Looking through social media, it appears there
are still a number of people who don’t seem to understand why some of us are
afraid of what the new presidential entourage means. Now, first of all, I just
want to say that there is a part of me that is happy for you if you can’t work
out why we’re scared. I hope you never feel the sense of hopeless vulnerability
that we are experiencing. At the same time, however, I’m deeply disturbed by
the lack of empathy, and hope against hope that your children never have cause
to feel this way.
Have you come across, or even shared, this
little gem:
“I keep seeing people post on how they are terrified, or scared? Well.. what are you scared of exactly? War? Because that's happening. School shootings? Because that's happening. Pipeline? That's been happening. Terrorism? Definitely alive and well. Going broke due to health insurance? Mm yes. Corruption throughout the system? Already there. Police officers being murdered? Yep, that's happening. Bullying? Check. Loss of jobs? We've got that on lock. A tanking economy. Yep. Being discriminated against for your religion, political views, sexual orientation, race? That's been going on. Rape, murder, violence, riots.. all going on and has been.
So tell me, what are you scared of that is not already happening basically everywhere? This isn't a Trump problem, this is a people problem. Y'all need to reevaluate your own selves..
Maybe America is a little too scared and a little too easily offended.
Quit being scared, crying around, offended by everything.. step up and do your part as an American, no, as a damn human being. Treat others with respect, help and encourage one another, raise your kids right, be a contributing member of society. Make sure your hands are clean, that's your job. Burning the American flag? Get out of here with that crap, how about you do your job to make it a better place.
But right now, all I see is hate. It's disturbing, and the ones with the most hate are being exactly what they claim to be against.”
Apparently written by someone under the name
Scott Strader on Facebook. Isn’t social media liberating?
Ok, so let’s see if we can break this down,
shall we? I’ll keep it as short as I can.
War, school shootings, terrorism, corruption,
loss of jobs. Yes, all that is happening, and will continue to happen, and if
you’re not the least bit scared about how normalized they’ve become, then you
are definitely part of the problem. Besides, do we really want a man who has
filed for bankruptcy six times? Ok, possibly not every case was entirely his fault, after all the casino
business hit a rough patch. Sort of like a country that’s been in a recessionfor a few years. Has anyone informed him that filing a chapter 11 for America would be a very
bad idea?
Health insurance. Do you truly believe that a man
who refuses to pay his bills actually cares for the common person? He is big business all the way, and that
means the pharmaceutical companies and the insurance companies have an ally to
support them as they continue to bleed us dry. Obamacare is anything but perfect, but
millions of Americans rely on it to insure themselves and their families. And yes, that’s just one of
the many things Trump has backed down on it, but it remains a fact that the threat
was very real, and very scary, and remains scary, to a large number of at-risk
people.
Pipeline. Yes, we’ve been fighting the pipeline
that is endangering the lives of Americans and threatening the sanctity of the
environment. The fact that Trump received a sizeable bribe donation from
the CEO of the company that wants to rape the land endanger lives
install a massive, dangerous pipeline despite the ongoing issues with the line
already in place, is just one sign that he doesn’t mind selling off ourchildren’s future. Another
sure sign that he is completely out of touch with environmental concerns is
that he appointed a person who sounds more like a conspiracy theorist than a
profession as the head of the EPA.
Police officers being murdered. Sorry to say,
but without comprehensive gun reform, this will continue to happen.
Bullying, rape, discrimination. You just
described the newest leader of our country.
But honestly, we’re not afraid of Trump. I’ve
never met a President, and I don’t intend on starting now. It is a frightening
thought that he will be shaping policies that will affect us for decades to
come. Looking at who he’s appointing to his cabinet, the threat of loss of
civil rights that have been fought for over lifetimes is all but ensured, and
that’s not good news either. But the terror that is filling so many Americans
isn’t entirely about him.
So what are we afraid of?
We are afraid of a world where school children
chant, “Build the wall!” While their classmates cry and the teachers don’t do
anything to stop it. *
We are afraid of a country where a black woman,
filling her car with gas, is accosted by three men who pull a gun on her and
tell her they could “kill her right now and nothing bad would happen because
she’s just a piece of meat.”*
We are afraid of a place where two school girls
can get on a bus and tell the blacks they belong at the back of the bus because
Trump’s President now. *
We are afraid of a society where a white woman
jogging on the morning following the election passes by a group of men and when
one yells out, “Who owns your pussy now?” no one says anything. *
We are afraid of people who think it’s
perfectly acceptable to send a Mexican man a terrorist note made out of letters
cut from magazines and pasted to a piece of paper telling him to leave the
country. *
In a word: You. We are afraid of the people who
are either so self-centered, or downright malicious as to have the gall to ask
that question. We are afraid of the people who voted in hatred, live in hatred,
and continue to treat the rest of us like we are the ones that forced this
horror on our country. We are afraid of people who saw a sexual predator and
decided he would be a good role model for our sons and daughters.
You gave hate a voice. Now we all pay for it.
Yes, there are riots going on right now, and
that needs to stop. Did you know that in many cases it started as a peaceful
protest, a way of supporting each other while we process what has happened,
when some people who saw an opportunity for chaos descended? Did you realize
that the vast majority of protests are remaining peaceful? The only hate crimes
I’ve seen are those by people who loudly support Trump. By people who name
Trump as the reason they can hurt others without consequence. There are bad
decisions on both sides.
So right now, we are organizing, we are
filtering, we are supporting. Right now we are planning to stand up for
ourselves and those who cannot. Right now we are doing our job to make America
a better place by not sitting idly by while racism, bigotry, and misogyny rips
away at our core values.
If you are so offended by our honest and visceral
reaction to this, then maybe you need to try being honest with yourself. Maybe
it’s you who have not been “keeping your hands clean.”
To my fellow citizens, by brothers and sisters
who have been united by this ugly situation we’re in, stay strong. Fight with
love and tolerance no matter how dark the night. We stand together, we stand
strong.
*All of those stories are firsthand accounts I
read through a supportive group. This is what people are truly living through.
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