Like many, maybe most people here, I've had my mailbox crammed with political mailers for weeks. Most are from candidates and causes I support, with the occasional odd love letter from a Republican. I don't take the latter too seriously; they're always mass mailings that are sent to everyone. It's not like they're targeting me personally.
Last week though, something weird showed up. And it was indeed addressed to me personally.
It's the Arizona Catholic Tribune. It's apparently been around since 2020, is published by the American Catholic Tribune, it's eight pages long, and it was mailed to me from Kansas City, MO.
This is a head-scratcher. I was a Republican...decades ago. I was a Christian...even more decades ago. I've never been a Roman Catholic. This wasn't a mass mailing addressed to "postal customer". It's in tiny print at the top of the front page, but my name and mailing address are there. This was sent to me personally. I can only think of one reason why these people might think I'd be interested in seeing this codswallop. My name.
Specifically, my last name. Which I took for my own when I was married 25 years ago. A very recognizably Hispanic name. It's happened before, many times in fact. Someone sees my last name and assumes that I'm a Latina. However, if my suspicions are correct, this is the first time someone has assumed that Latino name = Roman Catholic = Conservative voter. If I'm right, they figure that because of my last name, I'm one of them. And it's bizarre, because my party affiliation is just as much a matter of public record as my last name and my address.
I find that just plain silly. Stupid even. Reading this "newspaper" however is simply insulting. Being mistaken for a Latina and therefore a likely Roman Catholic isn't something that raises my hackles. Being spoken to as if I am somehow also mentally deficient definitely is. This bull$#!+ in my mailbox seems to imply that, as a presumably Latino Catholic voter, I am in need of having things explained to me as if I were a grade school dropout. That is insulting.
I know, and have known, enough actual Latino Catholics to know that devotion to their faith does not automatically render them incapable of thinking. (Not all of them, anyway). Those people, who range in age from their early twenties to their eighties will always listen respectfully to their priest, their bishop, the pope. And having done so, they think about it. Pray about it. And make up their own minds. Sometimes they end up agreeing. But not always. I know this because they have told me. (The women of my husband's extended family in particular are amazing people.)
The dumbed-down language, and the use of graphics to imply that little kids are reading "x-rated pornography" in schools (assigned by teachers who "once recommended Nancy Drew-like mysteries" to their students) is just jaw-dropping. The sentimental tripe about "babies" at 10 or 12 weeks gestation sucking their thumbs, frowning, hiccuping, and doing almost everything an actual child can do short of throwing their sippy cup on the floor (with the implication that the emotional and mental development that accompanies such actions when done by actual children is present in a fetus) is ludicrous.
Then there's the extremely simplified "report card" on elected officials in Arizona. No pesky facts or commentary. Those aren't really necessary, after all. Not when these nice folks are here to tell you, dear voter, to give your support and your vote to Paul Praise-Q-and-pass-the-ammunition Gosar and Dave Ethics-are-for-losers Schweikert. Seriously! It's positively nauseating.
And in case you need another reminder, Mark Kelly is a super-duper double-no-good. Your bishop doesn't like him, and neither should you!
All of this oversimplified, dumbed-down, fact-free, trust-us-we-know-what's-good-for-you bullsh!ttery comes to you from the nice people who definitely know better than you do what you want, what you need, what you believe in, and for damn sure how you should vote. Aren't you blessed?
I haven't responded to them yet. Even to tell them to remove me from their mailing list. As annoying as it is, this bull$#!+ in my mailbox is also something of a window into what these people are saying and thinking. One which won't affect any algorithms online, resulting in endless ads and crap showing up in my feed. So...I don't know. I haven't decided yet. Maybe it's an election special one-off? Maybe if I ignore it it'll go away? (As if!)
Thank you for reading. This is an open thread, all topics are welcome.