#Microblog Monday 215: Alpha Feelers
Not sure what #MicroblogMondays is? Read the inaugural post which explains the idea and how you can participate too.
*******
I am still mentally regrouping after the Kavanaugh vote. Analysts are stating that things are calming down, but… I’m not feeling that. I don’t feel like I’m settling. I feel like I’m sinking.
(You too?)
There was a Carolyn Hax column this weekend. Hax was trying to give pregnancy after infertility advice without definitively understanding the situation (the asker was extremely vague with her pronouns), and she coins/uses the term “alpha feeler” to describe the only person’s emotions who matter. Meaning the alpha feeler feels something and everyone else around her needs to feel it, too. In this case, the alpha feeler is not asking this, but the mother is asking one child to treat the other child as the alpha feeler. Anyway.
The point is that considering another person’s feelings is complicated business, and yet, we still have to do it. It’s a key piece of being a family member/friend/community member. Trying to honour the feelings of a country is even more complicated, and yet, lawmakers still have to do it. The public offered their feelings through polls. The majority consistently did not support the confirmation of Kavanaugh. The lawmakers chose to ignore feelings.
And this is where we are.
*******
Are you also doing #MicroblogMondays? Add your link below. The list will be open until Tuesday morning. Link to the post itself, not your blog URL. (Don’t know what that means? Please read the three rules on this post to understand the difference between a permalink to a post and a blog’s main URL.) Only personal blogs can be added to the list. I will remove any posts that are connected to businesses or are sponsored post.
| 1. | Isabelle | 7. | Risa Kerslake | 13. | Jess |
| 2. | Jewish IVF | 8. | Failing at Haiku | 14. | Cristy |
| 3. | Delenn | 9. | Stephanie (Travelcraft Journal) | 15. | Empty Arms, Broken Heart |
| 4. | Modern Gypsy | 10. | Mali (A Separate Life) | 16. | Laughing IS Conceivable2 |
| 5. | Journeywoman | 11. | Mali (No Kidding) | 17. | Geochick |
| 6. | Lori @Laughing IS Conceivable | 12. | Amber |
9 comments
Ah yes. This was perfectly related back to the Kavanaugh case. I too, just can’t really go there right now. I’m in shock for this what we are capable of in this country.
I’ve been expecting it , but I’m so depressed and angry. And scared. Because I feel like our rights are going out the window, and that terrifies me. I’ve fought for equality my entire life- I was the first and only girl on my high school sports team because there wasn’t a girls equivalent. It wasn’t easy and I put up with a lot of $%^& for doing it, but I believe in it. (And senior year I was the only one to go to state thank you very much). And I see all of this crumbling….. But, I wish any of it surprised me.
Since January 2017 — and perhaps longer, in some parts of the country — we have been ruled by a forceful and vocal minority, rather than the majority. As a result, our federal lawmakers mostly feel that they are answerable only to that minority group.
It is incredibly disheartening. I have to focus on other things to not feel hopeless. If our representative government is not representing us, then what?
Yes, I didn’t like the use of the word “codependency” in the response. And you’re right – the Alpha Feeler wasn’t asking for the allowances, the mother was imposing those. That’s a situation set up for misunderstandings.
And I have been sending all my US friends as many hugs as I can at the moment. The ripples of this decision – to ignore women, to ignore the majority – have been felt all over the world.
And…the false hope of the fbi investigation…and for the repubs including freaking Collins to say there was no corroborating evidence when there were like 40 people WITH CORROBORATING EVIDENCE calling the FBI and not getting through or called back…gahhhhhhhhhhhhhh
Plus that mofo lied under oath repeatedly. That alone should have disqualified him.
🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬🤬
Yes, yes, yes — “The majority consistently did not support the confirmation of Kavanaugh. The lawmakers chose to ignore feelings.” It makes me LIVID. I don’t understand how, regardless of whether or not the accusations were corroborated, you could let someone in who comported himself that way in the hearing. He was THE COMPLETE OPPOSITE of what you would want a Supreme Court Judge to be. I feel like everything is upside down and backwards and we are getting closer and closer to not actually being a democratic nation. I do NOT feel represented by the decisions being made, either.
You and everyone above said it better than I ever could. I’m still reeling too.
Sending love.
I expected it. Yet, I feel like I’m sinking too. They let us down.