Another Election

I'm not going to recycle the same ELECTION POST that I do every four years where I vent and lament over the fact that this duopoly gets slammed down the American public throats and nothing is ever done about it.

People are fear-based and they react accordingly.  For example, this particular election the majority of voters have expressed that they're voting according to their fear of what happens when the "other candidate" is to win the election.  Very seldom have I heard that someone is actually voting "FOR" either Trump or Clinton.  Among the pool of those supporting either candidates, I'm going to guess that group makes a small percentage.

I've been voting for third parties since the 2000 Election.  Why?  Because Trump is right, the system is rigged, and I vote in an attempt to get a third party over the 5% threshold in order to qualify for the pool of election funds that are taken out of our taxes every year.  Otherwise that fund gets distributed to just the Democrips and the Rebloodicans.  I look at the bigger picture and attempt to get any third party that foot in the door.

This year, I've maximized my absolute disgust with the debate.  Whether you think Jill Stein or Gary Johnson is presidential material or a fringe candidate is irrelevant.  The fact that they're both on enough ballots by state to obtain the necessary Electoral College vote should allow them a platform to debate and get their agenda and policy platform heard on a mass scale.  This election demonstrates that the election is indeed fixed, but not within the context Donald Trump is expressing.  In actuality this system is fixed IN FAVOR of Trump.

SUPPOSEDLY Hillary Clinton made history this year as the "First Female Presidential Candidate on a MAJOR PARTY TICKET."

So fucking what.

I voted for a female presidential candidate back in 2008.  It was NOT a "write-in" vote.  Her name was on the ballot.

If you're wondering who this person was/is, then you just clearly validate why this voting system is the shits along with their mediot puppets.

For those of you who's been holding your noses fence-s(h)itting in deciding who to vote for this year or whether or not vote period, this election and this jacked up system is your fault.

You're too busy downloading this app or lining up for that newest phone hardware to give a crap on making sure that in our democratic republic, all our voices are heard.  Instead the bullies took over.  No one has truly investigated whether or not voter fraud has truly been executed during the primaries even though Wikileaks have published documentation of the DNC's questionable practices.

It's your fault for believing the mediots out there that a vote for a third party is a "wasted vote."  You know what a "wasted vote" really is?  An eligible voter who didn't vote.  The last I checked, during the 2012 election, that number was higher than all who has NOT registered to vote as either a Democrip or Rebloodican."

What if the non-voters and the non Dem and non Rep all voted as one bloc?  It'd be a bloc of votes that would outnumber a Democrap bloc and even a Repugnantan bloc.

But again, too many folks are s(h)itting on their asses.

I didn't agree with nor did I liked the tactics that the Occupy Movement.  I didn't think holding the City of Oakland hostage and draining mom and pops business from their vandalism and stealing was a wise way of expressing their angst and quite frankly, I wished more armed Oaktowners came by them and exercised their REAL 2nd Amendment rights on them.  Now having said all of that, has either a Repugnantan or a Democrap legislated on their behalf?  And before you say Bernie Sanders, let's make some clarifications:
1) He sold out because he feared a Trump presidency. (Or at least that's his "official reason")
2) He was NOT a Democrap to begin with.  He had no business running on that ticket during the primaries which was and is why I never accepted him seriously as a Presidential candidate.  He perpetuates that "third party vote is a wasted vote" BS.

We don't have enough people out there in our society to take a stand against what's wrong.  Stands aren't taken until it affects them directly.  Don't believe me?  Look at the Black Lives Matter movement.  Look at the Occupy Movement.  People don't take stands because our education system developed sheep, NOT leaders.  If our education system was programmed to develop leaders instead of sheep, we wouldn't have the election we're having now.

This system is not designed to thrive with too many developed leaders, it's designed to thrive with the majority to be sheep and sheep mentality.  When I talk about "system," I'm not just talking politics.  I'm talking business, mediots, education, and even social level.

Why do I say "mediots" instead of media?  Because the media is an idiot creating machine, or in other words, an idiot converter.  It converts people into idiots.  They are the gatekeeper of the voice to be heard by the masses.  Were you a Bernie supporter earlier this year?  Were you frustrated at his (lack of) coverage during the Primaries?  Did you think it was simply an oversight?

Have you figured out my 2008 choice yet?  If you haven't don't worry.  This person had very little press coverage during 2008 and wasn't invited to the Presidential Debates.

When I grew up in school, I learned that we lived in a democratic republic and that the media and press' job was the keep the public informed, that because there's no monarchy or dictatorship, anyone could become president regardless of class or social status.  I look around now and I felt lied to by my teachers.  A democratic republic where corporations are acknowledged as an individual?  A democratic republic where the person with the most money for ads in the media is the most heard regardless of whether what they're saying is true or not?

People once said that the occupation of every person on this planet is a salesperson.  Either they're selling who they are or being sold on who they are.  That's partially true.  However, as an actor, I believe that in addition to being a salesperson, everyone is an actor. I watched all three debates and I couldn't help but think about the "green room."

What's the green room?

If you're performing, there's a room or designated area for the performers during a production.  Two actors who play sworn enemies on the stage to the public may actually be in the green room talking about anything or everything, play cards, take selfies, ect.  But in the eyes of the public, they're enemies.  The public does not have access to the green room and see and hear the interaction of the performers there.  They only get to see the battle between them on that stage.

Was the debate more of a debate or a performance?

On Acting, Politics, Growth, and Performers...

One of the communities I used to interact with over the years as an actor based out of the San Francisco Bay Area is the spoken word/poetry community and their respected activists.  The lack of diversity and representation within television, film, media (along with blatant whitewashing) and institutional oppression tend to create discussion and dialogue amongst us actors, writers, spoken word artists, poets, and activists.

But that's where I draw the line.

From the time I took my first batch of headshots back in 1999 until utilizing my lunch breaks for audition times nowadays, I recall first hand the frustration of being overlooked for a specific role, told to re-read the lines "with an accent," or simply auditioning for a role that was racially and ethnically (as well as ethically) questionable.  Eventually I felt that out of necessity, it's best to write and create my own work in order to maintain creative control over my own work.  I also took the time to learn other peripheral crafts to augment my skills in acting such as theatrical movement, voice and diction, dance, vocal intensive, writing, and long form and short form improvisation.

Meanwhile in the light of all the negative headlines regarding race relations and politics I found myself having lunch with a group of activists, writers, and spoken word artists who were venting about the various situation.  Finally the discussion shifted to the 2016 presidential election.

They had a laundry list on all Republican candidates. (Cruz, Bush, Carson, Fiorina, Kasich, ect)

They had a laundry list on Hilary Clinton

They had a laundry list on Donald Trump

They had a laundry list on Bernie Sanders.

So I asked them WHO THEN would they cast their vote on, and they immediately turned the question to me.  I told them I may vote for the same candidate I voted for back in 2012 if this person was to be nominated again because I thought it was important to vote 3rd party and create an additional voice to the bi-partisan "bi-opoly"  voting system.

I was then labeled as a "vote waster."  Funny part was, one of them bragged that she "doesn't bother wasting time to vote." Yet, she labeled me as a "vote waster."

I realized that I was too drowned out by the group and no matter what I proposed, they were dead set on why the system is "f*cked up."  Plus after so many years of voting, I still had not yet developed a comeback for the cliche "voting for the LESSER of TWO EVILS is still voting for Evil" default argument that they pull out of their asses every election time.

So they hide in their spoken word lairs with other like-minded victims while presenting their pain-pimping propaganda to a chorus of empathetic hisses.

The last time I was present at one of those events I had this moment of clarity:

They weren't committed to a solution.  They're not committed to any solution to the problems they present.  They thrive on the problems they presented.  If anything, they may or may not be aware that their identity is so intertwined with the social problems and victimhood, that they fear that they'll lose a sense of who they are if there ever was a healing and/or a solution.  Those hisses of allegiance is their rare experience of inter-connection and validation.  Their problem is spoken word and poetry to a room of 50-70-100, even 200 people and their accompanying hisses is not going to create a concrete solution for anyone.

For example, at a spoken word event, this artist began her twelve minute introduction to her two minute piece on human trafficking and sex slavery while her chorus of hisses began to build.  At the end of her piece, actually after the event when we gathered to eat, the artist and I had an additional "dialogue" regarding her performance.

Me: "actually, I've donated to Organization XYZ before.  They have several locations throughout Southeast Asia to rescue and house the women from human trafficking."

Her: "aren't they some stupid Christian organization?  Christianity and churches are tools of the colonizing oppressors."

So much for solution.

Ten years ago at a theater conference, there was a "mix and mingle" at one of the restaurants where one side of the restaurants were those who wanted to mix and mingle, while the other side of the restaurant was hosting an open mic section.  At certain points the performers at the open mic called out those who were there to mix and mingle, accusing them of lack of etiquette.  There was no dialogue or civil interaction between the two conflicting groups.  It was just a "you folks need to shut up while we're up here on stage."

Seeking a solution is to find the best case scenario of a "win-win-(win)" situation for all sides involved. Some people even call it "compromise."  For the spoken word artist and activists, it's more or less an "all or nothing" standoff, and then they perform more pain pimping propaganda on why their life is full of a "series of nothing" results.  Thus the cycle never ends.  Then they're neither an artist nor activist, just a victim of the never ending self perpetuating cycle of their own creation.