In keeping with my longstanding Halloween tradition, I’ve been watching scary movies for a couple weeks. In this context, my definition of scary is fairly broad, including such films as:
- Cabin in the Woods (the perfect combo of terror and wackadoodle)
- The Mummy (good balance of funny and frightening, special effects that have held up remarkably well)
- The Mummy Returns (there was never supposed to be a sequel, was there? Terrible script)
- The Scorpion King (because I own the boxed set)
- The Monster Squad (campy and offensive as only an 80s movie can be, but beloved since childhood)
- Haunted Honeymoon (because Gene Wilder, obvs)
- Van Helsing (could have been awesome, if the actors had taken it seriously)
- Dracula (because Bela Lugosi)
- The Wolfman (because Lon Chaney)
- The Frighteners (whose special effects have NOT held up, but is still a great story)
The thing I realized, though, is that none of these movies come even close to being as scary as the American Presidential Election.
American friends, I am not going to tell you who to vote for. If you’ve been hanging around my blog for any length of time, you can probably tell by the things I discuss here whom I support, and if you disagree with me, nothing I can say would change your mind anyway.
What I will say is, go vote. Not because it’s a right, but because it’s a responsibility. We have the responsibility to shape the course our countries will take, and the responsibility to choose a course that moves the world in a positive direction. Not for us, but for the kids who will have to live in the world we have shaped.
I’ve lived in Canada my whole life, but my mom was American, and I have dual citizenship through her. This year, for the very first time, I voted in an American election. This election is too important to have allowed my voice – or yours – to go unheard.
Vote. And when you do, think of the children.
I’ll be over here, watching chick flicks.
You probably don’t want ‘chick’ flicks, you watch ‘chicken’ flicks….like Poultrygeist, Chicken Run, Natural History of the Chicken, and Night of the Chicken Dead. heeheehee
Hmmm, you may be right.
I have a controversial and problematic viewpoint, and I’m fully aware of the issues with what I’m about to say, but: we need to rethink the voting process. Even if it’s simply a matter of re-educating the populace about government, the economy, etc. Because there is no way that people who can’t understand the tax plans of Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump should be voting. (As I said, I know that’s controversial and problematic – it opens up a whole can of worms about disenfranchisement and discrimination, because poor people don’t have as much time to invest in learning about the issues and people who can’t afford a good education don’t have access to the same information, etc etc. But it also needs to be addressed, because the general public’s lack of knowledge is the reason that we’ve found ourselves in this mess.)
I see what you’re saying, but for me, the most frustrating thing this time around has been people who are deliberately ignoring facts – people who insist on defending an untenable position, no matter how much reason and logic and evidence you show them to the contrary. As a scientist, this makes me absolutely wild.