I’m officially done having this conversation.
There is no starting point when you side with terrorists.
I’ve been worried about living in an echo chamber. It’s not that I’m a centrist or a moderate. I believe in certain values and ideals and won’t waver on them. But I’ve always been willing to listen to different points of view. I’ve always believed this is the only way to learn. But we’re at a point where people who used to be rational are living in an alternate reality where Trump is king and anyone who says any different is lying.
I have friends who are conservatives. But their inability to condemn the attempted coup on the Capitol on Wednesday is inexcusable. They are responsible for their own opinions and I can no longer respect their opinions. I don’t want to give up on friends of mine who are conservative. It hurts to have to tell them that if they can’t agree that what happened was wrong, then there is no middle ground for us to meet. I’ve lost all respect for them. Because now they’ve gone too far. This isn’t about politics. It’s about respect for the agreed upon rules of our democratic system.
Now about our democratic system: I 100% agree that the way we elect officials is convoluted. Even though we disagree on why or how it doesn’t work in our best interests (i.e., I know the reason the electoral college exists is because it was a concession to the Confederate states by the Union, while they would say something about rural states), we could agree on the basic fact that we ultimately choose between the lesser of two evils. When you agree on basic facts, you can establish some common goals.
But when there’s a fundamental disagreement on whether or not it’s ok to storm into the Capitol; there’s no longer any agreement that we live in a society where laws mean anything. I can’t talk to these people and argue about why they stormed the capitol. How it was incited by Donald Trump, Rudy Giuliani, and others who keep repeating that the election was fraudulent, that it was stolen from them, that they have been slighted and that they should take America back by any means necessary. Instead I hear excuses and justifications. I hear comparisons to BLM protests and outrage about a woman being shot by Capitol police. These are all incredibly misinformed and incomparable arguments; but I can deal with that. Because there are facts and evidence to debunk them. But this is the next level of a fictional narrative.
Their inability to condemn these actions is inexcusable. This is a rationalization of an imaginary world where a group of people feel threatened because Donald Trump & Company tell them they are. I hold the people who fuel and perpetuate these misguided feelings of fear accountable. The fake news farms like Fox News, Newsmax, OANN; Trump and his cronies who reinforce his lies; politicians like Lindsey Graham and Mitch McConnell who, even though they’ve condemned this latest act of aggression, have tolerated the nonsense that resulted in what happened at the Capitol. I haven’t even mentioned Ted Cruz and all those jack-offs who egged this on.
There is no room for discussion in an environment that is unstable.
I’m done herding cats. I’ve wasted too much energy having these conversations. In the end, they are responsible for their own actions. And when they stay silent, they are complicit. When they make excuses, they are complicit.
You can’t make a person who is experiencing delusions see reality. All you can do is try to get them to a safe place where they can’t harm themselves or others. So, I’ll continue to keep my ear to the ground, but I’m done respecting their opinions enough to argue. It’s time to take the lead from Stacey Abrams and work to build a system that works for every person who lives, breathes and dies in and for this country.
