we've been swapping emails and texts about how miserable we 
> feel. Emma Brockes on how George Bush's victory catapaulted liberal 
> Britain into collective depression
>
> Thursday November 4, 2004
> The Guardian
>
> The mistake we all made was in getting our hopes up. Until lunchtime 
> on Tuesday, in accordance with the rules of superstition, lay 
> supporters of John Kerry kept their outlook pessimistic. In bones, 
> waters, winds and related vapours across the land, the election was 
> divined by pro-Democrats to be in the bag for Bush. This is what is 
> known as preparing a soft landing; it is measured in units of 
> unhatched chicks.
> . . .
> When people woke yesterday morning, those for whom Bush's overnight 
> gains were unwelcome weathered two sensations: a slug of shock, 
> followed by a surge of recognition. We had been here before. This was 
> 1992, the morning after the general election when, despite hatred for 
> the Tories having peaked over the poll tax, they still managed to 
> bring home a 21-seat majority. And so, not even callers to 5 Live 
> could summon any outrage; despondency was instant and lethal.
> . . .
> By 10am, as people got to their desks and began a day of low 
> productivity and high personal email exchange, it became clear that 
> the most pressing post-election question was not, "Where were you when 
> you heard Bush was winning?" but rather, "Where were you when you 
> allowed yourself to think it could ever have been otherwise?" 
> Dismally, people asked each other how long they had stayed up the 
> night before. "Until 4.30am," said my friend Jim. "Long enough to 
> start crying like a girl."
> If Jim's experience had been more widespread, perhaps news of Bush's 
> irreversible lead yesterday would have been cushioned. But most people 
> did not stay up until 4.30am. Most people seem to have bailed out, 
> still feeling reasonably optimistic about the result, some time 
> between midnight and 1.30am.
> . . .
> If there is such a thing as collective depression, then the 
> circumstances of the election are just right to encourage it. At least 
> the scandal in Florida four years ago gave people something to focus 
> on; there was a battle to be raged. This time, despite some lingering 
> uncertainty over the final result in Ohio, there isn't the consolation 
> of injustice, of having someone to blame.
> . . .

Full story at:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uselections2004/story/0,13918,1342798,00.html

And the Guardian's cartoonist Steve Bell has a typically  corrosive 
captionless reaction, which (wordlessly) says it all - see:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/cartoons/stevebell/0,7371,1343074,00.html

cheers

Brian

--
School of Computing Science, University of Newcastle, Newcastle upon 
Tyne,
NE1 7RU, UK
EMAIL = Brian.Randell () ncl ac uk   PHONE = +44 191 222 7923
FAX = +44 191 222 8232  URL = http://www.cs.ncl.ac.uk/~brian.randell/

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