Now that the election is over, let's get self-righteous in our assumptions!
Yesterday I shared that I think a vote for Trump was foolish and that America made a mistake electing Trump. Despite an abundance of potential reasons, I can boil it down to one: Trump's campaign was run on a platform of inciting violence between Americans. The POTUS is supposed to keep America safe and strong. Inciting violence between citizens fractures the country. His campaign encouraged divides along lines of race, religion, class and gender. Even if he is now recanting to save face, he still built his presence on dividing the United States. That is definitively anti-American.
I share that and I know the assumptions will fly. Let me help you.
1. If I didn't support Trump, I must like Hillary.
False. And stupid. I don't like Hillary any more than I like Trump even if she didn't run her campaign on violence between citizens on American soil. I strongly object to her foreign policy. Would I like to see a woman president? Yes. But not her.
2. If you like Trump, you are stupid.
False. You can like whoever you want. I do think voting for him is foolish for my own reasons. Electing him even more so. But that is because you have to either be racist and sexist and know it or willfully ignore his actions, reputation, history and who he is because what? You like money? Divorcing yourself from empathy for humanity to line your pockets or secure that lining makes it all pointless. But that is my opinion. I believe in freedom of opinion and speech, so you do you.
3. If you support Hillary, you are on meth (or other drugs or not able to correctly process information due to a neural deficit).
Hahahahahahahahaha! Yep. Go check my comments. The internet trolls are out, it would seem. I'll clear this up. I'm not on meth, but you know what? Trump probably is on cocaine. sniff sniff sniff
Okay, seriously now. I recognize the internet is not the lap of civilization, but we don't have to be raging assholes to each other to make our points. So let me say this the nice way: I get that you're reactive, but your reactions are not my fault. My vote is my business, yours is yours. I am allowed to disagree with you and you with me. I apologize if my opinions hurt you in some way. In the future. please let me know how and why without intentionally trying to harm me through aggressive language and incendiary implications and we can have a conversation. Cool? Cool.
For what it's worth, if I did support Hillary, it would be because I believe I have the right to not be physically abused or sexually violated, that I am more than an object, that disability does not make me less than human, or that as citizens of the same nation, we need to come together in support of one another rather than beat each other down based on the differences we are born with. Those are legitimate reasons to support a candidate. Especially if, say, your life is literally at immediate risk if another candidate is in power. This could be for reasons of race, religion, culture, location, bodily autonomy or health care access that is keeping you alive but part of Trump's campaign states will be done away with.
4. If you don't support Hillary, you support Trump.
False. Come on, people. There were not just two candidates! Unfortunately, the media boiled the race down to two candidates and because we let the media rule our thoughts, they locked the race into Clinton v. Trump. We need to get organized offline before we do our voting so we can break out of binary dynamics and thinking, to be honest.
5. If you voted third party (or for yourself), you wasted your vote.
False. No vote is wasted. Even if you felt Trump or Clinton was the worst possible choice. Although I do have a lot of friends now kicking themselves. They voted third party because they thought the rest of the country would support Clinton rather than because they believed their candidate would win. Their voices were heard and Trump won because of it. I think what happened is that women who have been sexually assaulted became vocal enough against Trump that no Trump seemed a sure thing. In my world bubble, that was definitely true. I work with many victims of sexual assault. In fact, in my circle, 9/10 women have survived rape or molestation, so voting for a man who thinks bragging about sexual assault is locker room talk was a hard-core nope. And when Clinton adjusted her campaign strategy to afford physical autonomy and a voice against sexual assault and objectification of women, that was enough for these individuals to support her.
@dantheman remarked that I am against Trumpkins based on my "cognitive biases." Um, yeah. We all vote based on personal interest or cognitive bias. That's part of being human. Look back at item 3. If I supported a third party candidate, it would be for all the reasons I would support Hillary AND reasons of environment, foreign policy, and education reform among others.
6. If you are a Trump supporter, you are a violent person and undeserving of empathy.
False. Chill, people. Yes, lots of Trump supporters voted because they were stoked that they have been granted authority to make a pile of not-white faces they can stand on to level up, but the majority are looking for a lost cultural history or for financial security. In addition to being a violence-inciting psychopath, Trump is also a mogul with a family history of white, male dominance that speaks to a cultural loss in America. White men in rural areas are committing suicide at an astounding rate because they feel useless. Their purpose has disappeared with outsourcing, they are adrift in an economy their grandfathers established and dominated. They want their place at the table back. It's a very human feeling--the desire for purpose and belonging.
The same empathy can be extended to women voting for Hillary. I mean, dictionary.com knew what it was all about. The word of the day on election day was "suffrage." While Hillary is not my choice for first female POTUS, I admit to being very excited that the country has come far enough to consider a woman for the position. You know, until it elected a misogynist whose campaign ran on the blood of your virgins and who, you know, had a anti-choice, anti-LGBTQIA+ rights running partner who also enacted RFRA in Indiana to allow religious discrimination and shut down so many Planned Parenthoods (and thereby needle exchanges and access to sexual protection) he created a health emergency. Cool story, right? That doesn't even touch Pence's environmental legacy. In short, it's more than about the head honcho, especially when he has zero governing experience and will have to turn to his running mate to get shit done.
7. I'm angry.
True and False. I'm angry that we've allowed the media to dictate so much of our political process. @kyriacos wrote a great post about that and what to expect in the next little/long while. Rhetoric is everything in a political race, and America has fallen hook, line and sinker for rhetorical ejaculate of mass media. I wish more people would make decisions based more on evidence and less on how it's spun. Like, you can't tell me that Trump isn't a xenophobic, violent, erratic, sexually abusive, racist asshat. He said so himself. Over and over. Every time he opened his mouth. And you can't tell me Clinton is not an intelligent, power-hungry, no-holds-barred terror because that woman has her shit together, and any woman who has that is scary. Not just because women aren't allowed to be bosses in the public sphere, but because she has a fucking consistent history of being merciless. O_o
I wanted something better. I'm angry that it didn't happen. But the I'm excited now because the whole world is judging and watching and listening. All the men and women of this country who were vocal against Trump's bullshit now have a chance to stand up and stay vocal with the world watching. Not to be too cliche, but we have a chance to be be the change by forcing it. Polls show we are more than half of America, and that's a big fucking deal.
Is it scary to think about standing up to an oppressor? Sure. But Trump is already editing the aggressive oppression from his campaign which means his people are getting organized to turn him into a leader. It just got real for Trump. Can't be fun for a narcissist to now be saddled with all that external expectation and responsibility. This will be . . . interesting.
8. We should all be afraid.
False. We should all be proactive. Let your new leader know your expectations. Always use your voice and your vote. I say this even though I am afraid. Post-9/11 was a scary time for me. I'm brown. I was targeted and still face regular aggression. I started writing because I was tired of the assumptions being thrown at me about my religious, cultural, national, etc affiliations based on my skin color. People needed to fuck off, so I told them. I broke it down for them, and while the changes have been incremental, I have made changes. No matter who we are or what our situation, we can work to increase empathy.
You may have noticed this post and the last were riddled with snark when my other writing tends to stay away from incendiary language and statements. The reason I choose not to write this way most of the time is because it is not inclusive. I believe in finding commonalities and standing together. I also believe in a right to opinion and personal expression. It's okay with me if you disagree with any and all points raised here. But let's be civilized. Let's rise above the language America's future leader used throughout his campaign and not actually become the anticipated idiocracy. Our leader's emotional and intellectual deficits do not have to be our own. And no, this isn't a last swipe at Trump. He has literally portrayed himself as deficient in these areas, and he is now the face of America. Seriously, regardless of who you wanted to win (assuming you wanted any of the choices) let's not follow his example. Let's all of us, the whole world, force him to reshape it.
This ends my political thoughts on Steemit. I'll be back to my more personal posts after this. Thank you for reading.
images via pixabay.com
I don't like either candidate, but I attended a trump rally that was held locally and the only people I saw inciting violence were all Hilary supporters. Not Trump nor a single one of his supporters acted in any way that even resembled violence. Hilary supporters, on the other hand, acted in the most vile manner I've ever witnessed, trying their best to incite a reaction from Trump supporters, who to their credit, remained civil.
Watching the news, I was prepared for quite the opposite.
I had to ask myself, why is the news reporting the opposite of what I'm actually witnessing?
I did read news about that happening more than once! It is TERRIBLE. It's akin to where our culture is headed--we are now the same as every other country with a leader oppressing women and minorities except our women should be thin and mostly naked instead of covered and quiet. Other minorities are still those with darker skin. That type of goading practice is the baseline for becoming the thing you hate--ape it until it acts up then ignore that you were the reflection that incited the reaction. It sets the pendulum in motion, and the pauses are at either extreme rather than in the middle, neutral zone. It's a bummer. I'm sorry you saw people behaving that way. :(
I was troubling to see what I consider people I identify with behaving in a way they themselves were accusing the republicans of behaving, even when there way no evidence to support their claims. Even more disturbing was the media reporting the deception that Trump supporters were to blaim. From this witnesses perception, all the hate was coming from Hilary's camp. Im not exaggerating when I say all the hate. Yet our media reported falsity and we believed them.
I'm glad I attended, if only to have a better lens to see through the fiction our networks program us with.
Division is a powerful tool used against populations and we must see through the ruse fostered on us by media and, dispite all our differences in ideologies, remain united in human commonalities.
I did not vote for Trump or Clinton, but really it was Hillary's campaign, and Hillary's supporters who resorted to violence. She is secretly violent both personally and professionally, that scares me much more than some misquoted words.
I do see her as violent. It's so incredibly unfortunate that this race was boiled down to the two of them. I don't know what you mean about misquoted words--the only stuff attributed to Trump (if that's who you mean) that I saw I didn't read. I watched videos of him saying the words. Hillary is far too cunning to spew incendiary word vomit. I agree with some who say at least we know what we are getting when it comes to Trump. He's an overprivileged child in a man suit who will certainly do very little of the actual governing. My issues lie just as much with who will help him govern. Pence is as odious as Hillary, he just focuses it all on the minorities within the US while Hillary is all about them brown people on other shores. Can we fast forward four years?
As long as we only vote for Authoritarians, we will only get Authoritarians. People seem to love their Authoritarians, it's other people's Authoritarians they hate.
LOL that is so very true.
The most silly are those who say "I have predicted Hillary/Trump to win 6 months ago" and then get into verbal masturbation boasting about it.
There was no way to properly predict the winner bwtween any of these 2 candidates. The whole campaign was too random, unpredictable and chaotic until the last moment. Just like a flip of a coin.
Btw, the logical falallacy of such duality that you mentioned is called false dilemma or false dichotomy"
All our social problems denominate to people not being able to recognise logical fallacies in their communication (altogehter with mechanics of monetary system and scientific illiteracy). Therefore they also support politicans who are not able to recognise them.
Aha! False dichotomy. Thank you. I was hunting around in my head for that term. I believe fear and logic are often enemies, and with media constantly promoting fear, it makes it difficult for anyone to clearly assess what choices are present let alone who will succeed. It makes it harder still when we surround ourselves with like minds. We can easily assume the world is reflected in our friend circle, but that is also false because we have catered our circle to our personal likes and needs.
Fear is being used by those in power as means to control.
I agree that is staying in the bubble-circle of friends can sometimes limit our experience and exploration of the society/world around us.
I posted once about types of logical fallacies. Maybe this advice will come handy.
https://steemit.com/life/@logic/how-to-debate-on-the-internet-common-types-of-logical-fallacies
https://steemit.com/life/@logic/how-to-debate-on-the-internet-common-types-of-logical-fallacies-part-2
Excellent! I think I need to bookmark these. It is very difficult not to ascribe to these fallacies in communication because we tend to become reactive and set logic aside.
I'm glad that they have been of help.
Yes, sometimes it is hard to apply these when our emotions take over. Mindfulness techniques help in staying assertive and logical with "Spock mentality" :-)
Trump's campaign was run on a platform of inciting violence between Americans
and yet it is the democrats that are BEING violent.
I am hearing that now. There is a lot of fear. I think violence is NOT the answer. I'm all about peaceful protest and bombing with words. It's frustrating that people can't see how they become the thing they hate.
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Well thought through and excellent post. You're right as it unfortunately came down to 2 candidates. I live in the UK and didn't think that either candidates were right but I followed the election campaign and you have to give it to Trump he never gave up and put his money where his mouth is. Unfortunately a lot of what he says although politically incorrect is true and people wanted change
I do see that people want change. I understand the idea of electing a President who isn't a career politician to break away from the political lies and manipulations. And he certainly is unfiltered. I don't know if I can agree with this part because I'm not sure to what you are referring: " Unfortunately a lot of what he says although politically incorrect is true..." I mean, most of what he said was fear-based rhetorical hate-food. But if you mean that it is true because a lot of people really like and agree with his hateful ideas, I guess so. I object on a moral basis, which is a little funny since I'm anti-religion and the religious folks I know support his support of violence against other humans as moral or right or good. Confusing. Seems like everyone knows who they expect themselves to be but no one sees who they actually are.