the everyday adventures of sabrina

via ladytabitha: this is what could happen if everybody took the be nice pledge — not necessarily swaying voters to a particular candidate (as that’s a bit irrelevant by now, 4PM EST), but opening minds, having good discussions, and making people think.

that story makes me happy.

as the polls were opening on the east coast, and i was sitting in my bed trying to avoid leaving my nice cosy comforter, i decided to make an effort to be nice. you’d think that this wouldn’t be necessary, but i think it is.

and, y’know, i was a total Gore girl, and i protested bush twice in d.c. — once on inauguration day, 20 jan 2001, and once again that april — so if i’m willing to concede my right to scream about squatters, you know i must be serious about just wanting people to start being nice again. so, without further ado:

This election day, I hereby pledge the following:

• That I will remain thoughtful and not dogmatic;
• That, if my preferred candidate wins, I will be gracious about it;
• That, if my preferred candidate loses, I will get over it;
• And that, if the election results split such that the winner of the popular vote is not the winner of the electoral vote, I will consider this a problem with and the fault of the system and not the fault of the president-elect.

I further pledge:

• That, if the election is contested and I disagree with the result, I will not denigrate the winner with names such as “pResident” or “President Select.” I will accept that the president-elect, when sworn into office, is the President of the United States;
• That, if the election is contested and I agree with the result, I will treat the losing candidate’s supporters with kindness and understanding of their position;
• That I will not call for impeachment just because I don’t like the guy and disagree with his politics;
• And that I may respectfully disagree only if I actually act respectful.

Finally, I pledge:

• That I will be considerate of all points of view. When participating in political discussion (either in real life or in online forums), I will actively try to remember that just because I don’t agree with someone doesn’t make him an idiot who can’t understand common sense when I shriek it at him;
• That I will not reflexively use derogatory phrases for groups with whose positions I do not agree (e.g. “Right Wingnuts,” “Moonbat,” etc.). I will actively try to remember that they are people, not ideas, and I should be nice to people;
• That I will not think the worst of a person just because of one thing that I disagree with them on;
• That I will not compare anyone to Hitler or Nazism unless they actually were in the Nazi party in the early twentieth century;
• That I will remain open-minded. I will consider ideas as they are presented to me, and either accept or reject them with grace and appreciation for the discussion;
• That where I am bitter about some particular point of politics, I will direct my anger into more positive avenues such as activism and convincing people to change their minds, not sitting around simmering in anger with the like-minded;
• That I will make good-faith efforts to learn why people hold a different opinion than mine;
• That I will neither support nor listen to political commentators whose main appeal is encouraging anger, rather than encouraging open exchange of ideas;
• And that I will in all circumstances rein in the malice or ill-will I feel, because those are not constructive and will not help me or anyone else fix the problems in our government.

Finally, I will endeavour to be nice, even when all I really want to do is shake someone until they come around to my point of view because it’s obviously more right than theirs — because politics are only fun when people are actually thinking about them instead of acting like obnoxious children.

via london.pm:

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“i think i speak for everyone here when i say, ‘huh?'”