Trigger warning US politics

[orangerful]

On my way to/from work there is a house with a flagpole out front. It doesn’t have the American flag flying from it right now. For the past few months, it has had a white flag that reads: Trump 2020: No More Bullshit.

I don’t consider myself a prude, but it did seem kind of wrong to have “bullshit” proudly displayed on a main road where families drive by and parents might not appreciate that word being sounded out by their child in the backseat. But, whatever, it is their opinion and it is clear what side the people in that house are on when it comes time to vote. I wasn’t offended.

But then last week a flag appeared underneath the white one. This one is dark blue, with Trump’s name emblazoned with the American flag’s stars and stripes. Underneath that is the phrase: Make Liberals Cry Again.

Now that bothered me. Because now it is not expressing an opinion about the amount of bullshit happening, but saying that you should vote for Trump to hurt other people, to vote out if a sense of malice, to elect him just to cause pain.

Why? Why does that seem like an ok thing to say? I have never said that we should vote for someone to hurt another person (well I guess Republicans believe that businesses are people so if you look at it that way…)

It just really concerned me because how could you even hope to converse with someone like that. The “no more bullshit” person sounds open to a debate, you probably won’t change their mind, but it sounds like their issue is with the government and how it is run. But the “make liberals cry” person? They are cruel, mean, and clearly don’t care if they cause harm.

And how can that feel like the side you want to vote for?

Comments

[silverusagi]

but saying that you should vote for Trump to hurt other people, to vote out if a sense of malice, to elect him just to cause pain

It does seem like so many conservatives share this attitude. That it's all about "getting" the other party, and they're not so much against ideas as they are against people. The "owning the libs" thing is totally real and a huge motivating force.

As in all things, I blame Fox News.

[orangerful]

Yes, the invention of 24/7 "news" channel did cause a lot of this. My Mom always says she is glad her in-laws were gone before FOX News became a thing.

Tim's parents told him that there must be "something in the water" that turns people "liberal" out there...and then asked when we wanted to visit them in Wisconsin. Gee, charming. The only silver lining in this virus is a valid excuse not to travel to see them

[silverusagi]

I saw a whole post on tumblr where the notes were just people trading stories of relatives who used to be middle of the road turning into "own the libs" types after years of watching.

[schrodingers_time_lady]

That it's all about "getting" the other party
This is how democracy dies. When people start voting for spite and not with their hearts. </3

[silverusagi]

The cynical part of me says we're seeing a lot of examples of how democracy dies.

[schrodingers_time_lady]

Unfortunately, the cynical part of you is not wrong.

[jerusha]

I have been treated to more than one racist, pro-Trump diatribe from my clients in the last week or so. There really is no reasoning with some of these folks.

[orangerful]

And he keeps saying horrible things, scary things, stupid things and yet they just seem to roll with it. It just boggles.

[schrodingers_time_lady]

I was even hearing it in Canada before I lost my job to Covid. I'm boggled.

[rhoda_rants]

I mean, it's the same message. The second one is just more transparent.

[orangerful]

LOL true, so maybe I should respect their honestly in the second one. They are clearly assholes.

Still see TWO fucking confederate flags in my neighborhood too. Just disgusting.

[schrodingers_time_lady]

Why? Why does that seem like an ok thing to say? I have never said that we should vote for someone to hurt another person
This is... painful to read. Not your response, but the fact that someone else thinks that's a way to spend their vote. [sighs]

[yourlibrarian]

I understand why that hit you differently. One could be about policy. The other is about people.

[orangerful]

Exactly! I really think there should be a rule that people can argue facts about policy but they are not allowed to make character attacks when they run for office. Like, where is that 11th grade debate teacher to show up and say "cite your source" and keep people on task. It is so frustrating. :(

[bungalow_life]

As someone who was raised by conservatives, who voted conservative through most of her twenties, I feel as if I'm well suited to say that the GOP isn't conservative anymore, it's just a cult. I think it's part of why 2016 took me so off guard, because while I'd leaned more liberal in recent years for various reasons, I expected and anticipated conservative values to hold true, and they didn't, and since then I just mostly see cult behavior that I feel like is probably driven by Fox News, and I never know how to tell my parents that 'no, what you taught me as a conservative is this, and also... it's part of why I would never vote for Trump so 🙃'

[orangerful]

Yes, I agree that the 24/7 FOX "News as Entertainment" has caused a lot of problems, along with the way Facebook lets sites manipulate how misinformation and such is spread.

I wish more groups like The Lincoln Project and Republicans Against Trump getting coverage to show that the GOP does not need to blindly follow the current president just because he claims to be from their party (which I still think is a lie, I think he just had someone tell him which party was more likely to elect him and went with that).

I just want us all to grow up and stop making this a battle of Us vs. Them. Trump and FOX News are a part of that problem because they know that drama keeps people's attention. But, as the twitter hashtag says, I want to make politics boring again.

[bungalow_life]

Yeah, the Lincoln Project is good, and I although I frequently disagree I do follow a fair number of conservative voices because sometimes the perspective is good. But generally, yeah, I agree that he's not really Republican, he just managed to slip into that party.And we could blame media entirely, but it's probably not only that. (I think there is something wrong with the 24 hour news cycle though, and this is both Fox News and other stations, because there is a tendency to play everything like a reality television show or a sports game, and that feeds issues...

Politics being boring would be great and I would be all for that.