If you watch Bill Maher or Jon Stewart you've seen them do bits about the GOP/Tea Party and living in the bubble. We ask ourselves how can they be so stupid, ignorant or naive? One of the answers is rather simple, they want to believe. Before they ever listen to Fox News or Matt Drudge or Rush Limbaugh they have a narrative going on in their head. These outlets tell them they are not alone and it's okay to think what they are thinking. They're also too invested in their narrative to believe things could be anything other than how they see it.
Over the last several days we're watching, with just a touch of schadenfreude, the world of the GOP/Fox News/Tea Party go crazy with disbelief over the results of the election. Inside their bubble they had convinced themselves that Mitt Romney was a saint and a pragmatic businessman who would save the US from that socialist, fascist, communist, Muslim, Kenyan, dictator... Barack Obama. When this didn't occur, their minds can't reconcile reality with the world they had created in their bubble.
They fail to see it was their ideals/positions that caused them to lose. Their anti-abortion stance was so extreme it led them to contort themselves into supporting rape and rapist justifying it as God's will. Their fear of people of color whether they be brown, black, yellow or red. The only color they felt safe with was white. In their view the white man is the dominant color in this world. They can't see the 1 billion people of China. They only see the 1 billion people of India as someone who answers the phone when they call any call center. When they even think of Africa (the continent they think is a country) they're clueless that another 1 billion souls live there, they view Africa as the place of Tarzan, Somalia (if they even realize Somalia is on the continent of Africa) or some version of Idi Amin's Uganda.
To use the analogy of the forest and the trees again, they view the world from their position in their stand of trees and think it's the whole world. And it's that view where the trouble begins.
We tell ourselves we live in a reality based environment and for the most part we do. We may post often in Daily Kos but it is just one of the many places we visit and interact beyond work. We read the WSJ, the WP, the Gaurdian and one or two other newspapers, HuffPo, Salon and other online magazines and other blogs too numerous to mention. It keeps us grounded. When we go to Netroots Nation we're not surprised there are people attending who haven't a clue about Daily Kos. We're not amazed they've never heard of Kos/Markos, Meteor Blades, Teacherken, Denise Oliver Velez, Bill in Portland Maine or Armando.
SO...
So, we have to make sure we don't create our own progressive bubble. We don't want to become the progressive version Kristen Neel. We need to remember to read and watch whatever we can. Soak it up. Mix it up. That will help us stay reality based. We take nothing on faith, we want it sourced. None of this; "Some people say..." crap. We want names. We want facts.
On with the games!!
Mojo Friday Guidelines
1) If you comment you have to recommend all comments. (in order to receive mojo you have to give mojo. It's only good mojo manners.)
2) Everything you say may be taken as a joke (so if you ask a question, expect a silly answer)
3) You must recommend the diary (and pimp it unapologetically)
4) You don't have to comment to recommend.
5) You can't steal my idea (right, like that ain't goin' to happen)
6) Please, no pictures or YouTubes until after 300 comments. Now, after 100, use a little common courtesy and be responsible in the number.
7) Mojo mojo mojo mojo, mojo mojo mojo.
8) TexDem (that's me) is not bound by the guidelines. Heh
Mojo Friday Goals
A. At least 300 different commenters and 1000 comments by 1:30 PM EST and 1500 by 5:00 PM EST Friday Night that it's posted.
B. 100 recommends for each comment, at least.
C. Stay on Recommend List at least five hours (this requires some strategic planning by you guys, refer to guideline #3)
D. At least 200 diary recommends. 300 would be better, spread the word.
E. And always, fun fun fun.
F. Have at least 75% average participation rate as seen here in the Mojo Friday Postgame Show by Woodtick and bjedward.
G. (New) Have at least 30 kossacks over 90% participation (see here for some tips).
H. Overload the servers with recommends, not to mention dominate Top Comments Mojo list. (we do tend to mess with the site with all of our recommends at one time)(also, to dominate the Top Comments Top Mojo we need at least 50 comments with over 200 recommends, see guideline B)
I. That's enough for now. (Have a suggestion? Post it.)
MKinTN posted a diary to help everyone achieve greater success called How to Succeed at Mojo Friday Without Really Trying.
For those of you new to MF (Mojo Friday) we have our own lingo about a few things. Thank's to MF'er Jez (the link will explain) go to this diary for a little more fun and explanation. Official Mojo Friday Snecktionary.