xela | Appalled

After avoiding the news even more than usual all day, I decided around midnight to check the headlines before going to bed.

I've been trying for an hour and a half now to write something coherent. It's midnight on election night. One of the two candidates is a turd with legs. And the election is too close to call.

I've always believed that the vast majority of people were fundamentally decent. And that given accurate information they would make a real effort to do the right thing. That only a small minority — 1%, maybe at most 5% of people — are truly nasty.

I've been trying my damnedest to avoid the news for better than six months now. But even hiding under a rock I have been unable to avoid learning information about Donald Trump that I would really rather not know. Information that would lead any decent person to back away slowly.

And roughly half my fellow citizens — not 1%, not 5%, but near to 50% — just don't give a fuck.

My faith in my fellows has withstood some pretty severe blows in the past. But I don't think it's going to make it this time. Faith of course is just another word for credulity, and I've long been aware that my optimism about humanity rested on poor foundations. That said, I almost wish I had Faith in the more conventional sense. Almost.

Above edited for typos, 2018-01-01. Otherwise, as originally posted 2016-11-09, 01:43 EST.