I have avoided voicing my opinion about anything election or candidate related, in person (except in very tight company) and on Facebook (completely). No one seems to be able to discuss anything real. The entire party system is broken and corrupt, and so is the election process. It's absolutely painful to consider the options in the upcoming election. I don't really support either of the candidates and I don't want to abstain from voting, because that's not the answer either. There's a common conundrum amongst people like me. How do we take our right and responsibility to vote seriously when we're just trying to choose the candidate who offends us the least? What the hell are we supposed to do? But believe it or not, that's not the subject of this post.
What's really grinding my gears is the hateful and shameful exchange between people about their candidates and their non-candidates. Let me be clear. I'm not talking about FOX News or CNN. I'm not talking about The New York Times or the The Wall Street Journal. I'm not talking about mudslinging commercials from either campaign. I'm talking about the people I know, the people on my moderate-sized Facebook friends list. I'm in sheer awe of how many people I know who share ignorant and hateful posts, some of them not even legitimate.
If I'm to be completely honest, I should admit I'm not in support of either candidate. However, I would sooner have my toenails pulled out one by one than cast a vote for Donald Trump. Most of the hatred-spewing posts I see are from people who support him. I'm not sure whether they just support the Republican party blindly and unconditionally, or if they actually support Trump. But the things I see, the things some of these people share and spread across social media are like playground battles between middle school students. Say anything mean and hurtful, whether it's true or not, and the one who says the most shocking things wins. And again, I'm just floored at how many of these people I consider my friends. You can't choose or lose friends because of politics, right? Sometimes I wonder how I can be friends with people who are so ideologically different from me. Not that we have to agree on everything, but if we think so drastically different, is it possible to be friends? I don't know. The whole thing is so disappointing.
Let me be fair. Some people share selectively, based on a specific event or tidbit that was striking to them. These people are usually the ones who are following the real issues, rather than the candidates. But some just share everything that comes across their feeds from every extremist, propaganda page they follow. Most of them are hateful and don't even pertain to the current election. Comparing Ivanka Trump to Chelsea Clinton or defending deplorable behavior by pointing out similar or worse behavior by someone on the opposite side. What the hell is the point of that? How does that address the issues? At school we tell our students all the time that you don't explain your own behavior by pointing out the behavior of someone else. That just displaces the blame.
I'm fed up with the election. I'm fed up with all of it. For two rounds we had to listen to the disgusting, hateful, racist remarks about President Obama. We're still listening to them, despite the fact that he's been one of the most successful presidents with the most hatred directed toward him. Now we have to listen to sexist remarks about women, horrifically racist and prejudice remarks about various nationalities and ethnicities. I'm just disgusted by all the lying and mudslinging. I love being American, but I will never support hate of any kind. What in the world is happening to America?
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| Image retrieved from : hollywoodreporter.com |
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