Re: <nettime> scattered thoughts on Obama's green empire and black

[David Mandl <dmandl@panix.com>]

I completely agree with Ted.  In my almost fifty years in New York  
City, I've never seen *anything* like what we saw on Election Day and  
the days after.

I was at home late on election night, and there were mass-riots of joy  
going on outside my window (Park Slope, Brooklyn).  Things were even  
crazier in other parts of Brooklyn: the mostly black neighborhood of  
Bedford-Stuyvesant, the hipster enclave of Williamsburg.  In the days  
after the election I was stunned by the mass euphoria that I was  
witnessing on Facebook (for example).  It was as if the revolution had  
happened--literally.  I happened to be out for drinks with a bunch of  
normally apolitical dads in my neighborhood last Wednesday (nothing to  
do with the election per se), and the mood was the same.  It was like  
we were suddenly living in a different world.  You would have had to  
be made of wood not to get caught up in it.

The above might all be seen as self-selected groups of lefties and  
liberals, but that doesn't change the fact that there hasn't been such  
widespread, public euphoria in the streets here in years--maybe since  
the end of WWII?  It was probably as much anti-Bush as pro-Obama, but  
still it was a huge whiff of FREEDOM that made it clearer than ever  
how horrible things have been here in the past eight years.  The fact  
that Bush's final and grandest act of wanton destruction was unfolding  
as the election was happening (the collapse of the economy, maybe the  
worst since the thirties) made the events of last Tuesday that much  
sweeter.

I'm no Obama-worshipper, but I've got to say it seems like pissing in  
the punchbowl to dismiss this.  Even if (when?) Obama ends up being a  
disappointment, this seemed like a true revolutionary moment--very  
very rare here in the U.S.  Whether or not all these deluded liberals  
are setting themselves up to be screwed again ? la Clinton, this was a  
huge, public (peaceful) statement against the thugs that have been  
running this country for the last decade or so, and that's a good thing.

   --Dave.


On Nov 8, 2008, at 12:50 PM, nettime's_charterhouse wrote:

>Date: Fri, 7 Nov 2008 23:11:14 -0500
>From: t byfield <tbyfield@panix.com>
>Subject: Re: <nettime> scattered thoughts on Obama's green empire  
>and black
>
>ben@kein.org (Sat 11/08/08 at 03:37 AM +0000):
>
>>No, that's all I have for now, and I hope everyone enjoys the party a lot.
>>But when the party's over we're all going to have to deal with  the policies.
>>And that, to me, is already a very sobering prospect.
>
>Uh, living under Bush was a sobering prospect for the last eight  years.
>
>I know us Americans have been in a bad way and a bit difficult at  times, but
>do you mind if we have a pint before heading off to our second  jobs?
>
>I see from your subsequent mail that you're stepping back a bit, which is a
>fine thing. But, as you do, meditate on this: the eruptions of election night
>in the US were, I think the first manifestations I've ever seen in the US.
>Protests and demo are a dime a dozen here (OK,  well, not really), but
>*manifestations* never. Deeply, deeply armored  people -- generals,
 <...>

--
Dave Mandl
dmandl@panix.com
davem@wfmu.org
http://www.wfmu.org/~davem


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