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Blog Entry 25 of 31 Naz in L.A.

I am an L.A. bred and based writer. I grew up in Encino across from Balboa Park and in Tarzana in a seniors-only condominium. These are my stories - all of which revolve around the L.A. axis.

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I hope not all Obama supporters are like this...

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Contributed by: Nazbanoo Pahlavi on 2/4/2008

I like political debate and the coming together of supporters of the different candidates. Yesterday on the freeway, I was excited that someone had an Obama bumper sticker on their car purely for the fact that they were showing their political involvement. In my neighborhood, there are Hillary and Obama signs on front lawns, but that's it - one Hillary sign here, one Obama sign there. I get excited when people are involved. I even said this during my phone calls on behalf of Hillary to voters who shared a different candidate of choice. That's ok, that's what makes America great. I welcome different opinions, but not when they are defended in a mean-spirited way.

I have been in an email dialogue with an Obama supporter who has taken my words in my last post and used them against me. He has compared me to Rush Limbaugh for reasons I don't even know. At first, I thought it was a joke, but now I'm not so sure. Since when is it wrong to speak in what I believe, in voicing the personal as political? This is one reason that I often found it difficult to advocate feminism as a Feminist Studies major when I was at Pitzer College. Women need to speak up and show that equality does not mean erasing gender from the equation, it means addressing it and including it. I am not prepared to have a man, or anyone, tell me that just because I am a woman and that I voice my opinion that I am the equivolent of a conservative shock jock on the radio.

More than that, It got me to thinking. Would I ever want to associate myself with Obama when his supporters use mean and hurtful ways of putting down those who support another candidate? This isn't about me vs. you. This is about having a respectful and intelligent political conversation without getting nasty. That is true democratic participation. That is how grown ups talk politics.

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