Square minds
Mar. 11th, 2025 08:23 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
injunjaneMy deep apologies in advance to the people who won't like this posting. I'm not so much criticizing but sincerely wondering right now.
I don't remember any European country where only two political parties existed, following each other in a mathematically regular manner, turn after turn. What's the point in the elections if you know that next turn will be the opponent of the currently ruling group, I wonder.
In Ukraine there are over 30 currently acting parties, and 19 banned ones (which are either communists or direct Russian puppets): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_political_parties_in_Ukraine
In France with multi-party system there are 8 major parties: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_political_parties_in_France
For me European watching elections and post-election mess in the US is like watching Vorlons and Shadows switching turns in ruling the Universe. I'm desperately trying to figure out WHY there are only two major parties and not more.
Why the options are so limited and you can't be anti-Hamas and pro-Ukrainian in the same time (because that's either democrats who are 'pro-Palestinian' and pro-Ukrainian, or republicans who are the opposite). Why one can vote for social support for orphans, veterans and ill people but cannot criticize criminal situation among the immigrants. Why if the government is trying to solve criminal situation connected to immigrants, it starts to throw out everyone - people in dangerous situation seeking asylum, people without any criminal record (which is more than 50% of US illegal immigrants), people with only minor law breach like speeding ticket...Just why??
What kind of square-minded binary system is that?
Another thing that never made any sense to me is the necessity to indicate 'race' instead of nationality or citizenship. And not only in medical records, but practically everywhere including questionnaire for a university library.
Nationality and in many cases citizenship is an objective thing connected to certain languages and cultures. For example, by blood I'm half Ukrainian half Russian - with some Asians mingled in that tandem, probably during the Mongol invasion, due to the genes of whom I can't drink alcohol. I speak both UKR and RU as mother-tongues. I always list myself as Ukrainian (in terms of nationality, not only citizenship) because I hate Russian mentality from the bottom of my heart, as a person who spent part of my life in that goddamn country. So, these things mean something.
When I came to US for the internship, I had to fill in endless documents where I was asked to fill in my race, the options presented to me were: 'white', 'Asian', 'black' (which is dubious, because it puts together African people, Indians, Romas and Australian aborigenies), 'Latino' (which is not even a biological race!). There was no race for Native Americans (who actually ARE a biological race)
That was making me furious as hell each time I had to do that. Am I white, because I'm Ukrainian?? But what about my Asian genes, do they make me Asian? Do they treat Turkish and Chinese Asian the same or not? What percentage of 'Asian' should I have to be considered one?
I started to write 'I'll be white when I'm dead, you idiots!' in those papers. Meaning the colour of my dead body, of course.
And surprisingly managed to finish my internship without being arrested.
I don't remember any European country where only two political parties existed, following each other in a mathematically regular manner, turn after turn. What's the point in the elections if you know that next turn will be the opponent of the currently ruling group, I wonder.
In Ukraine there are over 30 currently acting parties, and 19 banned ones (which are either communists or direct Russian puppets): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_political_parties_in_Ukraine
In France with multi-party system there are 8 major parties: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_political_parties_in_France
For me European watching elections and post-election mess in the US is like watching Vorlons and Shadows switching turns in ruling the Universe. I'm desperately trying to figure out WHY there are only two major parties and not more.
Why the options are so limited and you can't be anti-Hamas and pro-Ukrainian in the same time (because that's either democrats who are 'pro-Palestinian' and pro-Ukrainian, or republicans who are the opposite). Why one can vote for social support for orphans, veterans and ill people but cannot criticize criminal situation among the immigrants. Why if the government is trying to solve criminal situation connected to immigrants, it starts to throw out everyone - people in dangerous situation seeking asylum, people without any criminal record (which is more than 50% of US illegal immigrants), people with only minor law breach like speeding ticket...Just why??
What kind of square-minded binary system is that?
Another thing that never made any sense to me is the necessity to indicate 'race' instead of nationality or citizenship. And not only in medical records, but practically everywhere including questionnaire for a university library.
Nationality and in many cases citizenship is an objective thing connected to certain languages and cultures. For example, by blood I'm half Ukrainian half Russian - with some Asians mingled in that tandem, probably during the Mongol invasion, due to the genes of whom I can't drink alcohol. I speak both UKR and RU as mother-tongues. I always list myself as Ukrainian (in terms of nationality, not only citizenship) because I hate Russian mentality from the bottom of my heart, as a person who spent part of my life in that goddamn country. So, these things mean something.
When I came to US for the internship, I had to fill in endless documents where I was asked to fill in my race, the options presented to me were: 'white', 'Asian', 'black' (which is dubious, because it puts together African people, Indians, Romas and Australian aborigenies), 'Latino' (which is not even a biological race!). There was no race for Native Americans (who actually ARE a biological race)
That was making me furious as hell each time I had to do that. Am I white, because I'm Ukrainian?? But what about my Asian genes, do they make me Asian? Do they treat Turkish and Chinese Asian the same or not? What percentage of 'Asian' should I have to be considered one?
I started to write 'I'll be white when I'm dead, you idiots!' in those papers. Meaning the colour of my dead body, of course.
And surprisingly managed to finish my internship without being arrested.
