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I don't make a habit of posting about global politics. I believe I do not have any way to influence others' entrenched political opinions through "blogging" and I don't believe I am patient enough to pursue the kind of writing that might do so. So this post is just my reaction to waking up on a day when I was already thinking that the world is on a trajectory of chaos and conflict that will probably further deteriorate-- and would have done so, regardless of the outcome of the US election. I got up, got coffee, and I still had to go work in "Trump's America-Elect". We all still have to go work-- that is the system of control that we live in the USA. We need money to live. Without it, we will be denied anything, including basic personhood. To me, any belief that the continuation of this could possibly benefit anyone in the long run is a happy illusion so we can avoid discomfort. It's not that this doesn't entirely matter, but it is also that different things have mattered so much more and to so many more other people. So I am here, sanguine. Honestly, I've had a decent run-- in this world, someone like me is lucky to still be alive rather than starved and trampled. I am thankful for my life and I will continue doing what I can to live and to help others and those I love, as it would be pointless not to do so.

How do I feel about the US election? That preface is part of how I feel about it. I don't want this to sound ridiculous but I want to say in plain language that yes, the USA is the most influential state in the world economically, politically, militarily, even as all of these elements are in a visible decline-- however, it is also a state with a ruling class of capitalists who are locked in on advancing their own interests at the expense of the interests of the world at large. It's fantasy to believe otherwise-- to believe that a US election could have been globally pro-social. This US election did not have a good outcome for besieged Gaza and Lebanon, for tensions in the South China Sea, for the Ukraine-Russia conflict, for the conflicts in Central Africa, and so on. This US election did not even have a particularly good outcome for vulnerable people in the US, as both regimes were hewing toward "anti-immigrant" (the racism flavor-of-the-day) policies-- along with no indication that the blue-liberal administration would have used federal power to reverse or slow the largely state-led and locally-driven red-liberal-rightist erosion of bodily autonomy (in madiha speak this also includes "gay/trans stuff", it is all part of an animus of control over women but that will be a subject for never because I'm never posting like this again god help me). (And I do not say this while "ignoring Roe v Wade" or whatever but rather that this is not one policy or one politician or even a cohort's doing but a social and economic animus with an agenda that has not been effectively challenged by federal power-- that it is not even really in the interest of the blue-liberal machine to effectively terminate.)

I cannot sit here and delude myself into thinking that firstly, my interests as an "American citizen" truly mattered more than those of anyone else in the world, and secondly, that my interests were EVEN BEING SERVED AT ALL by either of these regimes. Let alone the idea that either of these regimes would have positively affected the world at large, when the USA is the biggest driver of conflict and exploitation globally. Even if I put my own interests ahead of anyone else's, as someone who is observing global politics and economics I already had a very dim view of "future prospects." I don't think my groceries will get cheaper. I don't believe I will attain more bodily autonomy. I don't believe that this US election would've lead to peace anywhere. I don't believe either outcome would have been good or even acceptable-- no matter what, I am still living in the world that this political class have made.

A common refrain from liberals is that this is a characteristic view of "nihilism." But I have hope for the world, I really do. I have a dim view of the systems currently in place, but I believe through the further erosion of US hegemony that it is possible for some places in the world to win their liberation and lead their lives with autonomy, and that is, at this point in time, what I realistically want for them. I believe in the long run that while our present nations and systems may decline to catastrophic effects on their populations and the populations of other areas, and tragedies may unfold, and pain might be inflicted on myself and on others (and pain and violence are multifaceted things-- I honestly don't believe I will "die" but rather "suffer" perhaps), and our planet might change in ways that make it less hospitable due to the ravages of those systems for the past however long and into the future however long-- that people, humans, will survive, will maintain community, will surpass exploitation and hatred. I truly believe that we will do so eventually and we will not perish or relinquish our humanity. If I didn't believe these things, this post would be about my illusory kayfabe interests as an "American citizen" above all else. I would be doomposting about Kamala and "democracy" or w/e.

I believe the present is unsustainable and the future unknowable. I have hope for the world however-- perhaps you can call that optimistic if you want, but I think after reading all of that you probably think I am crazy and evil and that you will not read my little sci-fi story ever again. Dang it-- that's why I don't make these kinds of posts! Anyway, I dunno-- just take a breath.

I could point to a lot of other conditions in history where people have lived under control and suffering, and they struggled and fought for life and did not completely perish-- to perhaps an idea that the cost and effort of completely snuffing out a culture or idea or way of living has always been unattainable even for the most driven evils of history and may remain so. But I think others are better suited to outline those points than I (in particular because I do not think I am well-suited for the role of either teacher nor motivational speaker). For now I simply want to leave whatever reader out there with the simple notion that no matter what happens you shouldn't "despair". If only because it won't lead to anything. That's what I am doing and that's where I am at.

Oh also I recently purchased an aeropress and it makes a really good cup of coffee. And pushing the little plunger thing down? It's so satisfying. Anyway.