merimask | Art and Politics

Here's another beloved old design of mine that I decided to bring back just for Etsy...

I call it my "Persian mask" because it was inspired by a favorite old Persian rug I used to own. I wonder what happened to it (it was a casualty of the divorce). You can see the mosque patterns in all the corners...

It has so many awesome colors in it...I hope it's a big hit in my shop.

In other, wonderful news; Obama won the nomination. This fills me with joy & fear at the same time. I'll tell you why; I have very little faith in the rationality of Americans, when it comes to the vote.

Thing is...Americans are gullible and opinionated. This is a dangerous combination when applied to the democratic process. Simply put, their precious vote can be bought. All the Republicans need to do is trot out some old favorites like gay marriage or abortion, & everyone's rational objectivity goes right out the window.

I'm not sure how to explain this any more concisely; voting based on ideological issues NEVER WORKS. Never. Eight years ago, conservatives were promised the same things; prayer in school, faith-based initiatives, no gay marriage & the ever amorphous "family values". You see the inevitable results of putting this godly, family-value oriented, oil-company friendly candidate into office...we have a war in the middle East with no exit strategy & gas prices out of control (read up on that sometime & you'll get a shocker...the current mess we're in is caused by greed & a corporate commodities de-regulation policy put in place by the Bush administration over six years ago. A ticking time bomb set to go off during the election cycle.).

The most disturbing thing I'm hearing is talk from other Democrats about how they intend to vote for McCain over Obama. How could they be so misguided? I don't understand whoring your vote out for ideological reasons...but I understand this crazy knee-jerk reaction from Democrats even less. I keep wondering just how BAD things have to get here before rationality reasserts itself (assuming, charitably, that rationality has ever been part of the equation when it comes to politics). At this point it's gone way beyond affecting just us...the global economy is reeling from these insane oil prices too (Britain is subsidising their truck drivers because of high fuel expenses, for instance). Airlines are cutting flights, in some places up to 45%, while air fares are going to practically double.

It's becoming VERY hard to live with the results that these ideologically-coerced voters have foisted upon the rest of us. Frankly I'm bloody sick of it. Hear this; not a DAMN thing will change, ideologically speaking, if you vote for a candidate based upon his position on gay marriage or abortion. Not. One. Thing. They just can't deliver on that kind of rhetoric because it's UNCONSTITUTIONAL to do so. All they can do is make sanctimonious promises & get you to whore out your vote. Based on hollow promises to ignorant masses of ideologically selfish voters (& don't even get me started on Florida & the stolen election in 2000...I don't have the stomach for it), we're embroiled in a war that was waged based on false pretenses (Scotty McClellan much?) & I'm getting really nervous about how I'm going to heat my house in October. Those are the issues that matter to me.

I feel adrift at sea today. Am I the only person that's seeing this clearly?? Sometimes I wonder.

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Ooooh, I love that mask! What a beautiful design. I love all the little details and the color combination is really interesting.

As for the political stuff...you said it, sister. We're a country of idiots. And the few who can see clearly are very outvoted. I regularly vote for Republican candidates here in Maine (like Olympia Snow and Susan Collins) because they are the best people for the job. It doesn't matter what their political affiliation is, they are doing a *good* *job*. If I thought that McCain would be the best candidate for president, I'd happily vote for him...but I don't. I've seen so many ridiculous kneejerk reactions from the pro-Hillary crowd. Why the hell would you vote for McCain over Obama? He goes against everything you believe in, and that's better than OMG having a non-woman black president how exactly?? Argh.

Thanks! I'm fond of that mask too.

Sometimes I feel like this country gets exactly what it deserves. On the other hand, we seem to be inflicting our American brand of crazy on the rest of the world & that's not fair. A national sense of moral responsibility would be GREAT for a freaking change, you know?

You're not the only one. Until about a couple of weeks ago, I was proudly Republican. REAL Republican, Jeffersonian Republican.

Then... 1) I read the book that the HBO series "John Adams" was based on. 2) I listened to McCain pimp himself to right-wing bible-thumpers who disgust me. 3) My cynical side pointed out that IT WAS CORRECT.... McCain = 4 More Years of the same insider crap.

I'm voting for Barack Obama. I'm very nervous that a) this country doesn't vote for someone with such a 'foreign' sounding name and b) the Clinton camp will do exactly as you mention and decamp to McCain out of SPITE.

Initially, I thought "Obama is a bad choice, he's not experienced enough, he's got no foreign policy experience at all..." and then I thought "Well, hell, how much experience did JFK have?" and HE at least kept us from having to pave over Cuba.... Now I'm thinking that it's probably EASIER to have Ideals and stick to them if you're not a long-time member of the Machine. So I'm voting Obama.

In addition, while at least all three of these people (Obama, Clinton, McCain) *appear* to have their own brains, and can speak coherently even when blindsided by non-pre-agreed questions from clever interviewers (god, I love George Stephanopolos!), McCain's been a little TOO slick for my tastes lately. Part of my decision is based on the fact that he's been turning me off all on his own, not just that Obama is looking better and better....

And good grief! Compared to illegal wars and thousands of dead american soldiers and an economy raging out of control, was Clinton getting a blowjob under the desk really that bad?!? Which is worse? A lie that pisses off a wife or a lie that kills thousands?!?

I do have to say that while I agree that "whoring" your vote when the issue is knee-jerk reactionism is sad... what else are we voting for if not the people whose ideology most resembles our own? I want someone who's intellegent, competent, strong-willed, not caring about popularity, who's more interested in doing the Right Thing. Someone who can make this country a better place to live. Someone who doesn't care what people are doing in their own bedrooms, someone who believes each person has a right to make the decisions in their own lives.

Well hell. Bartlett for President!

My sincerest hope is that for MANY people (Republicans included) reason can & will prevail in this election cycle. It sort of has to. We can't afford another cycle of Bush-esque ideology.

If you look at Republicans, historically speaking they bear NO resemblance to the neo-cons of today...I think all the obfuscation & corporate-pandering-crap began in the Nixon era & never really quit. Lincoln was a Republican but when you look at his policies & his philosophy, he really acted more like what you would call a "Liberal" today. It cheeses me off whenever Bush invokes Lincoln's name...he is NOTHING like Abraham Lincoln. Lincoln welcomed dissent & discourse from various sources...hell, his cabinet had people from EVERY party in it. Bush would rather chop off an arm than contemplate sharing power with the Dems. Uniter my ass.

John Adams was a freaking genius. I read that book when it came out & loved every minute of the HBO series. It should be required viewing/reading for everyone who ever aspires to public office.

I always have voted for the candidate that I believe will do the least harm. How sad is that? I am/was a Hillary supporter, but now Obama has my vote. And even though I know our government is set up with a system of checks and balances,i.e.,the Senate and Congress, and I know that they will try to block most of the changes that Obama hopes to put in place--I still believe that Obama has an advantage over McCain. And the advantage is the number of young people who support him. So now the focus should be on getting young people to actually go and register to vote. This time I will vote for the candidate that I believe will do the most good for our country.

That's encouraging to hear. I hope most Democrats will be reasonable, but I'm fearing the worst. It seems like a no-brainer to me...but then so did voting for Al Gore & John Kerry.

I love this mask. The colors really draw me in along with the designs. Ever seen the persian masks where there are small jewels hanging down along the bottom part? Those are neat too.

Word on Obama. I fear for him but have hope he'll do some good IF everyone let's him.

Thank you. Jewels are kind of a cool idea...I wonder if I could find a way to add something like that to this mask... *ponders*

Oh man...I feel like this is America's last best chance to rectify all the damage our country has done, globally-speaking, in the last 8 years.

Heh. First, love the mask. Actually I sat here for a few minutes trying to decide which part was my favorite so I could tell you, but I think it just works overall. A lovely, complete piece. :)

And second, I think a lot of Hillary supporters are just upset and raw from this loss, and that's understandable. Actually I just made a comment on a very similar entry so I shall simply repeat what I said here: I think it's just that this defeat is fresh. Give them some space and time and hopefully they will rethink their desire to vote for McCain. For example, whenever Hillary pulled some really low shit this year I would get utterly livid and vow never to vote for her... but I know deep down that the second I saw her next to McCain's ghoulish mug in that first debate I'd mash the vote button next to her name so hard the founding fathers would feel it. I'm sure a lot of Hillary supporters are upset and angry, and not even necessarily at Obama; the sexism in the media was enraging, and I think that makes some of her supporters feel that the male-dominated media was pushing Obama onto them (though the racism was just as bad if not worse... oh god...).

I believe some breathing room is needed. Though I did read that Rep. Clyburn's office received a barrage of upsetting, racially charged phone calls from people claiming to be Hillary supporters. I'd like to believe it's a bunch of astroturfing Republicans, but there's no way to be sure. This is simultaneously the most distressing and inspiring election ever.

Thank you...I think that mask is a lot like the rug was. It becomes an overall design that works in spite of simple components. ^_^

The whole Obama/Hillary kafuffle is only the tip of the iceberg. I'm beginning to fear for his safety...so much truly hateful stuff is being said in public forums, which only emboldens the idiots. I'd hoped his nomination would be energizing for the entire country but once again, it seems a black candidate is yet another ideologically polarizing issue. There really are two Americas, I think.

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