Somehow or other, in a recent email exchange on gayindy.org, I managed to miss this little paragraph in one of the emails regarding the city-county council elections until just a few minutes ago, and now I’m pretty blind with fury at it:
Now let’s go a bit further and talk about why the message in that email is very important. First, as a community, we need to be helping those who helped us. Most of us are not exactly stepping up and doing our part in this time of need. These people put their necks on the line for us and we made promises to them that we would be there for them. If you were in the council chamber the night of the HRO vote and you are NOT helping out in some way with a campaign this year, you should be ashamed. Period. And from the lack of support coming from our community so far, I’d say there are quite a few people out there I’m addressing with this critique.
Oh, where do I begin? Let’s start with:
1) tell me what the campaigns are, who’s in them, who the opposition is and why are the opposition bad?
Believe it or not, I know none of these things, because I have an actual real live life and I’m not wrapped up in the local political scene, because all the slime and trashing and hate going on online in local political circles is too much to stomach every day to get important information.
2) give me realistic ways to help out with a campaign.
I can build websites. I can write coherently on political subjects. I can design campaign materials. But I’ve yet to ever have a candidate ask for volunteers’ strengths. This is the appeal for help: “There are many ways you can help – door knocking, stuffing envelopes, fundraising, making calls, and much more.” Yes, I want to run right out and do the hardest, most ineffective, most time-wasting, most thankless jobs of political campaigning. Sign me right the fuck up for the shit jobs, because I have nothing better to do, and I have all the time in the world.
3) Lose the fucking guilt trip, and double quick.
I DO care about the HRO, believe it or not, and I do feel a sense of obligation to the candidates – however due to the utter failure of the candidates or their campaigns to do Numbers 1 and 2 above, I’m left with very little to go on. On top of that, I’m a 39-year-old adult who has a life and some serious responsibilities, and I do a really good job of working hard and prioritizing what’s important, thank you very much. You’re not my mom or the flying spaghetti monster, so your authoritarian tone is way out of line. I have nothing to be ashamed of, and I really resent being told that by anyone.
There, I feel much better. I’m closing the comments on this thread, because I really don’t want to fucking hear it.
I’m sure I’ll figure out some way to support the appropriate city-council members and their campaigns, but for the next couple days at least, I need to step away from this issue.