I whole-heartedly agree that if someone is abusing you, step away.
However, especially now, we need to be very careful about not being exactly who we are condemning. We criticize conservatives for being sexist, racist, patriarch-loving-hate-mongers, yet we fail to see that they have been manipulated by their biased news authority just as we have by our--yes--biased news authorities. This causes us to make snap judgments about others, just as they are doing to us. Then emotions flare and no one is understanding anyone.
Just consider the fact that the conservatives are getting the same extreme tales of "what the left is doing and saying," which is always an exaggeration of being too soft and too lenient such as electing to allow abortions in full-term cases "just because," or letting in "any ol' rapist and cartel lord" with the immigration policies, just as the left has been given equally horrifying stories, such as Trump's Project 2025, which he had nothing to do with.
When one tall tale is told to the right, the left get told their tales and then everyone is running with wild exaggerations to take all of it to the extreme.
Including the politicians. We all need to take a step back and breathe, learn the facts (which is increasingly harder to do) then consider the facts and draw our own conclusions. We need to stop passing along misinformation just because it "sounds" right based on our emotionally charged impression of the story's main character.
Trump needed all the votes he could get as did Harris, and so they allowed and/or perpetuated any misunderstandings or "fake news" that would support their cause regardless of whether it was true or not. If it incited passion in their supporters, it was allowed. If those supporters ran with their stories and blew them out of proportion, all the better because politicians think they can't be held accountable for how people interpret things they've said.
Did either candidate consider how their fight would tear apart families, friendships and partnerships that have already been strained from the 2016, 2020 elections, with COVID right on their heels? I doubt it.
Did they have any regard to how damaging that is to the future of the US? Again, doubtful.
As it is, my heart breaks for the democratic voters who have become so entrenched in fear and anger, much like the Republicans were in 2020. The game the politicians on both sides have played with our hearts is coming to a real scary point. It's up to those of us who are more self-aware to dig in to the deeper truths, find compassion for why the "other side" may have come up with their ideas, and what fears have driven their point of view. We need to stop the habit following our emotions and untethering our reason because our chosen leaders have done their damndest to help us do that.
Politicians say they care what happens to us, but they care only if they get their way first. That's ultimately why they wanted to be a politician in the first place.
A narcissistic tendency is the baseline of any politician. Some more so than others, but its how they're wired.
My 20 yo daughter and I used to be able to have great discussions about politics, but this election has her shaking with rage as she absorbs all the hyperbole coming from the left. And I can see why. The day of the election, two guys showed up on her college campus with "Women are Property" and "God Hates Fags" signs. Scary indeed until you understand they were just taking advantage of the moment hoping someone would kick them off campus so they could sue for violation of their right for free speech. I wouldn't be surprised if they didn't even vote.
That incident has made it impossible for me to help my daughter relax and for us to talk politics anymore. Anything I say that is counter to the rhetoric just pisses her off and I can’t console her. I'm not even taking Trump's side, I'm just suggesting she look at some facts, widen her perspective and gain a better understanding of the republican positions, but she won't hear it.
The guys on my daughter’s campus with their hateful signs is just one example of how our anger is going to be used against us. And it's not because of republicans, it's because of opportunists like these manipulating our emotions to get us to concede to their will.
And some of those opportunists have nuclear weapons.
In the end, all politicians are out to win at any cost. Supporters on both sides have been subliminally spoon-fed the exact kind of thought response they are to have to incite passions and drive votes. It's all a complicated game made to look overly simple to cater to our base need for black and white thinking when we are scared, and it's become extremely dangerous with what's going on in the world.
We are in another cold war, and we'd better stop bickering amoungst ourselves and pay attention.
I feel that given this last election, if we are not extremely conscious of our words, conscienscous of our news source, and take a step back to breathe before we repeat stories from journalists who can't help but frighten themselves with their imagined retelling of the news, we will end up doing very regretable things, like cut people out of our lives who are just as manipulated as we are. Or push for legislation that doesn't actually serve us in the grand scheme.
I respect the hell out of you, Walter, and I certainly didn't vote repubilcan in this election or any. However, given the very decisive way in which the results went, I feel I'd be doing a huge disservice to my kids and my legacy if I didn't resist the tendency of liberals to write off every republican as a horrible person who doesn't deserve any damn thing. I have empowered myself to wake up from the stupor that our insecure, juvenile politicians, brainwashed media, and celebrities had lulled me into.
I've changed my news source to Tangle which is affiliated with 1440 Daily Digest. Tangle is an independent, nonpartisan, subscriber supported newsletter founded by Issac Saul. It "summarizes the best arguments from across the political spectrum," and then Issac gives his personal take with every invitiaiton to disagree and give your point of view. It's quite good, and I wish I had discovered it before the election. I'm sure I would have still voted for Harris, but I'd understand better why so many voted for Trump.
There is a Docuseries on Netflix called Turing Point: The Cold War and the Bomb. It's a very apolitical recounting of the history of those times with an excellent background to help better understand what people were thinking. It's inspired in me the importance of staying objective while appreciating even more how not even our politians can do that in the heat of the moment.
The saying about how it's best to learn our history to avoid repeating it keeps ringing in my ears. We need to understand the psyche of our leaders and our adversaries. We need to stop judging and throwing mud and allowing others to think for us. We need to stop with the "well they did that to us" mentality and take the higher ground.
Now more than ever in human history we need to have compassion for one another and unite because the world depends on us. Not because of what Trump is up to, but because of what many a world leader is up to.
The sooner we can let go of hate, the sooner we can save ourselves.
