I HAVE BEEN SILENT LONG ENOUGH*
I have been silent long enough…
I have many thoughts I'd like to share, starting with
politics. Although the Republican Party isn’t my own, I've never had an issue
with it. There are specific topics where I find myself more centrist, such as
the Second Amendment. If someone wants to protect themselves and knows how to
handle a firearm safely, they should have that right. However, I do take issue
with the notion that individuals should be allowed to stockpile automatic
weapons. Furthermore, I believe that if someone intends to own multiple
firearms, they should undergo a background check that includes a mental health
evaluation.
I support my party because I believe that every individual
has the right to determine their own identity, choose whom they wish to love,
and decide what to do with their bodies. Factors like gender, religion, and
sexual orientation should be personal matters that concern only the individual,
regardless of their background or where they come from.
What I cannot tolerate is that people support Donald Trump,
specifically. He has come into office and done nothing but divide us from one
another and fan the flames of hate culture in America. It is not that people
are Republican that turns me off; it is that they support Trump. You cannot
make any argument with me about the economy or foreign relations because they
are not more important than human rights. The fact that our country was once a
melting pot that welcomed all, that we once celebrated advancing women, voting
rights, civil rights, desegregation, and LGBTQ+ rights and that now, over the
last four years, Trump has torn that down and like wolves sensing prey-hate
groups have again emerged from the forests to maim and maul and harm. The only
difference between the hate groups from the past and the ones today is they
walk around with hoods off, no longer afraid to show their faces. If we have
learned anything from the past three days, as the votes pour in, almost half of
our country has voted to reelect a man who refuses to tell these people to
stop. Who eggs them on, who causes hurt, who causes pain, and who, sadly, has
even pushed people to commit acts of hatred and violence towards each other. He
is fear-mongering, and after his baseless tirade tonight about illegal votes, I
cannot hold my feelings about his supporters any longer. I have no words for
you to defend him after tonight.
Many of you may know me: I am your friend. I have been by
your side, whether as your niece, cousin, sister, or confidant. I am your
coworker and your fellow American—whether you are a dreamer, a refugee, legal
or undocumented, or a citizen, it makes no difference to me. I am also a woman
and the granddaughter of immigrants who fled Nazi Germany and a concentration
camp during World War II. Had they not been welcomed to the United States in
the 1940s, I might not be here today, nor would my siblings, nieces, nephews,
fathers, aunts, uncles, and cousins.
And as a female, I do not want the government or a man, or
another woman for that matter, to ever, ever have the right to tell me or any
other woman what we can do with our bodies. I cannot tell you how many girls I
have grown up with who have had to terminate a pregnancy that now decries them
and claims it is in the name of a higher power and that a fetus is a life. I
also know girls who never missed a pill and got pregnant; I know girls who have
given up babies for adoption, ones who had full-term pregnancies without
knowing they were pregnant, I know girls who got pregnant by the violation, and
ones who had severe disabilities and chose not to carry to term. But these were
their choices, not mine, not yours, and no one to judge. Nor is the
morning-after pill or being on birth control because, without it, we would have
many more of these instances and not enough people willing to step up to care
for these children. Then, the foster care systems would be overrun and
underfunded. Do all of these anti-choice Trump supporters want to take all of
these unwanted children into your homes to raise, support, and be responsible
for them for at least 18 years? Mainly if their skin color is different or they
turn out to be queer, and that goes against their religion, culture, or
beliefs? What then? Are you just going to give them back? I sit there and
ponder these questions in my mind and think and wonder if you all think about
these things realistically when you are spouting out vile hatred for women who
have to make some of the most challenging decisions of their lives. They have
to live with it forever; that could send them into therapy (or worse), and you
are just sitting back and judging them for it. Does not your higher power tell
you not to judge?
We have a problem: we no longer communicate with each other.
We struggle with having tough conversations. Let me tell you, everyone… It is
no longer taboo to discuss religion and politics in polite company.
I want to emphasize that it doesn't matter if you have
medical knowledge, work in healthcare, or possess a science degree. This
pandemic—prevalent across entire countries or globally—is not simply the common
cold nor the flu, and it is not comparable to what we experience every fall and
winter. Regardless of whether you know anyone who has contracted the virus,
have experienced it yourself, or are aware of anyone who has died from it, I
can assure you that you have family members or close friends who are either
over 65 or live with respiratory, heart, diabetic, or other immune-compromised
conditions, such as cancer. While you may not prioritize your well-being, it's essential
to consider the impact on theirs.
Wearing the masks is not about your civil liberties or
freedom but about saving lives. If you do not want to wear a mask, stay at home.
Have all your non-mask-wearing buddies over at your house and share your germs
with those folks, not the rest of us. Or, by all means, feel free to take a
road trip to another state that shares your warped view of the pandemic and is
causing it to spread like wildfire. Just know that even if you get it, pass it,
or heaven forbid, perish from it, I will still pray for you and send good vibes
your way; keep your unsafe selves out of my orbit because I do not want to risk
passing it to my father, who is over 65, my dear friend, who has stage four
cancer, or my aunt, who is undergoing radiation and recovering from breast
cancer surgery-just to name a few (because then all bets and the gloves are off.)
Regarding our governor, Roy Cooper, I believe he has
successfully kept us safe, and I am pleased to see him re-elected. While many
other states were slow to respond by implementing closures and mask mandates,
he prioritized the well-being of his constituents over his reelection campaign.
His decisions have undoubtedly saved numerous lives. According to Johns
Hopkins, we rank 30th out of 50 in the U.S. for cases, tests, hospitalizations,
and deaths. I agree with those who assert that we cannot restore our economy
without controlling the virus. His phased approach has been equitable, as he
has followed the guidance of science and experts. Those who protest these
measures are, in my opinion, an embarrassment to our state.
Additionally, he provided an extra $50 for individuals who
filed for weekly unemployment. While it could have been larger, it also might
not have existed at all. He implemented measures to prevent evictions and
recently allocated additional funds for those struggling to pay their rent. He
is a governor dedicated to supporting the people; please consider giving him
some grace.
North Carolinians, especially those born and raised here,
please stop embarrassing us! We were raised with manners and love for one
another. When did we become such vile, mean, hateful, and judgmental people?
Now, I would like to discuss climate change and the reality
of its impact. I must admit that I struggle with both science and math, so I
wouldn’t consider myself an expert in either field. However, I strongly believe
in science, and those who know me understand that I can also embrace a
spiritual perspective, thinking that one can hold both views simultaneously.
When informed individuals speak about the alarming changes in our weather, the
increase in wildfires, and the extinction of species, I take their words
seriously. You are free to reject this information. However, it requires a
significant explanation if you think it’s merely a coincidence that the Venice
canals were clear for the first time in modern history while we were all
indoors due to lockdowns. The same applies to the record number of hurricanes
and wildfires we are witnessing this year. And please, let's not entertain any
notions about the Earth being flat.
Now, let me tell you what people think about you fervent
Trump supporters...they are laughing at you, or they think you are just out of
your minds, too, or both. He does not care about you folks. He cares about
himself. He cares about power and the title of POTUS. Nothing more, nothing
less. The US is a gigantic game of Life to him, and he sits up in Life's
Oval Office and plays with it. When not doing it, he plays golf, does personal business,
and lives life like before he was elected. That is all. It is simple. What none
of the rest of us can understand is how you all cannot see it. So, in his
real-time game board of Life, he played some excellent games, made some
good choices, got lucky a few times, and won a few times. Does that make him a
good president? No, it makes him lucky. But no more fortunate than any of us
would be if we tried our hand at it. He has textbook NPD (A mental disorder
with exaggerated feelings of self-importance but low self-esteem). He has gaslit
(Gaslighting: lying, and the gas lighter negatively impacts the victim.
Repetition: Like psychological warfare, the lie is repeated constantly to stay
offensive. Escalate when challenged- When the victims called on their lies, the
gas lighter escalated the dispute with more denial, blame, and false claims).
We felt sorry for you once for choosing so poorly and putting your eggs in an
unsavory basket. Now, all we can do is hold up our jaws and ask ourselves, what
is wrong with these people we know so well and hold so dear that they would
fall for this again? Are they too egotistical that they cannot admit they made
a mistake affecting our safety and national security, health and humanity,
relationships, and foreign allies? When will they say, enough is enough?
To bring this entire discussion full circle, we find
ourselves with a president who insists on an all-or-nothing perspective,
suggesting that we cannot occupy both sides of the political spectrum. He has
fostered a climate where we feel compelled to divide ourselves along party
lines, distancing us from our family and friends. This atmosphere of fear has
been deliberately stoked to inflate his ego. He has highlighted some of our
nation's most contentious human rights issues, igniting further discord. Why?
To force us into a binary choice: to either support or stand against him and,
consequently, against one another.
This situation creates a dangerously thin layer of
protection around our fragile nation, one that our foreign adversaries can
easily penetrate. The current climate has made even those born and raised here
grapple with a phenomenon I discussed in my professional writing and rhetoric
class: a "neither here nor there marginalization," which reflects the
in-between experience of being suspended between the boundaries of two places. Many
of us are enduring this feeling, even in our own country.
As a result, anyone who does not fit the mold of a
Christian, white, Republican, hetero male feels increasingly vulnerable. Women
now find themselves fearing a dystopian future reminiscent of Atwood's “The
Handmaid's Tale.” We are living in a state of constant, nightmarish anxiety.
The mishandling of COVID-19 has led to disputes with friends and family over
the reality of a virus that continues to worsen with no effective cure in
sight.
Now that he will likely lose the election, he has failed to
offer reassurances like "rounding the corner" or "a suitable
vaccine will be ready soon." It was all merely political rhetoric aimed at
securing his reelection. He shows little regard for our well-being or whether
our economy suffers, as he has been set for life.
Winning the White House is just another accomplishment on
his resume. He is just a power-hungry older adult. He is no hero; he is not
exceptional; he is a puppet, a puppet to the people, and a puppet to his
fragile ego. He mocks the mask wearers and tells you to follow his lead and
look at how many of you do. Do you want to be a leader in the free world or a
follower? He tells you climate change is not natural when history and science
tell us it is genuine. He is like a cult classic that people go crazy for,
except this is real-life people. We are not in a movie theater or a video game,
and we cannot go back and say, oops, we can't, or this won't work. This is real
life, and we are to the point where we have lost all civility and cannot even
have conversations with each other. This is an alien place to be. So, I want to
ask you, friends, where are we going from here? Do we delete each other off
social media and never speak again, or take lessons from the past four years,
especially the past eight months, and do better?
**Addendum:** I wanted to share this on my social media to
avoid deleting people I care about who believe, for example, that the votes
were miscounted or that there was some illegal action regarding Trump’s
election. However, I find it concerning that on the same ballot, Republicans
managed to hold onto the Senate and even pick up a few seats in the House. This
reflects a "sore loser" attitude and perhaps even a breakdown in
people's critical thinking ability. I cannot align myself with those who can't
reconcile this behavior.
Instead of posting, I decided to remove anyone who claimed
that the election was rigged in favor of Biden, primarily because no evidence
has been provided to support such allegations. No court has accepted these
cases, and while Georgia ordered a recount, even if Trump were to gain the
thousands of votes he is behind, he still would not be able to win the
election.
Had the roles been reversed, we wouldn’t have resorted to
filing lawsuits nationwide demanding recounts or acting as sore losers. As much
as we would have disliked another four years with Trump, we would have accepted
the loss and instead focused on preparing for 2024, knowing the end was in
sight.
Since Biden was officially declared the winner on Saturday,
Trump has refused to concede, and his supporters have rejected the peaceful
transfer of power, denying Biden access to resources that all previous
presidents, starting from Clinton’s administration, have had. This is the most
insane, irrational, and frightening situation I have witnessed since he became
President-Elect in 2016.
Additionally, I have seen people talking about leaving
social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter to go to Parler. Then, I saw
people who left and created accounts and posted that 'every conservative should
just kill two liberals' and other dangerous rhetoric because the point of
Parler is that the app makers do not censor it. Is this really what my
conservative friends, current or former, want to associate themselves with?
Have things become so bad here that you wish to do all that I discussed above
so severely that you are willing to threaten to join up with people who want to
kill me and others like me? Just because I disagree with you on women, climate
change, mask-wearing, gay marriage, where my tax dollars go, whether we allow
religion in school (and yes, I know I did not cover all of these above), etc.?
This is a scary time, people. Reach out to someone like me
and talk this through. Talk to a licensed therapist. Go for a walk and ponder
why you are so angry that Trump lost that you would risk alienating people.
Start a new hobby to take your mind off this election. Watch a bunch of
comedies and feel-good movies. Sit somewhere quiet, close your eyes, and
breathe.
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