snurri: (Default)
snurri ([personal profile] snurri) wrote2008-07-01 04:07 pm

Reclaiming Jumbo

My mom saw the sticker on my laptop, of a pink elephant wearing sunglasses, and asked why I had it. "I like elephants," I said. "It makes me think you're a Republican," she said. Now, my mom knows that I am not a Republican. We talk politics all the time, in the half-hysterical way of people who agree with each other and can't believe that EVERYONE doesn't. (On the few topics where we do disagree, we generally say very little. I can't figure out if this is a Norwegian thing, a German thing, an Irish thing, or just a Thing That Is Done In My Family.)

Anyway, I wonder if this is the message I am sending to people when I take my laptop to a coffee shop to try to fool everyone. "I support the president! Ask me how!" That would explain some of the looks.

What upsets me most is that the elephants do not deserve this. They have always had female presidents, they have socialized medicine, childcare, and education, and they hold all property in common. In political terms they are radical matriarchal socialists, which makes them pretty much too far left to be Democrats, let alone Republicans.

I don't know what the sunglasses mean, though.

[identity profile] mrissa.livejournal.com 2008-07-01 09:27 pm (UTC)(link)
This is exactly how my Norsky relatives talk politics.

Although there are a few awkward moments when someone realizes that the other person has left the realm of EVERYONE who agrees with them, because my God why wouldn't you, on this particular issue.

[identity profile] snurri.livejournal.com 2008-07-01 09:39 pm (UTC)(link)
Yes, I have experienced that as well; the screeching halt of "And here I thought you were a Reasonable Person."

Perhaps it is a Scandahuvian thing, then.

[identity profile] mrissa.livejournal.com 2008-07-01 09:53 pm (UTC)(link)
And the "Oh...er...well...so...who wants banana bread?" attempt to back out of that conversation after the screeching halt. Ayep.