The older I’ve gotten and the more I’ve learned, the more I’ve ultimately kept my political opinions to myself on social media. I’ve been trying to do it even more as election season kicks into high gear. I’ll almost never admit to my preference for candidates unless asked because people can become hostile if we disagree, as though not being a friend makes me the enemy. As I became of age to vote, my upbringing concerning politics had been less than stellar and surrounding the years of 18, it at times became downright hostile to discuss. After I voted for Obama in the 2012 elections, I pretty much ignored politics thereafter. It wasn’t until I married someone whose opinion I valued and respected that I took an interest again. I married a history buff with knowledge in government, legislation, and international politics. Since he was military the state of international affairs impacted our lives so it was something we kept tabs on so we knew if we’d be looking at pointless paperwork days or impending deployment days. When we got married our political views were wildly different. I was an obnoxious, bordering on socialist democrat. Let all the immigrants in without fuss! It’s our fault they’re displaced! Free college! Free healthcare! Free everything! All republicans are evil! The democrats can do no wrong! Why is everyone so mad at Hillary Clinton? She didn’t REALLY do anything wrong. Absolutely we should implement gun bans!
Turns out growing up and being exposed to the real world changes people.
I’ve lived in a very liberal state: California. One where I had an attempted robbery on my home while I was pregnant and had a small child in the house, living off base in a shitty neighborhood with meth heads and drug dealers because that’s all we could afford despite being given a $950 a month housing allowance and the always present waitlist for housing on base. I was lucky Matt was home that night, but the fact that Quinn was across the apartment and I’d have to get though the assailant to get to my daughter shook me. All we had to protect ourselves was Matt’s giant tank wrench, but if the person breaking in had a gun it wouldn’t have mattered. I’d have been dead before I got to my child. So we went the next day, applied for base housing, went to the local sports store and bought a 12g shotgun we planned to pack with buckshots, and then I promptly waited 12 days to get it because California gun laws are annoying. I’d lay awake for 12 nights, hoping I didn’t hear another sickening thud of boots kicking in my door again. The boot prints I saw every time I entered my home were a constant reminder that I wasn’t safe. Matt was gone all day most days, and some days well into the night. I didn’t sleep until he came home, and even then I didn’t sleep well; flinching at every noise as they rang out through dark walls. That kind of psychological effect stays with you and didn’t fade until I had two men armed with M-16’s within two hundred feet of my home. We got the gun and the next 6 weeks went without incident, but the week after we moved out the same apartment we just left WAS broken into and was stripped of its innards. If you’ve never felt that fear, lucky you. If you have, I’m sorry. Truthfully.
It’s almost like you have to experience something to decide whether or not you have a truly educated opinion on it. Women don’t want men making laws about abortions when they’ll never experience one. People who’ve been threatened at gun point or been kidnapped or had their loved one held hostage while some criminal forced them to empty out their wallet have never said “I’m glad I didn’t have a way to protect myself.” This climate where people who’ve had an entourage of armed security getting to decide whether we get to protect ourselves is absurd. But if I had a security team and was in politics, that means I probably did something to make enough people hate me that I needed one.
But no, my greatest concern on the ground level is how many people can be easily manipulated. By their friends, their family, whatever dumb ass podcast or bogus political website they deemed “good enough”, even though it’s being ran by some nutjob whose education barley reaches high school level comprehension. That they rely on their opinions of their likeminded friends without talking to people whose opinions are different than theirs. Of course they’re going to reiterate what you just said, you don’t talk to anyone who thinks differently. And if you do, you go in with a superiority complex. You’re not listening to understand, you’re listening to form a rebuttal. It’s not possible that you’re wrong, or that you’re not looking at it from all angles. You’re approaching it with hostility, condescension, and your nose so high in the air you’ll drown if it so much as sprinkles. This also makes people whose opinions ARE different than yours not even engage in conversation with you because they don’t feel like being berated, thus the cycle continues and your ego is even more inflated and you feel your opinions are justified.
My advice is branch out. Talk to people. If that person can’t have a conversation without insulting you, berating you, belittling you, or telling you you’re wrong instead of just explaining their point of view, just walk away. Those kinds of people are so far gone that the conversation isn’t worth the energy.
Now I’m fairly moderate, though on social issues I tend to lean left. I don’t like radical Democrat’s because they tend to be self-serving. They want to help others, but ultimately they want you to agree with them because the republicans are evil and they, as democrats, know what’s best for everyone. In my personal experience, these are the ones that mask their radical opinions under the guise of “the good of the nation”, not taking into account people they could be hurting or potential ways it could go wrong. But it’s what they want, and they want it NOW. Insert the temper tantrum of a three year old when they don’t get it and the tears when your hurt their feelings. The world is not their oyster. We’re all trapped in the muddy ocean floor together. On the flip side, my exposure to radical republicans has also been absolutely awful. Heavily religious, heavily conservative, heavily oppressive, mostly white (by mostly I mean like 98% of them that I know) and they believe everything that Fox News, Rush Limbaugh, and Alex Jones say. They’d rather cut their table in half than to invite their neighbors because it’s THEIR table. If you want a better table, you should have bought a better one. Never mind the woodworker was charging triple what you make and that your job only pays enough for you to afford an end table even though you’ve been a loyal employee for 15 years. But hey, that’s business, baby. No my issue with radical republicans is they don’t even try to pretend that their ideals are self-serving. While the transparency is great (I guess) it makes me detest their selfishness. Their war on gays and the poor and anyone whose not Christian is appalling. I recently found out that I’d been a topic of conversation amongst a republican family because I’m an atheist. Apparently the general consensus is that I’m going to hell for it. Normally, that wouldn’t bother me from anyone else, but this came from family. People who should know that aside from my atheism, I’ve been a good person. Personally, I don’t think I’ve truly done anything worth going to hell for. I haven’t murdered anyone. I haven’t had an affair. I haven’t stolen from thy neighbor. I did hook up with a girl once though, so they can put that in their burn book. If I believed there was a hell, I’d be even more worried. Luckily my biggest concern is paying my bills on time. But the fact that the radical conservatives want to build a government around the Bible and Christianity is particularly problematic for me, because under the first amendment I have freedom of religion. If you’re trying to force me to live under a Christian government, that’s imposing on my freedom of religion. But shouldn’t they be familiar with the amendments considering they never shut the fuck up about the second one????
Stop being brainwashed. Donald Trump is not going to end the world. Bernie Sanders is not going to save the world. In four to eight years, these people will be a footnote in history. You’re destroying each other more than any one singular president ever could. You’re mad because of your political differences, not stoping to think you’re alienating yourselves. Trapping yourselves in a little box, with small-minded, stubborn people. I’m telling you right now, you’re not going to look back on your deathbed and say “I’m glad I repelled my family to the point that they don’t want to associate with me.” Not all Democrats are inherently evil. Not all republicans are inherently evil. Stop letting other people directly influence how you feel about someone or something. This is what happens when critical thinking is removed from school curriculum. Too many people are blank pages waiting for someone else to fill them in. Think for yourselves. Ask someone why they feel differently than you and try to understand. Be logical instead of emotional. Look at facts. Look at numbers. They are the only things that won’t lie to you for gain. Stop reading your friends shitty posts from shitty websites that you can’t even tell if they’re satire, and start fact checking. Decide what’s really worth being mad about and for fucks sake stop letting your feelings get so god damn hurt all the time. Not everything is about you. Pick which things are really worth being upset over. Stop wasting energy on momentary things that “offend” you, and start focusing on things like the fact the Flint STILL DOESN’T HAVE CLEAN WATER. Get it together so people start taking you seriously. If you piss and moan about EVERYTHING, people stop valuing your opinion about things you truly care about because you just come off as unhinged, unreasonable, and your thoughts on a matter become null and void. They think what you’re concerned about is as invaluable as the rest of the minuscule shit you whine about on Facebook. I know there’s certainly people who I don’t take seriously or value their opinions for this exact reason. Stop asking people who to vote for. Stop asking people who they’re voting for. Do your research and form your own opinions from reputable sources. Stop becoming the brainwashed, brain dead, easily manipulated baby dear they want you to be. Class wars were created as a means to have you fight amongst each other instead of directing your aggravation where it really should be.
Anyways, I hope y’all are voting in the primaries. Do your due diligence, take any opinions at face value until you’ve made an informative decision yourself, and for the love of all things holy quit asking your friends who live in the same box you do if you’re right. Open your ears and your mind. Don’t get louder, get smarter. Good luck.
Rambling (Wo)man 