In the chorus to their song “The Economy Is Suffering,” Anti-flag and what sounds like 1,000 other voices sing, “we’re so fucked, and we don’t give a fuck,” which is pretty much how I feel about the shit-slinging that’s defined this campaign. Now it smells so bad we’re crying. It’s a trail that stinks, so maybe, redeemably, it leads to truth.
A campaign is a competition. Are the political parties competing, or have the borders dissolved, and we’re now just “the people” defending our values, salvaging morality? What will emerge unscathed after this hot stinky fight?
Perhaps I should have seen this coming, way back when the 11th GOP penis debate happened (there’s website called penissizedebate.com which I’m sure, much to the site owner’s glee, spiked in traffic). Maybe it’s a conversation we need to be having: penis size. As a woman, I know that if I had a penis, I would love it, big or small. The only thing that makes me not a man is not having a penis. Penis or no penis, we’re the same. Feminists can get on board with empowering the pussy, but to me, that’s just like putting a pink bow on the same problem of gender identification.
If the attachment to our identity with one particular gender disappoints us, we seek external means, like money, to compensate. There’s nothing wrong with financial success. If you build yourself onto a mountain, people have to love you for you, not your mountain. They may resent you for your mountain. All the more reason to be humble.
Humility with just a dash of flaw, sure. This fight has painted the humility out of Donald Trump. We may run into the arms of mother.
If this stinky fight has liberated anything within me, or inspired me to do anything, it gave me permission to call shit shit, because sometimes there’s just no other way to say it. Maybe we need to talk about penises and pussies, because that’s politics. Maybe we need to sing that we’re so fucked and don’t give a fuck just to bear the fact that we actually do. We stop watching the shit fly and discover what most needs our care. For us, it’s not the policies. It’s clean and right at home. It’s who we are, and let that determine whatever rings true.
Is The Message 