I’ve written so many pages trying to analyze and process
what has happened to our country/world… too many to post. I think what is most immediately on my mind
however, is a question I’ve been wrestling with for a year: How do I relate to
my friends and family who support Trump-Pence and their platform? Ranging from casual friends to my own brother
to my wife’s parents…
According to a survey I saw (I think on Vox), in 1964,
around 30% of Republicans and Democrats thought the other party was actually a
danger to the US .
In 2010, it had risen up to almost 80% of both parties. That is BAD for
democracy. It’s okay for the parties to
oppose and work against one-another. But
when you hate and fear one-another, that can’t happen in a healthy
democracy. We, on the left, should not
hate and fear the GOP, and visa-versa.
Seth Myers talked about how, after the election, he felt
sadness, anger, and fear, but then he realized that these were the same
emotions a lot of Trump supporters felt about Obama and Hillary and, “it would
be wrong of me to think that my emotions are somehow more authentic than their
emotions.” I thought about that…
But he’s wrong.
Outrage at the election of Obama is not morally equivalent
to outrage at the election of Trump.
Because we of one party should not view the opposition as a serious
danger to the country… unless it actually is.
And, therein, lies the rub.
Recently, my Alpha posted this: “Fuck all this "I don't unfriend people
over political views" shit. If your political views include being pro genocide,
anti equal rights…, hating gays, hating women, hating immigrants (and are
ignorant enough to think a great wall is coming free of charge from Mexico), or
thinking "I'm in favor of conservative economic policies, so I'm voting
for this asshole who isn't qualified to run a country" [Note: Trump will
be the first US President who never served in either public office or the
military.], seriously, fuck you. I really want you to tell me if you supported
him so I can avoid you forever… Like,
Stein believes in magic crystals and Johnson is libertarian, but I don't mind
people voting for them as they aren't terrible, terrible people.”
Likewise, I can have friends who supported Bush-Cheney or
voted for Romney or McCain. I disagree with them – but those fall within the
realm of normal political disagreements.
Trump is NOT a normal case! Trump
is a dangerous narcissist with obvious sociopahic tendencies (total lack of
empathy) who has casually talked about murdering innocent people (killing the
families of terrorists), bragged about committing sexual assault, said he will
have people tortured (“waterboarding and worse”), and praised totalitarian
dictators as examples of great leadership.
Trump is NOT the conservative equivalent to Obama or the Clintons (that
would be more in line w/ Romney, McCain or George H.W. Bush). No, Trump is such an extreme case that the
Left equivalent of him would be like Mao or Stalin.
To those who say: “To
all posters... Please STOP trying to put this country in Civil War... Don't try
to divide this nation more”… You are
basically Neville Chamberlain. People
who are posting junk like, “Apparently tolerance and compromise only applies to
others,” are making a (deliberate?) false equivalence. Asking for tolerance for the views of a
typical, centrist left-moderate like Obama or Clinton (universal healthcare and
family leave, for instance, are common, ordinary things throughout most of the
civilized world) is not equivalent to asking to tolerate the views of a man who
talked casually about murdering innocent people, said “laziness is a trait in
blacks,” argued for greater nuclear proliferation, said Mexican-Americans are
drug dealers and rapists, said he will order torture, ban all Muslims from
entering the country, etc. Fighting for tolerance does not mean fighting to
tolerate EVERYTHING. Tolerance is not total moral relativism. Some things
remain intolerable.
I will not be tolerant of your support of Trump. That has moved too far outside of the normal
political disagreements that are actually (usually) healthy for democracy. I won’t be tolerant of it any more than I
would tolerate white supremacists, fascists, or ISIS . There is a line beyond which you are no
longer welcome at my table.
Wonderfully said
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