I went to high school with this guy. We were never really close friends though he was perpetually in the one group of people I kept in touch with after high school.
A few years ago we had a falling out and I never really looked back. I never really liked the guy, sometimes I fuckin hated him. Though the group kinda fell apart after that and I lost contact with someone I actually did care about. Otherwise, getting him out of my life really wasn’t a negative.
Regardless, he responded to a Facebook post and curiosity got the better of me.
In the past, he’d expressed regret in voting for Trump, he wasn’t a Democrat and voted third party in 2020. I assumed he’d check out of this election and I’d see what he was up to.
Strangers, this man has completely lost his fucking mind. His Facebook is flooded with reposted tiktoks admonishing the current administration and screeching about the moral imperative of getting trump back in to office. One after another after another, 5 to 7 of these things a day. Continuing debates he’s had with somebody by tagging them, and notably getting no response. More than once he’s brought up a trump policy, blamed it on Kamala Harris, and howled about how evil the Democrats are.
In the past any attempt at rational discussion would devolve to fanatic ravings, and now it seems that all he’s doing. Constantly screaming in to the void about some perceived Boogeyman.
I haven’t lost anything, as I said getting out of each other’s lives was a good thing for me. This guy used a hard R during the protests and would go to safe spaces online to torment the people there for fun. He’s literally the type of person Facebook has screening questions for.
But Jesus, he’s like a fucking caricature. There’s no engaging with that type of person, no bringing them back. He’s just lost.
From my European perspective, it’s super weird to see how much Americans care about who people vote for. The way I see Democrats talking about Republicans, and vice versa, is almost as if they’re speaking about a different species of humans. I guess it’s the benefit of living in a country with more than two political parties, so even when you know which way someone leans, you can’t be sure who they voted for. People do talk politics, but I rarely hear anyone say who they’re voting for, and from what I’ve seen, most people don’t even seem to care.
I always read in the news about how everything is going to fall apart because a certain person got elected, but then nothing happens and everything stays the same. Events like COVID or the war in Ukraine had far greater consequences on my daily life, and even those barely affected me. It feels like every time I open the news, the world is burning, but when I go outside and everything is fine, and people are nice to each other.
I don’t know how to say this without it sounding mean, but I truly don’t mean it like an insult: that’s privilege. I remember being a 17 year old white girl, thinking I had solved the issue of cops, because it always worked out when I tried it. That’s not what you’re doing, but it’s similar.
How many people died in your country under COVID? That’s a huge number of people for whom things are not basically the same, it’s just luck that they are for you. Something like 200 women have died under abortion restrictions, and more will as the laws get stricter around the country (which depends on who’s elected). A friend of mine wanted to try for a second, but she’s in Texas, so she decided not to. I don’t know how many women make that decision, but it’s a way for even more to be directly influenced by politics in a way that doesn’t make news.
Maybe I’m selfish, but I’ve pretty much decided that if there’s nothing I can do about something, I won’t waste much time worrying about it either. If it’s something important to me and I can affect it, like by voting, then I do - but once I’ve done my part, I shift my focus to other things. There’s always going to be bad stuff happening all over the world, and an inability to ignore most of it feels like a form of self-harm. What good is living life if you can’t enjoy any of it?
Maybe I’m not solving the big global issues, but I’m still solving local problems through my work. I fix pipe leaks, unclog sewers, paint walls, and build and repair things. At the end of the day, I can go to sleep happy, knowing I’ve made the world a tiny bit better than it was yesterday. I think it’s unreasonable to ask more of myself or others than that.
You do you and take care of yourself, I don’t think anyone reasonable would begrudge you that.
The amount of time people spend on it probably correlates to the effect they think it will have on their and others’ lives, so it makes sense that some will be more dedicated than most. For example, if my landlord raised my rent by €25 euros, I probably wouldn’t complain about it to people. If he raised it by €250, I’d move (if possible) and bitch about it to everyone (whether I could move or not), and if he raised it by €2500, I’d reach out to my neighbors and legal aid.
The degree to which people are able to enjoy the rest of their lives similarly depends on how strongly they and others are affected by the laws.
It’s great that you’re a positive force in your local community. People trying to hold politicians accountable (through publicizing their policy mistakes to the voting public) are also trying to have a positive impact in the larger community. Both are necessary, but not everyone needs to or is able to do both (and there are of course more effective ways to push for political reform, but those require even more personal involvement).