"I helped RIG the election today!!" buttons... a good idea or what?

@conandlibrarian I wasn’t planning to sell them. I can get 100 of them for $26 (it is unclear if that includes shipping or not); I’ve spent way more on other jokes in the past and I know a bunch of people who would think the buttons are funny and wear them.

My concern is more along the lines of whether or not it is wise to poke fun at people who still believe the election can be rigged in the voting booth by individual voters.

We all know that elections can be (and frequently are) rigged but this happens in the various state legislatures and not in voting booths.

@dashcloud Most likely, they won’t let you wear it in at all. Laws vary, but in most places, “electioneering” is not allowed within about a hundred feet of a polling place. No buttons, t-shirts, signs, chants, etc.

@rockblossom I’d not wear one into my polling place, tho I have most certainly seen people wearing buttons, hats, and other candidate specific paraphernalia into polling places in past years.

I had not considered that election workers might not find it funny. Thanks: this is why I posted the question here.

@dashbutt

“… it depends on people actually finding it funny, and not having people get pissed at you or think you’re a kindred spirit who shares all their views.”

Doesn’t this apply to all humor tho?

@baqui63 Living with someone who takes everything extremely seriously (and is a Drumpf supporter shudder), I wouldn’t recommend it. There will be people who will actually take offense to something like this. I for one do find it funny, but it’s not something you should wear when you actually vote.

@meh rotflmao!

@djslack
/image Martin Riggs

@KDemo No button, but there are shirts …

http://www.teeturtle.com/products/nasty-woman

@tomvarela
This election year makes it necessary for many of us who were not there already to become Dedicated Absurdists.

(Tho I do have a real POV and will vote it. Would have voted yesterday, but the parking area was full.)

So this is how trump supporters see him? neat.

I have listened to Trump speak, I know the best speakers, just the other day this guy, you don’t know him, but this guy told me, well maybe you do know him, he told me Trump is the best speaker, I didn’t say it, it was this guy, anyway Trump gives the best speeches.

@caffeine_dude

@caffeine_dude
Listen to me. You know that guy who said Trump’s speeches aren’t great? What a loser. A nobody. Probably nobody reads his tweets.

Are you listening? Do you agree with me? If that guy were famous, he’d get hit with a lawsuit. And let me tell you, he’d deserve it.

@PocketBrain Do you see all those stars at the top of the button? That’s how many stars I’m giving you.

@DrunkCat Did they rig them to make Trump the nominee? Because that was brilliant.

@SSteve Was referencing the tremendous amount of money and collusion revealed by the DNC emails during the primaries but apparently

http://observer.com/2016/10/wikileaks-reveals-dnc-elevated-trump-to-help-clinton/

You’re not wrong. Though it is hilariously pathetic that the worst possible candidate in history still couldn’t make HRC look good.

@DrunkCat
Background info about the source of the linked article: it is named as “Opinion”, not published as a news story. And at the end of the story is this disclaimer;

Disclosure: Donald Trump is the father-in-law of Jared Kushner, the publisher of Observer Media.

@f00l Way to spoil it.

@DrunkCat
Well, I did bother to skim the article; If I had more time at that moment, I would have read it.

@DrunkCat I wanted Bernie too, but I’ll absolutely vote for Hillary given the two party system. Based on the prices on PredictIt, I’d say most people would say Trump did make her look great.

@Pantheist “I really wanted to have a burger but I’ll absolutely eat some asbestos given I’m sitting in a house built in the 70s.”

@DrunkCat Better than the alternative, and this election also is extremely important because it will decide a supreme court justice. Do you want Trump picking that?

@Pantheist I wouldn’t want HRC picking them either.

@PurplePawprints
I don’t know, but I suspect other voters and election workers would have an issue with a partisan or strongly provocative shirt or button or other political clothing-accessory in the polling place.

Outside, fine.

@f00l Eh, I don’t think it’s any more politicized than any other generic type “get out the vote” type button/hat/shirt. It doesn’t mention any candidate and as long as I’m not chatting anyone up trying to sway their vote, I see nothing wrong with wearing it, or another slogan type saying. I’d just be going in to vote and and then leave. If I were standing outside menacingly, that’d be different.

@PurplePawprints, I have no knowledge of what you look like or even whether you are male or female. If I went thru this forum, I might find some indicators of your physical attributes (or at least of any physical attributes you present, which may or may not represent reality) and perhaps even a photo or three.

Regardless, your statement above about you “… standing outside menacingly…” struck me as somehow completely ridiculous in concept, along the lines of a menacing daisy or some such (albeit a purple one).

I do humbly apologize if you find my preconceived notion of your appearance to be offensive to you.

/image menacing purple daisy

@baqui63 I think it’s hilarious, to be honest. I always felt like I have a resting bitch face, and don’t like strangers much, but people are always approaching me and being chatty like we’re friends. It’s the weirdest thing. And yeah, I’m not sure I could pull off “menacing” anymore now that I’m in my thirties and a bit (ha!) chubby. The purple hair used to throw people off, but even that has become mainstream now and people approach me for hair tips. It’s ridiculous.

@PurplePawprints
Omg can we get a hair pix?!!!

Want!

@f00l The quality is shit, but it’s pretty recent, at least. In decent light, the purple is much more noticeable.

@PurplePawprints And Battlestar Galatica in the background!!!

@phatmass
/giphy make america grape again.

@conandlibrarian

@narfcake I like purple.

@caffeine_dude I love purple.

@JT954 Yup.
http://www.nbcdfw.com/news/politics/Texas-Man-Wearing-Deplorables-Shirt-Charged-with-Electioneering-398972931.html

@meh have you ever been face-to-face with a group of pissed-off Trump supporters? I don’t think people are saying it’s a bad idea bc it might hurt feelings - it’s a bad idea bc angry people behave unpredictably, and it’s not enough of a laugh to be worth risking your physical safety.

@anemones meh. like every other provocative election item this year. i think such a fear is ridiculous, but then i’m verbally accosted by actual crazy people on the street every day. more likely people just think bringing up danger because it’s a more reasonable argument that saying what they really feel, which is that they disagree or - wait for it - are offended by the message. JUST MY THOUGHTS, THOUGH.

@meh Here in NY we get one day, one day only. (You surely know that, but others might not.) There is some way to do it by mail, but absentee ballots are not even opened unless they might make a difference to the outcome, plus using the mail seems like an unnecessary complication to me.

I’m not very concerned about offending others, though that does not mean that I’ll go out of my way to do so.

For the record, I truly believe that Drumpf is a jerk, is not a very good businessman, is probably a serial abuser, is certainly a liar, is possibly schizophrenic, is much more likely (than Hilary) to belong in jail for criminal activity and is generally unfit to be president. These beliefs should not be taken to mean that I believe Hilary is a GOOD choice, but I most certainly believe that she is a BETTER choice than Drumpf, Johnson or Stein (and these four are the only presidential candidates on the NY ballot).

@meh
Re:anger
I take it you have not been confronted, followed, and shouted at because someone deliberately eavesdropped trying overhear a softly-spoken commonplace non-incendiary political joke so that the eavesdropper could confront you with your anti-civilization attitudes.

Certain well-known people who have gone public with their voting intentions have been loudly confronted frequently, at even at kid’s parties.

It might depend on the circumstance and the neighborhood. But 2016 is not a great year for commonplace civility.

@meh I’m probably mellowing as I get older or something. I do realize that pissing people off really does nothing to change your opinion or their opinion. It just pisses them off. If that’s what a person’s plan is… then go for it.
There’s lots of angry people out there on both sides, mostly Trump & Bernie supporters. The problem is that there has never been two presidential candidates with such low approval ratings. Yes, they both suck. When people have to pick who sucks less, they get pissed.
I’m getting pissed just thinking about it. GRRRRR… OK, I’m over it.

I think:

1. The ‘presidential season’ is too damn long. It goes almost 2 years. Shit. Everything can be done in 6-9 months.

2. The ‘presidential primary’ is just a kludged-together mess. Shit. Have 3 or 4 primaries. Maybe by time-zone and all ballot-voting. The caucus thing can get so ‘stuffed’ with a candidate that it’s unusable. And what the heck is with New Hampshire being the voting yardstick for the nation? Shit.

OK, I’ll get off my soapbox.

@f00l that’s an extremely specific scenario, and no, it hasn’t happened and i’m not the least, tiny bit fearful that it will happen. i have been affronted about things i’ve said - or didn’t say- about far stupider things than election rigging, though. i was even recently accosted by what i would call a lovely, rather large in size and width, Caucasian family while driving through a walmart parking lot, bless my heart, if i was afraid of doing things that would put me on contact with crazy people, i’d never go to work, or drive my car, or walk down the street.

politics are inherently divisive; incredulous and incendiary things are often said, worn, shared with the sole purpose of just pissing people off, as its well known that a dumb meme, button, clever quip, twisted stat isn’t going to change anyone’s mind. this button isn’t any different, any more or less incendiary, than all the election bullshit people have and will continue to share, post, wear, and say. this election is not as different from others as people want to say. i also don’t really chat/whisper about politics, though. i’m also not going to wear this or any other button. but my thoughts on how people feel about things like this button are still my thoughts: people state dramatic situations that sound more legitimate than just saying “i really disagree with this and would prefer people don’t say/wear/share it because i’m offended”. tl;dr my feelings are that this election is overdramatized.

@daveinwarsh i agree with everything you said. i just also dgaf if people want to wear a button that will annoy other people. not wearing the button.

ps also in washington. mailed ballot. dont vote for ST3 its dumb. #incendiarypoliticalcomments

@meh What is ST3?

edit: Just answered my own question: http://soundtransit3.org/

@meh ST3 isn’t in my county. It’s a train-to-nowhere.

@daveinwarsh lucky. gosh, so dumb.

@meh lololol… yep. Boston fans are dangerous ppl.

@baqui63 dude it was brutal. honestly never been talked to that way by someone that wasn’t a mentally derranged addict at the bad end of 3rd ave mistaking me for that person they need to kill. and even then it was almost as bad.