Agreement

I try really hard not to get too political.  Never discuss politics or religion, right?  Well, I've screwed up the religion thing so here goes with politics. 

All of this horrible hatred makes me sad.  Social media makes it worse.  I "hear" so much name calling and generalizing and I wonder--if you knew how I felt or how I voted, dear close friend of mine, would you say what you're saying in a place where you knew I could hear you?

It's like all of the people who say things to me about the distance between my children.  If they knew how many I'd lost, they would keep quiet. 

I have lots of friends who disagree with me on a wide variety of things.  I'm happy that we can agree to disagree and that it's OK.  Most of the time, my closest friends don't say politically charged things that would be hurtful to me. 

Now, I'm not talking about voicing an opinion.  I had a healthy debate with a friend about abortion and the right to choose.  We didn't agree but neither of us called the other a baby killer or a small minded Bible thumper.  I hope we both left with a healthy respect for the other's opinion and even a glimpse into how the "other side" thinks. 

No, I'm talking about the people who make generalized statements about a particular political party or ethnic group.  Who say things like all people who voted for this politician should be executed or all people who think this way should be prevented from parenting children. 

These are really vile statements and if we're honest with ourselves we must admit that no two people think exactly alike.  There are few laws that everyone agrees with all the time.  "Killing a person is wrong...unless it's an unborn child or a felon on death row."  "Taking drugs is wrong...unless it's recreational cannabis or you've been prescribed opioids by a doctor."  See--no absolutes!  There are two sides (at least) to everything and a person behind every unintended consequence. 

I've never felt the need to be so cautious about expressing my personal beliefs until now.  I wonder how many friends I'd loose if they knew what I really thought about certain things.  I don't want to find out. Mostly because I don't think it's worth loosing friends over.  I hope all of you feel the same way about me.  It's ok that we don't agree.  If we were all the same, this world would be a lot less interesting.

Comments

El said…
There are people who (I think) have beliefs polar opposite my own who are good people and coming from a place of sincere faith. Where that can go sideways is when those people support candidates, parties or positions that can (and do) cause real harm to me or people like me.

Being complicit in the current dumpster fire that resides at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue tells marginalized people -- people of color, LGBT folks, immigrants, the poor -- that you don't care anything about us. You simply can't have it both ways. You can't call someone a friend, then through direct action or complicit inaction, support someone who has decades of documented malice towards them.

Politicians are shady, period. On both sides of the aisle there are people who will lie to get your vote... Who care more about staying in office than in serving the public good. But no-one can say that there are people on "both sides" who have ties to white supremacists or literal Nazis. Even if a candidate doesn't really believe in those things, but looks the other way while benefiting from those who do... They are a bad person.

It's only from a position of privilege that one can say "I'm not political." For the marginalized, it's not politics. It's a fight for survival... For a right to exist.
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Unrelated, I LOVE that you are still writing.
6:44 AM
Robin Olson said…
For the most part, I do not disagree. But here's where I would challenge what I'm hearing in what you're saying:

"Don't vote for someone who is directly or indirectly hurting marginalized people."
"Don't stay out of the conversation."

What then, is one to do when BOTH options are really not options? What this could be interpreted as is "You'd better vote but only if you're going to vote my way." Which, of course, I'm sure YOU don't mean (or do you? :-)) but how many (again on both sides) sound.

What am I to do if one candidate marginalizes people of color and the other unborn children? (These are general hypothetical examples--not thinking of specific people). I can not vote in defense of both groups. And then there are the issues that are important to me that marginalize ME. A working mom. A working woman. A Christian. A tax payer who works VERY hard for not a whole lot. Someone who wants to breathe clean air and keep nature natural. What do I do about those? No one politician has ever agreed with me on everything. How do I prioritize my issues that not only satisfies my conscience but will also appease my disagreeing friends and family so that they don't say things to me like "You're not a human being because you voted this way."? It's THIS that really bothers me--that we can not feel differently about things and still have conversations and really hear each other. I've been persuaded to change my views on a lot of things after such conversations.

I think people who say they're not political really mean that they don't understand how political decisions and issues impact their lives. I definitely felt that way in my younger years as whomever won office didn't seem to impact my life. The only time I can ever say I noticed it was when I got a check in the mail when "W" returned the surplus to the people. And even THAT didn't make a big impression. But as an adult with a paycheck and a parent I can see it much more clearly now.

I would also say that it's IMPOSSIBLE to get ALL relevant information needed about ANY candidate before casting a vote. I can only watch so much news (that may or may not be biased) and do so much research (that I'm not necessarily good at) before election day. And if we've learned nothing else from recent Supreme Court hearings it's that not everything comes out in a timely manner. We're learning an awful lot about people long after things are "in the past". What then?

The real solution--and this is pie in the sky thinking I'm sure--is that we simply care for each other and be kind. What any politician thinks about people of color wouldn't matter if NO ONE else agreed. What any wanted to do that would harm the poor wouldn't matter if we ALL lent them they hand they needed. If we didn't rely on laws to regulate how we act but instead do what we all inherently KNOW TO BE RIGHT, we wouldn't need so many politicians. A law is made because someone somewhere really screwed up. Why do we have environmental regulations? Because people with lots of power and money made decisions that focus too much on their bottom line. Why do we need gun laws? Because people can't be trusted not to shoot each other. I'm trivializing important things but you get the idea.

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Unrelated, I write almost every day. I don't always have something good to say but no one has to listen.

Even more unrelated--Iris thinks you look like Ice-T in your profile picture:-)
3:32 AM
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