Hey everyone. Some desultory thoughts on last night's POTUS election.My parents have lived in the US since the mid 1960s, after emigrating from Taiwan. They have been citizens of the US for about two decades now. But you know, my dad once told me that voting for the victorious Barack Obama was one of the first times he felt well and truly proud of being an American. It was important to me, as well--not just because Obama was black, but because he was also the child of an immigrant from another country, and had a weird name that no one could pronounce--like me. When I was a kid growing up in New Jersey--which is an island off the coast of Sicily--it was weird, disconcerting and alienating to not be white--I hated it. I hated having the name that no one could pronounce and everyone made fun of. I used to look at the ants on the trees and feel jealous that they were homogenous, the same.* I wished I could be white. I wish I could understand baseball and rock music. I wished that I could eat hamburgers or pizza at home (we almost never had anything other than Chinese food). I didn't want to learn those ridiculous characters that I would never use! Seriously, when would I ever need to use Chinese?! I guess that's why many of my friends were Indians, Jews, or Arabs. We were outsiders. Even in my 20s there was the feeling that there was, still, a glass ceiling that Asians couldn't get beyond--this not even to mention how difficult it is for Latinos and African-Americans to this very day. Growing up near Princeton, you get to see WASPy America front row and center. The 2008 election of Obama changed that, a crystallization of how American culture and society and demographics were changing. Of course, this change provoked a backlash from the culturally irredentist right-wing, from Donald Trump to John Sununu, who were obsessed with proving that Obama wasn't American or needed to learn how to be American. And Romney never did much to combat that, never really took a stand against the virulently xenophobic edge of the Republican Party, sometimes even cracking birther-themed jokes at rallies. I will always have that lurking feeling that I'm not American enough, because I haven't been a pro-sports game in my entire life, never watched much TV in childhood, didn't understand Jesus and Christianity, and worst of all, nearly joined the Democratic Socialists of America. There was always a question mark in my heart, even as I traveled the world with an American passport. Eleven years in China exacerbated that. Four years ago, Barack Obama's election allayed those fear, somewhat--but the subsequent backlash proved that NO, I wasn't being paranoid. Last time, in 2008, I was on the verge of tears, but held back because I was in public. This time, alone at home in Shanghai, there was much more of a release when I saw that Ohio had gone to Obama and that he had won re-election. Thinking about it now, a few hours later, I realize it wasn't just joy, it was relief, catharsis. I know that Obama and the Democrats are not always truthful, but in recent years and in this campaign the GOP has gone to such lengths to disseminate their invidious propaganda that I began feeling that this election was a battle not for the Senate or the White House but for something much bigger than an office--we were fighting for the role of facts, numbers, evidence, and truth--the intellectual qualities that make for good science and good journalism AND good politics. Much of the malarkey is a result of Citizens United, Sheldon Adelson, the Koch Brothers, Karl Rove and the super-PACs, who leave such bad and bitter taste in my mouth. Every time they were in the news I felt angry, frustrated, helpless. So it comes as an immense psychic relief that ignorance and obfuscation didn't win the day, and that religious nutters like Todd Akin and Richard Mourdoch and Teabaggers like Allen West, Joe Walsh and other Tea Party acolytes also felt the sharp rebuke of the electorate. And as for Sarah Palin, Donald Trump, and their ilk--a bad clown show, at best--they deserve all the public obloquy received.
As they said in the UK Tv series Nathan Barley, "the idiots are winning". But not last night. The rebels beat the Empire last night. Now we just gotta worry about you know, our empire. I've never felt very culturally American, except when I realize why I have insisted on facts, numbers, and analysis. I mean, DUH, those are values inculcated by my very American education, from kindergarten all the way to graduate school. There was no 'chabuduo' in my physics or math classes, or even in my history and literature classes. Ideas matter. Values matter. Specificity and Generality, depending on what is called for. Being able to see the forest AND the trees. Those are intellectual values and political values. You live in China for 11 years, and you'll appreciate the difference. Remember, we shouldn't glorify statisticians like Nate Silver just because they can beat the house like those MIT folks in Vegas. It ain't just about #winning. It's about using math as a tool to serve humanistic ends--to help us "perfect the union", incrementally, to the best of our abilities. It's about elevating the sophistication of political discourse. Clearing out the "noise" of super-PAc sponsored attack ads to find the "signal" of actual positions, actual proposals and ideas. I'm not plugging Silver's book. I'm saying that you can't let lies carry the election, pull a fast one on a benighted or anxious public like W or Romney. That's just bad for all of us. It lowers us, all of us. The Age of Stupid should be the like the Stone Age. We cannot nor ever should go back there. But as for reality, wow. Legalization of marijuana in a few states, affirmation of marriage equality, and the record number of women in the Senate--all great victories for what Paul Krugman called the "real real America". Hey GAP, we don't need Manifest Destiny T-shirts--but we could use some more Optimism, Math, Facts, Intelligence and Tolerance T-shirts. Those are the keys to whatever destiny this republic might have. The New Deal wasn't a one-off, it was meant, like any contract between peoples, to have its vows renewed with each generation. Time do that again, I think. "Perfect the Union"--where 'perfect' is a verb, a perpetual state of becoming. It feels good to be an American, again.
As they said in the UK Tv series Nathan Barley, "the idiots are winning". But not last night. The rebels beat the Empire last night. Now we just gotta worry about you know, our empire. I've never felt very culturally American, except when I realize why I have insisted on facts, numbers, and analysis. I mean, DUH, those are values inculcated by my very American education, from kindergarten all the way to graduate school. There was no 'chabuduo' in my physics or math classes, or even in my history and literature classes. Ideas matter. Values matter. Specificity and Generality, depending on what is called for. Being able to see the forest AND the trees. Those are intellectual values and political values. You live in China for 11 years, and you'll appreciate the difference. Remember, we shouldn't glorify statisticians like Nate Silver just because they can beat the house like those MIT folks in Vegas. It ain't just about #winning. It's about using math as a tool to serve humanistic ends--to help us "perfect the union", incrementally, to the best of our abilities. It's about elevating the sophistication of political discourse. Clearing out the "noise" of super-PAc sponsored attack ads to find the "signal" of actual positions, actual proposals and ideas. I'm not plugging Silver's book. I'm saying that you can't let lies carry the election, pull a fast one on a benighted or anxious public like W or Romney. That's just bad for all of us. It lowers us, all of us. The Age of Stupid should be the like the Stone Age. We cannot nor ever should go back there. But as for reality, wow. Legalization of marijuana in a few states, affirmation of marriage equality, and the record number of women in the Senate--all great victories for what Paul Krugman called the "real real America". Hey GAP, we don't need Manifest Destiny T-shirts--but we could use some more Optimism, Math, Facts, Intelligence and Tolerance T-shirts. Those are the keys to whatever destiny this republic might have. The New Deal wasn't a one-off, it was meant, like any contract between peoples, to have its vows renewed with each generation. Time do that again, I think. "Perfect the Union"--where 'perfect' is a verb, a perpetual state of becoming. It feels good to be an American, again.
