Quit Yelling at Me

Sixteen days . . . we are sixteen days from ending the insanity we Americans refer to as the election.  Sixteen days and the all the yelling will stop.  I am tired of being bombarded with politics . . . on the television, on the radio, in the newspapers and magazines, on billboards, signs in yards, telephone calls, text messages, and even post on Facebook.  I am tired of being yelled at.

I realize that the yelling is only going to intensify in the next two weeks as all of the candidates from the president to the local dog catcher are scurrying about to get them to vote for them.  I imagine that when it is all said and done, all the research is completed, that this election season will go down in history as one of the most expensive and abrasive.  It seems that everyone is yelling.

For the past couple of weeks our home phone has rung off the hook as pollsters and campaigns are attempting to sway those “undecided” to make a decision—preferably for them.  Typically the home phone only rings about once a night, usually one of the kids or a friend, but lately . . . thank God for caller identification.  Despite the lack of response from these people don’t give up . . . they text!  They text to my cell phone and leave sneaky little messages using up my data space!  They are yelling at me.  I miss the days when we could give these calls to our youngest and he’d babble to them for hours or until they hung up. 

I am tired of finding my mailbox stuffed with political advertisements . . . seems about 75 percent of our mail lately has been political advertisements.  These guys are worse than Wal-Mart!  It is so bad in our small town post office that they are thinking about moving the dumpster in to collect all the advertisements that people are throwing away.  The local dump moans in the waste.  There is no escape and they continue to yell at me through my mail!

Since I really do not watch television or listen to the radio . . . I don’t get yelled at too much there, but I have noticed more and more political ads showing up on my Facebook page.  Usually they are touting some candidate or dissing some candidate.  They are everywhere on Facebook . . . heaven help you if you accidentally click on one.  You’ll be bombarded from every direction until hell freezes over.  Worse yet is the posts that show up on my newsfeed on Facebook.  I am tired of being yelled at.

Time magazine stated in last week’s edition that—according to the Pew Research Center—one in five social networkers has blocked, unfriended, or hidden someone over political material that was too frequent or too disagreeable.  I have thought about it, decided against it . . . I wouldn’t have anyone left!  Yet, at the same time I have begun to skim over all of the political material showing up on my newsfeed . . . I am tired of negativity and nastiness . . . I am tired of being yelled at.

I am tired of being yelled at when I drive and have to pass by the multitude of billboards and yard signs that dot the landscape.  I am tired of pollsters accosting me on the street.  I am tired of people knocking on my door to share political fliers and seek my vote.  I am tired of the debates that are being aired on television.  I am tired of being yelled at.

Sixteen days . . . and the yelling ends . . . maybe!  Experience has taught me that the yelling never ends.  There might be a lull, but the yelling will begin once again in a couple of months as everyone begins gearing up for the next major election.  I just want the yelling to stop.  Maybe my three friends below have the right idea . . . 

We can only wish that the yelling will stop!