This past week on social media in America: a summary

[mollyringle]

What I've basically been seeing in online discussions this past week (a condensed parody, if you will):

The left/center: Holy crap, I’m scared and sad for women, the LGBTQ community, Muslims, immigrants, Jews…
The right: Ugh, we’re FINE with women and gays and whatever religion you want, srsly, stop whining
DeplorableJimBob17351: WOMEN AND JEWS SHUT YOUR MOUTHS!!! MUSLIMS AND ILLEGALS GET OUT, TRUMPS GONNA GET U LOL!!!! MARRIAGE SHOULD ONLY BE BETWEEN A MAN AND A WOMAN, GAYS R DISGUSTING!!!!
The left/center: Um. That. Right there, that. Did you…did you just see that?
The right: Well everyone’s entitled to their opinion. Hey JimBob, good to see you! Great week, huh? Come on in, help yourself to snacks.

See, it's not that I think my right-wing friends are racists, sexists, xenophobes, and homophobes. I know you're not. You wouldn't be my friends if you were. The problem is that those on the right are a little bit too okay with sharing the party with people who are those things. This shouldn't even be a left/right issue. This should be a "decent person" issue. I'm not seeing enough denouncing of those attitudes from those on the right, and that is what bothers me. The response keeps on being, "We're not all racists! YOU'RE racists!," which does not really answer to the problem nor help at all.

If you want denouncing from me, of liberals wrecking property and being violent, in the rare events where that's happening, then yes, I do denounce that. I even denounce liberals carrying "Fuck Trump" signs, because we absolutely would not condone "Fuck Hillary" signs if she had won. Let's be adults and let's be decent people using respectful language just as we're asking everyone to do, I say to my own side.

So, those on the right...can you do a little more denouncing of the absolutely clearly wrong verbal behavior and attitudes, please?--which I am seeing EVERYWHERE online, by the way, without even having to look for it; this is NOT a myth or a few scant incidents. It's happening to me and my friends when we express even mild concern. The trolls have been unleashed, it's worrying, and surely it's not the America any of us want to live in.

I don't plan to discuss politics a lot on here. I've never liked it and still don't. But I want to put this out there in the interests of healing a wounded nation and trying to understand what's happening. Discussions welcome; flames and ranting not welcome. From either side. You have the rest of the internet for that. Thank you. 

Comments

[acciochocolate.livejournal.com]

I guess I don't have as high expectations as you, alas, having been a moderate-to-liberal woman who has lived in 3 red states all her life. I have put up w/ so much negative talk from family, co-workers, and so-called friends since forever that I just don't expect good manners from the right anymore, sadly. I have tried to talk nicely and logically to these beings and been shouted down to the point where I'm afraid to try and deal w/ anyone like that anymore.

I come to yr LJ for funny things, as many do, and your humor is appreciated. :)

[mollyringle.livejournal.com]

Ugh, sorry for all the shouting-down you've put up with, though I thank you for trying! So in your experience, what is it these people are afraid of? I've been wondering that, perhaps naively over here in my blazingly blue city. On a friend's Facebook thread recently, a Trump voter was claiming that now lefties understand how scared and sad conservatives have been feeling for the past 8 years. I didn't want to jump into that thread (because getting yelled at isn't fun), but I honestly want to know: why scared? Why sad? What do they think we're trying to do that's so upsetting?

If it turns out it's "letting terrorists into the country and then we'll all get blown up," well, I sort of can get that. I mean, I remember how 9/11 felt, and I understand how it scarred a lot of people. But if it's "trying to normalize gay relationships," then, well yeah, I do think they should be normalized, and I don't think anyone needs to be scared about that, so...we are at an impasse, my good fellow Americans.

But yes, I'll try to post funny things next! We could all use more of that, and in any case I couldn't stand to post politics very often. :)

[acciochocolate.livejournal.com]

The bf says if liberals wave the flag, it's for inclusion; if the conservatives do, it's just for them.

I see it as a matter of tolerance. On the left, they accept much, even some of opposite thinking. On the right, it's their way or the highway. The conservatives are frightened of anything different from their way of life. This is true, whether it's the rural Deep South of the USA, or those who follow ISIL, or any other isolated community.

There was an article on either Daily Kos or Alternet abt the differences between rural and urban people by someone who has lived and traveled amongst rural US areas for 30 yrs.

And ages ago there was a study indicating that conservative brains may be smaller and/or have less folds. If true, I would have thought that such was due to less exposure to different ideas. I lived twice in small towns, not by choice, and the ignorance and lack of desire to go elsewhere or learn/tolerate differences is/was appalling.

Thank you for your kindness!

[mollyringle.livejournal.com]

Thank you both for the input and kindness as well! Interesting - I've been pondering the urban/rural divide lately (as a lot of people have, probably, given the voting results) and thinking I ought to read up on the sociology of cities to learn more. The only small-ish towns I've lived in have been West Coast college towns, so those were still highly liberal and not the typical rural America experience by any means. We've heard a lot recently that those in the "blue" cities need to work harder at understanding what life is like for those in the "red" rural areas, and that may be true...but surely the reverse is equally true, and those in the red regions ought to try harder to grasp the cultural features that big cities excel at, rather than just viewing them as nasty dens of traffic and crime. (Traffic and crime are certainly problems, but that's not the whole picture...) :)

[dean mayes (from livejournal.com)]

It has gotten to the point now where I can't see a lot of difference between the hard left and the hard right. I get shouted at by both camps for trying to occupy a center position where I'm respectful of reasonable stances posited by both side but I won't tolerate intolerance spouted by both sides.

We're in a lose-lose for at least the next two years.

[mollyringle.livejournal.com]

I've felt that way sometimes too during this week--I'm a whiny wimp according to the right and not angry enough according to the left, when my point for anyone is that the ongoing anger is exactly the problem. A spark of outrage at an actually outrageous situation, yes, that's justified; but then you have to take it and do something responsible.

I know you've said Australia has been in a similarly intolerant and angry political atmosphere for a while now. I hope these are the birth throes of something more promising for both nations.

[emrys_mk]

I have deliberately stayed out of the political fray for reasons and will continue to refrain, but I very much respected this post you made so I'm here to say that I denounce any and all hate/unsavory statements that has/is being spewed by everyone, including our president-elect; there is no place for it. None at all.

[mollyringle.livejournal.com]

Thank you! I've had times when I counted myself on the other side of the aisle, so I genuinely do see where both sides are coming from. There's just been a level of vitriol lately that's practically unprecedented in my memory, and that's concerning. Especially from the highest levels of government, yes...

vanity, arrogance, white privilege, the liberal response to trump in a nutshell

[livejournal.livejournal.com]

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