This one is about the election.
I think Joe Biden is going to win. Everything I read seems to point in that direction. I’m not a fan of Donald Trump, so I’m happy about this. I wanted Mr. Biden to win, I voted for him, I’m glad he’s going to win. So, you know, yay.
My joy, though, is tempered a great deal by the fact that Mr. Trump got - at current count - over 48% of the vote of this country, and possibly as many as 268 electoral votes. The margin here is absolutely razor thin, in every sense of the word. And two of the people who voted for him are my parents. And they are sad. Very sad. They see this whole thing as a giant, ugly step back for America and democracy.
We must stand against racism. And authoritarianism. The scourges of populism and nationalism. We must. And yet somehow we have to do that, and retain our humanity.
I’m saddened by the anger in the responses I see, all across the spectrum. I don’t want to directly quote any of my friends, but I’ve heard Trump supporters described, in the heat of the moment, as racist, sexist troglodytes, evil goblins who want only for the downfall of civilization so they can dance on its grave. And I understand that temptation. Being subject to racism, sexism, transgenderism, ageism, or just good old fashioned “the government doesn’t care about me” ism is traumatic, and anger is a trauma response.
But does it bring you joy, to hate so many of your fellows? Is it bringing you happiness?
Some of those people, undoubtedly, are ugly on the inside. Some of them are truly terrible: white nationalists, authoritarians, greedy sons of bitches. But: 48% of the whole country? You’re telling me that tens and tens of millions of people who live here are just knuckle-dragging racists? Too stupid to think their way out of a rhetorical paper bag? All of them?
I am not saying that they are not wrong. I think they are wrong. But being wrong is not exactly the same as being evil. It is, of course, no less urgent a cause. I am not suggesting that we stand by and quietly let authoritarianism take over our country simply because we are afraid of standing up to our neighbors. But that is not the same as vilifying them.
When you describe them this way, are you sure that isn’t just a convenient way to other all of them so you feel better about your group membership? Isn’t that, in some ways, the exact sin you are accusing them of? Does it help you be happy to think of them somehow as evil? Is it bringing you joy? Is it hard to accept that they are merely wrong?