ASSIGNMENTS:
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Elizabeth Livingston
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania USA
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REPORTS:
PREVIOUS NEXT
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ME: We could watch the Daily Show DVD about the 2004 election, but it would probably only depress me.
PAUL: You've got to stop letting politics affect you on an emotional level.
ME: But that whole Bush reelection thing SUCKED. I cried actual tears.
PAUL: See, that's ridiculous. You're over-invested in the role of a single person. He's just a figurehead; the problems go much deeper on a systematic level.
ME: But Bush has the power to make decisions that make huge differences in the world, and I don't agree with ANY of them!
PAUL: When has a decision he's made ever affected you personally?
ME: Well, I mean, I have to read about it...
PAUL: You don't have to read anything you don't want to.
ME: But I like reading the New York Times, and web news...
PAUL: That's your decision; you're letting Bush into your life.
ME: But anyway, when he makes a decision that, say, impacts the environment, like when he favors, like, some corporation over, like, a natural habitat, that affects ALL of us, you know?
PAUL: Okay, you know I'm no fan of Bush, but listen to what you're doing; you're positioning Bush as the CAUSE of deforestation and species extinction. No matter who's in the White House, you can't address these problems without an awareness of the long history of capitalism and the systematic commodification of nature as a standing reserve. That's something people just accept implicitly, and it was the PEOPLE who elected Bush. You don't hate Bush; you hate the American people.
ME: Hmm. (Long sigh.)
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