General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: Voter anger over Trump's election goes deeper than Clinton's loss [View all]calimary
(83,400 posts)It will stick with me for a long time, too. Indeed, maybe forever. I keep trying to get over it, move beyond it, forgive, understand, all those considerations and allowances that we all know they'd NEVER give us if things went the other way. And I am simply not there. I can't find my way there. At least not yet. Certainly not right now.
What really bothers me, at its most basic and fundamental (for me), is that I go straight to the mother thing. That's the lens through which I've come to process everything. That's the one way that enables me to get in touch with the pain behind Black Lives Matter. Because of those mothers. I'M a mother. That's how I can relate. And connect. And in a distant sense, try to walk in their shoes.
I default straight to the mother thing with trump as well. Look at the behavior displays throughout the campaign. We never saw this at Marco Rubio events or rallies for jeb! or Ted Cruz public events, or any of 'em. The only time we saw it among Bernie followers was fairly early in the campaign, in Chicago, I believe, when they were peacefully protesting at a trump rally - and it was the trump people who attacked them and picked the fight with them. The Bernie people didn't start it. The absolutely reprehensible, anti-social, disgraceful, bullying, menacing, and in many cases actually violent behavior that was ever on display happened exclusively at trump events, involving hot-headed trump people, acting out and throwing tantrums like a crowd of spoiled-brat five-year-olds who weren't getting their way!
So it has to be asked - WHAT HAS THIS TAUGHT US? That the bad guys win - and that it's perfectly okay?
That we SHOULDN'T have class and act like adults and not be vicious and spiteful and aggressive and hateful with people - to a physical extent?
That it's okay to be a racist?
It's okay to be a bigot?
It's okay to be a misogynist?
It's okay to mock the disabled?
It's okay to take pride in one's celebrity because it lets you grab women by the crotch and in other ways invade their personal space without their permission?
It's okay??? That shit is OKAY??
Is this something you'd want your kid to do?
Or worse - is this something you teach your kid to do?
I swear, I wind up thinking "who the hell brought YOU up?" so frequently anymore. Whether I see trump or somebody acting out on TV, when I hear shitty comments from people who should be respectable; when I see somebody cutting another motorist off on the freeway at high speeds; when I see people acting mean or thoughtless or inconsiderate toward others, when I see rudeness or selfishness or total shameless self-absorption, I go straight there. "Who the hell brought you up???"
When I was growing up, that kind of behavior was discouraged! You didn't win anything by doing that except detention or a note home to your parents or an order to report immediately to the principal's office. Nobody wanted to be that! NOW, shit, you can win elections that way! Now you're praised and panted over and your every misdeed is excused, rationalized away, lied about, soft-pedaled, or ignored entirely. Now, that shameful behavior is rewarded and reinforced! As an example, there are now reports citing an increase in bullying at our schools. Because of trump - and what we're subconsciously learning from his success. The real message of his success is that shit behavior like his has been - and is being - reinforced, and rewarded.
I keep asking - "would you raise your kid that way?" At the moment, the answer across America seems to be "yes." Probably more accurately, an answer that's far more rude and nasty and in-yer-face. Not just a "yes," but a "yer goddamm right I am! Fuck you!"