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“f— that lying traitor killary!”
“kill yourself!”
“you f—tard!”
“who cares what the scummy left thinks.”
The above were just a few of the lovely comments I received from a piece I wrote a couple of weeks back. There were many more, in several places around the interwebs. Mostly misspelled with bad punctuation and grammar, but that’s really not the point I don’t suppose.
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This election cycle has truly been a roller coaster ride. In the beginning, when Trump hit the scene with his blatant racist tones and inflammatory language, most people thought the storm would pass. At least most decent people did. What wasn’t expected was the powder keg that was ignited by his message. The individuals who had spent the last eight years being pissed off that we had a black president emerged to support their champion. All the things they had been too chickenshit to say to anyone besides their beer drinking buddies, was now made mainstream by their chosen one.
In short, he made it ok to be a raving asshole again.
Granted, I understand that social media is the ultimate platform for bully protectionism. You can say what you want with no fear of retribution, ramification, or having to say it to someone’s face. That is just a product of the medium in general. Unfortunately, this movement has taken wings and moved out into the open, where we all have to look at it. Trumps rallies basically resemble unorganized Klan meetings, where being in a large group gives its members a false sense of bravery and superiority. Everyone from teenage girls to reporters has been assaulted at some point in these camp meetings.
He has brought things out of people that I didn’t know they had inside of them. That is disappointing to witness. Yes, I have lost friends over this election, but mainly I have lost respect for a some of those I thought I knew better. Not because they support Trump, but because of how their language has changed, and ideologies they hold that I never knew lay inside of them.
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The flip side of the coin, is that I know some good, honest, decent people who are supporting Trump. For the life of me, I just can’t understand why. Sure, I can comprehend why they don’t want to support Hillary Clinton, even though I think their reasons are wrong, but how that equates into supporting Donald Trump is beyond me. This troglodyte is nothing like them; he shouldn’t be someone they want to be associated with, and he doesn’t represent them from my perspective. He stands directly opposed to what I thought many of them believed in, their faith, values, morals, character, upbringing, and their sense of decency! “There are other choices,” I tell them, “vote third-party, write someone in!” “Don’t throw away your self-respect with a vote for this man!”
And yet they support him.
It always comes down to why they don’t like Hillary. That argument just doesn’t hold water for me. That is an us against them mentality. It’s a position that says, “I know it’s wrong, but we have to win.” I guess they have to push out of their mind who “we” really is. It’s those trolls that comment on any article that isn’t pro-Trump. It’s those grown men who pushed and shoved a teenaged girl at a Trump rally. It’s a man who has made fun of the physically handicapped. A man who denigrated a war hero. A man who attacked his primary opponents wife and father.
That’s who “we” is.
For me, this election isn’t about the next four years. It is about the future of this country for decades to come. If I don’t stand against this plague that is infecting our country, I would be telling my sons that I am ok with what is going on. I would be telling them that they can look down on and insult anyone weaker than they are, different than they are, less fortunate than they
are. And I will be damned if I am going to send them that message.
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So, I am going to continue to try my best and hold the line against this onslaught of obscenity. I rest a little easier knowing that I am not alone in the fight. Many have seen through this cloud of partisanship and party loyalty, to recognize what we are dealing with now. But make no mistake this is a fight, and it is one that we must win.
I will continue to take the abuse, the cursing, the insults. I will continue to read the negative reviews and all that the trolls can bring. Not because I want to, but because there’s always a chance that one person will recognize that they are being duped. They will come to terms with the fact that Trump doesn’t represent them. They will come to their senses and not cast that vote in November.
They will be the ones that save decency in America.
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Photo: Getty Images
I doubt any one will ever find a candidate that represents them and I don’t know if that’s even the point. You find the candidate whose positions most closely mirror your own based on the priorities you’ve set. As far as the 15 year old girl is concerned, it just goes to show that the anti-Trunp crowd is A OK with violence and bullying as long as they’re committing it. “A 15-year-old is facing disorderly conduct charges after she reportedly punched a man during a rally for Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump. ” http://www.nbc15.com/home/headlines/Trump-supporters-and-protestors-line-up-outside-Janesville-center-373894331.html Interesting thing to teach your children.… Read more »
One hears a lot about decency from the left these days. It’s a word , however, fundamentally tied to a world which the left is doing everything it can to destroy. It was, for instance, not decent of Mr. Trump to mock a journalist who had a withered arm (and who had revengefully attacked Trump when his own article had been embarrassingly cited to back up Trump’s claim of post-9-11 jubilation among Arab-Americans). ” Outrageous!” thundered his NYT employer. And yet if that man’s mother had been advised about such a “defect” when carrying him and had thereupon decided to… Read more »
Seriously. Donald trump did this? I totally get you hate trump. What conservative would you like? Any? One that agreed with all you want? There’s many points of the Republicans I don’t like. But as to the future of the country, I can’t believe one with the low bar of honesty and ethics like Clinton will assist you in any way. This is fundamentally an election on direction for growth, inclusion in a good way, and not willy nilly, policies toward the rest of the world as we move to the middle of the 21st century. Your current president has… Read more »
I love that you are standing up to this resurgence of racism, xenophobia and misogyny. Unfortunately it’s not new. It’s been festering underground for the past 35 years. I didn’t agree with Ronald Reagan on anything, but he was a decent man who didn’t tolerate racism or the extreme right. Neither, to be fair, did George Bush Sr. or George W. After 9\11 Bush made a point of insisting that Islam itself was not the enemy. But the children and grandchildren of those who used to lynch blacks or their white supporters, who used to insist on the Jim Crow… Read more »
Keep the faith, my brother. We’re had a turbulent time in our country and people are afraid. They look for scapegoats and pour all their fear and anger into raging at anyone who is seen as “the other.” Times are changing, though, and more and more people are getting fed up with the divisiveness and hate.
A brighter future is ahead of us. Thanks for doing the work you are doing.
“For me, this election isn’t about the next four years. It is about the future of this country for decades to come. If I don’t stand against this plague that is infecting our country, I would be telling my sons that I am ok with what is going on.”
They are saying the same thing. We bash them here, they bash us there. Everyone gets a turn at the pinata we call America…and we are about to burst and fall apart just like one.