Americans seem to have become increasingly obsessed with labeling each other. And we are doing so in a fairly binary way, everyone’s either a Liberal (aka snowflake) or a Conservative (aka deplorable). Cut. It. Out.
I may disagree with your vote, your party, your affiliation. But I probably agree with you about part of why you voted that way. I want to engage with you on why, and do so without being vilified. I want to, as your fellow citizen, discuss how to go in the right direction — whatever that is.
To the “self-identifying snowflakes”: please stop thinking that half the country are racist idiots. Yeah, maybe some of them are, and unfortunately their voices are dominating too much of the conversation. Ignore them — they don’t get a seat at the table — and engage with the rest. Many of your fellow citizens are hurting and deserve to be heard.
To the “self-identifying deplorables”: please stop thinking that half the country wants to take away your religion or guns, and they are pro-terrorism, and don’t want free speech, and don’t think anyone is allowed to be rich, and that human-cat marriage should be legalized, etc. I get that many of you think this, and have oodles of examples that “prove your case” — but you need to look deeper into it than that. Your fellow citizens do not collectively want to undermine the world around you, at all.
We aren’t going to agree on everything, folks. We weren’t designed that way. And there are forces in play that are capitalizing on this very part of human nature. They are the true “bad guys” here. So we regular people need to get stronger than we’ve been. We need to embrace our commonalities and be curious about our differences. It’s far too easy to spend all of our time engaging with carbon copies of ourselves instead of the person down the block who sees the world a little different. We need to make dissenting views acceptable in our discussion, not the thing we try to stamp out of existence. In fact, how do we deliberately seek out alternative voices in our routines?
And now for some self-identification:
- I’m a Canadian-born American (dual) citizen living in California.
- I love seeing movies (especially action, comedies, and all the scifi/comic book/”geek culture” types), and read a lot of books.
- I play board games, have a PS4 and iPhone, listen to a lot of music (80s!), take the bus to work everyday, and enjoy skiing, travel, and a bit of wine.
- I went to school in Pittsburgh, high school in Albuquerque, and work in technology (have started/ran my own businesses and work for a huge company).
- I have a minivan, am a huge hockey fan (go Habs!), and own a home (or at least a mortgage).
- I volunteer at the local food bank, really love food (like waaaay too much), am a little pretentious about coffee, and try to spend as much time with my family as I can.
If you didn’t actually read all of the above, please stop and do so — it’s important. Thanks. Now that you have read it, you should have a decent picture of me.
Two more things:
- I voted for Hillary, despite her faults (which are many).
- I have deep concerns that Trump’s priorities are misaligned and that his campaign has misled millions of Americans to think he’ll be doing things he won’t. I’d like to be more optimistic that Trump can truly bring some corporate-style management to a government that has some huge gaping holes, but thus far have yet to see signs that this will happen.
And no matter what political party you affiliate with, you probably have some things in common with me, and others different than me. That’s a good thing.
I won’t be labeling myself Liberal or Conservative, nor Democrat or Republican. These are silos that used to represent positivity and values, but have instead become silos to hide within and/or attack others. No more. Stick me right in the middle. Maybe I’m a “centrist.” Maybe just “American.” Maybe just “human being trying to do the right thing.”
For me, I’m ready to talk. I will engage with any constructive comment, and delete anything baiting or hostile to me or other humans.