I related to Melissa a few days ago that I was going to see how long I could go without knowing the 2020 election results, be they the presidential race, the numerous US Senate races, or any of the other races or referenda. Tuesday evening I was at work and I heard nobody speak of any results, and I carefully avoided the TV in the breakroom as well as my smartphone's newsfeed and social media. After work at home, Melissa...who kept up with the results herself...made it easy for me to sidestep the news channels on TV and held off on discussing the election. Wednesday morning I posted a link to that day's blog article on Facebook and Twitter using my desktop computer...I brought out a piece of cardboard to shield the screen from my eyes, avoiding the news-infected Microsoft Edge home screen and then anything that two social media sites might reveal. Then I went on my local public library's website to put some items on hold. I then embarked on my regular routines for the day as usual, first stopping at my nearby Dunkin' Donuts for an iced coffee...listening to loud classical music on my earphones to avoid anyone around talking about it...and then headed off to my afternoon/evening work shift. There I was again careful to avoid that breakroom, which doubtless would have somebody on the television talking about the election. I knew that eventually I'd want to end my information "fast" if only because of Melissa, but I did string it out through most of Wednesday, with her bringing me up to date on the counting...everything was still up in the air, although I was confirmed in my prediction that the election would be a lot closer than the opinion polls indicated. After that I tried to avoid the news but not like before...you can go nuts listening to that stuff nonstop. And here we are today, five days later...I don't know about you, but I have absolutely no control on what's going on now with the election and where it will lead, so I'm instead going to attend myself to matters that I can actually affect...
I'd tried this kind of game before of delaying knowing what happened in a big news story, but always with major sporting events like the January, 1984 Super Bowl between the Los Angeles Raiders and Washington Redskins and the 2008 national championship college football game between Florida and Oklahoma. I think what got me to do it this time were the repeated warnings from the media that it would possibly take days following the election before a winner for the presidential contest could be determined...so why should I get myself all flustered over this drawn-out drama? After all, we've still got the same leaders until January, whether they won or lost. I remember back in 2000, weeks after that year's election between George W. Bush and Al Gore brought on a protracted struggle and recount in Florida. I was in the Checkers drive-thru on Archer Road and the attendant, a friend from church, interested in my take on Bush vs. Gore asked me through the window, "So who's the President?". Without missing a beat I replied, "Why, Bill Clinton, of course!" Twenty years later, I feel I've given myself some peace of mind by escaping all the political hullabaloo, if only for a short period. And I've got to get that Microsoft news feed off my computer's home screen...as a matter of fact, I'm thinking of permanently restricting my national news intake to the traditional early evening news on one of the alphabet networks...
No comments:
Post a Comment