(no subject)

[gfish]

"I've never been prejudiced in my life," said Sharon Fleming, 69, the wife of a retired coal miner, who spends hours at the union hall calling voters on behalf of Obama. "My niece married a black, and I don't have a problem with it. Now, I wouldn't want a mixed marriage for my daughter, but I'm voting for Obama."

Barrayar is a metaphor for America, isn't it? I can't believe I didn't see that before.

Comments

[sistawendy.livejournal.com]

Barryar?

[noumignon.livejournal.com]

It's a reference to some SF novel so obscure I thought it was just a misspelling. Even if you went to the Wikipedia page for Barrayar, you wouldn't know what he was talking about, I still don't.

[vixyish.livejournal.com]

...actually it's a reference to a series of around twenty SF novels and short stories (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vorkosigan_Saga).

I guess that's obscure compared to *some* authors...

[admnaismith.livejournal.com]

Aye, that it be!

[patoadam]

In the article vixyish links to below, see "Shards of Honor". The hero and heroine of that novel have a mixed marriage: they are from different planets, at war with each other.

(A little learning is a dangerous thing. I have only read a couple of the Barrayar novels, so it is possible that gfish means something else.)

[ilmarinen.livejournal.com]

Not sure I get the reference.

However, the anecdote is encouraging--in that, I know there are plenty of folks who are uncomfortable with the concept of, say, their daughter marrying a black man, however, hopefully that won't stop them from voting for Obama.

Are my expectations too low? Too high? I don't know anymore.

-B.

[waysofseeing.livejournal.com]

Bujold grew up and lived for a long time in rural Ohio. Any metaphorical or other resemblance between Barrayar and the more conservative areas of America are, of course, utterly coincidental.

[vixyish.livejournal.com]

Ben and Beth Bailey sat in the back and clapped politely, but they remained unpersuaded. They said they were likely to break from their tradition of voting Democratic and might well not vote at all.

Obama "just doesn't seem like he's from America," said Beth Bailey, 25. Ben Bailey, 32, noted that Obama's middle name is Hussein, "and we know what that means."

Remember how I was telling you I don't dare to hope? That I can't bear to be optimistic anymore? THIS. This is why. That there even EXIST people this stupid, let alone that there are whole counties, whole cities, whole states of them. That this conversation even needs to HAPPEN. There aren't words for my disgust for this country right now. This is why I don't dare to hope-- we can't count on logic and reason anymore.

[dornbeast.livejournal.com]

You know, I don't know what Hussein means. Excuse me while I hit a search engine...

The boy's name Hussein \hu(s)-sein\ is pronounced hoo-SAYN. It is of Arabic origin, and its meaning is "good; small handsome one".

...hmm. At roughly six feet tall, Senator Obama is only small in the sense of weight, judging from his photos.

Still, that's a fairly accurate description.

[triskadekaphile.livejournal.com]

Ha! VorKennedy!

[admnaismith.livejournal.com]

VorBama!